Holiday - Giving of Thanks.

I write of the remembrance of last weeks gorge. It came to me, once I received the shopping list of visiting family that matters this year were in my own hand. I voted with my dollars this season and went all out, Organic to me is life purity and the representation of it, nothing altered and nothing tainted. Our culture is a machine of consumption with little or no thought about the driven industries behind it. I am greatful to live in an area with such abundance of organic food, that it was not an all out pocketbook buster. These competitive pricing allowed everything from the organic free range turkey, to the sweet potatoes, and the pecans bought in bulk (which reminds me I need to make another pie).
You might ask..."Did you taste the difference?" Well not at first...I had to think about it a minute but yes there was a difference, the turkey dark meat was the darkest I had ever tasted and almost too rich, the white being more flavorful. The beans were my favorite and fresh was definitely the crispness, potatoes were slim and we gobbled those up, with in a day or two. But the Gravy...ah the gravy was divine. I have to give this up to my cousin's wife who I bravely handed over the turkey to entrust in her roaster, and the drippings into the gravy, which she tasked like a pro. So yes, there is a difference, even if it is only in my mind and principle do I buy organic, there is a difference. As for the connection to nature, my thoughtful process with the purchases and cooking gave value to the food and family with which I will always want to appreciate and enjoy no matter the occasion. During your holiday, place thought into the ingredients and food and you too might experience a little more for your time and money.

Reconnect Nature Writing Workshop & Picnic

Reconnect Nature - Writing Workshop & Picnic

$25.00

Join naturalist Lyndie Bradshaw, and author Sarah Rafael Garcia for a two hour writing workshop focused on response and inspiration from the natural world with group collaboration. Each class will be themed with different tours and exercises to develop your skills.

Please bring your own writing materials (clipboards will be available), picnic and refreshments included for extra sensory experience.

SEPTEMBER 26 6pm: Changes in Season

*Register
REGISTER HERE

Random Acts of Nature

We are in full swing and after finishing the second day of writing in nature with complete engagement. The community here is a great resource for urban and natural living, although it was difficult to express the purpose of such a workshop, some just knew it was just what they needed. We hope to continue and learn simple ways to connect the community every day to the areas within reach. Success story with teenagers; we engaged them and asked if they wanted to participate as they were walking home from school, they were curious and wanted to know why we would do this. Mind you this is in the most concentrated youth population with little or no green space within the entire zip code, 92701. We talked about subtle nature and urban planning and how we could notice our own relaxation under the canopy, witnessing protection and space. Although the students did not expect this they responded in the most natural way, with a feeling of ease and belonging. The next day one of the girls came again to experience nature, and brought a friend. This was amazing and worth, all the planning and stressing that no one would show or that it was not something teenagers think they need. They do, and I encourage everyone to continue the work and continue to connect youth, and teenagers to this great understanding that nature is secure, it is life, it is non-judgemental, transends all emotion into a balance of belonging and connection to something bigger than ourselves. Thanks!!

Reconnect Nature Free Writing Workshops for Santa Ana Residents

Thank You for your interest in the Reconnect Nature Program! We are very excited to share simple ways to keep you connected to your local natural areas. We will be exploring the different locations in the area for our workshops, writing and sharing our connection stories. The goal of the program is to leave you with a sense of genuine care and concern for our natural world bringing you a sense of belonging. With exercises we share our thoughts and create a well rounded sense of community, and nature's place in it. This is the outline for the weekend.

Friday Sept 3 4p - 6p; Sasscer Park (301 W Santa Ana Blvd Santa Ana, CA 92701)
Urban Nature; taking recognition of the area with a brief history of the area to share the origin of landscape and nature people plant to create beauty.

Saturday Sept 4 5p - 8p Santiago Park (900 E Memory Ln Santa Ana CA 92706)
Sunset Reflections; with indigenous ceremony for welcoming nature into our lives and us into nature, talk about natural plants specific to our region.

Sunday Sept 5 3p - 5p Portola Park (1700 E Santa Clara AVE Santa Ana 92705)
Seasons Changes; walks to the abandoned orchard with reflection of our relationship with nature and agriculture in the area.

Please email me for more information - reconnectnatureblog@gmail.com

Choice is a beautiful thing...

I have experienced the truth of what is missing in child development, with outstanding, overbooked, stressed, anxiety ridden youth who survive in a numb state, surrounding the harsh raw emotion with meaningless, materialistic, false securities. Children have choosen stagnation over play, media over dirt, and entertainment over imagination. Now is only time in my life I am driven to take action and reverse the evolution of demis, bringing health and development back into the awareness to those who understand we are at a crossroads. We choose our path from this point forward and my heart aches as I write the emotion is strong telling me that my own attraction is beyond my time on this planet and must be shared with younger influence to see and experience the authentic teachings of our natural beings, before it is lost forever. Natural Thinking Systems Process is this teaching for myself as a vehicle to the future of work for my own connection and that of the next inhabitants. I would like to keep with the independent flow of the ProjectConnect and the long term learning systems of Micheal Cohen, this is going to ensure the level of authenticity is balanced and uninfluenced by traditional educational forums. I appreciate the purpose and system layed out before me to take and apply in my own medium allowing my authentic self to truely connect with nature and my community.

Take action!

The No Child Left Inside bill (NCLI) is currently still in committee. It will hopefully be attached as an amendment to the ESEA (No Child Left BEHIND) bill that Obama should be authorizing later this year. They both have a fair number of co-sponsors. In OREGON Sen. Wyden is a co-sponsor. Sen. Merkely is not.

Leadership from the House Education and Labor Committee issued a bipartisan statement last month reflecting their commitment to amending and improving ESEA (No Child Left BEHIND) this year.

They have flagged NCLI on their website as a key bill up for consideration and are inviting organizations and agencies to submit comments on NCLI and other legislation related to ESE.

The NCLI website recommends:

Please take a few moments today to email the Committee at eseacomments@mail.house.gov and let them know that you support the inclusion of the No Child Left Inside Act (H.R. 2053) in the reauthorized ESEA. Please consider calling or writing to your senator as well.

The Trail....reflection of the Sierras

The Gift; Air is a scarce resource in the LA valley, and to explore its freshness is a sense of true joy. One of the first things always to notice is the clean air, very thankful to the trees, sky, and wild for allowing this precious cycle to exist. I am gitty with its quality. On the morning of the Mt. Whitney ascent it is cool, and I refuse to stop breathing...any moment not taking in a breath is a moment never to return, as this is a temporary visit and nothing is to be wasted.
My Gift; Oh to be honest, my gift was given over again as respiration quickened and the oxygen became thin, my lungs ached with satisfaction of sorts to exert and be present in the exchange...so present.
Gift of Life; Words can not explain the way a trip into the wild can validate your life, and the gift of movement and ability. I am truly blessed to have an able body, and to engage on heights not known to most. I am humbled in the experience. To climb a mountain, is the greatest connection to self and surroundings.
Disconnect from Nature; My examples of disconnection happened literally on trail with a stumble because my mind wondered to other places, and my shoe would catch, and awaken the present moment with the surge of adrenaline. Popping my mind into focus to be with the mountain at all times for assurance of safety, and connection.
Nature wants you alive; Absolutely!! We reached the summit and were blessed with conditions ideal for the top of the peaks, clear sky slight breeze, and sun. Attraction to the sky heighten our awareness of building clouds signaling our decent to lower ground, time was ticking to safety...we were granted permission to descend and become protected at lower ground. Thankful we continued the communication with the skies and lead us to continue to travel in the amongst a surge of storms granting valuable information on our travels for the final days of the trip.
Connection with Nature Feels good; So True!! I am bursting with emotion from our excursion. I share the feelings every time I am asked...and people seemed like the message and feel the connection through me, as a portal of sorts to these wonderful feelings.
Words are your destiny; I learned the true meaning of intention, and commitment. I value myself to follow though with authentic meaning, this carries into my everyday life and I will draw from this example to form as a role model of my true self, this is my genuine attraction.
Natural sensations and feelings guide you; The days were determined by the sky, along the trail if water and sun arose in unison, we were drawn to bathe and sun for refreshed body and mind. The language became so ritualistic often minimal words were exchanged between me and my hiker companion on the protocol. Like the sky for safely, it offered joy and warmth, for drying and relaxed feelings. Trusting these was a natural attraction and trust was unquestioned.
Nature has no words

****In nature our multisensory is our awakening of deep soul connections to our systems, we are from the earth and constantly becoming earth, we communicate in the order of life, and cycles. A wisdom exists in this connection allowing growth and intelligence to guide our actions. the smaller the action the more subtle the attraction, building of the webstrings to strengthen the ties that bind. In this You Belong...every attraction is pulling you further into the web, luring you into the feelings of belonging and connection to life and balance. You are from nature and will return to nature, with or without your consent, the joy is that you can embrace this as truth, dispelling all anxiety about any non-natural choices you make. Draw close your awareness for this, and you can heal the suffering, and guilt from disconnection, keep in practice your true self and let attraction guide you to your life's destiny.

Reconnect Nature Writing Workshops Starting July

Reconnect Nature - Writing Workshop & Picnic

$25.00

Join naturalist Lyndie Bradshaw, and author Sarah Garcia for a two hour writing workshop focused on response and inspiration from the natural world with group collaboration. Each class will be themed with different tours and exercises to develop your skills.

Please bring your own writing materials (clipboards will be available), picnic and refreshments included for extra sensory experience.
JULY: Summer Reflections
AUGUST: Sunset & Rest
SEPTEMBER: Changes in Season

*Register for all classes and receive a $10 discount on the series.
REGISTER HERE

Conflicts Among... the many

The online scheduled class started weeks ago and just now I am posting again. This is a time of great change in our world, as I move forward the class requires me to post weekly exercises about my observations in nature and some of the difficult challenges that lay ahead. The conflict is in our society, and even within my own life and choices. This is the time to be completely honest and forward about where we stand on the issues, and the limited choices we are able to make. Along with on going heartache for the Gulf Coast and its members of fragile systems we see the webstring ties our delicate world together. I encourage you to look for the webstring in your area that is intact or broken, please take time to comment on what you see, or feel. What choices are you making that may have harsh environmental disconnection...my own is in the clothing industry, made from high end carbon/oil based textiles, shipped across the globe at astonishing rates, that seem to lack some consistancy...this is my reality.

How the city hurts your brain - The Boston Globe

How the city hurts your brain - The Boston Globe

Posted using ShareThis

A Psychosis of a Symptomatic Society

This is the beginning...to detect the puzzle, with illness ramped up to the degree of which we can not with stand any longer. This is a travesty. A day does not go by without bringing up concern for the youth, our awakening is happening. I contiue to build passion around the "doing".

What is it that everyone is seeing, for one it was an interaction with a 4 year old on digital video game brought to keep him entertained while mom gets her hair done. The young man could go on and on about the game, telling my friend the different levels, characters and how he learned to navigate the small controller. Not to say the games are the "devil" but the amount of time spent on this game gave evidence to the amount of time this young mind spent daily learning the advanced multi media device. Remember age 4? I sure don't but I am sure if I was to sit waiting for my mother it involved some craft or imagination to entertain myself.

In The Te of Piglet, the author talks about the shortened childhood and the burden we place on young minds to be faster, learn more, at what time do they learn to be playful and innoccent. Adults could benefit from relearning this simple mindset.

I work as a parttime naturalist, and many times I think...why talk let the flow of the elements take us...back to a playful mind, ease and natural way for the relaxing the mind to take in the response emotionally.

Centralized

I have decided to move forward with the intention of gathering information from the select group of individuals working so hard for a genuine connection with our local environment. Richard Louv became my friend today on Facebook, and that type of connection would not have been possible without technology, the amount of information available is astounding. I rest with the movement forward in my own life, and what the future holds.

Nature Feature

The way of the Coyote is a diliberate walk. Think to the last time you truely listened to the song of birds, take a moment to listen to nature's song and all it has to offer, guarentee you will come away with a twitter in your heart for the subtle sound of the life sustaining soil and ground. I sat today and looked to the clouds thinking I would like to feel the rain they carry, the breeze brushed my face and smell of sweet coolness. Take note of a nature feature and note the feelings it carries.

Nothing New

In realizing the movement is not new, and many have traveled the path with nature. A sense of rightness belongs with each thought on how a connection is made. Time with nature is endless, the way in which we allow it to touch our heart and soul that all humans have reached the understanding before. Our ancestory reaches back through our genetic line filled with earth, sun, and water elements that are so rich and telling that we forget all other matters.

Elements, coding our experiences.

Little more about what you can expect...

I don't want people to confuse this blog with an environmental movement, to be frank I think a disconnect from nature can be some of that cause, as well as natural global effects. If you want to save the planet this is not the blog for you, but if you want to save yourself or a few around you, I might have some thoughts.

Another influence was the book Ishmeal by Daniel Quinn, very rooted in my thoughts of life evolution, and spiritual evolution. Another influence you might find here, author being Ken Weber, who is based out of the "Boulder Bubble".

Exchange of Idea

Ok, to start the reason to blog is to share and document the movement. My family, friends and colleges have much to offer and I am going to share my ideas and theirs with you.

It starts with a book...a friend you recently reconnect with offers it to you thinking you have something to gain from the experience.

Something moves you to follow your friends advise and continue to seek out what the world has brought you.

Today mine was Coyote's Guide by Jon Young it will begin the next couple of years discovering how and why we need nature. I invite you on my journey...