SECTION
ONE: PERSONAL OVERVIEW
Learn how to use nature locally to
increase your effectiveness as an counselor, educator, healer
or for self-help; strengthen personal and environmental well
being.
Learning how to reconnect our
thinking with nature improves our psyche, lives and health as
well as our ability to protect natural systems around and within
us. It enables us to find new solutions for our disorders and
increases our contribution to saner living.
Explore your nature-connecting
affinities and opportunities. Win a full or partial scholarship
or a grant or special admission to Project NatureConnect training,
certification or degree programs online.
"Have you ever enjoyed
a good experience in nature, at a seashore, forest, brook or
mountain? You can use that experience and its recuperative powers,
other life experiences and your formal or equivalent education
to further your personal hopes and professional goals. "
- Michael J. Cohen
This overview page introduces
you to essentials of the NatureConnect program. If the Personal
Affinity Inventory, below, is not of interest to you, simply
select a topic to explore from the navigation column <---
on the left, or procede to the program
overview at the bottom of this page.
The Personal Inventory
To learn more about nature-connected counseling, coaching, education
and healing, complete this Affinity Inventory. It helps you match
your thinking and potentials with people who have improved their
personal and professional lives through nature-connected activities
and training.
How strongly you identify
or agree with the statements by Project NatureConnect course
participants and the facts that appear below?
INSTRUCTIONS
1. On a score page sheet of paper write the
alphabet in a column from A to Z.
A-
B-
C-
etc.
2. For each of the lettered statements in Part 1
and Part 2, A-Z, below, on the score page place an appropriate
number that represents your thinking, from 1-10, about each of
the lettered statements.
Additional instructions are
found at the end of the Inventory.
.
PART 1
To reduce stress and improve relationships,
for forty-five years the Project NatureConnect program has strengthened
individuals who
have feelingly enjoyed attractive experiences in nature, backyard
or back country .
With regard to their attractive experience
in nature, these people
have said:
A. They sensed a reduction in stress or dysfunction
and/or an increase in belonging, peace, wholeness, spirit, well
being or balance. What
is your experience with feeling these things in nature?
1........2......3......4.......5.......6........7.......8.......9......10
This feels: foreign........,,,.... familiar...............,,very familiar
B. They found a renewed openness or desire to improve
their personal and professional relationships. What is your experience with feeling these things
in nature?
1........2......3......4.......5.......6........7.......8.......9......10
This feels: foreign........,,,.... familiar...............,,very familiar
C. They noted that they did not need a book, course or
instructor to teach them how to enjoy their attractive experience
in nature; it was something they innately sensed or felt as part
of their natural makeup.
1........2......3......4.......5.......6........7.......8.......9......10
This feels: foreign........,,,.... familiar...............,,very familiar
D. They recognized that although they valued their attractive
nature experience and its effects, they often took it for granted
and thought of it more as a vacation or escape from the stress
and responsibilities of normal life.
1........2......3......4.......5.......6........7.......8.......9......10
This feels: foreign........,,,.... familiar...............,,very familiar
E. In their daily lives they had not been able
to obtain or sustain the rewards and benefits they enjoyed while
connected to nature.
1........2......3......4.......5.......6........7.......8.......9......10
This feels: foreign........,,,.... familiar...............,,very familiar
F. They would have liked to learn how to enjoy,
at will, the restorative energies of their nature experience.
They wanted it to help them reduce their everyday stress and
dysfunction and improve their personal and professional health,
happiness and relationships with people and the environment.
1........2......3......4.......5.......6........7.......8.......9......10
This feels: foreign........,,,.... familiar...............,,very familiar
G. They recognized that we only protect and preserve what
we love.
1........2......3......4.......5.......6........7.......8.......9......10
This feels: foreign........,,,.... familiar...............,,very familiar
PART 2.
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH HAS PRODUCED
THESE NATURE-CONNECTED OBSERVATIONS. WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE TO
THESE FINDINGS?
H. People are part of the whole of nature and have
biological and sensory origins in nature.
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,............ somewhat agree...,,,,,,,....fully agree
I. Since we are part of nature, it is neither unusual
nor surprising that most people naturally have had at least one
good experience in a natural area (a beach, park, clouds, sunset,
flower, pet, garden, cloud, sanctuary, lake, aquarium, wilderness
etc.).
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,............ somewhat agree...,,,....fully agree
J. Nature (Mother Nature) demonstrates that she
has the ability and power to produce her purity and perfection.
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,............ somewhat agree...,,,....fully agree
K. Nature "knows" how to self-organize
and produce its optimums of life, diversity, balance, transformation
and cooperation.
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,............ somewhat agree...,,,....fully agree
L. Nature produces its perfection in natural areas
and natural systems without producing garbage or the excessive
pollution, abusiveness, dysfunction and disorders all too common
in contemporary society.
1.......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,....... somewhat agree...,,,..........fully agree
M. To sustain its perfection, nature has the power
to heal, restore, purify or regenerate relationships or things
that disrupt its balanced ways. For example, nature heals a scraped
landscape so that the land recovers and nature also heals our
scraped knee so that we recover.
1.......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,....... somewhat agree...,,,..........fully agree
N. Rather than be simply an escape from our problems,
a feelingly attractive experience in nature helps us restore
or revitalize our mentality and energy. This is because in a
natural area we can genuinely connect our body mind and spirit
with nature's beauty balance and regenerative powers.
1.......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,......... somewhat agree...,,,.....fully agree
O. Most of our present day dysfunctions and disorders
are neither found in nor caused by the thinking of truly nature-connected
people or cultures.
1.......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,.......somewhat agree...,,,..........fully agree
P. On average, 85% of our population agrees that
we are part of, stewards of and preservers of nature, that we
are not nature's rulers, and that we should treat the planet
as a living system and return to a simpler way of living.
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,........ somewhat agree...,,,........fully agree
Q. We suffer many personal, social and environmental
troubles and we seldom benefit from nature's healing powers because
we live excessively nature-disconnected lives.
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,........ somewhat agree...,,,........fully agree
R. The habitual nature-disconnected way we learn
to think removes our mentality from authentic nature's healing
and restorative ways and wisdom.
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,........ somewhat agree...,,,........fully agree
S. On average, over 95% of our time is spent indoors
closeted from nature.
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,........ somewhat agree...,,,........fully agree
T. On average, over 99% of our conscious thinking
is separated from, and out of tune with nature.
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,........ somewhat agree...,,,........fully agree
U. Over 18,000 hours of our formative years, kindergarten
through high school, are spent indoors learning our culture's
exploitive, nature conquering ways. These ways seldom include
how to genuinely connect our thinking or spirit with nature's
beneficial wisdom, cooperation and restorative powers.
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,........ somewhat agree...,,,........fully agree
V. On average we spend less that 12 hours of our
total life consciously thinking in tune with natural systems
within and around us.
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,........ somewhat agree...,,,........fully agree
W. When you separate or disconnect a healthy part
of a natural system or organism from the whole system or organism,
you hurt or deteriorate the system as well as the removed part.
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,........ somewhat agree...,,,........fully agree
X. When you separate or disconnect part of a healthy
natural system or organism, sensory connections that were originally
fulfilled or satisfied in the natural system become hurt, frustrated
and/or wanting.
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,........ somewhat agree...,,,........fully agree
Y. When we want there is never enough so we can
be driven or rewarded to addictively satisfy our wants in detrimental
ways that don't make sense.
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,........ somewhat agree...,,,........fully agree
Z. Our addicted nature-disconnected reasoning and
thinking is shocked into denial of its hurtful and destructive
personal, social and environmental effects.
1......2.......3.......4.......5........6........7.......8........9.......10.
disagree........,,,........ somewhat agree...,,,........fully agree
PERSONAL OVERVIEW INFORMATION
SUMMARY
Because people are part of
nature we inherently enjoy mental and spiritual support when
we are connected to attractions in nature. However, we live extremely
nature-disconnected lives
Our culture is in denial that
it is addicted to nature-disconnected "progress" and
"economics" that insensitively exploit us and the environment
and estrange us from nature. We learn to daily separate our well
being, thinking and feeling from nature's lasting perfection
and restorative powers within and around us. Our unnecessary
separation from nature produces stress, dysfunction and discontents
in us that subside when we consciously reconnect our mentality
with nature and its healing ways. Reconnecting to authentic nature
helps us rewardingly think and relate with greater sensibility.
Further information
Information at the
links, below, enable you to discover the personal and professional
benefits of using and teaching a powerful nature-reconnecting
tool and process.
Outcomes
Articles
Training
or Degrees
Application
Process
KEY:
Online Information Guide
for Application and Admission
FINAL INSTRUCTIONS
To receive advanced standing,
CEU hours or credit, a full or partial scholarship and/or grant
for certification training and/or a subsidized academic degree
program in nature-connected counseling, education or healing:
1. Total the numbers you wrote
on your score page.
2. Send us an email
containing your total score and, by way of introduction, share a few
paragraphs with us (less than 400 words) about an attractive
or heartfelt experience that you have had with nature as
a child or adult. Please express what you think, feel and sense
about you good experience in nature and its importance to you,
if any.
3. Tell us briefly why you
want to participate in our program, your goals or hopes, your
past work and personal experiences.
4. Share with us the letters
and scores of the three A-Z statements, above, to which you gave
your lowest scores and the three to which you gave your higest
scores. In your email, ask any questions you have about them,
if necessary (If while visiting our website you decide to change
your answers, you may send us an email
with the changes.)
5. Within five days you will
receive notification of your success in this application. Meanwhile,
visit our grant application page
and program application page
and follow its further instructions. (You may include things
written for the 1-4 paragraphs, above, in your application)
End of Section One
KEY:
Online Information Guide
for Application and Admission
SECTION
TWO: PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The Nature Of It All. How Do We Belong?
by Janet
Thomas
"Ishi, (the last hunter-gather
Native American) was sure he knew the cause of our discontent.
It stemmed from an excessive amount of indoor time. 'It is not
a man's nature to be too much indoors.'"
......- Theodora Kroeber
"All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the children of the earth."
.......-Chief Sealth
........(Ecclesiastes 3:19, Ted Perry, John
Muir)
It is our personal and collective relationship
with nature that often determines our sanity, our future and
the future of the earth.
.
Much
has been written about how we need to save the planet but the
deeper truth is that it is essential if we are to save ourselves.
How conscious are we about
our interactions with the natural world? How do we passionately incorporate nature's intrinsic health into our
own healthy sense of self, other and livelihood? Do we acknowledge
this deep and penetrating partnership in a renewable way that
serves both people and planet?
These are compelling questions
for us as we face a most precarious future.
We Lose What We Most Love
As nature's resources
are diminished so is the quality of our lives. As the quality
of our lives diminish, we lose touch with our natural ability
to connect to the web of life within which we are so intricately
bound. It becomes a cycle of loss. The nurturing link between
our human lives and our earthly home gets broken. We are driven
to seek more and more satisfaction in the material world, which
means we consume more and more of the very resources we need
to sustain natural world and our love for it. We get further
and further away from our innate sense of meaning and being.
We lose what we most love-about ourselves, the world to which
we belong and our sense of the sacred in everyday life.
Nature's Saving Grace
In these difficult
times, we are virtually on the edge of losing our ability to
save both ourselves-and our earthly home. Yet the saving grace
is simple: We will save what we love. And when we stop long enough
everyday to reconnect to the nurturing sustenance of nature, we emotionally
reconnect to what is most deeply satisfying in our human experience-belonging.
We re-learn to love the very essence of who we are as living
breathing perfect beings on a living breathing perfect planet.
It is a generative partnership that happens when we enliven all
our senses with the awareness of nature's energies, intelligence
and sustenance. We find and feel that we, too, are part of the
things we celebrate in nature.
Restoring Our Sensory Connections
To Nature's Intelligence.
Project NatureConnect
is first of all committed to helping us-as individuals-restore
our connection to our
place in nature. Then,
through NatureConnect activities, we learn how to genuinely connect
our thinking to the web of life that is always around us, always
nurturing us, always waiting for us to wake up. We are bonded
to living in awareness and equilibrium with nature, in hope and
in love. Living in that awareness we create a future for our
loved ones and our extended human family, a future that makes
personal and professional sense
The Science of Nature's Regenerative Powers.
This website is special because it is doable. It offers a
web of possibilities-for everything from personal growth to professional
gain. It is based on the NatureConnect work developed by Michael Cohen over a span of 40 years
of studying, teaching, writing about and experiencing the regenerative
power of our natural experience in the natural world. His work
is a science and an art, the result of decades of practice working
with communities of people in natural areas, all culminating
in a process that helps us recover what it is we have lost.
Healing Our Relationships
It is time for us to
come out from behind the addictive socializing and economic forces
that keep us disconnected from the Earth and each other. It is
time to re-learn how to let the wisdom and renewing energies
of nature transform destructive patterns into balanced and loving
relationships that can help restore both personal worth and global
harmony.
"The indescribable innocence
and beneficence of Nature-of sun and wind and rain, of summer
and winter-such health, such cheer, they afford forever!"
....-Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Janet
Thomas Homepage
.
Next: What We
Do
SPECIAL:
A nature-connected,
personal balance and healing,
stress-management course online.
Receive inspiring nature-connection
quotations by email
weekly. Send a blank email to naturequote@aweber.com
After you
obtain information about
the Project NatureConnect program from the 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.
KEY:
Online Information Guide
for Application and Admission