Recentering Your Identity with Nature: A Mindful Guide to Cultivating Ecocentrism

For this activity, you will need your journal and a computer with internet access.

The purpose of this activity is to begin cultivating mindfulness and awareness of our living space.

Awareness of our environments is crucial to developing ecocentrism and general wellbeing. Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen monk, wrote in his book Peace is Every Step "We are what we feel and perceive." If we can create a pleasant home environment, we embody the pleasant feeling. As we practice being aware of our environments, we are able to embody these pleasant feelings with greater ease.

Plants can be picky about their growing conditions. For this activity, please pay attention to the conditions in different locations in your home over the course of a day or two. While doing this, pay attention to your awareness of your environment. Notice anything new you may not have noticed previously while you answer these questions in your journal.

For this activity, you will need your journal, your potted plant, and some water.

The purpose of this activity is to understand your role in shaping how your plant grows.

Once you have finished part one and picked a plant that you like, you can move on to the next step. For this activity, you will practice mindfully caring for your plant. This activity should take you about a month to complete, depending on how quickly your plant grows and reacts to its environment. If your plant dies, that is okay. Taking care of plants takes practice. Occasionally plants will even die without the owner having done anything wrong at all. You can always try again.

Thich Nhat Hanh uses a meditation in his book he called the Tangerine Meditation. He starts the meditation by giving people a tangerine and asking them to think about where it came from. People will imagine the tangerine tree in bloom and bees pollinating its flowers. They will imagine those flowers turning into fruit over time. Eventually, they follow the tangerine through time in their mind until it is there in their hand. Thich Nhat Hanh then asks them to notice the color and smell of the fruit and how it feels in their hand, cultivating awareness of both the moment and the tangerine. For this activity, you will be asked similar questions about your plant. You do not need to write your answers down. Just be aware of the plant in the moment. Doing this should take 5 to 10 minutes when you water your plant.

For this activity, you will need your journal and a computer with internet access. You can use the AllTrails website found here to assist you with this activity

The purpose of this activity is to experience and learn about the natural world we live in.

Setting up a garden takes a lot of time, effort, and research. Because of this, it is not for everybody. However, experiencing nature is a key aspect of developing ecocentrism and promoting well-being. For this activity, you will use the mindfulness skills from part one to experience nature.

For this activity, you will find a hiking trail in your area. While on your hike, pay attention to the different plants and animals you see. Notice how they interact with their environment. Notice how they make you feel when you look at them. For this activity, it is best to set aside an hour or two to walk the trail. If you have the time, it will be most beneficial if this activity is done regularly as a part of your exercise routine.

For this activity, you will need your journal and space to start setting up your garden. You can read this NPR article to assist you with this activity.

The purpose of this activity is to build a space for you to garden.

Choosing a place to put your garden is a lot of work with a lot to consider. First, you need to know how much light a spot gets. Most plants need up to 8 hours a day. The spot should be away from buildings or other objects that obstruct light. Once you have picked out a spot, you have to consider what plants you want to grow. The plants you are able to grow will be restricted by your local climate. Some plants do better in warmer areas while others like it colder. The soil will also play a role in the success of your gardens. Some geographical locations do not have the right soil conditions for a lot of common plants. In these cases, you can buy soil from the store or supplement with compost.

For this activity, you will build your garden, however that may look. Each form of gardening has its benefits and drawbacks. It is best to use your own judgment when trying to build a garden. Use the NPR article above to help you plan your garden.

Once you have settled on a spot and dug out your bed, you can start planning what plants you want to grow. Please list some plants you want in your garden. Be sure to take notes on what each plant needs to thrive, such as spacing, time of year, and soil quality.

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Once you have a list of plants, use some space in your journal to map where in your garden bed you want to plant them.

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For this activity, you will need your journal and your garden.

The purpose of this activity is to mindfully practice ecocentric thought.

When your home garden is established with plants growing in the soil, we are engaging our local ecosystem. Gardening will be most effective when we do so for not just ourselves, but for all the creatures in our area. This type of gardening is also an effective tool for cultivating ecocentrism.

For this activity, be mindful when you garden. Notice how you affect the environment of your garden. What changes when you are in it? Also, notice how your garden affects you. How do you change, mentally or physically, when you are in it? Please list the ways in which you and your garden interact in your journal.

For this activity, you will only need your journal.

The purpose of this activity is to practice using adaptive language to promote well-being and ecocentrism.

Gardening and nature hikes are both excellent methods of cultivating ecocentrism when doing them mindfully. However, these take time from our busy schedules. A quick way to cultivate ecocentrism is through practicing the way we use language. The words we use can impact how we think about our environment, so it is important to be mindful of how we communicate.

For this activity, you will monitor your thoughts for egocentric language throughout the day. When you catch yourself using egocentric language, take a minute to correct it, if you can. This activity will take some practice. You may not be able to catch every thought or change the thought when you do catch them. However, over time, switching to ecocentric language will become automatic. To help understand the difference, a few examples are listed below

For this activity, you will need your journal and a public space in your area.

The purpose of this activity is to cultivate ecocentrism in your community.

Each person in a community has their own complicated life. We don't often take the time to understand people we don't know. Sometimes, this can lead us to turn a blind eye to some serious problems our community faces. When we ignore these problems, they tend to get worse and affect more and more people. Even if they are strangers, it is important to try to understand them so that we may improve the quality of life for everyone.

For this activity, you are going to use the tangerine meditation from part 1 of this workbook, but with a focus on our community, and write your response in your journal. We can do this meditation with buildings in our community, such as a local shop or library. Any public space will work. Think about who might use it. What kind of events might happen there. How does your presence influence the location and the people in it? Notice the people around you. Do they look happy? Stressed? Without judgment, think about what problems they might be happening. Some of these problems might be obvious while others are more subtle. Is there anything you could do to help? If so, offer to help. Some people might not be open to your help, but those who are will remember it and it will make their day. You can do this activity while shopping or on a walk around your neighborhood.

When you are finished with this meditation and return home, please rate how you feel and record it in your journal.

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Please write about your experience in your journal.

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For this activity, you will need your journal and a computer with internet access. You can use the American Community Gardening Association website found here to assist you with this activity

The purpose of this activity is to actively promote the well-being of your community.

Community gardens are an excellent place to meet new people. They provide a safe, public space for everybody in the community. Some people in the community could be facing food insecurity. So a community garden can help them both relieve financial stress and have access to fresh produce. However, many communities don't have a community garden.

For this activity, you will research community gardens in your area. If you find one, consider joining to become more active in your community. If you can't find one in your area, do some research on your community leaders. If there is a vacant lot in your area owned by the city, you can start a petition to turn it into a community garden. Reach out to community leaders for help if needed.

Use space in your journal to list the different community gardens near you.

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Once you have a few that you like, use some space in your journal to take notes on the different qualifications needed to join the garden. If any garden has extra activities or events, this is a good place to list them

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For this activity, you will need your journal and a computer with internet access.

The purpose of this activity is to inspire change in your community.

For the final activity, you will watch the video that inspired this project. The presenter of this TEDTalk, Ron Finley, uses gardening as a tool to promote the welfare of his community. Please think about how you could potentially use the ideas in this talk to help your own community.