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Accredited Nature-Connecting Holistic Health and Wellness Degree Courses On Line: Natural Attraction Ecology Career Education Personal and Professional Whole Life System Training Grants and Jobs.
Project NatureConnect
Institute of Global Education
Organic
Psychology Applied Ecopsychology Ecotherapy
Special
NGO Consultant, United Nations Economic and Social Council
Practical distance learning remedy reverses nature deficit disorder
The Pantheism of Natural Attraction Ecology
Applied Ecopsychology in Action
| SYNOPSIS: These quotable field reports are the outcomes of the funded sensory science of Natural Attraction Ecology. They offer a sampling of the results obtained by engaging in the Pantheism of it organic ecopsychology process. It is a spiritual science that helps us improve health wellness and counseling by enabling our thinking and feeling to safely connect their natural senses with the green spirit of nature's grace, balance and restorative powers. Participants benefit from and strengthen their inborn love of nature as they share and master ecotherapy activities that strengthen their personal and professional relationships in a good way. The reports are empirical evidence that demonstrates the contribution of our sensory connections with natural systems, in people and places, to increasing personal, social and environmental well being. NOTE: If you are looking for a quote on a specific topic, apply your finder to this page. Use the Project NatureConnect search engine to locate additional pages with similar information PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Educating Counseling and Healing With Nature Supportive Degrees, Career Training Courses and Jobs On Line Project NatureConnect offers nature-centered distant learning that enables you to add the benefits of nature-connecting methods and credentials to your degree program and/or your skills, interests and hobbies. We honor your prior training and life experience by providing grants and equivalent education credit for it. You may take accredited or professional CEU coursework and/or obtain a Nature-Connected Degree or Certificate in most disciplines or personal interests. A partial subject list is located at the bottom of this page.
FIELD REPORTS: on-line program participants share their Pantheistic results from doing the nature-connecting activities found in The Web of Life Imperative and Reconnecting With Nature books. (Continued from Educating, Counseling and Healing With Nature where "Webstrings" are identified as the natural attraction strands of the web of life that hold it as well as each of its individual members together) For additional reports visit our Search Engine and Survey of Participants Today I had a weird experience. A strange scenario of the day. I have been to a funeral. First we went to the Mosque, prayed and then to the cemetery which had tall trees around. The family men placed the coffin near the grave, opened it, took out the body in a blanket and placed it on the earth. Placed on her right side. Put some wooden pieces on her and then piled up soil with shovels. They put one big stone on the head, a small one on the foot. The hodja prayed and people joined him with prayers. Everything happened so quickly. There watching carefully I tried to understand what was her connection now to the nature. She was dead. No breath to inhale or exhale… How could I breath out life for her? I inhaled and hold it… tried to understand what she had became… if I could still share life with her in an other dimension. My new brain searched for answers… no way out… I had no memories of her. She was the mother of a friend. Tried to understand the US! between her and me… There was no her anymore. But a pile of earth with two stones on. I looked around to find a natural attraction. I was standing under a tall cypress tree. Leaned on it. Tried to feel the tree. It must have seen many funerals like this. Shared many feelings with others. The cypress tree could translate the US to me! I felt that my friends mother was now the nurturing means to the land there, to the tree I was leaning on. So that the tree would breath out and let me breath in… but what had been with the rest, the soul, spirit of her? According to the religious beliefs in my area she would be judged and will be send to heaven or hell according to her deeds. According to NIALs she had been attracted to something bigger than her. We will be or become something bigger than us, or US?! This we cant know now… We are in a well protected womb, well nurtured and loved. ^^^ I went down to the creek beside my house for this activity ~ the water from weekend rains was flowing swiftly over rocks that might otherwise be visible on a drier day. Sunshine and blue skies appeared though the canopy above, welcoming me with warm, fresh colors after the very gray and subdued colors of yesterday. I paused to look around and breathe in my surroundings. A chipmunk sat quietly watching me on a rock on the other side of the creek while a nuthatch and chickadee and young downy woodpecker busied themselves searching for insects as they explored the bark of the trees next to me. A soft warm breeze moved comfortingly around me, and I felt the peacefulness of the area welcome me ... and I gave thanks for it all. First I went to a young maple tree seedling, perhaps now 6 feet high and no larger in diameter than my finger, and gently pulled her towards me and held her at that balanced point where she was not harmed or uprooted. But I don't like to do this, so I apologized. She didn't like it either. I knew I could easily overpower this seedling and felt I was constricting her freedom to blow freely in the breeze and just be, balanced state or not. Perhaps this pulling thing could be called being in "balance", but it is not, to me, being in "balance" with who this tree is. I felt like a wrangler. I next chose a tall "weed" .... even though not attempting to pull the weed out, I could feel the roots resist me, almost sinking in more securely ...perhaps it has a memory from other weeds who have always been pulled and uprooted that's says "hold on for your life !" Gently pulling is very different than just holding some aspect of nature gently in my hands ~ although I see the "balance" aspect, it represents to me the precarious balance of nature in the hands of man. I felt better when I pulled on the big giant white pine trunk ...sturdy and strong, this tree did not bend or move to my pull, and I knew she was safe from my hands :-) She didn't mind my pulling and thought it was a game ... but I know nature can only resist us to a point .... I held on and thanked her for holding me upright ! Hmmm, this giant rock can resist me too ~ not really resisting, just saying "ho hum, you know you can't move me" ... yet, the current of water can move her or wear her down .... and man's machines can crumble her ...with me, we sit here in balance, an equality of strength passing between us, but I think she is stronger ... I can feel the strength and wisdom of the ages passing through this rock ... I wonder about this lovely little flower ..can I pull on her ? Hardly not at all ! I will not even try, she is much too fragile. Some things in nature should not be messed with. Sometimes, balance is maintained by no interference from humans at all. Now this is interesting ~ I'm starting to feel like Goldilocks :-) first I went to the little tree, then the really big tree, and now, the middle size tree :-) Oh the middle size tree ( and I ) love this ...we are swaying in balance together with just the right amount of balanced flow .... it is joyful, and we are both happy. I feel a balance of strength and gentleness pass between us. She is actually a tree I know well and have often admired in the spring when her beautiful white blossoms appear. If we are out of balance, she could drop me to the ground .... if I pull too much, I could also harm her, breaking a branch. But in this moment, we are in balance, and it feels that we are appreciating one another. I glance up the bank of the creek and notice a deer quietly watching me ... I see deer watching me all the time. I always wonder what they are thinking :-) I learned : ~ we are in a fragile, yet strong, balance with nature, and survival depends upon respect and thoughtful connections and considerations as nature, like us, wants to live and has it's own desire to go on living. ~ we can easily and unintentionally harm the beautiful aspects of nature that we love. ~ we have the ability to actively protect and communicate with that which we love in nature. G/G: ~ I am a person who does not like to "bend" nature to my ways ~ or rather, I am a person who likes to flow with nature and listen to her voice and is grateful for her active presence in my life. ~ I am a person who loves to touch and communicate with nature, but not force myself upon her.... I appreciate receiving permission to be with her. ~ I am a person who loves nature as a playful friend. ^^^ Regarding safety in observing, I also like some degrees of discomfort or ambiguity. This can be allow me to confront the skeptic in myself and then to accept things as they are. My shadow side could include feeling unsafe or ill-equipped to be in nature, and seeing the object or image as challenging my own insecurities elevates it to a pure and complete picture while allowing me to grow past my obstacles. For example, there is ambiguity and discomfort on a golf course. Knowing that chemicals and classism helped create this course is very unsettling. Yet appreciating the geese flying overhead who the course managers detest, the trees that block my shot, or the breeze blowing against me helps me to realize how much more important nature is than our attempts to manage it. Another example - do we always eat at earth-friendly restaurants where there is deep understanding of nature, or do we go into a fast food restaurant and order an iceburg lettuce salad to enhance earth-friendly experiences where they are so lacking? I feel we sometimes need to venture into the unsafe places to learn to fully observe the significance and magnificence of nature. So I am looking at bright pink potted flowers and am noticing them opening up in ways I would like to open up. Faced upward, its pedals are open to the light on the other side of the window. The color is stunning in its richness and vibrancy... this attraction feels rich and positive, and I am grateful for it.. I am pleased that when I open myself up to love there is a beauty and attraction to that act of openness that is in my most natural self. Next to these flowers is a drooped pale flower that didn't make it. This has its own odd attraction. It reminds me that there is a risk to being completely open and trusting of the elements necessary to sustain it. I get good feelings by knowing this completely beautiful plant is interdependent with other natural elements and that I am one of those elements affording it what it needs. The dead flower is a reminder that the process is delicate. This fragility has its own beauty that makes the pink pedals feel that much more light, enhanced, and heroic in a new dimension I would not have seen without the contrast of the dead flower. ^^^ I have so enjoyed my course so far. I sometimes read mention of your name in the postings, however, I have never recieved any postings from you. Have I missed anything I should be getting? This is the most amazing teaching I have ever encountered. I plan to use what I am learning to help others. I want to continue this study and complete all the course. I look forward to your response. ^^^ For my activity this week, I took a silent walk in a field nearby. I focused in on the word "attraction" I was attracted to the dozens of dragonflies,irridescent, green, blue and red refracted off their shells. I was also attracted to 3 grasshoppers, all hovering together on one tall plant. I thought they were after the ladybug at the top. No, they had no interest at all. "My experience with nature shows me that I am a person who gets good feelings from feeling a breeze on my face while silently watching dragonflies gliding in the field ." "My experience with natures shows me that I am a person who gets good feelings from observing three grasshoppers sunning themselves on a tall green plant." As I observed and communed with these magical creatures, I received many silent messages. The dragonflies, with their power of light, reminded me of my own transformation and new vision. The grasshoppers reminded me to trust my own inner voice. As I was leaving I came upon another single grasshopper sunning himself. He sat on the underside of a leaf and as I passed him he moved around to the top of the plant as if he was seeing me off and saying goodbye. In Nature's whisper is where our truth lies! Three statements, from the website, that I was attracted to. These statements are from others who have done this activity: "My nature experience shows me that I am a person who gets good feelings by watching the waves roll in with the moving of the tide. Allowing Mother Nature to cleanse my soul with her softening whispers in the wind, delicate uplifting with her sounds, and rejuvenating escapes into her waters. Nature to me is a never-ending circle of life that surrounds us and draws us into her bosom to be comforted when we weep with despair. When I feel the wind fly through my being, standing on top of the volcano or valley, I know that I am one, we are one and the universe comes complete with my acceptance. How do you measure the significance of Nature? I ask this question myself everyday." I was attracted to the mention of the rolling waves as it reminded me of the magificant blue waters of Hawaii during our stay this year. Due to this attraction, my husband and I are moving to Hampton Beach. We both wish to explore our feelings with the ocean as our guide. The special natural attraction I choose is a number of birds that are busy feeding and flying in and out of one particular large tree on the property. I focus on a Red-bellied woodpecker, with his broad red head stripe igniting the gray day. Goldfinches and others make gentle voicings from the tree, some peacefully readjusting their feathers. I remember a word I heard and admired for such a little flock of mixed species passing through the woods--a guild. My experience in nature shows me that I am a person who gets good feelings by being close to birds and other animals while calmly watching and listening to them as they behave naturally. I feel accepted as a part of the whole landscape as the birds go about their daily self-care activities without appearing alarmed by my presence. I feel a strong desire to know more about these individual animals—what are their lives like? Multiple exhilarating associations come up for me—times I observed other Red-bellied Woodpeckers, nuthatches, flickers…and the ways those moments enriched my life so indelibly. The colors and patterns on the plumage are astounding! They remind me of the boundless creative force that is life. I feel like my spirit has been refreshed—like some thirst in me has been slaked. I was feeling somewhat ill on the way to the park, but afterwards feel significantly better for hours, and sleep significantly better this night. The activity reaffirms yet again—nature is the source of healing for me. Prioritizing time connecting with nature is healthy for me!! I learned: my being is deeply nurtured by being present in nature. People I encounter while nature connecting seem much more friendly than those I pass in less natural settings. I had two very relaxed and rewarding conversations with strangers who approached me and discussed the birds I was watching. The rest of my day can be positively influenced SIGNIFICANTLY if I allow myself even a brief nature-connecting foray. Earth enhances.Being near wild free animals frees my spirit and allows me to flourish. When I am outside enjoying nature, I connect more fluently with my own species. Time spent connecting with nature is essential for me to thrive. Knowing this, I choose to prioritize it as an act of self-love. And knowing that I am a another animal, kin to the glittering eyed flicker I adore to watch, gives me permission to express self-love, despite negative myths I learned from people who mistreated me in the past. ^^^ I went to a grove that had several varieties of trees and flora. It was a place I had been attracted to a couple of weeks ago but could not stop to enjoy. It was however the first place that came to mind this time and when I approached the area my heart opened wide and my spirit felt uplifted. I found a place in the grass to sit and began my inhale/exhale exchange. The following are the responses I received spontaneously from this exchange: Nature is Spirit in form I consciously approach each day with ceremony in gratitude for the gift of life, I speak intentions as they serve the highest and best good of all and then move into my day as it is meant to be. My days unfold in the most perfect ways and even if it appears to be otherly. My ability to move openly and from a place of center is being validated and honed. Awareness of my inner presence is comforting so that I really know that I'm not alone or abandoned. Nature is always with me as I am with its Nature. I am truly better for this! By reusing, recycling and re-nourishing self and all materials that are derived from natural source. By connecting to my breath By interacting with Nature and recognizing my part in Earth's wellness when our mutual purposes are aligned and together we are able to exponentially improve the quality of Life. I imagine that Robin Blake's community was alive with ideas, energized with purpose, recognizing the unique and inclusive unifying nature of Us. Their ability to live, work and play together was cooperative and naturally expressed through attractions, tensions and relaxation responses. The cycle of life was lived with great joy and honored at each step knowing the many is part of the One. The size was determined by the natural attractions and sustainability. The rules were established by natural consensus as they agreed to the awareness that they were a living example of Us/NIAL and their actions would reflect that collective experience. ^^^ Perhaps I am off on a good foot this time….I remembered to ask nature to grant me consent. She did by illuminating a tree with the sun’s brilliance, right in the spot by the river I most enjoy to spend my time. Gorgeous! It was a magical place to me today, with its tiny cascading rapids, made smaller by the waning intensely hot summer. It’s fall these days, and I love it! Ok, not technically fall, but you know what I mean. Those cool crisp autumn evenings…you feel a hint of them in these late summer nights. I read the Hasse quote. As my thoughts spun, nature reacted to that quote by telling me to “be quiet.” I seem to look around me before I read each quote, thinking, “Do I look silly?” Then I read the next quote by Garland to nature. Nature seems to respond by saying, “You’re not listening.” Ah, next it’s D.H. Lawrence, and a quote I have loved from the get-go, from my very first course. Nature responds to my reading of this quote by saying, “Duh, obviously.” Lastly, Dr. Mike’s always inspiring words….Nature seems to respond by saying..”this story you have in your head today, well, I feel it’s being imposed upon me.” Ah, I think to myself, I really have not been in agreement with nature lately, have not been learning from it as much as I like to. This story I have in my head does seem to be a nature-disconnected fantasy. I say to nature, “Tell me something…I am listening.” I am fo cusing intently on the sound of the river..she whispers, “Do you feel it? The answer? The truth? You are calm now.” Whoa, that was intense…. Oh beautiful sun on the trees..golden, happiness…a calm oasis. I leave you now, and I thank you now, with a wink. ^^^ ^^^ Can we participate in our own betterment? Yes, by consciously being aware of our US in now we can handle it for our betterment. To experience the natures power to create organic integrity we must allow ourselves to flow with it and thus we can find our authentic natural self. We can have the wisdom from the natural attractions around us to responsiblyovercome powerlessness as we find the power in being one with US! For me it is really safe to join with a greater wholeness than myself , I like the feeling I receive from a total surrender. It can take care of me, better than I take care of myself. Yes, I can safely join with that safety in another person I know, as I am joining with US, not with another person! As Mother Theresa said, "In the final analysis there is you and God" ^^^ The first light of the morning sun glimmers on the horizon, and the dogs and I go outside as another day is welcomed with rainbows of light and the promise of warmth returning to the earth; and I smile in this greeting of the dawn and say "thank you". It's vibrant colors fill me with gratitude for such a vision. I breathe in the crisp cool air as the changes and colors of the season fill the air, and I am grateful for air, for my breath, for the life-giving green of the trees and plants that surround me, for the beginnings of the seasonal change to colorful leaves. The birds are awakening, and I give thanks to them for sharing this life with me, thanks that they have beautiful sounds for me to hear and for my ability to hear and sense those lovely songs. I breathe in the beauty around me and say thank you to all that is, to the mysteries, to their love and friendship that surrounds me, to yet another day to live and learn. I say thank you to my senses, that they enhance the beauty around me, that they are so generously here for me, consenting to enrich my moments with every attraction. I am so grateful to the chickadee who has come to sit near me ~ I say "good morning" and "thank you" for your company and being the adorable cheery little bird that you are. And I am grateful for my sense of language which enables me to chatter and express my feelings, to you, to myself, to all that is, and for my sense of reasoning which supports me doing this, including chattering to a chickadee ( and all that is a part of nature :-) I am grateful that it makes sense to me to feel and express my thanks to all that is, and I thank my senses for supportively always being here for me. And I so very much appreciate and give thanks for all those comfortable welcoming feelings that lead me in good directions on life's journey each day as living in gratitude each day attracts goodness and light to my life and connects me to everything around me and within me. I learned : Living in gratitude changes the focus of a day. My awareness of natural attractions brings balance to my day. My sense of language contributes to my connections. G/G I am a person who appreciates that it is reasonable for me to thank nature for her gifts to me. I am a person who is grateful for nature's guidance in leading me in good directions. I am a person who is grateful that nature and my 53 senses are here now, in this moment ( and always), supporting me and deepening my connections and awarenesses. and I thank you all. I went outside to the small park next to my house. It's a nice place with grass, some trees and bushes, and a small playground that needs renovation. Some of the structures are broken and needs to be replaced. Because this neighborhood is about 30 years old most families are older people and there are not many kids in this neighborhood. The town council is in a bad financial situation and the small park is not being cleaned and the playground is neglected. I went out to the park with my dog. She was sniffing around and playing and I took a small chair, found a piece of shade and sat down. I looked around. The green of the trees across the light blue sky felt good to look at. Even though the park is quite dirty with lots of dog shit (many people are not collecting after their dogs)… I still can see a lot of beauty around. My husband refuses to enjoy that park because of the garbage and dog shit. He also forbids the kids to play soccer on the grass because of that. He is angry at the town council. Many times he collects garbage around the area closest to our yard, but he is angry when he does that. I many times ask myself if I can enjoy that park even if it is not kept, not clean. I still see lovely trees, the dogs enjoying and running around, the different greens of the plants. I sat there and enjoyed for about half an hour. When I asked myself what stops me from getting close? And if I can trust the love of nature here and anywhere? --- I got the answer that I'm the only one that stops me from trusting nature and being open to its love and healing ways. There are times that I go out and I cannot find many attractions… I can only see the garbage, the dryness, the neglect. On other times… I can be open, attracted, enjoying, seeing beauty and balance. The most important thing I learned is that I'm the one that is responsible for trusting nature. It depends on my ability to open up to what ever is around me, instead of being stuck in my beliefs and stories. Even though the park near my house is not "perfect" and it is not being cleaned or kept – still I can find the beauty and love of nature there. I can trust nature if I can trust myself to be willing to be open to my sensations and not stuck in my stories and frustrations. I'm open and willing to find beauty and the love of nature all around me, even in places that are neglected and injured. I'm enjoying focusing on the greens of trees against the blue sky. I'm a person who enjoys the playfulness of the dogs in the park. I can be playful too. Glad to see that you can enjoy the park even though it is not perfect. That is one of the problems that I have, I try to get every thing perfect instead of enjoying what I have. It is one of the modern wranglers that we develop, I blame some of this on television, we are inundated with perfect scenes, perfect people that we are never satisfied with a normal life. ^^^ This was a difficult activity to accomplish, because I am not a person that usually plays. My medical training and having been a Naval Officer for so many years, I have been trained to consider myself the wise old man. The person that all persons (patients as well as the less experienced medical providers) go to when they need advise; I have therefore fallen into the false thinking that I should always be somber and thoughtful. I have lost my inner child because, I know that at one time I could laugh and be as playful as anyone else. I miss that child. I have a big Sea Oak in my front yard which for an unknown reason I have an especial attraction. I visualized me in a tree costume, standing in my front yard. The picture of this makes my smile and I become that young child again. My patients and friends walk by me and I shake my branches and leaves at them in greetings. My illnesses and infirmities do not bother me. I do not worry about courses or classes or others persons illnesses or financial problems. I am happy and I only wish to enjoy the sun and the rain. I know that I an not a tree, nor can I ever be one, but the thought of pretending to be one is refreshing and my soul in lighter for this activity. I did not repeat this activity with another person because, I do not know anyone in my local area who shares my thoughts of nature and eco-psychology. I have learned one more way that nature can help improve my life, through my imagination. Nature makes me happy. Nature and my imagination can bring back my inner child if only for a few minutes. I believe that I would become very depressed if nature were taken from my life. I am certain this activity enhanced my self worth. The more that I learn about the importance of nature in my life; the more that I know I would lose, if it were taken from me. The wrangle of "even though you have learned how important nature is to you, you still are living a hectic western life. You haven't changed. ^^^ Thanks for the comment Lilly. What led me to enroll in this program, is that I have started to try to allow my other senses to guide me. After a somewhat forced retirement from a company where I worked 33 years, I have decided to listen to my other senses to figure out my direction. My fearful self keeps wanting to just run out and start applying for another corporate job, but when I think about doing that I feel tense and totally disconnected. When I start feeling this way I take a walk outside or just sit in the yard in the morning and listen. I keep getting messages to stay the course that the job will find you. I have to admit while I haven't found that paying job, some amazing people have appeared in my life. It is a little scary but exhilerating at the same time. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am really seeing that when we just become aware and drop our defenses, its amazing the amount of infromation, knowlege, support and wisdom that is always waiting. ^^^ I apologize for the late posting. My husband and I celebrated out first wedding anniversary by going on a road trip. We visited Nashville, TN, Lexington, and Louisville, KY and Jeffersonville, Indiana We returned last night and had a wonderful time in the majestic and cleansing mountains We have never been to those places so we thought it would be fun to explore. While on the road I was reading Chapter 6 in Reconnecting with nature as directed for the activity as suggested in chapter 7 of the Web of Life Imperative(WLI). With all mountains, lakes, rolling hills and mountains at my fingertips, I was focused on my wedding ring reflecting on our first year. I have two amethyst on my wedding ring with a diamond in the middle. The two amethyst symbolizes the birthstone my husband and I share. The diamond symbolizes clarity and endurance. Completing this activity produced the following results: I am attracted to the amethyst because of it's color. I love myself because of of my color. My results were profound because I do take tremendous pride in my skin tone and the culture is represents. I have made the statement in other postings that I love myself. My color is a physical characteristic but does not define who I am as a person. This is the same with the amethyst in my wedding ring. The color is only a physical property but it becomes so much more in the context of my life. For example, I was attracted to my husband because of his color and the fact we share the same birthstone and our love of travel just to name a few. This activity reinforces that fact that our natural attractions are consistently validated within the context of the choices we make in our lives that lead to experiences and in fostering relationships. This statement in Chapter 6 from Reconnecting with Nature sums my experience and it reads: We inherit from nature a multisensory 'Velcro' that continually attracts, attaches and bonds us to the natural world. ^^^ My experience in nature shows me I am a person who gets good feelings from giving and receiving love. My focus has been on my beautiful,wondrous dogs.my Maya that made such a miraculous recovery came and leap on me in the cool grass.I am so happy just to be able to love her....and her me.She smothers me with kisses and then snuggles with me as we watch the sun sink into the horizon.I took today very ,very slowly...did I accomplish much...maybe not except to reground and center myself in the beauty of this day and feeling the love and grateful feelings over flow as I thank Earth for another day with my Maya!! There has been so much crisis in our lives..I am feeling very attracted to Nature connect work to bring sanity and healing and balance to our over stressed lives .just sitting in the grass with my Maya filled my heart with joy and gratitude. As i close this day i am grateful for the healing of this work.i have reread quotes ,felt inspired ,felt love and felt all the wordless sensations that come with sitting in the cool grass and loving your dog. In the woods we return to reason and faith..there i feel that nothing can befall my life-no disgrace,no calamity,which nature can not repair.Standing on the bare ground-my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space-all mean egotism vanishes.i become a transparent eyeball;I am nothing,I see all,the currents of the universal being circulate through me..i am a part or particle of God. Emerson...this is what chapter 3 has done for me ...i have reconnected with source...bless you dear barn swallows..I look forward to hearing from all of you soon.... ^^^ I went to the vegetable garden about two hours before sunset. The grass was wet from work done earlier so I sat on a folded blanket in front of a Basil plant. I asked the plant’s permission to conduct the breathing activity. Having sensed acceptance by the good feelings and an unexpected aroma of basil I proceeded with the exercise. For the first few minutes I sat quietly appreciating the shining vibrant greenness of the leaves. As I touched her softly she released her spicy fragrance. We sat breathing together in peace and comfortable connection. As soon as I gave myself the command to stop breathing I immediately felt the shift. I felt suddenly disconnected from the previous feeling as if a giant invisible wall separated us. I felt uncomfortable and at the end strained to maintain the disconnection by withholding my breath (Love). As I held her tender leaves I breathed out, bowing into her aromatic leafy bouquet. Each withholding was unpleasant toward the end and then equally amazingly pleasant as I allowed our symbiotic relationship to flourish into waves of Love and appreciation. As I breathed out holding her leaves I repeatedly was gifted by her sweet Basil scent which became its own webstring attraction. I repeated the exercise with a can of Febreze air freshener. Each time I allowed my breath to return while holding the can I felt nothing…a deadness as I stared at the can. For comparison I squeezed the trigger and sprayed the citrus scent. Unlike the scent of Basil that beckoned me to draw closer I waved my arms and hand to eliminate the sickly sweet laboratory smell. Without my sense of respiration I cannot experience the webstring attraction of smell. The natural world provides the basis for healthy relationship based on reciprocity. Laboratory made “knock-offs” of nature do not enhance my feelings of Love and connection with Nature. I connect with all creation with my breath. Conscious breathing enriches my experience of the natural world. Alive webstrings can be accessed, experienced and enjoyed through the natural attraction of breathing with plants. I would surely be dead without my cooperative relationship with The Plant Nation. (It is possible to breathe the Basil fragrance all day without harm. The air freshner can clearly states the following cautionary remark: “Intentional misuse by intentionally concentrating and inhaling the contents can be harmful or fatal…”). How does this activity enhance your sense of self-worth? Your trustfulness of NIAL and NIALS? Because the Green world and I are in a reciprocal relationship of respiration I am an important part of the natural equation. This knowledge increases my sense of self-worth. Which authority or person, if any does this activity identify or re-educate inside or outside of you? This activity re-educates and enhances my understanding of Love as the underpinnings of all webstring attractions in the natural world. ^^^ We went out in the mountain to an old village with friends and spend almost 8 hours around. From the smallest grass to the biggest tree (an oriental plane of 850 years) were trying to reach up the sun. The pine trees in the forest were thin and long competing with others to reach the sun. So do I. We shared the life energy from the sun. The plane tree was so old with a wrinkled trunk but still in its skirts there were fresh sprouts, new beginnings… So do I. I have new hopes, I have new cells every moment. We found blackberry, rosehip, currant bushes on the sideway. They climbed on each other. You could not seperate one bush than the other still the fruits were all around, full of attraction to us and the bees… Their roots on the earth, they were nurtured, with their fruits they nurtured us and many other beings like bees. I was nurturing the yoghurt bacteria! And suddenly I felt the bite of a bee! Was he attracted by my yoghurt bacteria? This I will never know… We saw water springs, they were very cold. You could not keep your hand in the water more than a few seconds… I was not that cold. But was attracted to drink it… The flow of that fresh water became one with the flow of my body… Flow was going on! In me and out of me… we were one flow! The cathedral picnic test I would never have done these, neither in a cathedral nor out in a city. Never in nature! ^^^ I ask permission to sit with my dogs as they lie around under the kiwi pergola. They stretch out their ears and look at me, inviting me to join them. Two dogs are lying back to back, touching. The head of another dog touches the head of the dog lying next to her. One cat is stretched out on the bench in the sun. The other cat is enjoying the coolness of the earth. This morning we are a community of peace and quiet, sharing this place and time. The sun reaches through the vines. It touches the ground at the edge of the path. One of the dog moves to sit in this warmth. Another dog follows her. Listening to the birds in the trees, sitting here with Yukio, I feel all of a piece with the world. I sense the unity and cohesion of my life, the unity and cohesion that is possible for every human being who senses and honors natural attractions. Yukio tells me that early this morning he walked barefoot all the way down to the road. As I listen to his words I hear the gratitude in his voice and I am drawn to the sincerity of his commitment to experiencing deeper natural connection. I feel grateful for the fact that we are all sitting together now, without words, just being ourselves, calm and accepting in NIAL. ^^^ In this activity, I rationally think about gratitude becoming a bridge connecting my innate senses and my reasoning/verbalizing capacity. It can serve as a common denominator that grounds and unites both old and new brains. This integration is exactly the point of our work and the hallmark of an evolution in consciousness. Gratitude, then, can become the vehicle or tool for accomplishing this step. It represents our ability to connect with the unconditional love of Nature where everything is characterized by the simple tension between positive attractions and a tendency toward entropy. I am grateful for my ability to sense; for the fifty-three or more natural sensibilities that connect me with Nature. I am grateful for the rationality that lead me to this coursework, and my ability to translate my experiences into words. I am grateful for the unfolding realm of possibility that exists as a result of moving into a place where natural senses are integrated with capacities of reasoning, speaking, writing, reading and understanding words and symbols. I have a deeper, albeit perplexing grasp of the role of symbols in my experience; how my energetic makeup might now work with the power of abstractions to serve something other than a status quo that leads to greater and greater injustice, environmental destruction, loss of evolutionary complexity and incoherence. I learned that my doorway into what appears as a mystery is the simple act of appreciating all that is available to my senses. That this mystery is as close as my psychic interior, and that all that separates it from all-that-is-other-than-me is the act of gratitude. Without this sense, I would continue to simply bounce along the surface of the expression of beingness, unconnected, unsupported, unfulfilled, constantly attracted in the form of yearning to a deeper experience. We went on a hike to a natural area today and I thought it would be an opportunity to deepen my work with activity 14. I had a rather unexpected, counter-intuitive experience instead. The walk was organized by the local land trust. When we arrived, I immediately noticed a member of the Inland Wetlands Commission was present. This woman voted for the development of the 27 acres adjacent to our suburban one acre. My wife and I, and two other neighbors where interveners in the wetlands hearing process and came away from that experience disenchanted, disenfranchised, sad, angry, frustrated: I could go on, but you get the picture. Seeing this member of the commission brought back a lot of those feelings. I am still feeling vulnerable to the strong emotions I wrote about in the last post. I wanted very much to simply experience the walk and use my burgeoning nature-connecting skills to work through the experience. Instead there was constant chatter by a former maintenance person of the park. We were walking in Gillette Castle state park, the former estate of William Gillette, an eccentric, wealthy person from early last century. I felt particularly sensitive to the talk of his ridiculous expenditure, seeing this barrage of conditioning as more obvious evidence of our culture's strange star fascination, and thinking about how this runs counter to ideas about social and economic justice. Other conversation centered around there not being enough state money to properly 'maintain' the natural areas and how crews blasted this or knocked down that or overcame this thing over here to build, pave or generally maintain the conquered state of the area. I searched for gratitude and found it here: in my ability to have a different perspective from this very mainstream chatter. We are constantly presented with symptoms of the deep ills of the culture. We are fortunate to have some understanding that other perspectives & paradigms exist such as a nature-connected approach to life and our relationship with Nature. As a result of the walk, I must admit I was plunged back into a state of cathartic-like dolefulness. I am learning that, so far, nature-connecting exercise don't pull me out of it, but they do offer another road into it, ever deeper, where I am equipped with additional tools to till this fertile, dark soil of my psyche and from which, I have most definitely learned and experienced, powerful, creative drive eventually springs. Act
now.
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Organic Psychology by doing it. http://www.ecopsych.comAchieve a Degree or Certificate to strengthen your professional interests, or your hobbies or pastimes, by connecting them with nature. Implement your strongest hopes as you increase personal and global well being. Topics, subjects or leisure pursuits can include those listed below or other areas of interest: |
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