Greetings <<First Name>>,

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I hope you are finding ways to be well and enjoy this wonderful time of year outside.

It's good for you, and good for building the future we choose.

Here's a bunch of research and invitations to be held outside.

Looking forward to seeing you here,

Jay

Top of the Falls where dragonflies gossip, Mapleton Falls NP

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"I would say this is an unfortunate blip in our history,”

This amusing understatement and the one about not being 'flim flam' come from a recent article in The Guardian about Dose of Nature. It seems to be a great program supporting nature prescriptions for improving mental health in the UK by training and teaming up volunteers with those who especially need some nature time.

“... it’s not flim-flam and it’s not all lefty tree huggers.”

Oh look!

Here I am on Channel 7's weekender program (from 0:49)

sharing Forest Bathing, a perfect thing to do on your day off or when visiting the Sunshine Coast.

Lake Boorangoora, K'Gari (left) and Mapleton Falls Look out (right) - where will I see you?

Check out the events below

Upcoming nature connection experiences

April
- Sunday 12th - Reconnecting with Nature special at Buderim Forest Park
- Sunday 19th - Forest Bathing Bushwalk at Glass House Mountains
May
- Sunday 3rd - Reconnecting with Nature at MRBBG
- Sunday 17th - Mapleton Falls Forest Bathing (1 spot left!)
June
- Sunday 7th - Reconnecting with Nature at MRBBG
- Friday 12th - Forest Bathing at Kondalilla Falls

You might also be interested to join these:

Maroochy River Mouth Beach Clean Up with ECOllaboration & Ten Little Pieces - Sunday 26th April
Opportunities to participate in a research study of 'Wonder Walks': Effects on Self-Focused Attention, Anxiety, and the Elicitation of Wonder at UniSC Sippy Downs - 14th, 16th, 17th April
National Parks Association Queensland Park of the Months - in March I was part of an event, alongside Opera Singers, Threatened Plants and Birdwatchers. Each month there are similar free events in parks around South East Queensland, including programs for Junior Rangers and Cadets.
Keep K'Gari Clean - while I was on K'Gari with the university last week, I met Hanna from Drop Bear Adventures who run regular beach clean ups the whole length of K'Gari. You can volunteer to help out, food and accom provided! I am told the next one will be in spring.

Canopy over a rest spot along the creek at Buderim Forest Park

Nature connnection supports our well-being

Nature Connection supports our well-being (here's a new research publication introduced in The Conversation). My one hour Reconnecting with Nature sessions are a simple way to actively develop this connection.

I'm offering an additional session at new location: Buderim Forest Park on Sunday 12th . Bring (or send!) the kids, or the grandparents, or maybe that colleague or neighbour who has been looking a bit lost recently.

Women deepening nature connection

For a really extended well-being and Earth-soaking time, come on our Nature Connection Women's Retreat in June.

There are 3 rooms left, including opportunity to twin share or have your own beautiful tiny house cabin in the forest!

A small group of women will dedicate a few days to relaxing surrounded by trees, to deepen our relationships with nature and to restore our nervous systems and commitments to appreciating Earth.

The power of nature prescriptions for systems change

"Nature Prescriptions" stamp the health and well-being benefits of nature time with the authority, importance and urgency of individual, professional medical advice.

Here's an article about a nature prescriptions program for children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA that is achieving broad benefits that ripple out towards systems change, like a Children's Outdoors Bill of Rights.

Nature connections in the library

I have come across some inspiring books recently. These three are all at Sunshine Coast Council libraries:

"I see 'grounded' as a byword for what it means to be in a good relationship with the earth, and by extension with ourselves and with others."

This is from Ruth Allen (geologist and eco-psychotherapist)'s book Grounded.

From a Dutch Jewish woman in a 1940s Nazi transit camp:

"This morning there was a rainbow over the camp, and the sun shone in the mud puddles. When I went into the hospital barracks, some of the women called out, 'Have you got good news? You look so cheerful.' ... I couldn't fob them off with the rainbow, could I? - even though that was the only reason for my cheerfulness."

Sharing insights into how to hold onto beauty while witnessing horror from Etty Hillesum A Life Transformed.

"To be able to understand nature, it was pointed out firmly, you have to avoid humans ... I was told a lot of things that turned out to be nonsense."

This is from "retired" Brisbane urban ecologist Darryl Jones who shares his stories of urban birds in Curlews on Vulture Street.

Birding, tech, status, competition & nature connection

If you have wondered about the phenomenon of birders and citizen scientists getting a little too hung up on their on-screen 'lists' and honor boards, you might enjoy the latest Crazy Town podcast, which explores this conundrum with good chuckles at ourselves. They round up with a call for meeting nature as kin, staying in place and ... developing our connection with nature!

An invitation:

Stop in a place for a full minute.

How many birds can you see, hear, and remember?

Probably a yellow-throated, or bellied (?) scrub wren. In Mapleton Falls NP.

Thanks for helping to grow our collective nature connectedness by singing your love for the Earth, and perhaps by sharing this email with someone who might like it.

May you take care in what you do, and may you feel held outside today,

Jay

PS. you can use your subscriber code for 10% off any booking!

Find past newsletter stories, research and invitations here

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Buderim, 4556
Australia