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APNC Spring 2020 Mod 1 Lesson 1- Forum
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Jess,
What you wrote about the never-ending to-do list really resonated with me. I’ve made to-do lists since I could write, and I’ve often wondered what that says about my perspective on productivity. I’m a big fan of accountability partners, so if you ever want someone to check in with regarding creating space for the important pieces that are not on our to-do lists, let me know! 😀
Also, I appreciate your metaphor regarding the loop between inner and outer exploration for that wholeness. I’m going to sit with that one more. Thanks!
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Hi,
Elizabeth here,a little late in responding… I’ve appreciated others’ openness in sharing.Nature connection is about connecting inner and outer self, an integration or blending with natural surroundings. It is an awareness of interconnection/interdependence between self and nature.
Nature connection is my support, my livelihood. Nature connection has from an early age, provided solace, re-grounding, direction, and inspiration. Understanding and making nature connections tells me where I fit in. Nature is a teacher and a guide. Much of my life has been dedicated to nature study and experience and sharing what I have learned and experienced with others.
I rely on nature connection to keep me grounded and aware, yet I am aware of a resistance to regular connection or ritual even though I have chosen to live in a place surrounded by open land and to work mostly outdoors. Examining this resistance, I realize it is linked to a kind of mistrust or disbelief, even I daresay, fear. The feelings of mistrust or fear are certainly related to past traumatic experiences. The feeling of disbelief comes with an ingrained tendency to lose myself in the day to day grind of doing what’s perceived as needed to ‘get by’. From this place, being in nature/nature connection is perceived as a luxury, something to do when there’s free time.
I will say that the last few weeks in this time of COVID and connecting with EBI have provided time and inspiration for reflecting and recalculating. What part of me know as ‘luxury’, a true voice tells me is vital and life-giving.
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Hello everyone – I’m sincerely enjoying and feeling very connected to so much of what everyone has written. Thank you for sharing your stories. Here is mine…
Until recently – the last couple of years – I was never a person that felt a need to get out in nature. I moved to Colorado from the middle of Illinois in 2005 to go to graduate school for counseling. The mountains intimidated me. I didn’t understand rivers. I come from wide open spaces and still lakes in the summers; from Great Lakes where you can see for miles and miles. Grand mountains blocking the sunset and fast-moving water slipping by were just too much. But I began to develop my relationship with them on hikes and wanders and camping trips. I dove in deep in 2006 for my first vision fast – 4 days and nights in the woods of New Mexico with no tent, no food, no people except the women scattered around the forest that I could only hear. It was terrifying and profound. I realized how much I’d been missing. How my lifelong quest for personal growth was a mostly intellectual affair. How there was a whole other huge world out there that could support, inspire, and move my stagnant depression, anxiety, and insecurity. I am still and will always be forever grateful for those evening thunderstorms, the sky, the trees, and the ancestors and women who held that space for me. I am still opening little packages of wonder and insight from that adventure 13 years ago.
Fast forward through the rest of grad school, two children, financial struggle and multiple jobs and continuing to build my relationship with the natural world around me. Introducing my children to it was my inspiration to get out, but this didn’t happen very much. It wasn’t until I was facing difficult choices around my health that I entered into a divine relationship with nature that has transformed my life in the last two years. My experience of “nature-connection” is partly what Steven Harper wrote, ““When we are truly willing to step into the looking glass of nature and contact wilderness, we uncover a wisdom much larger than our small everyday selves.” By allowing myself to be held, reflected, humbled by, and in reciprocity with the wilderness around me, I was and continue to find ways to tap into that vast, timeless, compassionate, and unapologetic energy and wisdom within and all around me. Having this support helped me navigate my health challenges and inspired me to be able to bring this access to others. In my day-to-day life, this nature connection lives in my body as a felt sense of being tethered to a central channel in myself while feeling a great sense of expansion from that place. From this place, I can accommodate anything and I experience a sense of flow. When I lose that feeling of the channel or the expansion, I know it’s time to reconnect with the wild one within me; whether on a hike, in my yard, walking my dog, or in my dreams. This connection has been healing for me in so many ways – it gives a context and meaning to feelings of depression, anxiety, or difficulty in my relationships. It feeds me and thus feeds my children, my partner, my community and our planet. I cannot be without this now that I’ve felt it. It is my medicine and I believe it is the medicine the world needs in order to transform and survive.
The challenges I face in finding this connection live within my mind – those parts of myself that insist on keeping me safe and small, protected and defended. It is when my ego insists on production, consumption, victim mentality, and more that I lose this connection. I honor so deeply the unending support of our bountiful earth, as well as the work I’ve been exposed to, that supports me in transmuting my old ways – from childhood, from trauma, from our patriarchal, racist, and capitalist society – into ways that honor my ancestors, my body, my family and the earth.
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In writing this essay, I am squeezing in a few moments between the end of the school and work day and the beginning of the evening routine, dinner, showers, clean up and bedtime stories. Tonight turned into him climbing the tree with his book and saying, goodnight, which ended with us both relaxing in the hammock under the full moon. Nature connection to me is experienced most when the day’s work is complete and I can relax with myself, my loved ones, and with my surroundings. I know my son feels most connected when he wanders freely around outside, discovering and creating all sorts of fascinating questions and curiosities, getting lost in time, absolved of any sense of self-consciousness, and humming his way through time and space. In these moments, he moves at his soul’s pace, and is in connection, uninhibited by the demands of school, chores, playmates, and familial expectations. In a way, it’s all I ever want myself. It’s the reason I wake up with the first bird in the morning. I want to sit and listen to the world wake up. I want to get all the work done, so that I can be at ease with the day and slip into some flow state, in which the soul’s pace takes over, and the mind, body, spirit connection synchronizes with that of my surroundings.
Truly, I feel best when purposefully connected with nature, with myself, and with our co-creation This often looks like physical labor, cooking, gardening or work around the house, but I feel most at ease when moving through the world with an adventurous mindset, even if that looks like laying in a hammock playing my ukulele. I believe playfulness is deeply connected to my personal dharma, which is why I love to teach and guide others. I want people to connect and have fun with their lives, so that they want to return again and again to their personal wakefulness game with gratitude and wonder. In this way, life is endlessly entertaining.
Like many of us, I am challenged daily to remain conscious of the connection. I juggle parenting, work, house and finances, self care, family and social gatherings, adventure, whatever else needs doing in the course of a day, month or year. You know the drill. It takes tremendous effort and organization, and as a single parent, my exposure to solitude and to the necessary resources for extended time in the outdoors is minimal. The most time I have ever spent away from my child was in the last two weeks when he had to quarantine with my parents. That said, he and I have gone on many camping, paddling and hiking adventures, and I look forward to his getting bigger and stronger so that we can go out for longer. This is my reason for signing up for this course. I always want to broaden our community of ecologically minded folks, so that we have more opportunity to experience the wild, and with a greater sense of safety and impact.
Every day, there is an anxiousness to quiet the chattering insecurities, the mental attachments to daily chores, fears, desires, tendencies toward perfectionism and escapism. This is the stuff that knocks me off my horse, and at the same time offers, again and again, an opportunity to hop back on! Spirituality and connection with nature has been a journey of discovering harmony for the chattering mind and the aching body. When I am outside of my home, car or other confine, I sense expansion and feel fully capable of traversing the Earth at a soul’s pace. The challenge is not an outdoor or an indoor one for me, but rather how to experience synchronicity, not only when at play, but also within the grind of completing the day’s work. The challenge is to stay tuned to his synchronicity as well, so as not to interrupt his personal flow of ease. There is no escape from parenthood, from modern life, from reality. Nature is everything, everywhere, and is a healing gift to us all. It is in the mastering of technology and in making space for kindness. It is making the friendship of the ego and the soul. Connection is moving our spirit beyond the walls of our physical,mental and technological manipulations, into a space of trust. To me, this is the key to the next phase of our existence.
As for a sacred question, my nearly 9 year old child has so many devices, for school, play, social connection. At times it feels absolutely necessary, and at others, completely indulgent and superfluous, and certainly draining psychologically and emotionally. With no social life right now and limited access to spending overnights in the wild (Texas is huge and most land is private), there is a great opportunity to live out the sacred question of what does this time mean for us? Within this technological burst into our evolutionary path, how can we learn to master our time so that we can master the external and internal balance of work, play and love?
Remembering my connection with nature is the truest of life’s guides. I teach yoga, love to dance, am fascinated with climbing rocks and paddling rivers. I walk and ride my bike as often as possible. I create somatic experiences for myself, and for the next 10 years, for my son and occasionally, for his friends and classmates. It is my responsibility to keep his connection to nature sacred and intact. Our bodies are built to achieve a level of mastery in mechanical functions. For those who are born with disabilities and illness, the able-bodied humans are responsible for giving care and compassion, and in return, those who live with illness give the gift of wisdom and resilience. We are built internally and intuitively to master the body, breath and brain. It takes practice, but life continuously gives us the opportunity to get on the horse and synchronize with the path, to build bodily and intuitive confidence, and to trust in the bounty of the Earth and the wisdom of the spirits. Nature connection is having a relationship with all parts of life and death.
The life of a parent right now is keeping us on our toes, bound by needs to feed, water and rest. This is education in itself for many working parents who are used to the daily grind of professionalism, childcare, rushed meals, and strict routines. At the same time, our kids are learning to move through the portals of online education. What about the people who still work outside of the home, and their children? The unknown of that feels doubly scary. Before the quarantine began, I was looking for full time work. I was trusting that summer camps would be open for children. I know I am not the only parent who relies on childcare during the summer. Yet, I know that those children, especially children with single parents, need to find their feet into boots and onto a beautifully wooded trail. Even more-so, they need to be on those trails with their parents, walking together and experiencing connection together.
I am here to build that. How do we make it easier? What can we do with schools and workplaces to give families paid time off to experience the wilderness together? This experience is vital to the healing of our familial culture here in the United States. Our families are broken, therefore are children are depressed, distracted, disassociated, and violent. Schools feel like prisons, as do careers, and prisons begin to feel comfortable. Families are at a loss, ask any teacher or school principal. When educators talk about the need to heal family systems, it begins with spending time together, without the stresses of money, and within the healing power of their connection to nature.
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Wow you guys! I have been reading through all of your posts for this first module and quite honestly I am blown away! So much honesty, insight and wisdom is shared by you all in your posts and that is truly inspiring to see and witness.
I hope you all keep this momentum going throughout the whole course and I look forward to responding to more posts in the upcoming module discussion posts!
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Nature connection for me is believing in the power of the natural world. Trusting the peace, wisdom and support I receive when i connect with nature. this connection can certainly happen in the wild but it also happens throughout my day to day life when I stop and feel into the moment. Notice a spider walking across my floor, a snake slithering by, a breeze moving through my curtains, a smell or a sound shifting my perspective. It’s a moment, any moment, that I choose to slow down, feel into the energy that is always around me and always has a grounding vibration or wisdom to impart. It reminds me of my connection to everything and my self unimportance at the same time. It is often reassuring and always a mirror to my soul. It is my best friend and my biggest obstacle is in giving it enough of my love, appreciation and respect. I also feel my greatest challenge has been communicating my love affair with this entity with those I love the most my children, friends, students and clients.
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Hi everyone,
Thank you for all of your sharings. They are very enriching. I currently view myself as someone who is very deprived in terms of nature connection. I was born & grew up in a city area with almost no city park or gardens. However, thankfully this pandemic has led me to a context wherein I am in touch with nature issues, and led me to this course. I must say this course has changed the way I view nature & the way I interact with nature.What is nature connection?
Prior to the course, I define nature very narrowly, i.e. as anything that is related to other species than human. Hence, at that time, nature connection would mean engaging with other species. However, at this point in time, I view nature connection as having meaningful experiences with nature by means of developing sensory awareness of my surroundings. I have yet to experience the fuller benefit from this connection, but I know that I am moving towards a deeper connection with nature.Why is it important to you?
Being a personal growth junkie, one of the things that led me to this course is that I want to expand my sensory capacity to the extent that I can perceive what is happening in my surrounding in a more comprehensive manner. However, now I also want to embrace the fuller benefit from connecting with nature, i.e. the sense of wholeness and connectedness, as well as getting in touch with parts of myself which I may not be aware of their existence at the moment.What are the real challenge that you face in maintaining your connection?
Busy schedule. Developing the required sensory awareness which enables one to connect deeply with nature requires exploration & practice, which of course, translate to time. I am aware that I need to make time for it, otherwise it will not happen. I know I am not there yet, but I also know that I am moving towards it, as I have officially let go of certain works that has become just routine & lost their meaning, so that I can incorporate more time for myself to develop nature connection.
Modern life distractions. Lacking the exposure to nature for the most part of my life, honestly at the moment spending time in nature is not what I automatically have in mind as a way of relaxing or getting energized. But I know this phenomenon is related to habit, & changing habit requires persistence. -
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.
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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.
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Nature Connection to me, means being limitless. To drink in nature with every cell of my body through my senses ultimately means that I too and nature and so is everyone I meet. To view myself as nature quiets my inner narrative and helps me accept my impulses, hungers and desires.
It allows me then to see the way that others challenge me as a new way to relate and adapt with my surroundings. When am stuck in life, I can bring in the question “what would nature do?” And my answer can be directly outside my door.
Nature connection also means returning to my inner wild, shedding the constraints of civilization and domestication and behaving authentically and unapologetically.
It is in the context of the wilderness that we truly recognize ourselves and can bring others to the inner and outer revelations that ultimately can lead to life satisfaction and the desire to be here on this amazing planet. What better goal is there than to know who you are, how you fit and to feel in synch with life?
It is from this place that I feel most suited and in harmony with being on earth. It is a way I’d be honored to share with others.
Reading the above posts helped deepen my connection to this work even more. As I read the reflections of the community I feel that I have found my tribe and knowing that there are others out there who feel this connection brings me hope. -
Ally, I especially appreciate the way that you mention flowing with the seasons. Seasons help me to remember that everything, even the most uncomfortable feelings are bound to change. It is interesting that the season that other people use for leisure is your busiest. I feel curious about how your deepening connection with nature will influence your life.
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@lisa I especially appreciate the way you mention noticing a spider crawling across the floor. This can happen almost anywhere and bring us right back into remember the way we are sharing space and life force with so many living things.
