Nature Connectedness

Photo by Helminadia Randford

The history of humankind is impossible to understand, or even validate, without acknowledging the evolution of man in the natural settings.  Since the beginning of time our ancestors relied on nature to provide them with physical sustainability, spiritual awareness and a holistic connection. The direct connection which humans and nature have shared for centuries can’t be ignored, but should help us reevaluate the benefits of it while living in a world so embedded in technology.

The modern world has been enriched by the technological advancement of global connectivity, managing to connect billions of people around the world with the simple click of a button.  This process, which enables us to view a virtual tour of the Grand Canyon while chatting on Skype with a friend, has impoverished the distinct benefits deriving from Nature Connectedness. 

But what is Nature Connectedness?

It is the way individuals connect with, incorporate and understand nature as part of their identity.  It is the understanding if its cycles, seasons, sustainability, sensitivities and strengths, which form the backbone on which emotional connection, creativity and inner awareness build upon.

During my research on Nature Connectedness, I came across a quote from 18^th Century poet and writer, Samuel Johnson:

“Deviation from nature is deviation from happiness.”

Is this true? I asked myself.  Does a connection with nature truly create happiness? 

The article The Relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis, published for Frontiers Psychology and written by Colin A. Capaldi, Raelyne L. Dopo and John M. Zelenski, describes that “contact with nature can be beneficial, for example leading to improvements in mood, cognition, and health.”  Several studies done by professionals validate these benefits.

Ecopsychologists say that wholesome connection with nature show an increase of peace, positive attitude and a way to see interconnectedness of all things.  When individuals immerse themselves in the natural world they can begin to understand patterns of life, engaging in positive life styles and adjusting their relationship with the environment and fellow humans.

Our children are learning about nature in schoolbooks, but spending less time outdoors and more time on the computer.  One can easily understand the difference between learning about nature and living in nature.  I’ve witnessed first hand how my senses and body responded to the physical rhythms of nature, from the chirping of birds, swooshing of the wind through a canopy of knotted trees, and the array of colors presented during a hike. 

In the book Psychology of Sustainable Development by P.W. Schmuck and W.P. Schulz, Schultz identifies three Nature Connectedness components: cognitive, affective and behavioral.  The cognitive component is how integrated one feels with nature; the affective component is the individual’s sense of care of nature; and the behavioral component is the commitment to protect the natural environment.   It’s easy to see how these three components not only teach us how to be in harmony with nature, but also transcend into the way we connect with other humans.

It is such connection with nature that teaches us how to relate to others.  It was not only normal but also imperative for early societies to depend on the natural world.  This forced them to work together and by doing so it created an everlasting bond that eventually forged customs, mores, spiritual rituals and an array of beliefs.   I say everlasting because I believe that as human beings we still retain that inner instinct to connect with others in a more personal, meaningful way. 

Mind Key is the bridge between the natural world and everyone it encompasses (artists, spiritualists, writers and anyone who understands the value of human connectedness).   Mind Key strives to connect that inner awareness with the beauty of nature and everything it teaches.  As human beings we need to understand the value of nature and how it is detrimental to our creativity and overall being to neglect a bond that has existed since the beginning of time.

Connectedness - The Human Experience

Have you ever been sitting in a movie theatre and felt a kinship with the character on the screen?  Ever had something hit a little too close to home? Have you read a book and wondered how they knew what was going on in your head?  There’s a reason for that.  I’m going to call that reason “The Human Experience.”

No matter your station, your race, religion, sexual orientation or creed, if you have “this” experience, “this” will almost inevitably happen.  Cause and effect of the human kind.  Human experiences encompass birth through death and everything in between and they are fact.

• If you live to a certain age, you go through puberty.  Male or female, puberty is hard, no matter what.
• If you are in a monogamous relationship and stay in that relationship long enough, your relationship and sex life will most probably go through a slump.  Relationship slumps come in many shapes and sizes and it’s difficult to judge one against another, but they happen.
• You yearn for something different sometimes.  You wonder, what if?  And you don’t like being lied to.
• If you’re female and experience labor, it hurts.  It really hurts.  If you’re male and get kicked in the crotch, it also really hurts.
• If you choose to raise children, there will be many highs and lows, tough times and times of joy.  Babies cry and wear out the parents, toddlers have WAY too much energy and teenagers try your patience.  And it doesn’t end when they move out.  When you’re a parent, you’re a parent forever.
• If you’re lucky enough to live long enough (and long enough is subjective), you’ll be touched by cancer.  Whether it’s someone you know or you get it yourself, it’ll be there.  And when someone close to you dies, you’ll have to walk the steps of grief.

 

After listing all of these out, I was wondering if this is more a white middle class straight married American experience.  Because that’s where I fall.  Are any of these events only experienced by Americans?  Or only middle class people?  Or white people?  Or straight folks?  Are these experiences unique to North Americans or people of the northern hemisphere?  I don’t think so.

Granted, I’ve never lived anywhere but here or been anyone but me, (for all I know foxes and Martians could have the same stuff happen) but I think these are human experiences, not to be pigeon-holed into anything but the overall umbrella of the human race.

These human experiences connect us.  Even if you choose to live in isolation, playing on your introvertedness and without a physical community, if you reach out (be it online or however people who aren’t online reach out) you can find someone out there with whom to share your human experience.  Someone out there has been through what you’re going through.  And it’s possible that they’re not just like you.

This is important.  We’re all connected.  We’re all the same on the human level.  This fact should bring us closer together, allow us to share and feel each other’s pain and joy.  But today’s society divides us and tells us that we’re all different and should proclaim our differences loudly and with passion.  I don’t mean to discount each human’s uniqueness and place in this universe, and we should all be proud to be just who we are, but we still need to remember…

We’re all connected by the human experience. 

Community as a source of connection

The Mind Key Community is not only a source of talent, information and guidance, but it is a community of support.  Each member believes that some form of connectedness is important for our journey as human beings.

The method of connection to community differs greatly from person to person.  Community is more than just the sum of the individual relationships within it, and as a whole functions as a higher vibrational energy.

“Humans crave (and need) to be connected to each other, to the environment and to community,” writer Charla Dury said. Charla enjoys sharing her life and her views on life through her writing, using her blog as a place to open dialogue and stay connected to others.

Healer Vera Remes volunteers.  She also stays connected through the process of learning and studying with different healers so that she can expand her skills and share her knowledge. 

Gourmet baker, Dina Gilmartin, finds that creativity is her outlet for connecting with her local and global community.

Dina's Banana Cream Cupcakes

“[The bakery] is place where people can go for a ‘small piece of heaven,’” Dina said.  In providing others the escape and the joy of a well-baked cookie, even if only for a moment, she has found her place in the greater whole.

Without connection to our creativity, sharing our talents with others would be futile.

Storyteller Rebecca Godina weaves her stories in isolation.  The creation of her stories acts as a medium for resolving issues.  As a result, her connection to her imagination, creativity, and inner voice is heightened. She craves something more interpersonal, however, and as a result began writing out her daydreams.

“I came to the realization a few years ago that in order to make connections with others, I had to share my daydreams,” Rebecca said.

Writer and teacher, Tara Ann Lesko finds working with special education students so demanding that when she isn’t on the job, she immerses herself in art, music and literature in order to disconnect. Not a true isolation, however, the disconnect is more of a shifting from one aspect of self to another.

“Those outlets for disconnection are what helps me reconnect to what identifies me, beyond what I do for a living,” Tara said.

Tarot reader and empath, Sarah Loukos, maintains her connection to the world through spirit - her cards and her guides.  She remains grounded by fostering a connection to water and earth, living in the moment and being open to give and receive love.  Through this, she can better serve those she helps through her work, creating a very profound connection to others.

Green Lady by Grace NgDung

Similarly, artist Grace NgDung creates in order to open and strengthen her spiritual connection.  Her art provides a direct connection to something higher and, as a result, affects others on an emotional level.


“I want to connect to and open other people’s hearts with my art.  That’s my mission, and what art used to be,” Grace said.

Connection with others also allows us to reframe our own path and how we view the world. If humans were solitary beings we would be unable to grow as individuals or as a race.


“I think that we are all affected by everyone that we meet and interact with, and that sometimes they mold or reshape our way of understanding things,” community member, Dr. Kevin Hall said.

The meaning of Connection

    Being connected is the ultimate reason Mind Key exists.  It’s a community and a resource with the intention of closing the gap between people and knowledge, emotion and each other.

Merriam Webster defines “connection” as: “a situation in which two or more things have the same cause, origin, goal, etc.”

     Throughout history, humankind has relied on connection and community for survival, living in close proximity to neighbors, staying in the same family home for generations.  The United States of America would not exist if not for communities that traveled across oceans with limited supplies, then learned to live in the wilderness together, raising their communities together, and often relying on no one but each other for many years.






    Today we live in a global community tied together not by physical closeness as much as ease of contact.  We may live in an apartment building where we know our neighbors only by the sound of their footsteps down the hall, but we can reach out to dozens of friends who live scattered about the globe in less than a second, visit them in half a day.  News travels just as quickly these days, as does insight.

    We quickly moved from a society dependent on our community of friends and neighbors to an isolated one that closed our doors and did not hang our dirty laundry out to dry.  This adjustment period of the mid 20th century was probably essential, since now we air our dirty laundry on websites, blogs and social media sites for not just our tight-knit communities to see, but for the entire world to share.  We went from essential community, to essentially no community, to a community that encompasses the entire globe.

    For humanity to understand this adjustment in a way that makes sense on a physical and energetic level will take some time.  This adjustment is what I believe our current energetic shift is all about.  Technology has been a bridge to help us understand how connected we all are.  It has helped us better understand the butterfly or ripple effect, proving humanity is just as powerful energetically as we are technologically.

    In the end, it turns out that “connection,” however you define the term, and however you feel it pertains to life in general, is essential to humankind.  Even those who choose to isolate themselves, whether in their home, their work, or in nature, find that that it only fosters a stronger connection to that thing in which they have isolated themselves.  When we open ourselves to the myriad of connections possible, we become a vibrant, energetic community of shared information, pulsing with electrical impulses not unlike the worldwide web, a piece of machinery, or the human brain.

    We hope that you will allow Mind Key to become a place to foster that sense of connection… a place where you can allow your brain to gain the information it needs to fire rapidly, make synergetic leaps, and to connect the dots to greater understanding and functionality. 

    What makes you feel connected? Please share your thoughts on the topic as a comment below, and please stop back each day this week as we continue to discuss the term “connection” and what it means for us.
 

Tamara Rokicki on Minute Novel - Writing as inspiration

by Tamara Rokicki

There’s a spiritual connection that comes from writing and it harbors a strong inner enlightenment.

I began writing at a very early age.  I wrote about everything—stories of fairies, fashion tips, recipes,

Tamara Rokicki

manga, personal journals and eventually what turned out to be the beginning of novels.  Thinking back to the early years of my life, I see that writing wasn’t just something I learned to enjoy over time.  There wasn’t a particularly enlightening class in elementary school that prompted me to love the art of writing.  It was something emblazoned deep inside my core even before I could steadily hold a pen in my hand.  It was my life connection to something higher.  

I often see myself as lost inside a venue of veins traveling inside of me.  The power of writing motions me through the inner nooks and spaces that make up who I am.  It brings to light just what I stand for, what I believe in, what troubles me, and who I want to be.

That’s where NaNoWriMo comes in.  It provides me with the tools I need to simply let go and search for myself in a jungle of words and metaphors.  My first introduction to NaNoWriMo was about four years ago thanks to my cousin, Danielle.  A writer herself she explained how NaNoWriMo helps unleash the artist within.  Her enthusiasm pushed me to try it and I was immediately hooked.  Not only it provided me with a community of fellow writers, but also shed the truth on what really matters: relax, take a breath, ignore the rules and WRITE.  No guidelines, no doubts, no second-guesses.  Just write.

My NaNoWriMo exploration gave me the opportunity to interview one of my favorite authors, Marissa Meyer.  Starring on my blog as a guest, she answered questions about her writing journey; a journey that made her successful thanks to NaNoWriMo (Find my blog interview here).

But it didn’t end there.  My inspiration pushed me to reach out to the community and host a NaNoWriMo workshop at my local library.  I was able to share the benefits of this amazing challenge with local amateur writers, many of them hiding in the shadows, afraid to take their writing to the next level.  For weeks I was flooded by emails from attendees, thanking me for opportunity to find NaNoWriMo.  One of them, thanks to this workshop, recently self published a book (to read about my hosted workshop experience, see here)

The Mind Key Minute Novel is another tool.  It brought me closer to other writers who like me believe there’s more than a page with words.  There’s a spiritual connection that bonds us through the expression of writing; because at the end we all seem to transform the meaning of a ‘writer’.  

A writer believes that there’s an unseen power that only words can unleash.  

“No, no,” was all Antha could say as she shook her head.   It couldn’t be.  This girl staring at her from inside the cottage, whose mouth had just tore into someone’s flesh and gruesomely killed an innocent person, was a monster—not a girl.  Not her sister.  

Charla on writing Minute Novel: Click here
Danielle on writing Minute Novel: Click here

Click below to read what else Tamara and the other members of the Mind Key cabin are writing this month.  Don't forget to vote for your favorite!

Have you been following your favorite Mind Key writer? Now it's easier than every to read, share and vote! Please...
Posted by Mind Key on Friday, April 17, 2015

Why I'm having such a good time this April

Writing has always been my expression and release.  Even more than that, it acts as a form of manifestation.  I remember being in my twenties, reading through stories I wrote in high school and college featuring heroines with attributes I could only wish for… and discovered that I had become those women.  Later in life I wrote and recognized that my angels and guides were speaking to me, quite clearly, through the “fictional” words I wrote.

Today, as a mother of two young girls, a freelance journalist, and the founder of this fledgling community, I struggle with writing - specifically with writing for myself.  There rarely seems the time to do it, and when the time is there, my energy (creative or otherwise) is low.  The writing muscle is, however, a muscle, and if not used it atrophies, which for a person like me, who relies so heavily on my writing for my spirituality and growth, is tragic.  This is where NaNoWriMo comes in.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo as it is affectionately known) happens every November.  Its purpose is to encourage writers to write.  Over the course of a month participants push themselves to write 50,000 words, getting into the groove of a regular writing practice.  I have participated many years, and even won once… one of the most fulfilling accomplishments of my writing career.  Camp NaNoWriMo isn’t much different.  It happens in April and July, and participants choose their own word count (I've chosen 40,000 words).  Participants are sorted into online “cabins” — their support group throughout the month. Our cabin consists of six writers, four of whom are Mind Key Community members. Altogether the six of us have committed to write 155,000 words.  That’s a lot!

As part of Camp NaNoWriMo, cabin mate Tamara R. suggested posting excerpts of our work for inspiration and motivation.  It was such a wonderful idea that I suggested making it a daily contest where our friends can vote for their favorite excerpt.  Have you done this yet?  If not, please do HERE!  This is so motivating for each of us as we try to maintain a daily practice, strengthening our writing muscle and sharpening our inner editor as we choose and refine our daily excerpt.

What we hadn’t expected was to have our excerpts paint an intriguing picture of the greater story we’re working on.  Reading through past excerpts gives a glimpse into the whole project - which is great, because at the end of the month the winner of the Camp NaNoWriMo Mind Key Challenge will win a blog series devoted to them and their story… So the more interested you are, the more you should vote.  Maybe your favorite story will be the one told come May.

One of Noelle's sketches as rendered by the amazing Stuart Parks

As for my story?  Many of you know it already.  I’m finishing the last chapters of “Mind Key” the novel this month.  The story of Noelle Ricci and how she discovered that the world she creates in pencil and paint is a real world co-existing alongside her own. Interested in learning more?  Check it out online, on Facebook, and of course on the Camp NaNoWriMo Mind Key Challenge.

And please, please, please come vote for these fabulous writers every day. We want to know you’ve been reading - and each vote gets one person one step closer to that coveted blog.

If you’re writing during Camp NaNoWriMo, we are opening up a section where you can comment with your own excerpt — so please leave one - we want to hear what you’re writing too.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

“Git out of there Squr’l,” shouted a voice in my head. Except it wasn’t in my head… it was in the forest somewhere.
    The squirrel had run away, the acorn lying on the moss where he’d been standing. 
    “Arden?” I called, my voice echoing strangely amongst the feathery branches of hemlock.  “Are you there?”

To hear Mind Key Member Charla Dury's Camp NaNoWriMo story, click HERE

Have you been following your favorite Mind Key writer? Now it's easier than every to read, share and vote! Please...
Posted by Mind Key on Friday, April 17, 2015