April 29, 2026

Nature Speaks - Are You Listening? w/Mark Langenfeld

What if the answers you’re searching for… aren’t online—but outside? On this episode of ParaTruth: Reborn, Justin & Erik sit down with Mark Langenfeld, author of Wisdom from the Woods: A Year of Gentle Guidance from Mother Nature. Drawing from...

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What if the answers you’re searching for… aren’t online—but outside?

On this episode of ParaTruth: Reborn, Justin & Erik sit down with Mark Langenfeld, author of Wisdom from the Woods: A Year of Gentle Guidance from Mother Nature.

Drawing from psychology, mindfulness, and the quiet lessons of nature, Mark shares how the natural world can guide us through stress, uncertainty, and disconnection.

From hiking trails to moments of stillness, we explore how tuning into nature might just help you reconnect—with yourself.

🌲 Is nature trying to tell us something?
🧠 Can it actually improve our mental well-being?
✨ And what happens when we finally slow down enough to listen?

Join us live—and be part of the conversation.

Guest Bio: Mark Langenfeld is the author of Wisdom from the Woods: A Year of Gentle Guidance from Mother Nature, published by Llewellyn Worldwide. (100% of his royalties are donated to the students’ Nutritional Assistance Program at Northwood Technical College in Superior, WI, where Professor Langenfeld teaches psychology and sociology.) He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology from Alliant International University in Fresno, CA. Before teaching, he worked as a therapist for several years. Additionally, he presents workshops at conferences on various topics dealing with improving psychological well-being. His hobbies include juggling, hiking, gardening, meditation, rock collecting, fishing, and doing random acts of kindness. To receive positive daily messages, please follow Dr. Langenfeld on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556910451200

You can find the book at these distributors:
Llewellyn.com
Walmart.com
BarnesandNoble.com
Amazon.com

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/paratruth-reborn--6273542/support.

Thanks for listening!

WEBVTT

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Coming up on Paratruth Reborn, we are talking to Mark

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Langfeld about his book Wisdom from the Woods, A Year

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of gentle Guidance from Mother Nature.

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Welcome to Para Truth.

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Truth, how's it going Paratruth is Welcome to Paratruth Reborn.

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My name is Justin and I'm very happy to welcome

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Mark Langfeld to the show. Thank Mark, Welcome to Paratruth

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re Born.

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Thank you for having me on this show. I appreciate it.

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Yeah, I know. I saw this book and it's something

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that I think people need to hear about because we

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have become so disconnected from nature. So I appreciate that

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you wrote a book about Mother Nature and reconnecting and

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understanding guidance from nature. But what inspired you to write

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this book?

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Well, I wanted to pass on these messages my entire life.

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I've been hiking and receiving these nature metaphors and these

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messages from Mother Nature, from true spirits and animal spirits

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and everything, and I started writing them down. And I started, oh,

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I suppose ten years ago, journaling on all these different

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metaphors and the lessons that Mother Nature was teaching. And

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each journal that I made was roughly about a thousand words.

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It just happen to work out that way. And then

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after about fifty two of these chapters, I said, hmm,

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you know there's enough here for a book. Why don't

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I pass on this knowledge. I don't want to go

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to the grave and take all these secrets with me.

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Let everyone know what Mother Nature is sharing with me.

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And so that's why I wrote the book. That's what

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inspired me. I wanted to pass on Mother Nature's wisdom.

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It's not my wisdom, it's Mother Nature's wisdom. I want

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to just pass it on to other people.

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Now, for many people watching listening, they would probably think,

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you know, a clinical psychologist doesn't normally think like this.

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As far as spirits in the wood and learning from nature,

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how does that shape your view as a guide from nature?

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Well, I incorporate nature into my counseling. When I was

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going to graduate school in California. I'm from Minnesota originally,

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but when I was in graduate school in California, I

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would do volunteer work at some schools, junior high schools.

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And the students that I had as.

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Sort of like a support group that I formed, I

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would take them on walks around the school grounds, and

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I would say to them things like say, if you

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look at the edge of the property there, you see

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those that tree line, Well, we're all like trees. They

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look separate, don't they. But if you look on a

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higher level, you see their branches are all touching, they're

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all interconnected. We're like that too as people. We're separate

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and yet we're all interconnected. So I incorporated these nature

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metaphors in to my therapy sessions, and I got nicknamed

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the walking Therapist because I ho would always take my

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client out for a walk, just around the grounds, and

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we would rely on mother nature.

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That's fascinating, Like I wish therapists, more therapists would do that,

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because you know, other than just being in nature, being

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outside is a really invigorating thing for most humans. We

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need vitamin D from the sun, we need fresh air,

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not that a lot of our air is fresh these days, but.

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Still it's interesting because most therapists will have some element

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of nature inside, like they'll have a little handheld fountain

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that bubbles up a little bit of water and makes

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a gurgling sound, and somehow that's supposed to be a

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substitute for being out in the and I'm like, okay,

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we need to work on that. I think we can

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do better.

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Now, you talk about messages from Mother Nature, do you

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believe Nature is communicating with us like literally or is

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it in metaphor?

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Most of the time, she's communicating with us by modeling

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behavior for us. Whenever I see, whether it's a spirit

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animal or a tree, or a cloud or a lake,

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whatever it may be, I always ask the object that

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I'm studying, what is your message for me? And the

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thought that pops into my head is do as I'm doing.

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That's almost always the message. So if I'm looking up

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at a puffy white cloud and I ask the cloud,

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what is your message for me? The thought that pops

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in my head is do as I do. And so

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I look at the cloud and I'm like, okay, the

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cloud is peaceful. The cloud is not rushing. The cloud

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is gently rolling across the sky. It's not in a hurry. Okay,

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that's the message. I should go through my day as

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peaceful as a cloud instead of rushing. So when Mother

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Nature communicates to us in whatever form, it's almost always

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modeling behavior for us. Look at what Mother Nature is doing,

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we should do the same.

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Okay, Now, I know a lot of people miss these

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lessons throughout their entire lives, because in this day and age,

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we're more so connected to the device that's in our

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pocket over connected to nature itself. What's one lesson from

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nature that people consistently overlook.

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Probably how to give first before expecting in return. And

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the lesson that I learned through nature was with the ravens.

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I would go out into the woods and the ravens

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would caw and they would scold me, and they would

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make a racket because I was taking their space. I

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was invading their space, and they would fly away and flee,

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and I thought, well, why are you doing that. I'm

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a good person. Don't be offended to come back. And

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so then I decided, during the freezing cold winter, when

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it was like twenty to thirty below, I thought, I'm

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going to feed the ravens. So I went out there

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in the same meadow where I'd seen the ravens, and

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I started putting down food for them, and they saw it,

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and this time they didn't caw, they didn't scold me.

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They sat quietly perched in their tree branches and they watched.

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And then when I left, they came down and they fed,

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and I continued that all winter long, and pretty soon,

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I mean within a couple of weeks, as soon as

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I would enter the woods, the ravens would come gather

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around me. And I was like, okay, I made new friends.

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How did I do that? I gave first. And I

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think that's a mistake that a lot of people don't realize.

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They think, well, you know, if you want to be

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my friend, then you have to do something first. I'm

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just going to sit here and I'll wait for you

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to come to me. That's the mistake. If you want

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to reach out to people, if you want to have friends,

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if you want to strengthen your relationships, even with people

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you are already friends with, you need to give first

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before you receive. Okay.

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Now, I find that story fascinating because you know, it's

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scientifically proven that ravens are one of the smartest birds

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in the world, and that a lot of people have

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gotten gifts back from ones that they've befriended. Have you

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ever had that happen.

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They will give a gift in the form of a feather,

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They will drop a feather, okay, And that's the type

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of gifts that they have given me. Yeah.

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I mean I've I've heard of people talking about them

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bringing you know, dead mice and whatnot, dead dead things

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as well, and it's you know, it's funny, but it's

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also like that's its way of showing gratefulness is by

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giving you the gift of food because you did the

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same for them.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, Now we've talked about this already, how people are

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so disconnected from nature. Now, if someone really wants to

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start being more with nature, how can someone start listening

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to nature? If they want to do.

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That, The first thing I recommend is recognize that you

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are already connected with Mother Nature. We are biological beings,

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We are connected biologically organically to Mother Nature. So just

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that recognition that says, oh yeah, I'm already part of nature.

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I don't have to like sign up or join I'm

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already part of nature. And then you can just engage safely.

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You know, if there's poisonous plants or if there's dangerous animals,

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you know, you don't want to go near them. I

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tend to take more risks. I will go into the

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woods at night, and I've come across some homeless encampments.

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I come across some people who are you know, shooting

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up heroin, and as a man, I feel relatively safe.

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If I were a woman, I would never try that,

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certainly not alone. So you can engage with nature safely,

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however you choose. If people, for example, are homebound, maybe

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they have some physical limitation and they're not able to

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leave the house, they can still enjoy nature through the window.

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I'll give you a specific example my intro to psych class.

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I taught that once at Moose Lake State Prison in

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Minnesota for the inmates who were about to graduate, and

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the prison wanted them to have at least one college

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course under their belt to make it an easier transition

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for them. So the prison guard would walk me from

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the front door to the classroom and back, and as

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I walked past some of the windows, I looked up

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in the sky. Oh that's a bald eagle. Now, Moose

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Lake has a lot of lakes, a lot of bald

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Eagles's quite common. But I remember thinking, how amazing is this.

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I'm inside a prison, and yet I'm still able to

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connect with mother Nature by just looking out the window.

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So no matter where you are, even if you're locked up,

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you can still look outside and you can say, oh,

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the grass is growing. Oh, look at what that squirrel

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is doing. Look at how those birds are singing. I

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should be joyful and sing like that. Look at the clouds.

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You can notice all kinds of things. And even if

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it's nighttime. I have stood in the window at night

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and just let the moonbeams bathe me. I've just stood

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there and just close my eyes and let the moonbeams

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shine on me, and I connected with the moon Goddess.

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You don't even have to leave your house.

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Have you ever experienced anything in nature that you know,

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felt unexplained that right? Anything like that.

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There were times that I sensed danger. And this was

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when I was a child, when I was not physically strong,

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and I was probably seven years old. I went way, way,

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way too far into the woods and I started coming

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across some places where I saw some discarded remnants of

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hyperderic needles. And it was near the river. This was

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along the Mississippi River, and I thought, I bet you

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have some people came here to do drugs. I don't

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know if they were partying. I don't know if they

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were making meth or what, but it was they came

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by boat and there was drug paraphernalia everywhere, and I thought,

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you know, I had to get out of here. I'm

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just scared. I'm not going to hang around here to

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see if anybody shows up. There have been times where

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I felt like things are not quite right and I've

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gotten out of there. And another example might be with

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the weather. There are times that I'm in the woods

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and suddenly the sky turns yellow and it has that

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sort of tornado look where the closets are to swirl,

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and I'm like, okay, my animal instincts are telling me

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it's time to pack up and go. So yeah, there

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have been a couple of times where things didn't quite

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feel right.

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Okay, Now have you ever come across any fairy rings

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walking around?

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Oh? Sure, have you? Yeah, that's quite common, particularly lower

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in the valleys in the gullies. Yeah, and Jack in

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the pulpit is there and blood rut and I have

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found a couple of lady slippers as well, both the

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yellow moccasins and the pink showy Lady slippers, which is

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the Minnesota state flower by the way. Oh wow.

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Now have you ever like had to tell yourself, you know,

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don't go pithex or it would be plenty of people

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that would be going there out of curiosity, and who

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knows what happens afterwards.

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But I could you please rephrase the question. I didn't

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quite follow it.

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Like, when you've seen the fairy rings, have you ever

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like told yourself stay away from that? You know, that's

224
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their territory, you know, because there's been stories about fairy

225
00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:36.679
rings and people going into them and going missing. Has

226
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there any of, like been any fear about about fairy rings?

227
00:15:41.159 --> 00:15:47.519
Not fear, but respect. When I come upon anything that

228
00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:51.840
looks sacred, such as a fairy ring, I will pause,

229
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and I will give an offering, okay. And it can

230
00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:58.279
be picking up a leaf and holding it in my hand,

231
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or it can be picking up a little stone and

232
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charging it with my body heat energy. I leave an offering,

233
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and then I ask permission mentally. I don't speak out loud,

234
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but I mentally ask permission if I can enter the circle,

235
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so I'm in communion with them. And I do the

236
00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:24.120
same thing with trees. When I was going to school

237
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in California, I went to the Sequoia Mountains and I

238
00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:32.000
would walk inside these great big trees, these great big

239
00:16:32.039 --> 00:16:36.879
Sequoia trees, and I would ask permission mentally, is it, okay,

240
00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:41.480
may I enter, and then I'd crawl into the tree.

241
00:16:41.159 --> 00:16:45.919
The spirits just want to be treated respectfully. Okay. And

242
00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:48.120
by the way, one other thing I do whenever I

243
00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:50.840
go into the woods, I always carry with me a

244
00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:54.600
plastic bag to pick up other people's trash. You'd be

245
00:16:54.679 --> 00:17:00.240
surprised how people just discard trash, especially water bottles and

246
00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:04.759
you know, wrappers from candy bars. And it's like, my goodness,

247
00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:08.319
it's everywhere. I leave with a bag full of trash

248
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that I've picked up.

249
00:17:09.640 --> 00:17:10.079
Jeez.

250
00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:12.960
Yeah, the spirits like that when I pick up the trash.

251
00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:16.920
Oh, I'm sure. I mean, you know, we don't want

252
00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:21.240
to miss our houses. I mean, some people do, maybe,

253
00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:23.200
but for the most part, we don't want to mess

254
00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:24.839
in our house. Why would we want to do that

255
00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:28.680
in theirs? Yeah, I mean, and we're a part of nature.

256
00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:31.799
You would think we'd have a little more respect. Yeah.

257
00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.960
I often will talk with whatever being is there. And

258
00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:41.359
one time it turned out to be hilarious, and I

259
00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:44.559
was so embarrassed. I was fishing, and I do catch

260
00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:46.759
and remise, you know, I don't need to eat the fish.

261
00:17:47.160 --> 00:17:51.680
So I was in this gorge where there was cliffs

262
00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:54.319
on both sides of me, and there was just this

263
00:17:54.519 --> 00:17:59.720
thin hallway like gorge going to the river bank. This

264
00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:02.960
is the Saint Louis River, and so I went there,

265
00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:05.480
and there's really the only way to get there is

266
00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:08.359
behind me. You know, you can come to that place

267
00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:11.200
and then walk through the same trail through that gorge.

268
00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:14.960
And so I'm fishing there and I catch a huge

269
00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:17.960
small mouth bass, the largest one I've ever caught, and

270
00:18:18.039 --> 00:18:19.599
I picked it up and I took the hook out,

271
00:18:19.640 --> 00:18:21.319
and before I released it, I talked to it and

272
00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:25.319
I said, aren't you a pretty fish? Yes you are, Yes,

273
00:18:25.400 --> 00:18:26.559
you are a pretty fish.

274
00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:27.440
Yes you are.

275
00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:30.000
And then I put it back and I turned around

276
00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:32.400
and there was a father and son standing behind me,

277
00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:37.839
waiting to go fishing. And I'm like, oh, I normally

278
00:18:37.880 --> 00:18:43.039
don't talk to fish. This was a special occasion. That's

279
00:18:43.079 --> 00:18:44.000
so embarrassing.

280
00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:49.720
Well, and that's why most of the time you do

281
00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:51.519
it in your yes.

282
00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:59.759
Yes, Now, do you think certain places in nature hold

283
00:18:59.799 --> 00:19:03.400
more energy than others, or even you know, a state

284
00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:04.200
of coalm.

285
00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:10.240
Yes, for me, And I'm sure it's different for every person,

286
00:19:10.920 --> 00:19:16.720
but for me, it is the gorge with the high cliffs,

287
00:19:17.559 --> 00:19:22.960
and to me, it is reminiscent of a past life.

288
00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:25.279
And I did a lot of meditation on this, and

289
00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:28.119
I am convinced that I had a past life where

290
00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:31.880
I was a Native woman and I was living in

291
00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:36.279
this gorge and it was my job to collect water

292
00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:39.599
from the stream down below and deliver it to the

293
00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:43.279
rest of the people in my tribe. And that was

294
00:19:43.319 --> 00:19:46.279
a very good life. I felt very loved in that life.

295
00:19:46.440 --> 00:19:49.279
So now whenever I go into any sort of area

296
00:19:49.559 --> 00:19:53.799
where they have high cliff walls on both sides, I

297
00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:56.359
get this feeling of home, like I'm back in the

298
00:19:56.440 --> 00:19:57.000
womb again.

299
00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:02.880
Well, and so just because I can hear the skeptics

300
00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:05.759
now like, how do you know that that's not your

301
00:20:05.799 --> 00:20:15.839
mind just wandering or your psyche just kind of talking

302
00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:19.319
to you. How do you differentiate that from a past

303
00:20:19.400 --> 00:20:20.240
life experience.

304
00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:25.039
Well, certainly there's no way to scientifically prove it. However,

305
00:20:25.880 --> 00:20:28.960
in the past, when I have been convinced that I

306
00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:32.440
had a past life, it was because it resonated with

307
00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:37.319
my soul with the gorge. When I was first going

308
00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:40.519
the very first time I went to school in California

309
00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:47.279
for my graduate work, I stopped by Bryce Canyon, never

310
00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:51.240
been there before, never really left the state of Minnesota before,

311
00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:55.400
and as I walked down into that canyon, it felt

312
00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:58.680
like home. It felt familiar, and I thought to myself,

313
00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:02.920
you know, there's going to be a curve coming up here,

314
00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:04.759
and sure enough there was, and I'm like, how did

315
00:21:04.799 --> 00:21:07.640
I know that? And then I said, and then this

316
00:21:07.799 --> 00:21:12.000
narrow path, which it was the entire time, narrow path

317
00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:15.119
from the very beginning, it's suddenly going to open up,

318
00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:18.119
I feel, and it's going to be a big round room,

319
00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:21.519
like a living room. And that's where my tribe used

320
00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:26.000
to gather for our tribal meetings. And I felt like

321
00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:30.119
in that tribe, I was a native woman. It was

322
00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:34.079
just that feeling. And sure enough, within a few hundred yards,

323
00:21:34.759 --> 00:21:39.640
the gorge suddenly opened up, and I was like, look

324
00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:42.279
at this, This is exactly what I knew what happened.

325
00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:46.920
And then I thought, and then there's this tree in

326
00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:49.680
the middle of the path, and I realized, oh, that

327
00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:52.200
can't be true. Okay, that must be my imagination, because

328
00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:56.279
there's no trees in Bryce Canyon. Come on. Well, sure enough,

329
00:21:57.039 --> 00:22:00.279
I don't know how long, fifteen minutes later, there was

330
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:05.000
a big sequoia tree, one growing up from the center

331
00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:07.240
of the path reaching for the sky, and I was like,

332
00:22:07.720 --> 00:22:10.799
this is freaking me out. I know what's coming up

333
00:22:10.839 --> 00:22:14.079
around the bend and I've never been there before. And

334
00:22:14.119 --> 00:22:18.640
then sure enough, in my spirit, I knew that my

335
00:22:18.839 --> 00:22:22.759
job when I was that native woman was to go

336
00:22:22.839 --> 00:22:25.000
down to the creek and get some water. And I thought,

337
00:22:25.880 --> 00:22:28.799
there's no creek here. This is a canyon. It's Bryce canyon.

338
00:22:28.839 --> 00:22:31.640
There's no creek. Well, after about a two hour hike,

339
00:22:31.799 --> 00:22:34.759
sure enough, at the bottom of the canyon, there was

340
00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:37.440
a creek, and I was like, Okay, I'm convinced this

341
00:22:37.559 --> 00:22:40.759
is not just my imagination. I knew that I had

342
00:22:40.799 --> 00:22:41.880
lived here before.

343
00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:48.359
That's amazing, Like most people don't get the opportunity to

344
00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:52.359
have that experience. So and I know I've had like

345
00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:54.720
inklings when I get to a certain area and stuff

346
00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:59.039
like that. Yeah, but never a full like download or

347
00:22:59.640 --> 00:23:01.160
record of that.

348
00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:01.519
Yeah.

349
00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:07.400
So is do you feel is there a connection between mindfulness,

350
00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:10.119
intuition and natural world?

351
00:23:11.559 --> 00:23:17.240
Oh? Sure, yeah. I think everything is connected. And I

352
00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:21.480
think it's also a matter of being receptive because too

353
00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:27.880
many times people block out any sort of extra senses

354
00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:31.519
that they get, not just in nature, but just in life.

355
00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:34.680
In general, they'll say things like, you know, somebody took

356
00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:38.160
advantage of me and I kind of felt like something

357
00:23:38.279 --> 00:23:42.200
wasn't right, but I didn't pay any attention to my instincts. Well,

358
00:23:42.920 --> 00:23:46.279
let's do that, you know, Let's not be so concerned

359
00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:49.720
about our image or our ego that we're not willing

360
00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:54.319
to listen to our instincts. Instincts are fascinating. If you

361
00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:58.440
look up the term instincts in the dictionary, it says

362
00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:05.720
un behavior passed down on a genetic level. Nobody taught

363
00:24:05.799 --> 00:24:12.559
us we have these. I'm gonna call it wisdom. We

364
00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:17.079
have this wisdom from our ancestors, passed down through our DNA,

365
00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:19.759
and no one has to teach us. We have that

366
00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:24.200
instinct and it's automatic, and it's true for the entire species.

367
00:24:24.440 --> 00:24:27.559
It's not just for a couple of people. An instinct

368
00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:31.000
is an instinct only if it's true for all humans.

369
00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:34.839
For example, the startled response if someone sneaks up behind

370
00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:38.839
you and suddenly scares you, you jump. That startled response

371
00:24:38.920 --> 00:24:41.319
is true for all humans, not just for some.

372
00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:49.079
Do you feel like genetic and generational things are connected?

373
00:24:50.359 --> 00:24:55.839
Yeah, oh, yes, definitely. The ancestors passed down a lot

374
00:24:55.880 --> 00:25:00.720
of their life lessons, and if you really are in

375
00:25:00.759 --> 00:25:04.720
tune with your spirit and your instincts, you can follow

376
00:25:04.759 --> 00:25:09.440
those lessons. An example was I have a natural gift

377
00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:13.000
to be able to start a campfire. And when I

378
00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:17.519
go camping, usually at some kind of pagan event, people

379
00:25:17.559 --> 00:25:19.599
may not be able to get a campfire going, and

380
00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:23.720
as they call on me, and I'm able to get

381
00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:27.319
the campfire set up just right and get it started

382
00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:31.000
with just one match, no need for you know, kerosene

383
00:25:31.079 --> 00:25:34.119
or you know, lighter fluid or anything like that. And

384
00:25:34.200 --> 00:25:37.079
people ask me, where did you learn that? Who taught

385
00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:39.279
you how to start a campfire? And I said nobody,

386
00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:43.319
It's just my nature. It just came through.

387
00:25:48.200 --> 00:25:52.680
Now, this has been speculated and there have been scientists

388
00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:58.079
that feel they've proven this. Couldn't nature be considered a

389
00:25:58.119 --> 00:26:01.480
form of consciousness or have contryiousness?

390
00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:07.440
Yes it could. I don't know how to prove it,

391
00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:14.480
but certainly the planet is alive and the planet tries

392
00:26:14.519 --> 00:26:18.559
its best to heal from all the pollution and damage

393
00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:23.559
that unfortunately humans cause. So yes, I think there's a

394
00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:26.880
certain amount of consciousness. And I think that when you

395
00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:30.599
connect with Mother Nature, I think she's grateful I think

396
00:26:30.599 --> 00:26:34.200
that she's happy that you've decided to acknowledge her and

397
00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:34.920
embrace her.

398
00:26:36.200 --> 00:26:41.599
Okay, again, we've talked about this a couple of times

399
00:26:41.640 --> 00:26:48.440
now about technology and being distracted. Do modern distractions disconnect

400
00:26:48.519 --> 00:26:51.519
us fromthing essential? From nature?

401
00:26:53.720 --> 00:26:57.960
They don't disconnect us from nature, but they take our

402
00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:03.680
focus away from nature. So if you're engaging with nature,

403
00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:09.079
let's say you're sitting on a moss covered rock in

404
00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:13.640
a beautiful, serene forest, maybe why not near a lake

405
00:27:14.359 --> 00:27:18.640
on a sunny day, and then suddenly your phone goes off,

406
00:27:19.640 --> 00:27:24.599
you're not disconnected from nature, you just switched focus. I

407
00:27:24.759 --> 00:27:28.119
like to use the word trance because I did my

408
00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:33.279
dissertation on hypnotic pain management for people with HIV and AIDS,

409
00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:39.799
and a trance is any focused state for hypnosis. You're

410
00:27:40.039 --> 00:27:44.880
deeply focused, so much so that you don't notice the pain.

411
00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:50.039
And then if suddenly somebody calls your name, oh, your

412
00:27:50.039 --> 00:27:54.759
focus changes and your turn. So we go from one

413
00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:58.119
trance to another all day long. If you're riding in

414
00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:01.359
your car and you're lit into your favorite song in

415
00:28:01.400 --> 00:28:04.079
the radio and then you miss your exit because you

416
00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:08.359
were so entranced in the music, we're just going from

417
00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:11.880
one focused state to another, from one trance to another.

418
00:28:12.359 --> 00:28:17.200
So yes, technology can distract us, but it doesn't disconnect us.

419
00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:19.400
It just takes our focus away.

420
00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:28.000
So like, if you're driving and you end up at

421
00:28:28.039 --> 00:28:30.839
your location and you don't even know how you got there,

422
00:28:30.920 --> 00:28:32.599
is that like a trans like state as well?

423
00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:37.000
Oh yeah, yeah, I don't know where your focus was,

424
00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:40.359
but your mind was somewhere else and you were basically

425
00:28:40.440 --> 00:28:46.880
driving on autopilot. So yeah, that was definitely a focused state. Okay.

426
00:28:47.480 --> 00:28:50.640
Good. And I've always been curious about this because you know,

427
00:28:51.079 --> 00:28:56.119
I've heard people say autopilot, but you know, what does

428
00:28:56.119 --> 00:28:59.240
that mean? Really? Like? How how did I get to

429
00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:03.559
a place safely without knowing what was going on?

430
00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:07.599
Well, this is just my opinion. I think it deals

431
00:29:07.640 --> 00:29:13.519
with short term memory. Okay, things that you have in

432
00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:19.000
your short term memory terminate within thirty seconds unless you

433
00:29:19.160 --> 00:29:23.680
commit it to long term memory. And by the way,

434
00:29:23.799 --> 00:29:27.880
I teach this at school. It's part of the psychology class.

435
00:29:28.279 --> 00:29:30.759
So if you are at a party and you are

436
00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:33.759
introduced to someone who you really want to get to know,

437
00:29:34.440 --> 00:29:38.640
you'll memorize his or her name and bring it into

438
00:29:38.680 --> 00:29:42.119
your long term memory. If you don't, then next thing.

439
00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:46.240
You know, two or three other people introduce themselves, and

440
00:29:46.279 --> 00:29:48.720
before you know it, who is that first person? What

441
00:29:49.319 --> 00:29:52.480
I don't remember? Within thirty seconds, you forgot. So when

442
00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:58.279
we're driving on automatic pilot, if nothing remarkable is happening,

443
00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:03.960
the traffic is flowing smoothly, nothing dangerous as happening, nothing

444
00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:07.839
that is going to cause you to have adrenaline, like

445
00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:12.799
a near collision, then you're not likely to remember any

446
00:30:12.839 --> 00:30:15.240
of those short term memories. And by the way, I

447
00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:20.960
mentioned adrenaline because adrenaline is a hormone that anchors memory.

448
00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:24.359
If you suddenly have a cat run out in front

449
00:30:24.359 --> 00:30:25.799
of your car and you have to slam on the

450
00:30:25.799 --> 00:30:28.480
brakes and you're gripping the steering wheel and you're real scared,

451
00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:35.799
your body is full of adrenaline. Adrenaline anchors memory, you're

452
00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:38.720
not likely to forget that. A year later. You can

453
00:30:38.759 --> 00:30:41.400
come back to that same intersection and let's say you

454
00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:44.000
have another person of the car and you can say, oh,

455
00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:46.640
guess what a year ago, when I was here, this

456
00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:48.880
cat ran right in front of the car. I almost

457
00:30:48.920 --> 00:30:53.000
hit it. That memory is sunk into your mind because

458
00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:56.759
of adrenaline. So if people are on autopilot, it's just

459
00:30:56.799 --> 00:31:01.960
that everything's going smoothly. Nothing is remarkable, and within thirty

460
00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:08.119
seconds you forgot the route. You forgot the traveling routes

461
00:31:08.119 --> 00:31:08.640
that you took.

462
00:31:12.200 --> 00:31:15.880
It fascinates me because you know, on top of paranormal,

463
00:31:16.039 --> 00:31:21.119
the human mind and psyche is just as fascinating as

464
00:31:21.319 --> 00:31:23.319
stuff that we can't necessarily explain.

465
00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:30.640
Yeah, what has nature taught you personally that changed your life?

466
00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:37.200
Mercy? Oh, probably everything. But if I were to pick

467
00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:41.880
a highlight, I reflect back on when I was, oh

468
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:49.480
maybe four years old, and I was just barely tall

469
00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:53.480
enough to reach the window sill, and I remember looking

470
00:31:53.519 --> 00:31:59.000
out the window and seeing a great horned owl sitting

471
00:31:59.079 --> 00:32:03.359
in a pine tree in the front yard. And I

472
00:32:03.400 --> 00:32:06.000
didn't realize that great horned owls are not supposed to

473
00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:08.400
be out during the day, so it kind of surprised me,

474
00:32:09.400 --> 00:32:14.079
but I didn't know that. And I was fascinated, mesmerized

475
00:32:14.119 --> 00:32:16.880
because this great horn owl was about the same size

476
00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:22.240
as me at whatever three or four years old, And

477
00:32:22.279 --> 00:32:27.000
the owl turn and looked at me, and our eyes

478
00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:31.880
met and we just stared at each other. And I believe,

479
00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:34.640
although I can't prove it, I believe that there was

480
00:32:34.680 --> 00:32:40.480
a spiritual connection, and that some of her spirit was

481
00:32:40.519 --> 00:32:49.279
absorbed into me. And so there was that connection ever since.

482
00:32:49.880 --> 00:32:54.559
And sometimes this is surprising. I will be sitting meditating

483
00:32:54.680 --> 00:32:57.839
peacefully in the woods and an owl will come and

484
00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:01.839
land on a branch in broad daylight. A couple of

485
00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:04.839
years ago, I was hiking in the woods here in Duluth,

486
00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:08.799
and an owl comes right down from the branch. I

487
00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:11.519
didn't see it up there. I'm walking through the pine

488
00:33:11.559 --> 00:33:14.480
tree force and this owl comes down. It was a

489
00:33:14.519 --> 00:33:17.160
great gray owl, and it lands right in front of me.

490
00:33:17.440 --> 00:33:20.000
Just it just lands there in front of me and

491
00:33:20.079 --> 00:33:25.160
looks at me, and I'm like, hello, yeah, And so

492
00:33:26.440 --> 00:33:28.960
I knew I needed to give something, so I sang

493
00:33:29.039 --> 00:33:33.480
to it the Goddess chant. And so I just sang

494
00:33:33.519 --> 00:33:36.519
one round of the Goddess chant, and then I bowed

495
00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:40.079
respectfully and then turned and walked away. And I only

496
00:33:40.119 --> 00:33:41.880
took maybe three steps away, and I.

497
00:33:41.799 --> 00:33:46.200
Peeked back over my shoulder and she was gone, and

498
00:33:46.240 --> 00:33:47.400
I was like wow.

499
00:33:48.759 --> 00:33:52.079
But before she left, before I turned around to walk away,

500
00:33:52.519 --> 00:33:54.759
I got out my cellphone. I took a little picture

501
00:33:54.759 --> 00:33:57.319
of her. So then I showed everybody at work, look

502
00:33:57.359 --> 00:33:59.480
at this this owl. Came right down in front of

503
00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:04.640
me and land. I'm showing everybody, Now, do you.

504
00:34:04.599 --> 00:34:08.280
Feel that that was more of a nature spirit saying higher?

505
00:34:08.639 --> 00:34:08.840
Do you?

506
00:34:08.920 --> 00:34:11.599
Did you feel that was like your guides coming to

507
00:34:11.639 --> 00:34:11.920
see you.

508
00:34:14.920 --> 00:34:21.280
I think that that was the owl recognizing the owl

509
00:34:21.320 --> 00:34:25.599
and me, okacause I believe that I do have owl spirit,

510
00:34:26.119 --> 00:34:28.480
and so when she came down and landed in front

511
00:34:28.480 --> 00:34:33.039
of me, I think she was recognizing a fellow owl.

512
00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:43.760
Okay, interesting, Now this will probably get you, but I

513
00:34:44.480 --> 00:34:47.119
think I know you'll have an answer for this. What's

514
00:34:47.239 --> 00:34:50.519
something you believe about nature that most people would disagree with.

515
00:34:55.760 --> 00:34:58.800
Well, a lot of my friends are peg and so

516
00:34:59.280 --> 00:35:01.880
I wouldn't say that they would ever disagree with me

517
00:35:01.960 --> 00:35:07.320
on any of the nature beliefs. But the average person,

518
00:35:09.400 --> 00:35:15.159
the average person who doesn't necessarily have an earth based spirituality,

519
00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:20.480
they would say things to me like, well, you know,

520
00:35:20.519 --> 00:35:23.880
you're just enjoying nature, and so do I. I have

521
00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:27.320
a few friends who are atheists and they say, well,

522
00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:30.360
there's no proof. You can't prove anything, and I'm like, yeah,

523
00:35:30.360 --> 00:35:32.960
you're right, you can't, but I don't need to. It

524
00:35:33.039 --> 00:35:35.800
resonates with me, and that's all I need to know,

525
00:35:36.360 --> 00:35:39.039
and I don't try to prove anything to them. If

526
00:35:39.079 --> 00:35:43.639
I say to them, oh, this lake is so beautiful

527
00:35:44.280 --> 00:35:48.480
and it's so calm, we too need to be calm.

528
00:35:48.800 --> 00:35:51.960
Because even in my book, I write about when I

529
00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:56.960
go looking for lake Superior agots along the shoreline, sometimes

530
00:35:56.960 --> 00:35:59.280
I have to step into the water and then I

531
00:35:59.360 --> 00:36:03.719
have to be still because my footsteps have stirred up

532
00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:07.280
the sediment down below and made the water murky. And

533
00:36:07.320 --> 00:36:10.039
you have to be patient wait for things to settle,

534
00:36:10.920 --> 00:36:13.639
and that too is a lesson from other nature. We

535
00:36:13.800 --> 00:36:18.679
have to wait and be still and let our inner

536
00:36:19.239 --> 00:36:24.039
murkiness settle. We need to let our mud settle, and

537
00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:28.039
then once it has settled, then you can see clearly

538
00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:32.519
to the bottom where the gems lie. So that's a

539
00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:36.000
nature metaphor. It's a message from other nature. And my

540
00:36:36.079 --> 00:36:39.599
atheist friends say, oh, you just made that up. It's

541
00:36:39.599 --> 00:36:43.039
your imagination, and I'm like, well, you can believe whatever

542
00:36:43.039 --> 00:36:45.320
you want to believe. It doesn't upset me. You know,

543
00:36:45.400 --> 00:36:48.880
they have their path and I have mine, and I'm

544
00:36:48.880 --> 00:36:52.400
not out to try to change anybody's mind. So they

545
00:36:52.480 --> 00:36:53.679
just have to walk their path.

546
00:36:56.760 --> 00:36:59.920
I yeah, And you know, in this day and age,

547
00:37:00.840 --> 00:37:05.199
we're always looking for proof. I mean, there's so many

548
00:37:05.360 --> 00:37:10.320
people that believe Bigfoot isn't real because there's no physical

549
00:37:10.480 --> 00:37:15.079
proof anyways. So yeah, and maybe it's human nature, but

550
00:37:15.159 --> 00:37:18.599
I feel back in history it was different.

551
00:37:20.920 --> 00:37:25.639
Yeah, people believed in mysteries back in the day, things

552
00:37:25.639 --> 00:37:31.280
that were unexplainable. The mind has to come up with

553
00:37:31.320 --> 00:37:36.440
an answer, and so if we don't have an explanation,

554
00:37:37.519 --> 00:37:40.880
or if the explanation we were given just doesn't sit

555
00:37:40.960 --> 00:37:44.480
right with our spirit, then we tend to fill in

556
00:37:44.519 --> 00:37:48.360
the blanks. By the way, that's why we dream, is

557
00:37:48.400 --> 00:37:51.840
because our mind is always trying to make sense of everything,

558
00:37:52.360 --> 00:37:57.280
and it's always receiving signals. Even while you sleep, we're

559
00:37:57.320 --> 00:38:02.159
always experiencing emotions. Even if that emotion and this peacefulness. Now,

560
00:38:02.239 --> 00:38:04.679
let's say you watched a scary movie before you went

561
00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:08.400
to sleep, then that emotion is still with you, and

562
00:38:08.559 --> 00:38:12.239
in your sleep, your mind tries to make sense of

563
00:38:12.239 --> 00:38:16.440
that emotion and it turns it into a visualization or

564
00:38:16.480 --> 00:38:19.280
a nightmare. So our minds are always trying to come

565
00:38:19.360 --> 00:38:23.000
up with some explanation, and it doesn't necessarily have to

566
00:38:23.039 --> 00:38:24.000
be scientific.

567
00:38:24.960 --> 00:38:32.079
Right now, you've learned many lessons over the years, and

568
00:38:32.400 --> 00:38:35.599
obviously you put it into a book. Has nature ever

569
00:38:35.679 --> 00:38:37.719
taught you something you didn't want to hear?

570
00:38:43.639 --> 00:38:50.480
I don't think so. Some of the lessons were painful, Okay.

571
00:38:50.519 --> 00:38:52.920
For example, one of the chapters in my book, I

572
00:38:52.960 --> 00:39:00.159
write about pruning a tree. And when I prune my

573
00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:06.400
apple tree, it's best if I prune the problematic branches

574
00:39:07.400 --> 00:39:10.559
that are small, because some of the branches will grow

575
00:39:10.639 --> 00:39:13.880
inward and then they'll crisscross other branches, and when the

576
00:39:13.920 --> 00:39:16.199
wind blows, they rub against each other and it rubs

577
00:39:16.239 --> 00:39:18.280
the bark off, and then insects get in there, and

578
00:39:18.320 --> 00:39:22.760
it gets infected and black mold gets in there. So

579
00:39:23.760 --> 00:39:25.800
what really hurts is if I have to cut off

580
00:39:25.800 --> 00:39:29.880
a large limb. When I bought my property, there is

581
00:39:29.960 --> 00:39:33.920
already a couple of apple trees there. I planted several more.

582
00:39:35.079 --> 00:39:37.360
Whoever lived there before me did not take good care

583
00:39:37.400 --> 00:39:39.760
of the apple trees, and so there's these huge limbs

584
00:39:39.760 --> 00:39:42.800
that are crisscrossing, and I had to cut off an

585
00:39:42.960 --> 00:39:47.760
entire limb. When you remove or prune a large limb

586
00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:52.440
like that, the tree goes into shock and then it's

587
00:39:52.480 --> 00:39:55.440
not fruitful for the rest of the summer. It won't

588
00:39:55.440 --> 00:39:58.960
bear any fruit. But if you can prune those little

589
00:39:58.960 --> 00:40:01.480
branches when they're just starting and you can see that

590
00:40:01.480 --> 00:40:03.800
they're starting to turn inward and they're going to rub

591
00:40:03.840 --> 00:40:09.679
against the bark, then it doesn't shock the tree. The

592
00:40:09.719 --> 00:40:13.639
tree is not traumatized, and the tree will still produce fruit.

593
00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:20.000
That is a painful lesson for human behaviors, bad habits

594
00:40:20.119 --> 00:40:23.960
that need pruning, because in everyone's life, including my own,

595
00:40:24.639 --> 00:40:26.679
I have some bad habits that I need to work on.

596
00:40:27.360 --> 00:40:30.599
If it's a new bad habit, then it's small, it

597
00:40:30.639 --> 00:40:35.239
hasn't started to grow very far. Pruning that is less painful.

598
00:40:35.400 --> 00:40:39.320
But oh my goodness, if you have a lifelong habit

599
00:40:40.159 --> 00:40:43.280
since you were a child and you try pruning that

600
00:40:43.480 --> 00:40:47.079
it's going to pain fall and you emotionally might go

601
00:40:47.199 --> 00:40:49.400
into shock. Just because.

602
00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:03.119
All all of these that you talk about in the

603
00:41:03.119 --> 00:41:05.960
book and that you've talked about tonight. It's one of

604
00:41:06.039 --> 00:41:09.239
those things that I feel I should have noticed and

605
00:41:09.360 --> 00:41:12.719
taken lessons from us I was in nature or even

606
00:41:12.800 --> 00:41:20.119
just in daily life. What's a simple daily practice our

607
00:41:20.119 --> 00:41:24.199
listeners can start immediately to start reconnecting with nature.

608
00:41:25.239 --> 00:41:28.920
Be grateful for things that we've taken for granted. It

609
00:41:28.960 --> 00:41:31.480
was a few years ago that somebody said to me,

610
00:41:32.519 --> 00:41:35.840
you know, I give thanks to the sun God for

611
00:41:35.960 --> 00:41:39.280
shining on us, because without the sun, the whole planet

612
00:41:39.719 --> 00:41:42.599
would die. And I was like, you know, you're right,

613
00:41:42.880 --> 00:41:46.039
and I've never thanked the Sun God. I've just been

614
00:41:46.119 --> 00:41:50.159
taking it for granted. And so now I make that

615
00:41:50.239 --> 00:41:54.880
a daily practice. Whether it's sunny or not, even if

616
00:41:54.880 --> 00:41:58.800
it's cloudy. If it's daylight, I will thank the Sun God,

617
00:41:59.239 --> 00:42:02.800
and if it's night, I thank the moon Goddess. Giving

618
00:42:03.280 --> 00:42:07.599
thanks is a daily habit that quite frankly, everybody needs

619
00:42:07.639 --> 00:42:08.000
to do.

620
00:42:10.239 --> 00:42:13.159
I feel I give things a lot for just being

621
00:42:13.159 --> 00:42:17.920
able to wake up in the morning. Yeah, I've never

622
00:42:17.960 --> 00:42:22.840
really thought about thinking multiple things throughout the day, so

623
00:42:22.920 --> 00:42:26.039
that some a lesson I need to learn, for sure.

624
00:42:29.159 --> 00:42:32.840
And being thankful in general, I feel in our society

625
00:42:32.880 --> 00:42:37.239
today we've lost a lot of that. Yeah, even towards

626
00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:37.719
each other.

627
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:43.039
Yeah, that's true. We have so much to be grateful for,

628
00:42:43.159 --> 00:42:45.400
and you know the old saying you don't realize what

629
00:42:45.480 --> 00:42:49.039
you have until it's gone. We need to be thankful

630
00:42:49.079 --> 00:42:52.039
for every little thing. I turn on the light and

631
00:42:52.119 --> 00:42:56.400
automatically it goes on. Well, you know, there's probably hundreds

632
00:42:56.440 --> 00:43:01.000
of employees at the electric company who are working to

633
00:43:01.119 --> 00:43:03.519
make sure I can just flick out a light and

634
00:43:03.559 --> 00:43:06.239
there it is, and I just take it for granted.

635
00:43:08.519 --> 00:43:08.960
For sure.

636
00:43:10.880 --> 00:43:14.880
Now we haven't really we've touched on us a little bit.

637
00:43:14.920 --> 00:43:22.880
But can nature help with anxiety, burnout, depression, things like that?

638
00:43:24.039 --> 00:43:29.559
I believe. So I cannot clinically say that a person

639
00:43:29.679 --> 00:43:35.800
would be treated by mother Nature. However, it certainly would

640
00:43:35.880 --> 00:43:40.679
help a person relax. So in my book, I say,

641
00:43:41.119 --> 00:43:43.800
you know this is this book is not a substitute

642
00:43:43.800 --> 00:43:47.079
for therapy. This book is not a cure for any

643
00:43:47.639 --> 00:43:53.039
mental illness or psychological disorder. However, to answer your question,

644
00:43:53.199 --> 00:43:56.960
I can personally say I feel more relaxed when I'm

645
00:43:57.000 --> 00:44:03.280
in nature, and even when Okay, during the COVID pandemic,

646
00:44:03.840 --> 00:44:08.960
I was feeling depressed, socially isolated because everybody was supposed

647
00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:13.639
to be locked down and isolate them celves. And I

648
00:44:13.639 --> 00:44:15.960
would go out in nature and I would just sit

649
00:44:17.000 --> 00:44:22.159
and my depression would latin. It worked for me. I

650
00:44:22.199 --> 00:44:25.079
can't guarantee that it'll work for anyone else, but I

651
00:44:25.119 --> 00:44:29.480
can say that nature is a calming effect.

652
00:44:32.519 --> 00:44:37.159
Do you feel that you mentioned bringing patients out into

653
00:44:37.239 --> 00:44:42.360
nature and walking around. Have you ever seen results in

654
00:44:42.400 --> 00:44:42.800
that way?

655
00:44:42.920 --> 00:44:48.079
When you do that, they recognize the metaphors. First of all,

656
00:44:49.400 --> 00:44:52.320
they like the fact that they're able to walk because

657
00:44:52.360 --> 00:44:56.519
it helps burn off their energy. If they're just sitting

658
00:44:56.559 --> 00:45:01.239
there in a therapy session and they're talking about problems,

659
00:45:02.440 --> 00:45:10.559
deep problems, sometimes abuse situations, well, if you're just sitting still,

660
00:45:11.719 --> 00:45:13.639
it's a lot to deal with. How do you handle

661
00:45:13.679 --> 00:45:18.280
your emotions? So we go out in nature. Walking is

662
00:45:18.360 --> 00:45:24.920
one way of sort of burning off that cortisol, the

663
00:45:24.960 --> 00:45:30.559
stress hormone cortisol. And I will often when I counsel

664
00:45:30.639 --> 00:45:36.360
people bring fruit to peel, like an orange or a banana,

665
00:45:36.719 --> 00:45:38.760
because it gives them something to do with their hands.

666
00:45:39.119 --> 00:45:41.679
You know, they can peel that orange and it helps

667
00:45:41.719 --> 00:45:46.719
them release some of that stress. It's a relaxing way

668
00:45:47.199 --> 00:45:52.039
to work out, burn off the energy and just by walking.

669
00:45:53.480 --> 00:46:01.800
Okay, what is one recess that exercise you recommend for

670
00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:03.559
overwhelmed people?

671
00:46:06.760 --> 00:46:12.920
Perhaps letting go would be a good reset exercise. Letting

672
00:46:12.960 --> 00:46:19.800
go of other people's expectations. Okay, I was born to

673
00:46:19.840 --> 00:46:24.639
be me, you were going to be you, and all

674
00:46:24.719 --> 00:46:27.800
these people around us have all these expectations. Oh, you

675
00:46:27.800 --> 00:46:30.400
should be like this, you should be like that all

676
00:46:30.440 --> 00:46:35.119
the time. People are expecting things from us that can

677
00:46:35.159 --> 00:46:37.639
put a lot of stress on us. So in order

678
00:46:37.719 --> 00:46:44.280
to reset emotionally speaking, let go of those expectations. The

679
00:46:44.320 --> 00:46:48.440
best person I can be is myself. And then once

680
00:46:48.480 --> 00:46:52.840
you embrace that and you don't have to compare yourself

681
00:46:52.880 --> 00:46:57.800
to somebody else, then that's a way of resetting and

682
00:46:57.840 --> 00:47:01.559
you can find the exhale and say, yeah, it's enough

683
00:47:01.800 --> 00:47:08.360
to be me. I'm enough just the way I am.

684
00:47:09.880 --> 00:47:15.519
What's one thing or anything that you hope people get

685
00:47:15.559 --> 00:47:16.199
from this book.

686
00:47:18.320 --> 00:47:21.880
I hope they recognize their connection that they already have.

687
00:47:22.960 --> 00:47:26.360
There's fifty two chapters, one for each week of the year,

688
00:47:26.840 --> 00:47:29.559
so they can read it as a weekly devotional if

689
00:47:29.559 --> 00:47:33.280
they like. They don't have to, but they could. The

690
00:47:33.320 --> 00:47:36.599
one thing I hope people get from this is that

691
00:47:36.639 --> 00:47:41.559
they understand that they're already connected to Mother Nature. And

692
00:47:41.800 --> 00:47:45.679
every single one of the fifty two chapters has a

693
00:47:45.719 --> 00:47:49.800
little assignment at the end. It's not called an assignment.

694
00:47:49.960 --> 00:47:54.920
It's called today's teaching from Mother Nature. And it gives

695
00:47:54.960 --> 00:47:58.760
you a little exercise. It gives you a little assignment.

696
00:47:59.320 --> 00:48:04.760
Try this, Try that, very very easy to follow step

697
00:48:04.800 --> 00:48:08.480
by step, and if people don't like it, they can

698
00:48:08.519 --> 00:48:12.239
switch to the next chapter, they can jump around. But

699
00:48:12.280 --> 00:48:14.000
that's where I hope people get out of it. I

700
00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:17.639
hope that they put things into practice. You know, don't

701
00:48:17.719 --> 00:48:19.679
just read the book and then roll over and go

702
00:48:19.719 --> 00:48:24.840
to sleep. Look at some of those those lessons today's

703
00:48:24.880 --> 00:48:29.639
teaching mother Nature, and then follow those steps and see

704
00:48:29.679 --> 00:48:33.639
how it improves your life, see how it enhances your

705
00:48:33.679 --> 00:48:35.039
overall well being.

706
00:48:37.440 --> 00:48:40.800
So it's not meant to you know, go from front

707
00:48:40.840 --> 00:48:44.760
to back and then you're done, like you should through

708
00:48:44.920 --> 00:48:48.519
and choose the ones that you read to pay attention.

709
00:48:49.480 --> 00:48:54.639
Yes and Llewellyn came up with the idea to have

710
00:48:54.960 --> 00:48:59.119
a subject chapter index in the back of the book.

711
00:48:59.519 --> 00:49:03.679
You can up whatever subject you're interested in. This one

712
00:49:03.719 --> 00:49:09.519
says fear, happiness, self acceptance, stress. If you're feeling stressed out,

713
00:49:09.840 --> 00:49:12.800
look at all these chapters deal with stress chapter three,

714
00:49:12.920 --> 00:49:16.039
chapter eleven, Chapter twenty one, chapter twenty two, chapter twenty nine.

715
00:49:16.519 --> 00:49:27.239
It also deals with animals, birds, carnivores, wisdom from your dog, herbivores, insects, elements, trees, plants.

716
00:49:28.239 --> 00:49:33.280
If you're really into things like let's say water, creatures. Okay,

717
00:49:33.320 --> 00:49:36.639
well look that up in the subject chapter index and

718
00:49:36.679 --> 00:49:39.719
then you can see, oh, there's three different chapters that

719
00:49:39.800 --> 00:49:43.400
deal with water creatures. I'll read those first. So yeah,

720
00:49:43.440 --> 00:49:45.760
you can certainly jump around as you wish.

721
00:49:46.519 --> 00:49:50.119
Okay, now it is getting pretty close to the time

722
00:49:50.159 --> 00:49:51.719
to let you go, So I wanted to give you

723
00:49:51.760 --> 00:49:54.079
the chance to tell everybody where they can find you

724
00:49:54.760 --> 00:49:56.880
find your work. And you had mentioned to me off

725
00:49:56.920 --> 00:49:59.639
here that the sales from this book is going to

726
00:49:59.679 --> 00:50:02.000
a I want you to mention that as well.

727
00:50:02.480 --> 00:50:06.800
Yeah. On the back of the book it says one

728
00:50:06.880 --> 00:50:11.320
hundred percent of my author's royalties go to the Student

729
00:50:11.480 --> 00:50:17.440
Nutrition Assistance program at Northwood Technical College, where I teach psychology,

730
00:50:17.960 --> 00:50:20.920
and that is to feed the hungry students. We give

731
00:50:20.960 --> 00:50:24.880
out food vouchers and grocery cards to the students, not

732
00:50:24.960 --> 00:50:27.159
only them, but their families as well, because some of

733
00:50:27.159 --> 00:50:30.559
my students have children. So I'm not making a dime

734
00:50:30.639 --> 00:50:34.760
off this book. It's basically a fundraiser helping feed the students.

735
00:50:35.159 --> 00:50:37.760
And people ask me, why are you doing that. You

736
00:50:37.840 --> 00:50:40.159
spent ten years writing this book and you're just giving

737
00:50:40.199 --> 00:50:43.159
away all your profits, And I said, yeah, because you

738
00:50:43.239 --> 00:50:47.239
know what, I came from an impoverished family, and when

739
00:50:47.280 --> 00:50:52.199
I went to school, my parents couldn't afford nothing, not tuition,

740
00:50:52.400 --> 00:50:55.920
not rooming board, not even groceries. And there were times

741
00:50:55.960 --> 00:50:58.000
that I would come home after spending the whole day

742
00:50:58.039 --> 00:51:01.159
at college, I was very hungry and all I had

743
00:51:01.199 --> 00:51:05.039
for supper was a bowl of cereal. More than once

744
00:51:05.159 --> 00:51:07.079
that happened to me because I just didn't have any

745
00:51:07.119 --> 00:51:11.440
other food. So when I see my own students hungry, yeah,

746
00:51:12.039 --> 00:51:15.400
my heart reaches out to them. And as far as

747
00:51:15.519 --> 00:51:20.400
reaching me, I do have a Facebook account and it's

748
00:51:20.440 --> 00:51:25.079
just my name, Mark Langenfeld and you'll see my shiny face.

749
00:51:25.440 --> 00:51:28.119
There's like three or four other Mark Langenfelds, but there's

750
00:51:28.159 --> 00:51:32.360
only one with my image, and you can certainly look

751
00:51:32.400 --> 00:51:37.679
me up on Facebook. Every day I post one positive message.

752
00:51:37.960 --> 00:51:41.280
I don't post anything political. I don't post anything dealing

753
00:51:41.280 --> 00:51:46.000
with anger or you know, frustration or anything about war.

754
00:51:46.599 --> 00:51:51.440
I just post one positive message every single day along

755
00:51:51.480 --> 00:51:54.519
with a picture. So if you are feeling like you

756
00:51:54.559 --> 00:51:58.039
could use a little spiritual lift, go ahead and look

757
00:51:58.079 --> 00:51:59.079
me up on Facebook.

758
00:52:00.039 --> 00:52:03.599
Awesome, all right, Mark, thank you so much for being

759
00:52:03.599 --> 00:52:04.639
on Paratruth be Born.

760
00:52:05.559 --> 00:52:06.000
Thank you.

761
00:52:08.320 --> 00:52:11.760
All right, folks, that is it that we have for

762
00:52:11.800 --> 00:52:14.679
this week, Para Truthers. You know one thing that I

763
00:52:14.719 --> 00:52:18.880
always forget to do and Mark kind of taught me

764
00:52:18.920 --> 00:52:22.920
this already right now is thank you for being here, watching,

765
00:52:23.039 --> 00:52:27.199
listening every week. So make sure you check out Paratruth

766
00:52:27.840 --> 00:52:32.639
Reborn or just google Paratruth you'll find us. We're on

767
00:52:32.760 --> 00:52:36.559
all the social medias. We are a part of several

768
00:52:36.800 --> 00:52:40.519
radio stations now and we are so thankful for that

769
00:52:40.599 --> 00:52:44.840
as well. Make sure you like, share and subscribe wherever

770
00:52:44.880 --> 00:52:47.800
you listen or watch as well until next week where

771
00:52:47.800 --> 00:52:51.320
you'll find us, same time, same channel. My name is

772
00:52:51.440 --> 00:52:53.199
Justin Luck to you guys.

773
00:52:53.280 --> 00:53:07.800
Later school
Mark C. Langenfeld, Psy.D. Profile Photo
Mark C. Langenfeld, Psy.D.

Wisdom from the Woods: A Year of Gentle Guidance from Mother Nature

Mark Langenfeld is the author of Wisdom from the Woods: A Year of Gentle Guidance from Mother Nature, published by Llewellyn Worldwide. (100% of his royalties are donated to the students’ Nutritional Assistance Program at Northwood Technical College in Superior, WI, where Professor Langenfeld teaches psychology and sociology.) He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology from Alliant International University in Fresno, CA. Before teaching, he worked as a therapist for several years. Additionally, he presents workshops at conferences on various topics dealing with improving psychological well-being. His hobbies include juggling, hiking, gardening, meditation, rock collecting, fishing, and doing random acts of kindness. To receive positive daily messages, please follow Dr. Langenfeld on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556910451200