Every individual is interconnected in beauty. It is a beauty we were born with, wild and inescapable. Yet, we lose sight of this. To see beauty, we need to observe ourselves and others nonjudgmentally by asking what are the feelings and needs behind behaviors. We connect to other’s beauty by using our bodies, our senses, and our cognitive empathy (using our thinking, feelings, research, and understanding of science).
One Earth Conservation's Nurture Nature Program is now leading Wild Walks, helping us see and experience beauty in nature. Wild Walks help us pause and see how we walk in beauty - the beauty within (Emotional Intelligence) connected to the beauty in other humans (Social intelligence), connected to the beauty in other species (Multispecies Intelligence), connected to the beauty of relationships (Ecological Intelligence), connected to the beauty that is beyond words or thought (Spiritual Intelligence). All these intelligences build upon and contribute to each other, all of which we use to affirm beauty during a Wild Walk, intentionally at first with guided practices, and later let our scientific, naturalist, and chattering selves go wild. Human nature is inherently wild, but we too often over-domesticate it with cognitive loops entrenched in culture’s stories of oppression that diminish worth and beauty. Instead, let us take a walk on the wild side for freedom, letting our hearts sing for all wild things in the family of life, liberating all.
Walking in Central Park, NY (photo by Ahodges)
Take a look at our schedule of events coming up so you can join a Wild Walk - this weekend in Bluffton, SC (if Hurricane Irma allows it), then in White Plains, NY; Manhattan's Central Park, NY; Manhasset, NY; and Nantucket, MA. Also, here is a free Wild Walk Guide you can use if you cannot join us. Even for just a few minutes, go outside, and if you cannot walk, move part of your body or imagine doing so, moving your heart to welcome all wild things into the family of life.
To find out more about the principles behind One Earth Conservation's Wild Walks, attend one of our workshops or retreats, or sign up for a course on our Nurture Nature Academy.