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Have you considered the possibility that most personal stress is the result of an estrangement from Nature’s wisdom?
Would it surprise you to learn that most feelings of insecurity and loneliness arise from a failure to connect to the abundance of unconditional love all around and naturally within you?
Did you know that enhanced wellness and joy can be as simple as reconnecting to the wisdom of your inborn senses?
The principles and practices of ecopsychology teach ways to enjoy deeper, more rewarding relationships with the Earth, others, and self.
Ecopsychology can positively change our behavior by guiding us
to meaningful changes in the places, activities, and people in our lives.
ON THIS PAGE:
your natural senses are always speaking to you
albert einstein's discovery
DEFINITION OF ECOPSYCHOLOGY:
Ecopsychology as an alternative psychological modality, one that simply expands the mind’s ability to perceive and understand itself by awakening ancient instincts, senses, and "intelligences" in unadulterated natural areas where early humans learned to use and survive by exercising the full complement of their mental and sensual abilities.
Ecology and psychology, having grown up on different sides of the mountain, met one day in the thick brush at the ridge line separating their home territories. Their first contact was awkward and hesitant. They began to circle, they danced, and finally they joined. Their offspring are twins. One is vigorous, skillful, joyous, and sustainable environmental action.
The other is the wonder, intimacy, healing, expansion, and grace of finding ourselves at home in the world. They realized, too, that there was much work to be done together.
There were
other such liaisons in the thick brush at the edges, but this one was
particularly juicy, wild, and fertile.
Ecopsychology and Environmental Psychology is a course taught by
John V. Davis.
NAROPA UNIVERSITY
Boulder, Colorado, USA.
by Catherine Honora Kineavy
Ecopsychology
is a combination of ecology, "the science of the relationship between
organisms and their environments," and psychology, "the science of mental
processes or behavior." This fledgling field is attempting to heal the
planet and its inhabitants by delving deeply into core personality issues in
an effort to understand environmental behavior.
Our planet's ecological health is directly related to the mental health of
its inhabitants. Ecopsychologists, a group of individuals made up of
ecologists, psychologists and environmentalists, are working to bring this
concept to the public's awareness, in the belief that our destructive
environmental behaviors stems from our sense of disconnection to the natural
world. They believe that if we recover our sense of connection to our
natural world, we will begin to be more environmentally conscious people.
One goal of ecopsychologists is to question our notion of sanity in this
growth-oriented culture. For example, westerners, especially Americans, are
the world's greatest consumers. It could be argued that we, as a culture,
are addicted to consuming. From an ecopsychological perspective, in order
for consumers to curtail their over-consumption, the motivating forces of
this behavior pattern needs to be identified in order to free individuals
from this addiction.
Ecopsychologists argue that the disconnection between self and Earth is the
reason individuals do not think about the relationship between their
consumer choices and ecological destruction. Further, ecopsychologists
believe that if we heal the underlying addictive motivations, we will begin
to heal the ecological environment because individuals will cease to
over-consume, thereby becoming better "environmental citizens."
Think about what our world might be like if 600 million people
had ‘reconnecting with nature experiences’ with Mother Earth?
...michael j cohen
In our indoor world, we think almost exclusively with our civilized skills of language and reason, while our instinctive , innate senses go unused, disconnected from nature. We relate to others through artificial images and visions — our story world — the world that tells us to fear and conquer nature rather than embrace, protect, and sustain it.
Our outdoor world offers us the opportunity to learn to reconnect with nature. It is a place where we can awaken our natural, comforting senses that have been dormant for decades.
The lushness of a meadow, the ripple of a gentle stream, or the delicate song of a mockingbird can help us rediscover our natural , sensory ways of knowing and feel the natural love that flows abundantly in nature. We can use this knowledge to enhance our relationships with others, become more relaxed, and be more satisfied with who and what we are.
We can learn to soothe ourselves with natural love, peace, and wisdom through reconnecting to nature—a powerful, ecologically sound way to reduce our level of stress and begin to live more balanced satisfying lives.
After you have exhausted what there is in business,
politics, conviviality, and so on—have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear—what
remains? Nature remains.
…Walt Whitman
The senses, being the explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge...M. Montessori
Your Natural Senses Are Always Speaking To You
Your natural senses are always speaking to you. But do you know how to listen?
Every one of your 53 natural senses, which evolved over millions of years to
keep you connected
with your rejuvenating origins in Nature, is speaking to you in everything
you do. For example, your sense of thirst: the water in your body is part of
the replenishing waters of the planet; you feel a disconnection from it as
thirst. The oxygen in your body is part of the replenishing air of the
atmosphere; you sense disconnection from it as suffocation.
Natural sensations are your communicating connectors. Unfortunately, our civilized walls have cut us off from our natural senses as a way to protect us from feeling the pain caused by the hurtful effects we have on nature. As Dr. Michael Cohen says, “These walls encourage us to dance on the deck of our sinking ship rather than stop the leaks.”
Stop the leaks we must, however, if this ship called Earth is to survive and
carry us to the next century.
Our personal, social, and environmental problems have a common cause: our
excessive separation from nature.
The solution is to reawaken our natural senses so they can
show us how to live in ways that are healthier
and more satisfying to our world and ourselves.
In nature, our 53 natural senses know
how to bring us to where we want to
be.
...Michael J. Cohen, Ed.D.
Albert Einstein’s Greatest Discovery
History remembers Albert Einstein as a brilliant scientist who loved physics and discovered the theory of relativity. Would you be surprised to learn this wild-haired genius loved Nature even more?
Einstein and many other gifted persons believed their great intelligence arose, not just from research and studies, but from thoughtful contact with Nature.
Einstein revealed his love of Nature’s world in these words, “A human being is part of the whole, called by us, the ‘Universe;’ a part limited by time and space. He experiences himself...as something separated from the rest.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task is to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
Embrace all living creatures
and the whole of nature
in its beauty.
..Albert Einstein
I believe in
God,
only I spell it Nature.
...Frank Lloyd Wright
Go to Nature to ignite a hidden passion, to awaken a silent longing.
Nature encourages your innate wisdom to reveal what’s been there all along…the real YOU.
~ jcb ’03
As you reconnect to Nature, your inborn senses will guide you
with the precision of a compass toward greater wellness & joy.
~ jcb '04