06/10/2025
And yet, I, like billions of people, get up after poor sleep - kept awake by politics and personal problems, sickness and celebratory birthday party prep - and keep going. In my clinical counseling work, I’m continually amazed by human resilience. The client who lost everything because of a well-intended mistake; the young woman who experienced years of unspeakable, traumatic childhood abuse and doesn’t give up despite 20+ years of a severe eating disorder and a body breaking down. For all our issues and problems, there is potential in people.
It’s because of what’s innate and natural in us. We are nature, just as nature is a part of us. We have the capacities to persist and persevere; just like the alewives (river herring), who are currently fighting strong torrents of water near our house to continue their journey from the ocean to freshwater bodies to spawn……just as they do every 4 years!
The more we mimic nature, the more we embrace the full latency and power of our innate potential, the more we can do hard things. Yes, this includes biomimicry with our products and designs to solve problems, but, as importantly, mimicking nature psychologically and spiritually. What we call Psychological Biomimicry at the EcoPsychology Initiative. I am my best self the more I live by my true nature. Others, organizations and individuals, also thrive and survive, when they are living aligned with the principles, teachings and qualities of nature.
-Dennis Kiley, excerpt from Northern Bush Honeysuckle & Resilience
Read it on the Nature Knows The Way substack→ https://natureknowstheway.substack.com/
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