Amanda
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As I read through all of the posts and discussions, I realize that there are a million things for us to choose to do in this lifetime as human beings with the freedoms we have been given in 2021, and yet here we all are. I think that is pretty great, and I definitely feel part of a tribe and echo many of your feelings and intentions. My understanding of nature connection, in regards to the program, changed when Michael said that nature included natural surroundings but also our body processes and everything in our environment. I have to say that it let me off the hook a bit because I didn’t grow up camping and hiking and mountaineering. As a kid I did have the freedom to chase grasshoppers and frogs even though my mom was a worry wart. I was able to do that because we lived on Air Force bases and everyone felt safe, otherwise I probably would have been raised with many of the same worries I see kids raised with today.
I have been playing with the word “natural” connection, which I think encompasses a bit more for me. I think that awe and reverence does occur most readily observing the natural world. I lived in Hawaii from 12-16, and I remember riding around in the car thinking, “Wow, everything is a postcard!” It is truly a breathtaking place to visit or live. However I think humans and their creation of music, art, dance, books, GOOD television:) and movies also connect me to myself, the planet, and other people. I think we are given an opportunity to connect, through a myriad of ways and it is up to us to notice. I do believe my sit spot works on me, and want to meet people where they are and find what will make them curious enough to try it out. Right now there is a movie on Netflix called, “My Octopus Teacher,” about a man that visits an area of the ocean near his house and stumbled upon a relationship with an octopus. It happened at a time in his life when he didn’t know what to do and had put down his work as a photographer, but he was inspired to pick it up again. A nature/natural connection is always there waiting for us, but for me it means slowing or quieting down enough to hear my intuition on what is the next best thing for me to do in the moment. I don’t want to forget that at one time I didn’t know what a sit spot was because my clients may not either. -
**I realized I didn’t answer the kickoff question…I have different connections to nature, sometimes they are part of my work, part of my daily life, or sometimes it’s all have you at the moment to ground yourself.
In staying in the same vein of the post above, a connection to nature for me is a haven, a place to go for solace in the middle of grief or trauma, sometimes the only option. My eldest niece and grandchild at 4 years old drowned at her sister’s two year-old birthday party, and yes there were more adults to kids and she was 5 feet away, and yes her parents were the type that never allowed her out of their sight-extremely over-cautious. We did CPR but in the moments at the hospital we waited to find out her condition, I couldn’t stay in the ER and sit, and I had to go outside and walk under the trees. She is 10 years old now, and she is healthy and smart and worries all the time, but she is also a wise soul. A connection to nature is a gift I want to continue to share with her and share as a coach, because I do believe it can save your life when nothing else works. -
My post would have been different based on concepts and quotes that stuck out for me, but I am also writing this in the present moment, holding the vision I am moving towards as a coach. Earlier this week, a fellow Air Force family that opened their doors and hearts to my own was hit with one of the worst things I think can happen to an individual. The wife who currently cares for her husband(currently in the dying process of Alzheimer’s) received the news that her 45 year old son killed himself leaving two 4 year old sons. I met him when he was 16, and he was a happy guy(the youngest of two brothers), but he suffered from PTSD as a result of tours in Afganistan, struggled more because of a divorce two years earlier, was a firefighter, and was having a difficult time with his father unable to recognize him any longer. My mission, my question, part of my vision, is the question-”How do people move positively to the other side of trauma and grief?” I currently work for a man who is also a vet and was a doctor on the ground and patrolled as well. He is alive but he suffers from PTSD, takes medication, marijuana for short periods of time that nightmares occur, has a difficult family life, and is a sole proprietor and provider for his family because of his wife’s mental illness.
I asked my boss why he thinks some vets kill themselves, and he said they came back here and nobody in their life had been through similar circumstances, they didn’t know why we went to war in the first place, and when they left their post as my boss did, two years later the same people the military fought off came right back into position. They felt they had accomplished nothing. No purpose for going in the first place. In the Coaching Skills(2016) book it discussed Victor Frankl’s concept of choice during suffering. The same book sits on my shelf and the idea I have always taken away from it, is that there is meaning in suffering, and those who suffered during internment camps made the choice to do so because they had something they had to share with the world or they lived for the family they hoped also stayed alive during the war. “J” I will call him, who recently died, was a firefighter and a dad, and he was loved greatly by his parents, but that wasn’t enough for him to endure. I would say that some people deal with trauma and grief in very different ways, and perhaps my boss is able to shut down emotions to situations to live that “J” was unable to, but I also see another difference.
Wilderness as a Healing Place(1993)-”We need healing when we suffer pain and a reduction of our ability to live well.” The healing he spoke about was a process that involved the physical, emotional, and spiritual parts. My boss is outside most of the day, he regularly hikes and walks and his smokers for BBQ are all outside. He actually spent time in the mental health field after he retired and said he went to work in the dark and came home in the dark and his office had no windows. He said he lost his mind, and he just couldn’t work like that anymore, so he left to start the business he currently has, which takes place mostly outside. I believe nature saved his life and continues to do so. I don’t think he recognizes that being outside in nature is a process that has worked for him, but he does know that he needs to be outside, which led me to a quote and a question for myself and us.
”Uninterrupted and undisturbed nature takes care of itself.” (Way of the Wilderness,1995) I do believe clients have the answers for themselves, and I do believe we are all Nature in the bigger sense, but how does that quote apply to us and how doesn’t it? -
I laughed to myself the other day thinking about how often I am engaged in discussions about weather. Yes, even here in Southern California we talk about weather, though it doesn’t change much day to day. In my work most people are strangers when I meet them and politics and religion are avoided, and I actually really don’t enjoy small talk, but after our discussion last week I find myself okay with it. Weather is part of nature, and it’s a subject we can usually all get on the same page with, not too many people argue about what temperature it is outside, and if one person likes it a little cooler or a little hotter everyone just laughs about it and moves on. Weather aka nature as the great unifier I guess. We are all affected by extreme weather and sometimes even subtle changes, depending on where we work and live, but nature connection for me is appreciation and recognition and starts with myself. I can move through an entire day if I am anxious, or worried, or busy and not even notice changes or small animals or insects around me. I do want a connection to nature and to be present because I know I am better for it. I do things daily to help create that connection like meditation or just sitting outside a few minutes to notice what is going on around me, but there are challenges. I don’t think it is time though, even though many people would probably say that. It’s a decision of what to do with time and that is our decision. Sometimes a Netflix binge or a book will win, but I do find that even though I am not always present to nature it is present to me. I live in an area where a rabbit or hummingbird or hawk will seem to appear from nowhere. I am grateful for that because it calls me back to a connection, ultimately to myself.
Nature connection is present moment awareness, and I know being outside helps me to be grounded in the moment. My challenge to be connected is really my head, living in the future or the past. But I persist because it is important to me. I was fortunate to grow up in many kinds of environments outside, and I feel my best self, the best parts of me come out when I am outside. I didn’t grow up as a camper or a hiker or mountaineer, but I do enjoy long walks and conversations, especially with friends or the little ones I have in my life. As a kid I was outside catching grasshoppers and frogs or boogie boarding or snorkeling, and I am lucky for it. My mom would kick us out of the house until it got dark because she was running a small day care in our home, so any bodies she could get outside she would. I guess I have to lock the screen door myself now. -
Cynthia your post made me want to go run outside! Thank you so much, I am also grateful to have more practices to be in connection with nature and sounds like we are attracted to similar ones. I am also reminding myself that it is walking the walk and talking the talk in our own life, so that we are connected and can be so in our sessions with clients. We can’t encourage people to do things to better their lives if we don’t make time to do them ourselves. I really enjoyed your last statements, because I feel that the more time we are outside in nature and engaging in the present moment of it we do tap into a knowing that allows us to trust the process of our path, which will bring what we need as coaches, people, and/or business owners and creators.
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I appreciate your emphasis on the word SEEN and that we are in practice, a process, that we get to witness and encourage. It also reminds me that it never ends, so you can’t get it wrong. I have had times that I spent more time in nature and other times I didn’t, so I do recognize the benefits but it’s a process for both us and our clients. Meeting them where they are is what is important.
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Hi Rachel thank you for your post, I an enjoyed hearing about the program you work in and was curious to find out what exercises you program encourages for the kids that now have to step back into being indoors again. Which ones do they seem to retain? How do you think they bring the nature connection back to their worlds..