Nature and Self-Esteem – Building Empowerment By Environmental Exposure

 

Hiking through the Indiana back woodlands this weekend, I was amazed at the color still left in nature even though it was late fall and thirty degrees Fahrenheit. Hundreds of shades of browns, mixed with the cold gray sky, combined with green mosses. Chartreuse green Osage Oranges littered the ground. Grouse, hawks, and deer were everywhere. It was amazing.

While I was hiking, I took deep, refreshing breaths and my mind wandered to the fact that being in nature, for me, makes me feel confident. Self-esteem is often such a delicate thing for we humans. We should be taking every opportunity to find ways to build our confidence and experience more than our limited lives offer. Nature does that for us.

M. Honoré France and Carmen Rodriguez from the University of Victoria, Canada use nature to assist in emotional counseling. They wrote Re-connecting with Nature: Using Nature in Counseling. In this report they say, “we believe that the sense of being connected to something greater provides a sense of empowerment.”

Build your confidence. Build your children’s self-esteem. Get out in nature at every opportunity to do so – especially in Winter when we tend to spend way too much time inside breathing and rebreathing stale air and an abundance of germs. Touch nature and it will reward you in return.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Comments

[Hazel Jennings]

I loved this article! I'm glad it's true for other people too!

Hazel
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