[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

@sophieturner I very much agree with you statement of people seeing something more here, struggling with the effects of this crisis, and discovering that maybe it isn’t a one off type of deal. I also believe that there are some that will continue living life per usual, because I know many of them. The current state of our Earth has left many that are privy to this information feeling vulnerable and unsafe, struggling to find open minds to express themselves to, and lost in a world that is on fire but they know how to help.

I also felt a pull at the feminism mention. “Ecofeminism is an activist and academic movement that sees critical connections between the domination of nature and the exploitation of women” (www.WLOE.org)

[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

@jenniferlecompte Your post is so eloquently written. I appreciate your metaphor about plant growth and our growth as a human, understanding that time is necessary for everything to change. I believe that a lot of therapy, counseling, coaching clients fail for the same reason that a lot of new year’s resolutions fail: because they expect change at a rapid pace. Crying in one session and expecting to achieve ultimate nirvana afterwards is an asinine assumption, as you’ve only found the building. Next session could be locating the key under the rock to gain you access, next would be unlocking the door, and after that could be finally seeing inside the building, inside the soul. Change, growth, opening yourself and trusting the process, takes time. Thank you for such an insightful post.

[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

“Many therapy clients also don’t realize that the grief and fear they struggle with may be natural responses to the death of so many living beings and the ongoing distress of Earth, air, and ocean life all around us. Because we’re not being informed about links between mental health symptoms caused by the way we live and the accelerating inner and outer devastation, we remain mystified about why we feel so much pain.” (Pyche and Nature in a Circle of Healing,19, Buzzel and Chalquist)

Currently, I am listening to the audiobook of “Braiding Sweetgrass,” by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Kimmerer is a Professor of Environmental Biology at SUNY. I wrote something down that she asked, “Where do you feel most nurtured?” Before I heard the rest of her story, I got to thinking about where I really felt nurtured. I couldn’t decide, and so I hit play and resumed, only to hear her mention that a good friend of hers had stated he felt most nurtured in his car, and later attempted suicide in that same vehicle. Later that day I re-read the quote above that I jotted down in my journal. The citizens on our planet are in turmoil and struggling daily whether they know it or not. I once read something, that I’ll summarize here, “When you’re feeling down and you don’t know why, tell those who ask that you’re sad for the people and animals that die without someone there for them. Tell them you just lost a friend, and when they ask who, respond with I don’t know, but they could have been.”

Ecopsychology is why I applied to this program. We are our planet, and what we do to ourselves is what we do to Earth. “The needs of the planet are the needs of the person, the rights of the person are the rights of the planet.” (Ecopsychology—The Principles, T. Roszac, 321) As a coach and guide in training, I feel slightly unprepared as I do not have any previous education in counseling, therapy, education, so all of the extra information I receive can only serve to help me and my clients. My preparedness, however, stems for my love of the Earth, my understanding of how she works, my patience in learning more about her, my experience as a human and the pain I’ve felt at the crisis she lay in, largely due to the way that my fellow humans have treated her. I understand as an activist that the Earth is in danger, and I understand as a human that the COVID-19 crisis has opened minds and eyes to the true consequences of our lifestyles. At our farmers market in the spring there was a small booth that sold vegan food- “meat”balls, sautéed and marinated mushrooms, soups and casseroles, by mid-summer they expanded their booth by one on each side. By the end of summer they had a separate booth in a different wing offering high protein, vitamin rich smoothies, and when I went to the market on Friday they had expanded that booth as well, and bought another blender. I talked to them and asked about their success, she tells me that a lot of their customers have told her they are interested in going vegan but don’t know where to start. Without an actual experiment, I can deduct that their success is directly related to the crisis our planet is in now.

Nature guidance, for me and my future career, revolves around the practice of engaging my clients with their natural world; working through their real life issues by helping Earth deal with her real life issues such as clearing trash and planting gardens. When quarantine hit, many people chose to go hiking and camping, exploring their natural world around them. When quarantine hit, highways weren’t so crowded but parks and trails were, which resulted in trash, food wrappers, plastic bottles and other single use items, fishing line tangled and left in submerged branches, being left behind. How can we give back to nature by FINALLY embracing her, spending time with her, basking in her glory and appreciating what she had to offer while also decimating her and choking her out? How can we do the same to us, ruminating on the negative attitudes of those around us, eating junk and living a dehydrated and dizzy life, cluttering our soul with the pain that doesn’t belong? Linking nature and our mind/body/soul is a goal I wish to achieve with all of my clients using my experiences and limited but vastly growing knowledge of self, soul and Earth.

[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I spent this week thinking about how many paths and choices that we took and made to get here. Where did we all come from? How did we get here? What are we going to do with this knowledge? I often feel so privileged that I am receiving this education, but I also feel overwhelmed that I have answers and I want other people to know them, too. I feel like I just learned the coolest life hack and I am responsible for spreading the information. This program has created endless possibilities, and with what we’re learning here, I know that the world can be saved, we can change views and attitudes and create insight, and I’m so excited to be on this path.

@Jenniferlecompte I love your comparison to feeling like a tree in a family in the woods, and a drop of the ocean, it really does feel like that sometimes. This program has made me feel like I belong to something much larger.

[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

The full week that we all spent together really had me thinking. Mostly about how lucky we all are that we are privileged enough to be able to learn these things, DO these things, and that we will develop into coaches or guides or mentors or just extraordinary people that have this knowledge that we can share. How did we all wind up here? How did we find this path? How many other paths had we traveled before we came across this road less traveled? I feel like a child at a magic show who wins a backstage pass and I get to meet the magician, where they share with me how to perform the best trick in the house. When I ask if I can do it for other people, they simply say to add your own twist, and it’s mine! I can’t tell you how many paths I took or how many choices I made to get to this point in my life, but I’m reminded everyday that I am just barely out of Gen. Green, but I can still work to teach and help to keep our world going, and I can make a difference. This full week made me think about the differences I can make, and just how hard I’ll have to work to do it. I’m happy to be here, and I can’t wait until we graduate.

Take my favorite poem from the late, great, Robert Frost.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

Thank you so much for sharing, Sophie! I love the poem that you shared, and simultaneously I hate it becasue it reminds me of when I was very into poetry. In high school when I contemplated suicide, I wrote poetry viciously and dependently, and once I got my depression under control I ditched poetry and started reading fervently. I miss poetry, writing it and reading it, and I appreciate the poem you included, it reminds me that my own failure is natural and maybe not a failure at all…
“So like children, we begin again…
to fall,
patiently to trust our heaviness.
Even a bird has to do that
before he can fly.”

I needed the permission you spoke of, to award myself something that I’ve been longing for for over a decade.

[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

Practicing objective awareness is easier to do when I don’t have to remind myself to do it. I will preface by saying that I do not like kids of any age, shape or form. This being said, I ask my coworkers about their kids to be nice and have something to talk about. I have been listening to their “parenting struggles” with a new sense of awareness, that while yes they did ask for this by having children and these kids are their responsibility, they also have other real world problems that I may not be aware of. My husband is a machinist, and has repeatedly downgraded what he does to make it sound like it’s so easy and just a repetitive process. While asking him how his day went today he outlined some issues that I’ve never heard him talk about before, or maybe he has I just didn’t ask the questions that got me to really listening. Up until this point I was trying to figure out how I could ask the sacred questions organically in a conversation. While he was lamenting about a poorly made decision by his bosses that will result in difficult changes and timelines for everyone, I asked him what he noticed while talking to his bosses about it, and how they seemed to carry the conversation. He told me how they seemed so sure, but after he pointed out the discrepancies in their plan they were very angry and spread that mood to others. I let him breathe a few times and asked him what he thought of the situation and what these changes mean to him. We had a very deep conversation in a span of 10 minutes, that helped me understand his feelings and I hope helped him go back into work feeling more confident.

Being objectively aware and asking myself the sacred questions throughout the day, if for no other reason than to continue to stimulate my senses and prepare them for a longer and more serious use, has been enlightening. By going outside to the laundry room at work I can tell which of my coworkers were out there based on which stools were moved and what scent I get from the ashtray. I know by how my boss walks down the hall (away from me so I see her back) what kind of morning we’re going to have, and if there will be an employee meeting that really isn’t a meeting at all. I now make time to bond with the dogs before I get them on my table by taking a short potty walk and pointing out the beauty to them, and if I’ve groomed them in the past I make sure to apologize for anything that I could have done that hurt or scared them such as a quicked nail, having to shave a matt out or worse- having to brush it out. I feel that I have had to ask for help fewer times from my coworkers since I’ve made it a point to get a deeper connection with my furry clients. I haven’t gotten myself to answer the “What does it teach me?” question just yet, but I am anticipating a discussion at work that could potentially go very bad (cutting back on hours to focus on EBI and building a clientele/volunteering) and I have to sit on it for a while, ensuring that I go into this with confidence and aware of what I need, instead of focusing on what would be best for my boss.

Becoming self aware has been a struggle for me, because it means that I am now aware of what I am lacking, and once I figure it out it becomes an obsession until I am fulfilled. This is as small as taking vitamins (I’m vegan and have peripheral neuropathy in my toes from a vitamin b12), realizing that my headaches are not always because I didn’t have enough water and they could be caused from stress, and that I am a healthier and happier Allyson when I meditate. I have tried the 7 breaths exercise and it is intimidating, because I have gotten some answers that I don’t quite know what to do with. I’m getting answers though, and that’s what matters.

[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

@sara.brells – Sara, have you had a chance to read Dr. Joe Dispenza’s “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself”? I can’t say that I fully recommend the book, but he does mention this about memories- “A memory without the emotional charge is called wisdom.” I would like to thank you for your post here, because you’ve helped me understand something about myself. Lately, I’ve noticed myself zoning out; while grooming, cooking, cleaning, outside or inside, driving or just sitting. I have chastised myself for this behavior as it isn’t conducive to accomplishing goals or being productive and successful. However, it makes sense now that my mind, soul and body are just trying to do what comes naturally to them. I read everyone’s posts a few days ago and have been sitting with them until now, and now that I’ve had time to understand what is actually happening, I’ve let my “zoning out” happen- and I’m pleasantly surprised. When I come back I do feel less stressed, almost like I’ve taken a small wander, without leaving my physical place but allowing my internal being to go off and do what it needed to. Question, do you ever feel light and airy? As if you’re floating or that something could pass through you?

@sophieturner – Sophie, isn’t it strange how we can be late/unrelaxed/underprepared but still do a great job and be engaging? I think that even though you didn’t feel like you had a great start to it, you still performed effectively and got the message across. Your instructional time helped the staff raise questions that they had and didn’t know they had. On a side note, your story with your sister and her frustrations around an issue at work made me think of something I recently learned about. Emotional Contagion is a phenomenon where one person’s emotions are so strong they are mirrored by those around them.

@analiesehill – “With awareness, I am shown my own social discomfort and self consciousness.” This makes sense. Tension, on the other hand, is a very weird struggle. It is definitely a practice to consistently remember to
release tension. I carry it mostly in my jaw, neck, shoulders and upper back. I’m reminded of it anytime I pass a mirror and think “Oh, so that’s what a female Hunch Back looks like.” I’m glad to hear that awareness has helped you at work the same way that it has helped me. Slowing down, taking a breath and just noticing things are literally how I get through my day now.

[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

Calvin and Vanessa,
I’ll be taking the greyhound in and will get there around noon, but I’m trying to figure it a way to get from Denver to Gunnison. I think there is a bus station near the Walmart, so I was just going to wander around town until time came to head out.

[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

Vanessa, thank you so much for sharing that with us. You have come so far and I’m so happy that we will have a chance to connect on a deeper level. You have a wonderful way of writing, so eloquent, and I’d love to read some of your poetry if you would like to share.

I understand past trauma and being in a home that doesn’t feel so home like, and how you can use your past to connect with people and gain trust. This would be an excellent opportunity to build that trust, as many that have suffered and come through are not always so eager or able to speak their truth.

[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

Over the weekend I took my husband and our girls (they are dogs, but our children,) to a beautiful hike that a past student of EBI introduced me to. This particular place is less than a mile from Six Flags, and very close to a major highway. I had planned on a friend being my first client, but she has come into contact with someone with COVID, so we cannot be together for a while. I hadn’t asked my husband if he wanted to be coached or guided on this nature walk, but I figured I could slip in a few Sacred Questions and do some of the exercises that we have been practicing during our zoom calls and he would be none the wiser. Once we got far enough in that I could no longer hear the highway, even with 360 listening, I looked for a sit spot that he would like. We held our girls and sat on a log and I asked him to close his eyes and just listen; I asked him to listen from all angles, including up. He noticed a lot of things, he told me he could hear a breeze through the trees, but when questioned he said he couldn’t smell it or feel it. I asked him to breathe like a bear and see if he could taste the moisture on the log that we rested on, and after a while he said he could. I let him open his eyes and we did some surrender breaths together while I explained to him the exercises I just had him do. We sat in silence for a while, just letting our surroundings speak to us and before we got up again I asked him to 360 listen again. This time, he mentioned hearing scurrying critters, different bird song that he described as happy and chipper, and a breeze that he couldn’t tell where it was coming from but it felt like a cool hug. I asked him to carefully and quietly get back up and we would continue our wander, after a few yards he asked me why we needed to be quiet; I told him that we had sat still long enough that nature had enveloped us and was welcoming us as long as we played nicely with her surroundings. After our pause we noticed a handful of chipmunks, a few lizards, blue jays and edible mushrooms. We didn’t try to take pictures like we normally do, just mentally took in nature and her children so that we could reference the excitement internally at a later date. I’m happy that I had such an easy “client” for my first go around, Frank made asking the questions seem almost like drinking water or sleeping. He has a naturally inquisitive nature, he is always interested in whatever is going on and is the absolute most laid back person I have ever met. After our walk we went to the hardware store and made an impromptu decision to redo our living room. We were in sync with a color, how to rearrange and enjoyed each other’s company as we stayed up all night painting and helping our girls cope with the fireworks.

It is obvious to me that the forests cannot be saved one at a time, nor can the planet be saved one issue at a time: without a profound revolution in human consciousness, all the forests will soon disappear. Psychologists in service to the Earth helping ecologists to gain deeper understanding of how to facilitate profound change in the human heart and mind seems to be the key at this point. (Australian Activist John Seed, pg. 3, Ecopsychology- Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind.

This quote right here, is the reason I am here. There is a pain deep within my soul that my home, my Mother, is dying. The only place I’ve ever known, that anyone has ever known, is dying at a rapid rate and no one seems to care. Caring, though, comes with a level of stress and emotion that some are just equipped to deal with on their own. As a vegan, women’s rights activist, equal rights activist, and child of Earth I often hear “Wow, I could never give up meat!”, “I agree with you, but I could never volunteer at PP!”, or “Ya, but isn’t recycling/composting/zero waste living/leaving the thermostat to a slightly uncomfortable temp to save money and energy so hard? Where do you find the time?” That last part is particularly troubling to me; as humans we are always changing, our route to work changes, the store no longer carries our favorite juice, our water takes longer to heat up in the morning, our dogs age and require a slower pace for their walk, we develop an allergy, we get a haircut, things are always changing and we ADAPT! When I went vegan my husband said we wouldn’t have time to make “vegan food,” yet here we are bonding and growing our own food, food prepping and spending our evenings making amazingly nutritious meals that leave us left overs so we don’t need to make lunch. When I wanted to adopt another dog he said “We won’t have time, we already have all of these other pets.” But not only did we have time, we also had the love and diligence to mend her broken heart and help her deal with past traumas. When my old man Paco was diagnosed with Diabetes, he said this will be easy, just poke him a few times and give him some insulin, and it was anything BUT easy, yet I loved Paco with a fury that I’ll spend my entire life looking for again.
I have my screen saver set to nature on my laptop, always have and always will. Thanks to this little additive I am shown many picture of nature reserves and wilderness areas, like Doi Pha Tang in Thailand, Zhangjjajie National Forest Park in China, and John Muir’s wilderness reserve in California. I’ve studied his life, his ways, and his abilities enough to know that the “Father of the National Parks” had it right. John had it right all along and if we can focus more on being ourselves with a touch of great men and womn in history, we can accomplish so much for Earth. In “Wilderness as a Healing Place,” I learned a lot about myself. The conclusion of the article listed the reasons why wilderness has a profound effect on our being, and many of the listed resonated with me. “In wilderness people experience increasing effortlessness in attending to their surroundings, which can be an antidote to the irritability and stress that comes with attention overload in daily life.” (pg. 55) I often feel like it’s me against the world, and through this program I’ve come to accept that it’s me AND the world, or that it can be. I’m working on honing my vision, to concentrating on a deeper focus, what I can and will do, and who I can wrangle along the way, to help save our Earth.

[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

Eko, I have never heard the phrase “personal growth junkie,” so after reading your post I did some research. I didn’t think there was a term for what I do, but there is and I found it. Thank you for sharing your post, I feel like we are both in the same boat, and isn’t it sad that in this busy world, we can’t even break free for a moment to enjoy some nature connection? I believe it’ll happen for us.

Jess, you have no idea how pleased (in a melancholy way) that the victim complex is a thing, and that it’s not just me. It is very depressing that I do this, and often times to my husband when he just wants to help. I have had many opportunities to teach him about my houseplants, my garden, the frequency and amount of food for our fish, the reasons why i’m switching the cat food to this brand, why I feed the dogs this way, but instead I keep it all to myself. I’m going to sit with this and focus on why I do it, and make better to my husband, because he deserves it.

Nathan, please write a book. Seriously, having your pups teach you about nature connection sounds like a dream come true, and I often lament that my girls have varying degrees of activity and can’t enjoy the long hikes together without needing to be carried (Belle is a rat terrier and a mountain woman and Teddy is a chi/min pin and has a very difficult time with steep terrain and overheating.) My biggest take away from your response though, is “Just this.” That will help me immensely, and I cannot thank you enough for it.

[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

Prior to taking this leap of faith that is EBI, I would have thought that nature connection is just that—being connected to nature. However, “nature connection” goes so much further. I didn’t think that just by picking up a book about the basics to being a coach that I would now have a reading list that covers the indigenous tribes that once lived on the land that I live on now and the tracks of wildlife that I may encounter, I didn’t think that I would learn about the baseline of my surroundings, and I definitely didn’t think that I would ever be able to meditate. Yet, here I am, roughly 2 weeks in, explaining to my husband while we work in the garden that the sound the birds are making is because Toes, the stray cat that I feed, has come into the yard, not because they are mating. I’m finding ways to deepen and broaden my connection to nature every day, and thus I’m finding new definitions for nature connection every day. Nature connection has a special definition to everyone, and no two people will have the same connection or experience. The way that nature affects will always change with the seasons (I prefer Autumn), the weather (I prefer a heavy breeze with rain rolling in), the time (I’m more of an early riser), and my attitude (which is gradually becoming more lax and accepting.)
I often times wish that my classmates here in cohort 20 had the opportunity to meet me before I began this journey, but at the same time I’m glad that you all have only met me on web calls. I’ve been described as callous, short, obnoxious and high maintenance, I had an attitude problem and a temper. Lately though, I’ve been calmer and easier to get along with. I no longer worry about the little things that happen around me; instead of losing my cool when someone doesn’t use a blinker, I let it go and think “maybe they don’t know it’s burnt out,” or when my coworker doesn’t vacuum around her grooming table I’ll reason that “perhaps she thought it would scare the dog on my table.” Deep down, I know that these really aren’t the reasons why, but the real reason has nothing to do with me. In barely 2 weeks of meditating daily, keeping my mouth shut and listening, opening my eyes to see what’s beyond my normal tunnel vision and reading everyone else’s responses I’ve become aware of another world. My connection to nature has broadened further than I ever thought I’d be able to go. As much as I can say that I love camping and trees and kayaking, I’ve never taken the time to learn tracks or bird calls, the sound of my tree in the early morning versus late at night, the way the weather affects the wildlife, which in turn affects me, or the history of the land that we all live on. This program has taught me more about myself than being in the army did, and I’m much happier here.

Like many of the responses before me have said, I work a very busy schedule. Summer is especially booming as a dog groomer, and now that I’ve started grooming on the side I often have to come home from work and leave immediately to go make house calls. My boss is now adding extra work for me because I’ve showed her the work that I do which means I can’t request off work and the days I’m working are FULL. I have just enough time in the morning to meditate, do yoga, water my garden and then take care of our furkids before we have to leave for work. We make everything from scratch for dinner so it often takes us 2+ hours to cook, and by that time it’s 9:00 and we promptly eat and fall asleep. I’m ecstatic that just by waking up an extra 30 minutes early I’ve been able to incorporate some morning nature connection. Often times when I complain about my lack of outside time during the day people respond with “But you’re a groomer! You get to walk the dogs outside,” not really, when my day is packed I finish a dog and put them in a room that has an enclosed outdoor run so they can potty, and I promptly grab another dog. Most days I get to work at 7:15 and don’t see outside until past 5:00, when I take the trash out. I’m ashamed at my lack of connection to nature, but every day I feel as though I’m getting deeper and further into a more mental connection with nature, which is good enough for me.

[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

This was a very informative discussion, I was given a lot to think about and work with. I enjoyed hearing everyone else’s wandering trip and I’m happy that it worked out well for everyone. Deep listening is a skill that everyone, regardless of career or lifestyle, that we should all strive to work toward. I was left with a lot of questions for myself, I’m looking forward to answering them with myself.

[Allyson Duffin-Dalton]

Thank you so much for this amazing presentation. I watched it under a week ago and I’ve been thinking about the concepts daily- mainly the connection of “incorporation” leads to “transformation.” I’ve been trying for YEARS (like, over a decade) to break my very unhealthy phone addiction. I have tried everything but I go through actual withdrawals when I leave my social media behind. You are so correct when you say that we cannot eliminate habits, or in my position addictions, we can only replace them. The lecture had me thinking about ACTUAL replacements for my addiction, not just temporary gratification tools. If I’ve learned anything during my time as a social media addict, it’s that “I’ll scroll for just a little bit more, what if I see a good video to watch? What if one of my friends posted something important? What if there is news that I need to know?” I am always searching for the emotional gratification that just might never come. So I scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll, hoping to receive that high associated with finding something good, and when I don’t I just keep scrolling. I had been doing very well with not using facebook, but when the unjust murder of George Floyd happened, I wanted to find the protests and facebook is where I thought the information would be. Now, I feel trapped in this never ending scroll loop forcing myself to be drug deeper into the pain and hate inside this world, instead of putting my phone down and spreading love and human connection.
I’ve also been making my plan for my intention setting. It’s taking me a while because I’ve tried in the past and never succeeded. I am hopeful that now that I have the information I needed but didn’t know was available to me that I can make a change. We are a very emotional creature, we strive for a response from anything, and I want to have a positive response to my intention setting as opposed to being grumpy in the morning when I choose to wake an hour before my husband, and I want to feel joy that I get to feel the first sun rays on my skin while I tend to our garden that will feed us and our neighbors, and I want to feel a deep connection with my own body and mind while I lay in our yard with my dogs instead of laying on the couch watching “The Office” for the 3,000 time. I always say that I want to be healthy and happy, but that goes much further than eating and drinking correctly and stretching on occasion, I need to begin by developing the building blocks to what I need as a human being- connection to the Earth and all those who inhabit it, exercising my mind and challenging it to be strong and leave unhealthy habits be, and choosing to love and stray away from the pain.