Nature isn't some optional space that exists because we allow it. Nature is the place from where we come, and whether we like to believe it or not, we are never separate from it.
We may block ourselves from feeling nature's full vitality by insulating ourselves in anxiety-creating dead zones of plastic, concrete, steel and glass, but we are nature. And nature gives us everything that nourishes us and feeds us, regardless of whether we take the time to acknowledge and appreciate it.
Psychological health and maturity arrives when we start to be able to give back to our world. When we grow up, we naturally want reciprocal relationships of give and take, and anything less becomes strange, codependent, or co-addictive. The same is true with our relationship to our earth.
We destroy ourselves through depletion. Countering and healing this is very simple. We cultivate awareness and appreciation for what is around us. From this awareness and appreciation will naturally grow a desire to keep our natural world and ourselves from more harm. The healing work begins by stopping, by deciding to look around, and by attending to our surroundings, rather than rushing about, too busy to care, too busy to notice. Ecopsychology offers techniques that enhance our ability to stop and profoundly experience the world that surrounds us.
For more information on ecopsychology, see my blog.
| The Peace of Wild Things When despair for the world grows in me — Wendell Berry |