– Heartwood Path Waypoint 1.13 –

Optimism

Maximize Qualities And Be Satisfied With Quantities
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There are reasons for optimism. Our history shows that we as a species can do the work suggested by Einstein: “widening our circle of compassion.”  The shift to live according to a new ecological paradigm is not significantly more daunting than our other previous massive shifts. We as a species, for example, made the leap from hunters and gathers to living in agricultural communities. Then, called again to face big cultural changes, we again made another big leap, this time from living in agricultural communities with simple technology to living mostly in cities and suburbs with complex, modern technology.  James George points out that we are “endowed with some degree of freewill, and therefore with contradictory capacities for both self-destructive behavior and for extraordinary breakthroughs of creative energy and intelligence” (George, 1995, p.105). I, for one, think that we will, after trying everything else, eventually make the right choices. 

If we can make the shift from being hunters and gatherers to being agriculturalists and if we can make the shift from living in agricultural communities with simple technologies to living in urban and suburban communities with complex technologies, which required huge shifts in perspectives and behaviors,  it stands to reason that we can also shift from a state of lower well-being that comes from always demanding but never quite gathering up  more and more stuff to a higher state of well-being that goes with being satisfied with having enough stuff.

To Become A Maximizer...

​HumaNatureConnect Activity
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If this is not a day when you prefer to spend time in nature without an agenda, do the following activity:
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Start-up Protocol
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• Read The Text — Use your literary sense, your mind sense, and your reason sense  to read your way towards happiness and sustainability but do not just be an arm-chair traveler. Use your other natural senses as you also spend healthful, fun, and productive time in nature on your way to Gladandgreen Junction.
• Attractive Natural Being — With pen and journal in hand, go to a natural area and look around to find a natural being that is attractive to you.
• Appreciation and Gratefulness — While admiring your chosen being, appreciate it with your inhalations and give it gratitude with your exhalations.
• Consent — Once you find an aspect of nature that is attractive to you continuously for at least ten seconds, think of your continued attraction as your consent to have a connection experience that will lead to your optimal functioning.
• The Natural Senses — After gaining consent to enter into a connection experience with the natural being, have available the list of Natural Senses. Mix it up by using at least one radiation sense, one feeling sense, one chemical sense, and one mental sense, to widen your perception, and add variety to your experience.
• HumaNatureConnect Activity — After reading the text, finding a natural being, appreciating it, gaining its consent, and scanning the list of natural senses, use your heightened awareness and nature-induced optimal functioning to do the following activity and engage in as many follow-up components as you see fit.

"Maximizing" Vs. "Satisficing"
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For this activity, look for ways that nature maximizes qualities (examples: adds diversity, displays beauty) and seems to be “satisfied” with quantities (examples: hermit crabs do not fill their houses with stuff nor do they attempt to have more than one house, black rhinoceros browse on shrubs and, therefore, do not compete for food with white rhinoceros that graze on grass). Write down at least three specific examples that you can perceive during this activity of nature both maximizing qualities and being “satisfied” with quantities. Then make a plan for how, in five different ways, you can become a maximizer of qualities and a “satisficer” of quantities.

​​​​Follow-up Protocol
Natural Systems Reflection Process
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     For best results, write down your impressions of this activity in your journal using as many of the following components as you see fit, afterwards, share your interpretations with others.
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Journal Components
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• General Description — writing a general description of how you did the activity and what happened.
• Freeform — writing, in freeform, what you found attractive about your natural being.
• Three Qualities — writing down three qualities you found most attractive about your natural being.
• Three Learnings — writing down three things you learned from this activity.
• Self-esteem & Trust — writing down how, if at all, this activity changed your self-esteem or trustfulness of Nature.
• Changes To Self — writing down what aspects of your self, if any, were changed by this activity.
• Honor Yourself — praising yourself and your commitment to making another stop along the Heartwood Path good for yourself and the world.
• I’m A Person Who . . . — writing down three different so-called “G/G Statements” using the following format: “This connection experience tells me that I am a person who__________.”
• Feelings If Activity Taken — writing down a sentence about how you would feel if you lost your ability to experience this connection.
• Two-Word Summary — writing down two words that summarize your response to this activity.​

The Heartwood Path Exchange:
Swap Your Ideas, Impressions, Photos, And News With Others
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• Post your impressions and photos in the Comments at the bottom of the page
• Engage with others in your Heartwood Path course or salon
• Create your own salon that meets regularly online, by phone, or in person
• Discuss your impressions with trusted family members and friends
• Post your impressions and photos in our EartHeart Networking Forum
• Post your impressions on this specific waypoint on our Facebook Page
• Join the broader conversations on our Facebook Page
• To see what conversations you can inspire, share your photos and impressions about anything pertaining to your journey down the Heartwood Path on your Facebook page, on Instagram, and on other social media accounts. If you like, include “#heartwoodpath” and “#waypoint(insert waypoint number here)” wherever pertinent

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Your input is vital. Enjoy sharing!

Heartwood Path Axioms: 
Key Assertions From Waypoint 1.13

1.13.1.
Given other huge shifts in human perspective,  it stands to reason that we can also shift from a state of lower well-being that comes from always demanding but never quite gathering up  more and more stuff to a higher state of well being that goes with being satisfied with having enough stuff.  

1.13.2.
Become a maximizer of qualities and a “satisficer” of quantities.

1.13.3.
For help with life’s big changes, look for ways your dreams may be signs of latent wishes or repressed anger.

Nocturnal Pilgrimage 1.13:
Tend To Your Dreams Before Heading To The Next Waypoint

Work on making Freudian associations with your dreams by looking for ways they may be signs of latent wishes or repressed anger. Here’s a few tips to help you with this important analytical tool:

1. Choose an image that really gets your attention in your dreams.
2. Look for characters, people, creatures, a natural scene, or a natural being. And 
3. Pick images in your dreams that seem to linger into your waking life. As accurately as you can, write a detailed description of the Dream Character.  Look for ways to connect this character to ideas, feelings, and events from your life. Do not bother trying to find the one right answer. Instead, observe where free associations take you (Aizenstat, 2009, p. 21). 

After writing your description, continue on your way down the Heartwood Path by looking for examples of optimism and pessimism in nature after you move to the next waypoint: “Self-absorption.”

EartHeart Tips:
Don't forget to bookmark your current location along the Heartwood Path for easy return.

Click here to go to  
​the next waypoint:
"Self-absorption"

You have now completed 13 out of 117 waypoints in Kosmos.