Contact with Nature changed me, my mind and my life
Contact with Nature changed me, my mind and my life. A profound shift which I continue to try to capture ever since it started 4 years ago. This is my latest attempt to capture in words and share the experience with others. It matters not what happens to me my growth has happened. I sit in peace and harmony with who I am. My greatest hope now is that others can find and live in celebration of what is right about ourselves, our neighbor and our world. This is yet another attempt to impel others to grow based on my own experience.
This partly documents the guts of my new personal philosophy stimulated by my exposure to Michael J. Cohen’s Organic Eco-psychology and to a lessor degree my previous exposure to F. M. Alexander’s Alexander Technique. It shows my personal philosophy change from a “Google Life Map” to “Circle Life Map”. This is an attempt to write about the abstract concepts I have adopted and made into a guideline of personal behavior. It is not an exhaustive discussion, only a directional showcase for others interested in thinking about and discovering how ideas from Nature (Organic Eco-psychology) might be integrated into a life style.
Ok. Ok. This was written for myself. It is an attempt to document a change in my life that is important to me. Organic Eco-psychology impacted me in a profound way. It’s Nature activities asked me to go outside and find an attractive place by following my sensory attractions. As I struggled to interpret this deliberately vague instruction, I closed my eyes and took a single step and stopped to assess my sensory reactions to the environment. I repeated this “step-and-assess” cycle until I found my attractive spot. This event became the groundwork for the “Circle Life Map” model you will read below. One day, 15 minutes of reading and 15 minutes of experience change my life forever. Can it change yours? You won’t know until you try.
My PNC Circle of life Philosophy
“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time
Google Life Map
The Google map life perspective, is a viewpoint, a way of thinking. This thought bias, I and most people around me have labored under for much of our lives. It is so obvious and ingrained that we no longer even see our bias. This is an attempt to expose that thinking. And offer a different choice for those who wish to explore a different path. This is for those who: 1) can see the end of their rope, OR 2) are seeing their world falling apart around them or 3) have come to the end of their rope. This is another way.
The Goggle Life Map is a fairly linear model of life and clearly resembles the directions of a real Google roadmap. For example, it has specific starting and ending points for every turn. The instructions to travel between any 2 points can be described in a sequential list format. I found that under this model every step of the way became an endless set of questions like: Did I go far enough?, Not go far enough?, How far until my next turn?, What’s the name of the next road?, What is the name of the road I’m on? How long do I have to go to reach the end? And only when I reach the end I can celebrate.
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ~”
― Wayne W. Dyer
We stand on “I want to see to believe”, when it is what we believe that controls what we see.
- Clark R Mumaw adapted from Dewitt Jones Celebrate what is right with the world (youtube)
In many ways, it was a life map full of constant worry. A hyper-alert state of stress created by constant concern for NOT doing the wrong thing and of worry about NOT being on the right path at all times. This attitude was full of worry that even a small misstep will cause ruination. In many ways this has been like the technical world of supporting Microsoft windows PC’s. Or in my career a computer network. In this state, I was constantly concerned during all parts of the trip (update, install) about being “right” (being perfect). It was a successful strategy for many years and delivered to me many places in life. It helped me create a successful career with computer networks, where order, accuracy, and the “rightness” of all parts were defined by lists, steps and having the “right” settings turned on or off. In learning the lists & rules & steps it became possible to see what was out of place and develop plans for putting the parts back into order and accuracy.
I became obsessed with controlling all aspects of first my computer networks and then later my environment. Not everyone does. But I did. My success with my career became justification without my realizing it to overlay and apply he same control to my own life. I developed health disciplines which supported me in my success. Exercise, responsibility, and less obvious routines became subject to the google life map. There were aspects of my life which were not healthy. My food and spiritual intake were not as healthy. Yet these were choices I needed to make and learn from. In fact my whole previous goggle life map philosophy was a necessary decision for me to learn a new wisdom. So far from it being the wrong choice it gave me the experiences to draw on to be strong in my decision to follow a different path.
Circular River of Life Map
Unknown to myself, There is a different life map available. I had no models or exposure in my life to this alternative path. Yet as a child it was my most instinctive and natural life path. The circular river of life map is different because its nature is circular rather than linear. Here it is best to picture a flowing river that starts wherever you are at (point A, the beginning) and completes a circle around the some invisible ball of time and distance to come back to point A. The instructions to get from any beginning point to any ending point are always the same. “Go down the river.” This will probably confuse some people at this point, but let me attempt to explain in less abstract terms.
Imagine that you’re on a river that circles an island somewhere. Even better imagine this a river that circles the whole global. Now say that you want to get from island A to island B. Since one does not, ever in life, really know the location of Island B (ending location) except by experience. When we want to get somewhere we have never been, a fixed list like a google roadmap set of directions are nearly impossible if probably impractical. So like replying on Google we defer to others for advice. We give up our power instead of using our own instincts. We pretend that what works for someone else will work for us. We put aside our instinctual knowing of what is right for us. We quit practicing our moment by moment sensory attractions to what is the next right step for us. I wish for myself and others to take back up our sensory practice. Here are some details of what I imagine that to look like.
Instead of an orderly Google list of steps, imagine a general mental & emotional image of the destination which you will use to match against the possible land opportunities that pass by during your journey on the river. With this river of life model, you are expected to choose the closest match when comparing to your mental/emotional image.
This model is much like a circular interstate racetrack where there are several exits. And all the exits offer similar yet different opportunities to sleep eat and get gas. Because the track is circular choosing anyone one exit is more a matter of finding an attractive match than being right or wrong about picking any one exit.
If after exploring that exit, the exit does not match up well to one’s needs, you can choose to unemotionally get back on the river and continue on down the river to the next attractive opportunity.
It is easy to imagine that in this scenario you will sooner or later find an exit that meets your attractive needs well enough to stay until their needs have changed. And if an island exit is missed it is no big deal because the circle will bring you back past for another try on the next time around.
I once called this S.A.T.E.A.S (STAND AT THE EDGE AND SEE) but that was too forgettable. Now I just refer to it as the River of Life Map.
I say it’s no big deal to miss an exit or to decide to leave one. I say this for me, NOT you. I need to make it no big deal because I need to give myself permission to not be perfect. So this reaction is a wise reaction for my personality. It gives me permission to make mistakes. It helps me not be so fearful to take a step. It helps me to be more open to trying something new. It helps me to not hold on too tightly to what I have in fear of being wrong.
If you are a person who enters into decision lightly and without much reflective thought then you probably need a different life model.
Current Life
Usually our culture makes to us feel lost or uncomfortable if we don’t have a series of steps outlined to follow. We are taught that there “are” steps and they “must” occur in as specific order or chaos will result. I now see this as pre-ordered steps and is appropriate ONLY for working with a dead\closed\static, non-moving, non-living systems like road map directions or computers. Unfortunately, we are taught to use this pre-ordered step process in all systems including people and our relationships.
I realized I needed a new relationship model to deal with systems that are “living”\open\dynamic systems. Like people, jobs and life in general. I saw that my life map needed to change moment by moment in response to the interactions I am involved with. A Google map may be ok for computers and maps and in where we are trying to replicate the steps a getting to a known and fixed destination.
However, a unknown or ever moving destination requires me to adjust and try The River of Life Map. (for successful navigation.) This is where STAND AT THE EDGE AND SEE as a descriptive metaphor is helpful. With this approach, You start down the path with a desire\goal by taking one step (it might not be step 1) but your first step is the one you are attracted to [within the guidelines of 1) in the highest good for all and 2) not imposing on others free will]. This first steps is your first ATTRACTIVE step. What is determined as attractive is based on your senses not your knowledge. It is based on what you feel not what you know.
Once you take that first step you stop and test the firmness to see if it supports you. You stop to survey the situation from your new location. Stopping is important because it allows you to check if the step actually carried you closer to your goal and to see if you still have the same goal. Stopping allows you to see if the goal has moved. The stopping is important because it prevents habit, inertia, beliefs, assumptions and prejudice from improperly influencing the path).
Then you look (well, actually you “feel”) for the next attractive step (not step 2) and repeat. This is vastly different process because it assumes that the situation WILL change each moment thus each step is evaluated for the current information, current situation, and current results and possible impacts before choosing the next step. This approach combines both a short and long term evaluation of the process.
This dynamic, moment-by-moment, re-evaluation is exactly how one plays the game of chess or sails a sailboat. This is not the end of planning. It is the integration of being in the Now while Planning for the future. For me the River of Life Map is the openness to another and better way to make decisions within the flow of current plans. This is especially useful in unfamiliar situations.
In review, There are several points I wish to highlight for you.
Notice how the ability to make step by step complete beginning to end plans, requires knowledge and previous experience with the current situation and your goals. In life you only think you’ve been here before, when in reality each situation is new and unrepeated because time has moved on.
I suggest that to make a successful life. The same level of play is needed that the joyful child brings to their play, while integrating with the wisdom of experience that an adult brings to the journey.
In summary, I suggest that you jump into the living current of life and take a step, stop recheck your progress and situation and respond as the current events change. One must constantly recheck the “current” of life, check your “learning”. One must constantly ask what is working NOW, and what is not working NOW. More accurately I constantly ask what am I sensing NOW, and what am I not sensing NOW.
In other words, you go as far as you can see, to the Edge and here you stop and wait for tensions to dissipate and if you feel like yelling or screaming, YOU DON’T. Only then can you begin to accurately see and sense your relationship to all things around you. In this way you find your attraction to the next step that is right for you.
STAND AT THE EDGE AND SEE, as I have defined it, is a messy process to deal with dynamic living systems. It is not as simple as I describe it. It tries to honor the tension between head and heart. It tries to honors the individual by allowing each person to follow the best path for them. It is the best fit for life because it allows for the strongest support structures (those of a positive nature) to come into use as we move along the chosen path. This process is most important to use when we get emotionally overwhelmed and want to lash out, quit, yell, react, run away, etc.
There are new problems created by using this process. First problem I found is it becomes very messy in a group where all are following the same process. To honor each individual’s sense of attraction is not possible. Developing group consensus/compromise interpersonal skills is required. Developing boundary identification and respectful negotiation skills is essential if one wants to implement this life map as proposed.
If you want to read/think more I would advise reading the book,
Learning from When Things Fall Apart
Heart Advice for Difficult Times By Pema Chodron
http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/isbn/978-1-57062-344-8.cfm?gclid=CKiuraaot6ACFQUMDQod2Gv1TQ
The second problem I found is the struggle to not plan my life so detailed yet fit in with a world who relies on plans, schedules and commitments made into the future. How do I follow and honor my sensory attractions when my goals change? How do I communicate and clean up my changes. Yes it sometimes becomes necessary to temporarily put aside my sensory attractions to honor a prior commitment. When that happens I must pick back up my sensory attraction and honor it.
The third problem is corruption of the senses. Just like sugar can cause you to eat more of foods which you are not really attracted to. Thorns can keep you away from dealing with problems which need to be handled. And emotional high’s can bind you to unhealthy choices.
The fourth and greatest problem is that in order to communicate my personality and beliefs shift. I have had to some degree linearize it and use metaphors and guidelines just to explain it. When I strip all the borders away at the roots there is only me and my senses. I use my senses
to determine what I’m attracted to to choose my next step. My internal attraction response is measured and monitored by how many of my senses agree the next step is attractive and the strength of their attraction. My resulting possibilities of choices are measured to see if they are in alignment with my knowledge (head), love for what is best for everyone (heart) and intuition (gut). Even then major decisions require a night of sleep before finalizing. This is not a fool proof system. Like in everything, experience and practice with it will increase it’s success. At it’s base, my current philosophy was created out of my contact with Dr. Michael J. Cohen’s Applied Organic Eco-psychology as it intersected with my experience and is unique to me. Instead of taking my words, my philosophy, my inspired life model create your own by….. taking as many of his online classes as is attractive to you. At http://www.ecopsych.com/orient.html
OR
http://projectnatureconnect.org/enrollment/orientation-registration/
My last caution and most important advice in explaining to you what happened to me and what I am now doing is like this. Do you ever look up at the branches of the tree and perceive the rules and order of which branch come out of the trunk where? No? Have you ever looked at rare blades of grass and seen the order determining what direction they grow and point? Me neither? I will not say there is none but maybe the order is beyond words. That is what I feel is happening here. There are no humanly perceivable words or metaphors to communicate what I do and when. The oder is not visible in 3D because if your sensory attractions are being spirit lead then the order is only visible on a multi-deminsional level beyond 3D. I can only give approximations. If you measure what you are doing against my description you are not doing what I am. Keep looking until you are operating out of your own internal sense of of attractions in harmony with life around you.
The next step is to move from a circular life map to a multi-deminsional life map or quantum life map.
One last attempt to tell you what I found. We’ll call it my Forrest Gump metaphor, in that, it is brain dead simple. Life is like (of course it has to start off that way it’s a Gumpism) shopping trip to he grocery store without a list. As you go through the store your senses call out to you,….I want this, I want that. Or I would like to taste this. Following your attraction senses here become a life giving playful romp through the produce section as ideas inspire you and food calls out to you. Yes it is as simple and as complex as that. All previous advise and cautions apply. The more you practice Life as a shopping trip. The more accurate and rewarding it becomes.