Cory Steele
Forum Replies Created
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Wow, reading through and having a discussion after this first module has really been a powerful experience. Seeing everyone’s own experience with nature connection has shown me how there are so many different perspectives on working within nature. How each has its own individual touch, but still has a lot of similarity in a bigger picture. This has helped me on my own journey. My own experience working with nature has played a specific role in much of my life, but seeing others has added to the fact that we are all working with nature. However, all of our paths differ. It has been exciting reading everyone’s initial posts, and responding to them. I am looking forward to continue this journey together and see how each of us are growing in our own path, as well as affecting each other’s paths. The energy I’ve felt so far has been very powerful. Both the posts on the forum, and the bi-weekly check-ins have helped as a reminder of where it is I feel this vision is pulling me. It feels right, and feels like this path I’m on both in my individual life and with all of this cohort is what I am supposed to be doing right now.
Overall, this has been a great addition to the recent intensive. It has been a little hard for me to keep that momentum going, but this group on here has been very beneficial. -
Initial Post- Foundation 1
Hello everyone, I hope everything as gone well, and everyone has settled back into regular life as painlessly as possible!
For me trying to describe what nature entails is almost as elusive as saying who I am. It is everything and everyone. At no point in our life are we ever separate from nature. When I am fully connected to nature I am totally locked in to my“self” that is connected to the surrounding environment, as well as everyone else around. It is a space that is beyond mind, and locked into being. I understand with every molecule of my existence that I am not separate from anything “out there.” As Jane Goodall said,” You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
This understanding of who I am and what I am apart of helps me in every moment. The personal to the professional. As a coach it helps me because I understand who and what the client is. The same thing that I am. With that understanding, I can work on level grounds with my client. I am not inferior to him/her, and he/she is not inferior to me. We are working together and understand that we are both already complete.
For me getting to this level requires surrender to the flow of the universe, and not get caught up in my mind. That ends up being a place where I get caught up in mind made labels and constructs that can sometimes keep a barrier of separation with the client/ other people around me. My mind gets caught in this game of I know better or they know better. It gets caught up in the dualistic nature of thinking something was right/wrong, good/bad, etc. Once I am able to surrender, sometimes through meditation/contemplation, or another form of mindfulness technique, then I am able to connect with another soul, as well as connect deeper to myself.This feels like the ideas of duality and comparison melt away. I can talk with a client/other person and the mind games are gone. The conversation is based in pure presence. I am not talking to a man/woman, of a certain age, race, nationality, social status, religious status, government affiliation, etc. It is one soul connecting in with another. It is pure awareness that I am connected at a deep fundamental level to this other soul. Every action I take with this soul is intertwined with my own. Going back to the quote above; I understand that I am part of something so much bigger than myself. Every thing I decide to do ripples out into the universe for eternity.
This deep connection to nature is a deep connection with universe, and everything that is a part of it, including me. I feel like I am no longer a fragment of the universe living separately from everything else in it, I am the universe experiencing everything that there is to offer. By sitting and holding space with clients, I can really make a container for this connection to thrive. The client can be in a space where they can work with that energy and build and create something that is more aligned with what they want. Instead of me thinking I know better for this other soul, I sit in the space allowing him/her to explore what is best for him/her. The individual knows what is best for that individual and no one else. As a coach I can be there to hold space and create that safe container, but the client is the one on there own life path. No one else can walk that path for the client, but I can be there to inspire and hold space while they navigate that path.
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Hello everyone, I know this is a little late. I have tried reaching out to several people for a ride to the starhouse. I live in Denver and will be going up to Boulder on my own, and just need a ride to the starhouse because my car is not four wheel drive. I was going to put this here one more time in the hopes of hearing from someone. Looking forward to seeing you all on Friday.
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Hello everyone, hope the start of the year has been good for you all. I was curious if anyone has got a carpool to the starhouse set up? I would also like to get in on that to split the costs on the way up there.
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Hello everyone! My name is Cory, and I look forward to seeing all of you and connecting with you come January. I have a studious background in psychology and philosophy, and am looking to incorporate this course with the background that I already have. Hopefully this allows me to make a career transition. I hope you all enjoy the rest of the year and the coming holidays!
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In the last year I have found myself living more and more with my vision than any other time in my life. Every day I am still leaning more and more into that vision as well. I have started to really accept everything in my life as my own, whereas, in previous moments in my life I always found excuses to put on the external world. I started to change my beliefs that everything in this life is my responsibility. That a lot of times life is not necessarily about what happens to us, but how we respond to it.
For example, I used to become irritated or angry if I was driving and someone cut me off or something else in traffic. Now I realize I am in control of how I respond to that. The situation is happening, and I get to decided how that affects me. Do I lash out and become mad? Or, do I keep my inner peace and not let it affect me.
I have been applying this to all areas of my life, and really try to be mindful about the situations I am in. What is it that they can teach me about myself, and what lessons I can learn and apply to my life.
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Hello everyone, I wish I could have made the live streaming but I was feeling ill and couldn’t talk. I am from Idaho, but currently live in Denver and am looking forward to connecting with all of you in the months to come.
The notions of soul-directed and nature-connected living really started to take the front stage in my life the last year and a half. I have always been one who has been searching for a deeper connection in this world. In relationships, work, and my place in this world. Then I had this experience a year and a half ago, and I started to feel that connection more than I ever have.
I started to see the world in a new way, and the notion of being connected to nature everywhere I went really slapped me in the face. I started to mediate daily and things became even more clear. I would have a conversation with someone and it no longer felt like we were in two different universes. I was able to talk to people and all preconceived belief systems I had went out the door. It was two souls connecting during a conversation. It wasn’t ran by anything that I may have been holding on to such as gender, race, social status, or any other thing we use to describe someone.
It was only when I started that journey inward that I really started that journey, and the deeper inward I went the more I saw that in my external world as well. I was able to connect to the nature of myself as well as the nature of other people on that deeper level of being, and not just the surface level that we get caught up in during our busy every day lives.
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Adriana, I also love how you talk about it being part of our DNA. We can’t separate ourselves from nature…EVER! I love how you so eloquently state “We are nature.” There doesn’t even need to be any more argument because we are fundamentally made of the same thing. The way you talk about war and trauma influencing DNA also caught my eye. I have read similar studies and find it to be so amazing!
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Taylor, the phrase “we are nature” really spoke to me. If we are disconnected from nature we are disconnected from ourselves, and vice versa. Having that understanding helps me connect better not just with myself, but with clients/other people as well. If I value myself, nature, and others that helps create a safe container to share with others while in a session. Reading this showed me that there are other people out there that share this vision and idea. This cohort is carrying this vision, and each person in the cohort is carrying an individualized vision of how it pertains to all our lives.
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Sandy, I enjoyed reading the colorful description you painted. Hearing your insight on the drive up was a wonderful part of the intensive. The way you describe the presence of “all in” really spoke to me. How the separateness just evaporates. Bringing that presence to your coaching sessions is going to create a very wonderful container for authenticity and reflection to flourish. It shows thorough your writing and the time I got to know you that you really do have a deep connection with nature/your self.
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Ben, I really enjoy how you talk about your own baseline in every day moments. The traffic is always a great example because we can get caught up in the emotional triggers of traffic, and that can carry over into coaching sessions, or other moments in our day to day life. I constantly notice when I’m flying. How I can get caught up bringing me personal issues onto a plane. A place that is already stressful enough. Trying to notice our own baseline in different settings is such a beneficial skill to have. You pointed out wonderfully how if we aren’t aware of our own baseline then coaching sessions can become about us, and not about the client.
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Hello Morgana!
I was able to set up a ride with Sandy, but thank you for offering! I look forward to seeing you and everyone else tomorrow morning!
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Hello Sandy, I was wondering if you still had space to the starhouse? I am coming up from Denver, but my car is not four wheel drive. Look forward to seeing you and everyone else Friday.
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I live in Denver, so I have a place to stay. My car isn’t four wheel drive, so that is why I was hoping to reach out and carpool.
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I always enjoy reading your responses, you were in the last EBI course as well. I’ve noticed how strong your daughter is in your vision. Children are always such good examples of the pure vision and innocence of life. Always running around and exploring so freely, both internally and externally.
The fact that you have noticed that you are not living your vision I believe is a big part of vision. A lot of people may just become stuck in situation and not really see a way out. It seems to me that you at least have that knowledge of something not quiet being right, and I see that as a big part of vision. If we never open our eyes then how can we expect to see?
I also love the metaphor with the acorn and the tree. I find myself thinking of how powerful this statement truly is as well. You see it too, that everything may already be there from the seed of change/thought.