Eco-Psychology

In our increasingly overburdened lives we are often required to juggle multiple roles and multiple responsibilities and in doing so we may be becoming increasingly detached from the natural world; loosing touch with the seasons and with the rhythm of nature.  Some are struggling to see our impact on the Earth and our climate, others are overwhelmed by it and experience acute anxiety.  I wonder if most of us sit somewhere between the two, sort of knowing that changes are happening, but not really knowing how to respond.  For all of us it is important (I think) to wonder about what these changes mean for our own sense of wellbeing.  Anxiety, Depression, and Loss of Meaning can, for some, be traced back to the loss of the vital connection to our environment. 

And now, as nature is also ailing, what now?

Drawing on the work of David Abram, we will try to remember that while we observe nature, nature observes us.  Ultimately of course we are nature and nature lives within us, we are seen and we are seeing.  We are part of a complex web of life that is affected by and effective in our environment’s destruction and creation, by sensing our way into this we can retrieve a part of ourselves.