"I
recently participated in a hurried, almost stressful health and
wellness training program for people whose differences kept them
arguing amongst themselves. They had little interest or time to hear an
explanation from me about the unifying and healing benefits of our
reconnecting with nature process
and they therefore decided to omit it from their agenda. "The trees and
rocks are not the problem, they are not dysfunctional, they don't have
abusive chemical or interpersonal dependencies, they don't commit
crimes or have learning disabilities" they said.
In
the midst of this hubbub, a young bird flew into the meeting room
through the door. It could not find its way outdoors.
Without
a word, the behind-schedule, argumentative meeting screeched to a halt.
Deep natural attraction feelings for life and hope filled each person
for the moment. For ten minutes that frightened, desperate little bird
triggered those seventy people to harmoniously, supportively organize
and unify with each other to safely help it find its way back home,
outdoors. Yet when they accomplished this feat, they cheered their
role, not the role of the bird. They felt like heroes for the moment
and
congratulated their humanity for its wisdom and compassion.
In
their
story of the incident, the role and impact of the bird went unnoticed
while they cheered the human spirit.
The
group returned to the hubbub and conflicts of the meeting, as if
nothing special had happened. They completely overlooked that the bird
had united them while it was there, something they could not do without
its presence. Similarly, we who learn to consciously invite nature into
our lives and embrace us enjoy the grace of its natural
attractions. They
help us overcome our stress and conflicts by
uniting our mind body and spirit with our balanced and restorative
origins in nature's flowing community within and around us. As a
result, we
increase our
appreciation and love for natural attractions and their healing ways.
This natural system
connection motivates us to further support and protect all of life."
From Reconnecting
With Nature
by M. J. Cohen
Do the observations, above,
make sense to you? Are they attractive? Call
360-378-6313. BEGIN HERE
"The
activity attracted me to lie in the water beneath that sky of reddish
and orange colors, with the sun rising more powerfully than I've ever
seen it before. And there I was, all alone in the pond, but at the same
time feeling totally held by the outdoor moment. I knew this is where I
belonged. I felt a powerful energy being given to me by everything
around me. I had a feeling in my throat that made me feel like crying
and shouting with joy at the same time; and also a sense of peace, like
everything was telling me "It's all right, it's all good."
My
sense of isolation, this sense of loneliness, of being abandoned, of
having the world against us is a common feeling. But how could a person
be lonely when they could feel as part of a pond or see themselves in a
lovely flower, in the trees and animals, and in other people? Think of
all the lonely people who have no idea that we are so connected to
nature.
We
are truly not alone but only disconnected from our natural state. I
used to be so depressed and now when I feel it come on me I think about
how connected I have become to all things. I am less and less depressed
now. Imagine if everyone could experience this outdoor connection. It
would become a different world."
- Project
NatureConnect Participant
Do the observations, above,
make sense to you? Are they attractive? Call
360-378-6313. BEGIN HERE
What
Harvard University doesn't teach you:
"I
felt the connection the first time that I tried to connect with nature
and it becomes easier each time that I try to reconnect. In 1998, I was
on a humanitarian medical mission to Haiti. I contracted St Louis
Encephalitis during that mission and have suffered from migraine
headaches since that time. Lately after starting my studies, when I get
a headache, I just go outside and connect with nature. I calm down, I
get a feeling of completeness and my headache resolves in minutes."
- Project
NatureConnect Participant
Does the observation, above,
make sense to you?
Is it attractive?
..BEGIN HERE
Act
Now:
education counseling and healing with nature online funded
Ecopsychology degrees, courses, jobs and internships. Email for
information or call 360-378-6313
Benefit
from making nature a stronger part of your life
Enjoy
a powerful alternative book or online course that helps your mind walk
nature's path to simpler living and greater sanity.
Send
for participation instructions
As
a hobby or profession, produce financially and emotionally rewarding
nature-connected jobs, social environmental and political
relationships, stress reduction and livelihoods.
Send
for participation instructions
Project
NatureConnect offers subsidized, online distance learning holistic
Ph.D., M.S., and B.A. degrees, courses, grants, scholarships, jobs,
books, training and internships for sustainable health and wellness.
Send
for participation instructions
"The
activities work, they move students. I see significant improvement in
their self-esteem and value. They find something outside themselves
that is actually a truth within themselves."
- Mark
Walsh, Director of
Wilderness
Therapy, Hyde Psychiatric Hospital
Do the observations, above,
make sense to you? Are they attractive? Call
360-378-6313. BEGIN HERE
"I
wept as I sensed the unity of nature and myself. Honoring my nature
experiences energizes and restores me. It enables me to more
effectively help others recover. As these unique nature activities make
me more whole (holy), my sense of self becomes more alive and active.
The activities feel safe, they stimulate me. They free me to let go, to
be in the moment. As I co-create with nature's rejuvenating processes,
my life becomes more fun, balanced and joy-filled. These learning
moments
enable anybody to touch nature and enjoy its embrace."
- Project
NatureConnect Participant
Do the observations, above,
make sense to you? Are they attractive? Call
360-378-6313. BEGIN HERE
The
challenge that Project NatureConnect addresses:
"Oh,
what a catastrophe, what a maiming of love when it was made personal,
merely personal feeling! This is what is the matter with us: we are
bleeding at the roots, because we are cut off from the earth and sun
and stars. Love is a grinning mockery because, poor blossom, we plucked
it from its stem on the Tree of Life and expected it to keep on
blooming in our civilized vase on the table."
- D.H.
Lawrence
Do
you have or want to have a working knowledge of what "cuts us off" and
how to overcome it?
"Thousands
of tired, nerve shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out
that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a
necessity."
- John
Muir , 1901
A.D.
"The
Web of Life Imperative offers more tools, knowledge and
personal power for good than most therapies and spiritualities. It
enables us to reverse our destructive relationships by empowering us to
make thoughtful sensory connections with genuine nature. This
connection responsibly satisfies the aching, ever-wanting hole in our
psyche that has been produced by our excessive separation from nature,
a hole that leads us astray."
- Susan
Chernak McElroy,
Award winning, N. Y. Times best
selling
author of Animals as Teachers and Healers and Heart
in the Wild.
Do
the observations, above,
make sense to you? Are they attractive? Call
360-378-6313. BEGIN HERE
Act Now:
funded education counseling and healing with nature online
Ecopsychology degrees, internships, courses and jobs. Email for
information or call 360-378-631
Project
NatureConnect
