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Project NatureConnect |
Organic Psychology Testimonials
The Natural Systems Thinking Process (NSTP): how to create moments that let Earth teach
"I was looking for something to really help me figure out what was missing in my daily life. I always feel so incredible when I'm camping; this course really helped me realize that my connection to nature is always accessible, even in the city in the middle of a work week." - Yvonne G.
"The exercises and the exchange of ideas helped me to acknowledge that my desire to be closer to nature is as inherent as breathing. I feel more in line with my values and more enriched because of it." Richard L.
"A course that can open the senses of the student to the world around them and enable them to heal themself and those around them is priceless. It's a course of hope, of optimism, of the future. I feel happy, content, and at ease. I realize that it is "insane" to not respect the natural moment you are living in right now." Ester J.
"I liked reading reactions from other participants. It really felt like I was in a group of understanding and caring people. I learned to keep my mouth shut when I don't want to say anything. I learned to stop the mind chatter, the stories that tore me down and made me feel depressed. My self-esteem went through the biggest positive change." Chuck G.
INTRODUCTION TO TESTIMONIALS The purpose of Project NatureConnect is to introduce its participants to the process and values of thinking in balance with nature that is described in the The Web of Life Imperative and reprinted below:
Please consider the following key intelligence test question, one that ordinarily might help assess a person's mathematical aptitude and the rewards thereof:
If you count a dog's tail as one of its legs, how many legs does a dog have?
"Five," of course, is the correct answer for a math test. Intelligent people say "five" because it isvalid in mathematical systems and contemporary thinking and it is highly regarded and rewarded by our society. However, we don't solely live our lives or think in mathematical systems. Our natural sense of reason can also consider what we know from our actual contact with a real, normal dog, too. That's when our multitude of 53 other natural senses come into play: senses of sight, touch, motion, color, texture, language, sound, smell, consciousness, community, trust, contrast, and love. They each provide further information about a dog and help our sense of reason make more sense and a more informed decision. They enable our thinking to register that a tail is different than a leg, that a dog has four legs, not five, no matter what is correct in mathematical logic.
Because we are part of nature and vice versa, it is a major mistake not to take seriously the difference between 4-leg and 5-leg ways of knowing nature and our learned prejudice for the latter. When our 5-leg thinking does not find it reasonable to also seek and think with the 4-leg knowledge found in nature, it results in the separation of our thinking from the regenerative powers, balance and peace of Earth's natural systems within and around us. We lose the benefits of nature's renewing energies, freedom and beauty and suffer from conflict, stress and destructive relationships.
Today, in our nature-separated society over 99% of our thinking is 5-legged.
The readily available and easily learned Natural Systems Thinking Process (NSTP) helps people balance this 4-leg/5-leg psychological schism and its harmful personal and environmental effects. It enables our sense of reason to reasonably gather information from both 4-leg sources in nature and 5-leg sources in contemporary knowledge. This empowers us to enjoy the benefits of a whole, healing, 9-leg thinking process within the familiar framework of our culture and training.
Below we present over 100 additional evaluation statements from course participants who share their results from learning how to enjoy 9-leg thinking on the course. Our Survey of Participants presents additional outcomes
I can get closer to nature by setting aside time to connect and thereby enhance my interaction. I know that I am not alone, there are people who share my feelings! - Stephanie R
MY THANKS TO EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU WHO HAVE GIVEN ME SUPPORT AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE DURING A TRAUMATIC TIME IN MY LIFE.. AND I CAN NOT EXPRESS TO YOU WHAT IT TRULY MEANS IN MY HEART. Betsy W.
The course is easy and pleasurable because it teaches us the obvious. The love of nature is not dead; merely sleeping. We can reawaken something within ourselves that we, as a society, have trampled, neglected or forgotten. In sharing my lessons with my family, their senses have been reawakened as well. The exercises enabled me to verbalize feelings. I had always had these feelings but never put them down on paper. I felt like I owned the experience more by writing them. Arnold M.
I was looking for a program that would augment my own study of how we can find a sense of "home" again in the world, in nature. The astonishing simplicity of the activities helped me so that although I have been spending time in nature for years, I was often spending that time with nature as a lovely backdrop. I was not spending moments in connection. It is easy to stroll through a forest and never see it. I won't do that again! I am trying to use the idea of attractions in my personal relationships. For instance, in my relationship with my fiance, I am now looking more for sensations of what is attractive and right than at what is difficult. It makes for much more peace and harmony in the relationship, and overall satisfaction. This course truly helped me to remember myself as a part of nature, and feel a new sense of Home in the world. -Susan C.
This course has helped me to trust that my desire to reconnect with nature is a legitimate desire. I've often felt that my love affair with nature was simply the result of an overly romantic idea of what nature is and a desire to escape the reality of the daily world I live in. Through the exercises and the discussions, I've come to learn that my desire is not to run away from anything but rather to go towards something that is so fundamental I wonder how people survive without it at all. -Allison B.
The course made a difference in the quality of my life, a huge difference. I am enjoying inexplicable peace which bubbles over to others (without much explanation!) Every day is a new dawn for me to see nature, to Attach, Connect and Express or just be an example to others. This course is needed for all humans to get globally reconnected. It empowers a person to assist in their own mental and physical healing capabilities. -Teresa V.
I know that I will never be able to deny my need to reconnect with nature again. I can feel that the shift in my perception-from nature as someplace I would like to be if I could find the time - to nature as a critical part of who I am- has changed the course the rest of my life will take." -Larry D.
Thank you to each of you for being so generous with your openness, support, and wonderful ideas. I will miss being able to rely on the daily exchange very much. Knowing that such incredible people are out in the rest of the world also undertaking this magnificent journey will continue
to give me strength. -Christina B.
When I began this course, I was really appalled by the simplicity of the exercises. Its benefits made me wonder. I had my own doubts about its effectiveness, because, just like millions of others, I had assumed that anything that is beneficial must be something that is extremely complicated to comprehend. But after going through this course with commitment and trust, the age-old belief shattered in me into a thousand bits and disappeared into oblivion. It changed the very outlook I once had, modifying it for the better. Karthik C
The most important thing I learned from the course was to trust myself and my own sense of what I need and want on a deep level (using the natural wisdom within me); I do have to add that this has been a long process for me, but the course was definitely a catalyst Over the past 5 weeks I have committed to standing up for what I believe in and to use this as guidance in my life direction, regardless of what others think. (Previously, fear and embarrassment prevented me from stating my convictions; I could not withstand their judgment, even though I do not agree with their criteria). - Shelly O.
The experiences brought by the exercises enables me to stay grounded in that awareness with the energy, joy and balance needed to continue having my actions and choices reflect that. And also gives me the centeredness to relate to all of the other world beings in non-intrusive, honoring and joyful appreciation. Ken M.
I thank the wonderful benefits of NSTP opening me up to the world around us. You become more of what you already are, part of nature. Part of this opening up includes shining light on the hidden and unnoticed places - within and without. That was great. I could get online anywhere and do it, and did. It actually helped me during a really hideous time in my life. All the best, and thank you for offering this marvelous knowledge! -Nanette P.
This delightful opportunity provided me with the ability to revisit wonderful nature-connected moments in my youth, and to experience a new set of nature-connectedness experiences upon which I can build my future. It increased my sensitivity to natural things, and provided me with tools I can share with my children and friends. Alan B.
I learned quite a bit about connecting to nature and its application for our world. This is what I was expecting from the course and I learned more than I expected. I liked the nature connecting activities and the feedback you get from your reaction of the activities. I learned that you can talk to nature. I also liked the concept of the felt sense moment and the fact that we can communicate by muliple senses and learned to ask permission from nature.Getting more in tune with nature, gives you a sense of fulfillment and wholeness. It also gave me further purpose in my life..- Sandra L.
I learned to trust nature. To trust my instincts, intuitions, and feelings of being attracted to various parts of nature -- especially when I need an answer to an important question: practical, real, deep connections, caring, interest, great results -Rita J.
I liked the expansion of "knowable" senses to 53!! I was stretched in aspects of structure and verbalization, but this is a place where I need to be stretched. The most important thing I learned is that to experience the attractions that call me in this moment is what is real and what I can trully trust. I, daily, seek and gain permissin to be in a place of unity with the natural environment and the people with whom I come into contact with. Now there are fewer "What If's" lurkng in the recesses of my mind. More clarity exists in my relating to nature (people are included in Nature). The course is invaluable!! It heals or mends eons of disconnecedness on a primal level. And it does so by simply opening each of us to what we already posess; natural attractions, buried by a sadly malaigned society. -Thomas C.
I learned to connect my empathy feelings to nature in a way that is healing. I learned to recognize my attraction to nature's webstrings and that nature responds on all levels, that we all belong and nature wants to support us all in a healthy attractive way. I learned the importance of asking for consent in many situations, that even what some people would call inanimate objects are responding to webstring attractions, i.e. rocks,and minerals. - Laurie J.
I learned an immediate and vivid way to re-contact and honor the reality of the natural world, and was reassured that there is also scientific and social support for doing so. It is certainly beginning to make a difference in the quality of my life. This course can be the first step to a revolution in contemporary thinking: it helps us learn, first hand, the greater meaning of sensations. -Madelin R.
Now I not only know how to describe my own Webstrings but to listen and learn from those of others. I no longer "schedule in" time for sensory attractions. I "thirst" for them daily and recognize that I have to quench that thirst in order for my body to be fulfilled. The course promotes in its members a healthy "fix"; that is, participating in the readings and nature activities with other interested and involved members gives your mind and body what it needs. You feel so good you naturally crave more of these experiences on your own. Carl P.
The course provides a person the opportunity to experience a new way of viewing the world around you and in doing so challenges you to look within and realize the numbing, blinding, confusing situation we have as a society placed ourselves in. The course begins to offer a path out of that old way into a more enlightened new way of being. I will continue to share my experiences with those and more people I come into contact with and when they are ready I will direct them to this course.
- Patrick L.
I was hoping to learn of techniques that would provide me with a better understanding of myself. Through the activities, I learned to understand how important the attractions to nature are to me. They have become a "lifeline". A whole new world has opened up within me and without.
I loved that in order to do the activities, I made the time to "pamper" myself by being outdoors. Mostly, though, I loved the degree of hapiness I felt when I felt connected. I discovered that I am part of nature too. This provides me with a much-needed sense of belonging.
The course has absolutely made a difference in the quality of my life. I feel like I belong to a world that is full of joy and one that provides me
with support. I am an integral part of nature. i need nature and it needs me too. I matter. Marie's comments were motivational, uplifting and insightful.The value of the course is that it allows you to spend time examining how you feel in an environment that speaks to you thru feelings (webstrings\attractions). You spend time focusing on things you love and you discover a new world to love. How often does one do this? This is a real world you can step into at any time and come out feeling refreshed everytime. -Toni P.
I need to reconnect to Nature -my life was somewhat out of control and this provides a way to get back in control-letting nature guide me rather than my stories.It will help me relax -I found the exercises as good or better than the Relaxation response or meditation. The course runs smoothly when all participants follow instructions and submit lessons in a fairly timely manner as they did in this course. It was stimulating cognitively, spiritually, and emotionally; a Nature centered world wide classroom . -Adam K.
It was better than I expected, because I learned things I had not previously thought about. The activities were mind opening about the connectedness of nature, how we are part of the connection, to respect nature and be a part of it. Some of the activities made me feel calm and less stressed, very important for today's lifestyle. I feel more of a belonging than I did before. This course is extremely valuable in learning how to connect to nature and to respect all living things. I would recommend that all students take this course, to help their understanding of how the natural world works. -Beverly S.
This course is designed so everyday people can take it and experience it-----not just the scholars or the college students. I think that if this course was modified down into a primary school lesson plan, I think it would go great. The best place to start is that young, anyways. It wouldn't take that much work either. You could almost make this into a primary school's curriculum the way it is, and I think it would be a lot of fun to do. -Lacey J.
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After you obtain information about the Project NatureConnect program from this web site by using the Navigation guide (left column), a free, helpful 15 minute discussion by phone with a faculty member is the most efficient way to customize the program to your goals.
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INSTITUTE OF GLOBAL EDUCATION Special NGO consultant United Nations Economic and Social Council
PROJECT NATURECONNECT
Readily available, online, natural science tools
for the health of person, planet and spiritP.O. Box 1605, Friday Harbor, WA 98250
360-378-6313 <email> www.ecopsych.com
ORGANIC ADVANCED ECOPSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION
The Natural Systems Thinking Process
Dr. Michael J. Cohen, Director
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All programs start with the Orientation Course contained in the book
The Web of Life Imperative.
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