Step
Four
Develop
Your Skills
How comfortable are you in Nature? Do you feel alive, clued in, like you belong?
Indoor living has taken a toll on our outdoor skills. But evidence shows we originated on Earth and lived in Nature for most of human history. That means our bodies, senses, and minds were up to the task then, and we know they’re not much different now.
What if you could tap into these old abilities to revive feelings of comfort and confidence outdoors? This step identifies four and helps you hone them to be better in Nature and love Earth more.
Is it necessary?
Yes, human evolution shaped us to thrive in Nature. We’ve repurposed a lot of the old skills for modern living, but with training they can remember how to handle the outdoors.
They’ll help you transcend the idea that Nature is an adversary, something to be survived and endured or to prove yourself against. Instead you’ll develop the skills of stepping into the big and little natural dramas, sensing, knowing, and processing what’s going on, and feeling the elation of belonging.
Are your skills this good?
How To
Do It
Find the
Mani Stones
Travel through landscapes to learn how to sharpen your skills and apply them to Earth’s realms. Each stone is engraved with a single simple message you can easily put into practice.
Traditionally, carved mani stones have been placed along paths to share wisdom and prayer. Expand on that custom to develop your senses, curiosity, imagination, and reverence for being in Nature. Your mission is to find the 52 stones and follow their instructions.
The path forward
If you don’t think you need to work on these nontraditional outdoor skills, you won’t find the motivation and emotion to take your relationship with Nature to a higher level.
If you follow through with them, you’ll soon come to realize you were born to be in Nature and it feels good to be back.
Are you up for the challenge?
The
Market
Help With
This Step
Awaken your abilities with one of these items that shows you the stones, but doesn’t weigh you down with them. Each one presents the same 52 stones and their messages, but delivers them differently. Select one that’s convenient for you to take outside.
Directions
When you receive them, look the stones over to notice their shapes, colors, and rock types. Then find the black stones. They contain messages about the four abilities— your senses, curiosity, imagination, and reverence— and how to activate, apply, hone, and make a habit of using them in Nature. Read and think about them wherever you are.
The rest of the stones are dedicated to applying each ability to Earth’s nine realms. When you go outside, take a few of these stones with you and do what they say. Your experience of the outdoors will be transformed.
Take It
Outside
Use What
You Learn
Remind yourself daily that you’re a creature of Nature. Strengthen the conviction by practicing a few of the teachings whenever you’re outside, and discover how much more you notice and engage with what’s around you.
Using other resources like apps, maps, videos, and guidebooks can help. But make sure you use them to supplement, not replace, your own skills. Because once upon a time, your ancestors were really good at this without the extra help.
Make Progress
Go for a walk with your stones. Pick one, read it, reflect, and do what it says. Walk a distance, select another, and repeat. Do this often when you’re outdoors until the lessons become so familiar you do it automatically.
The point is to perceive more, dig deeper, and involve different parts of your body and brain in the experience of Nature. Once you start, you’ll find it’s a self-reinforcing process that engages and integrates you with the natural world. Keep it up while you move on to the last step.
Photo Art on this website includes adaptations from “A Long Dead Star” from ESA, Hubble, and NASA, by Y Chu; “The Blue Marble from NASA; “Twin Blue Marbles” from NASA; and Earth photo by Reid Wiseman from the International Space Station, Expedition 40.