What is your relationship with nature?

WholeLife Matrix: Personal Awareness - Environment - Relationship with Nature

"People think Nature is outside of them.  They don't take in the idea they are part of it." 
George Carlin

How would you explain your relationship with nature?  Do you see a separation between a "natural world" and a "human world?"  Or do you see a world where humans are a part of nature as much as anything else?

We often discuss nature in terms of the basic elements of the outdoors...ground, water, wind, even fire.  How do you describe your relationship with these elements?  Sometimes we have an active relationship: touching the earth, hiking on a trail, or smelling a flower.  On other occasions, you may take a more passive stance: listening to waves crash on the beach or looking closely at the many shades of green on a tree.  I remember an afternoon as a young boy, lying on the grass, watching and wondering how the clouds could possibly move across the sky.  

In the WholeLife Matrix we have identified four components of your relationship with nature:

1. Passive
2. Active
3. The Outdoors In
4. Preservation

Stop for a moment and think about your relationship with nature.  Whether we interact actively or passively, we are part of the natural world.  Increasing our awareness of this connection with the world outside us actually strengthens our connection with our personal inner world.  We do not always have time to be outside as much as we would like.  It can help to have indoor displays or reminders of the "natural world" to balance out the electronic and sterile world we often create indoors.

Underlying all these different ways to connect with the natural world, we must always remember the need for preservation of this natural world - it is a fragile system that sustains us.

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We are all connected.

Matrix Key: Personal Awareness - Environment

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." 
Native American Proverb

We are part of a great network, the environment.  Much like the different areas of a fish tank share the same water, so too we are interconnected  with the world around us.  

Many ideas spring to mind when thinking of the environment - our relationship with the people and things in this great network, the value and distribution of natural resources, and assurance that these natural resources will be around for many generations to come.

In the WholeLife Matrix we identify four keys to environmental awareness:

1.   Equity

2.   Ecology

3.   Economy

4.   Relationship with Nature


At the end of the day, I think everyone wants to preserve that experience of awe and wonder at the heart of our relationship with nature while enjoying the benefits the natural world has to offer to us.  Issues such as an equitable distribution of resources and balancing our need to use and profit from natural resources while ensuring preservation for future generations are issues that often cause conflict.  As we explore these conflicts in future blogs, we will keep our common goals in mind.


Are you ready to win?