“Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.”
– EO Wilson
How would co-partnering with nature matter to me?
We live in such uncertain times, for example Covid-19 and climate change and the impact that both of them has on ourselves, those we love and the wider world around us. I will confess I have not always been a nature advocate. That's not to say that I did not appreciate nature or my surrounding areas but I did not immerse myself in it or appreciate the benefits of it. However, I am delighted to say that over the last couple of years that has changed.
Recently, I was privileged to be part of Catherine Gorham's 'Nature as Dynamic Co-Partner's workshop. The impact of this workshop was that by incorporating nature in coaching conversations, this partnership encourages you to be present and curious about the world around you and at the same time seek clarity and solutions to areas in your life that you have become stuck in. Additionally, by becoming aware of the world and nature surrounding us, we then learn to look after her.
What is the impact of being stuck in a behaviour?
One of the issues of being in an unhelpful behaviour is that you can become stuck in a narrative unable to move onto the next chapter of your life or mirroring and modelling that behaviour to others, so this cycle of unhelpful behaviour continues.
For example, you believe that nothing ever goes right, so you stop trying. If this sounds like you and you have become stuck in an area of your life that you feel you are unable to move from, I would invite you to look at the picture above and see where you position yourself in the landscape. For instance:
Are you at the bottom of the mountain or by the boat?
What are the reasons you have positioned yourself there for?
What steps / action could you take to move to where you would like to be?
What are the benefits and consequences of each step?
How committed are you to taking the next step?
When will you start?
This is a very short example of how we work together in the Coaching room as there are many other tools, techniques and resources that can help you.
The next time you are outdoors exercising, I would kindly ask you to be curious about the world around you. Use the resources of nature to clarify where you are today and where you'd like to be tomorrow. Finally, as much as nature is helping you, please help look after her in return.
Take care, Paula
Read our other pages on: criticism; coaching; managing expectations; reducing stress; procrastination