One’s Shoes (Part Two)
Cultivate empathy by focusing on impermanence.
To generate another touchstone of human-nature interaction, commune with nature* and think about tubing on an artificial river at at water park (a perverse interaction), floating on a raft on a lake in a residential area (a domestic interaction), and riding a big wave on a surfboard (a wild interaction).
One of the most fruitful ways to wisdom is the understanding of impermanence. This understanding has to do with the rejection of the common idea that things have a concrete inherent existence that is separable and unaltered by one’s own perception and perspective. The essential quality of a thing is not inherent in the phenomena. The observer imparts that quality.
Correcting the pervasive misconception about the permanence of things is a way of wisdom that reduces suffering. Hard as it may be, it is imperative to recognize the nonexistence (impermanence) of the qualities one gives to things psychologically. Doing so bolsters humility and reduces pride—especially when the topic of consideration is the ill-conceived self-grasping notion that one can be separated from the environment. One naturally becomes more humble when one understands that one is but a lesser part of a greater whole.
What better way to learn about impermanence than to commune and contemplate something as ephemeral and transient as water? Keep the fading, fleeting, and temporary aspect of water in mind as you do the next activity.
To The Twelfth Of Many Touchstones Of People-Nature Interfacing…
HumaNatureConnect Activity
If this is not a day when you prefer to spend time in nature without an agenda, do the following activity:
Start-up Protocol
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.
Generating Patterns Of Human-Nature Interaction # 12: Being Moved By Water
For this activity, be moved by water after you feel connected to your chosen attractive natural being. In doing this interaction pattern, you could be thinking about tubing the Lazy River at a water park (a perverse interaction pattern) or you could be thinking about floating on a raft on a lake in a residential area (a domestic interaction pattern). By choosing instead to ride a big wave on a surfboard (a wild interaction), you would be doing something that will have a positive psychological affect on you.
In your journal, write down what meaning you would derive from this wild interaction pattern; what joy, if any, it would produce; how, if at all, it would build within you a bond between your mind and nature; and how, if at all, the wild version of this interaction pattern would be better for you than the perverse or domestic instantiation of the same interaction pattern; and how not being allowed to participate in this sort of wild interaction pattern ––surfing a big wave––would make you feel? How does interacting in this way in the presence of your attractive natural being make you feel? How would it feel to have this interaction without the presence of your attractive natural being? In writing down these responses you will be adding to our collective nature language, so important to rekindling the bond between humans and nature. Look over your impressions and think about them as you fall asleep tonight before dreaming.
Follow-up Protocol
Natural Systems Reflection Process
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.
Journal Components
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.
Nature Compared To Self — creating a sentence that reads: “I love this (insert words that identify the attractive natural being) because it is (insert words that refer to the qualities you like about the natural being).” Then, creating a parallel sentence that reads: “I love (insert the word “myself”) because I am (insert the same qualities as before).” If only one follow-up component can be done at any one waypoint, do this one. It reveals a lot about the participant quickly. In group settings it is a very good way to get pertinent conversation underway.
Ride The Green Wave — determining whether you understand and agree with all of the Ten Green Wave Validation Statements. In your journal, give yourself a plus sign (+) if you do agree and a minus sign (-) if you do not agree. Do not worry if you do not give yourself a plus sign (+). These notations are merely for your own information. Regardless of your own plus or minus assessments, you are always free to move on; or, if you are attracted to do so, you can always revisit the waypoint, ask for Guidance, and/or redo the activity.
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
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
Your input is vital. Enjoy sharing!
Nocturnal Pilgrimage
Tend To Your Dreams Before Heading To The Next
Ways To Perform A Reality Check
Number Five: Carry A Reality Check Reminder.
After a few unpleasant experiences, my mother eventually began asking me to empty my own pockets after playing outside. No bigger than a large earthworm, the small ringneck snakes I brought home in my pants pockets were, in my mother’s’ way of thinking, unwelcome additions to our little family. I can still see in my mind’s eye that dropped scattering of my day’s prizes on the floor of the laundry area—motionless bottle caps, burr-oak acorns, and some pennies I would use to make snowflake patterns, plus a wiggling little friend.
“Get that snake out of here!” my mother would yell, as she crouched on her hands and knees on top the dryer. “Let the poor thing go.”
Lesson learned? Do your own laundry. And, if you pick up anything in nature and bring it home, limit yourself to beings that will not be hurt when you forget to empty your own pockets before washing your clothes.
That is one reason why, for this Reality Check, I recommend carrying only a small rock in your pocket and, every time you encounter it during the day, asking the question “Am I dreaming?” Ask this question often enough and you will habitually repeat the question while you are dreaming, thus launching you into a lucid dream you can use to make progress toward the goal of arriving at Gladandgreen Junction.
Sleep. Dream. And tend to your dreams.
When ready, move to the next waypoint, “One’s Shoes (Part Three).” Once there, put down your i-Somethings or other e-devices and go where there are no electrical sockets. Have you noticed the association between the number of gadgets and the timing and location of the rise of stress, mental health disorders, learning and behavioral disorders, sleep problems, lower IQ’s, and lack of happiness? I, for one, am skeptical that there will be anything like a cyber-utopia. Don’t you think you would flourish more by getting away from your screens and, at least for short periods of time each day, into the wild?
