As a graduate in urban planning, environment and in adult education, I have always sought to make clear the bonds between human consciousness, psychological development and interaction with nature. The links are obvious in childhood, the way children interact with sticks, stones, water, and animals – they’re fascinated and curious. Later in life, we lose the sense of wonder about our natural world and may even become sanitized to the point where we avoid it all together.

Urban Environment vs. Nature

The best example is urban development and the shopping mall. People escape from their binge television watching into a mall environment where temperatures and humidity are always perfect, regardless of the elements outside. The obvious implication is to our immune systems not having exposure and building the resilience our bodies need. The psychological impacts are equally disturbing. Nature deficit disorder is an under-estimated impact to our health and well-being. What is harder to decipher are the impacts to our leadership skills. Leadership skills may be demonstrated in and through nature by creating a problem that needs to be solved. Convenience is not allowed. Beware any advice from anyone is a leadership position that states they are making your life easier. The goal of leadership should always be learning and empowerment – thus, you create ease in your life through your own abilities and in the best cases, create ease in other’s. Being a true leader is not ‘easy’.

Expand the Senses

When in nature, the challenges and stimulation enhance the senses and jog the cognitive gears. One’s eyes, ears, sense of smell and touch are all expanded. This is because the over-stimulation of an urban environment shrinks those same senses. It takes getting used to but once an individual is mindful to their expansion, being in nature is far more gratifying then watching a Netflix series. In this state of mind, a calm and clarity can unite to provide the perfect ground for personal and leadership development.