Revisiting Emotional Responses | Nature Walk Talks with Dr. Dale Atkins

[Click on Closed Captioning for Subtitles]
August, 2022
Glad you're joining me for another Nature Walk Talk today. I had a conversation with someone this morning, and I knew as I was listening that I was going to want to think about it on my walk. And sure enough, it's what I want to talk about. The person I was speaking to shared with me that she had been on a panel and was not a place that was typical for her to be. But she was asked to share some of her thoughts that had to do with her childhood, which was a very challenging childhood. And in the telling of her story, she was overcome with emotion and on the panel started to feel tears rolling down her eyes. And here she was in this professional setting, and she understood how important it was to be able to touch that place within her. And that was at that moment what her expression needed to be. And apparently either someone on the panel or the leader said, oh, I'm so sorry. And she said, don't be sorry. This is exactly what needs to be. And what I learned from that and what I'd like to share in this nature walk is when we are in any situation, often for me, it is in nature. Because nature is so evocative of different emotional experiences for me. That we allow ourselves to be in touch with that emotional response and have compassion for ourselves and try to understand that even if we can't go deep into that emotion at the moment, that we need to come and revisit it. That we can put it aside. But not for too long. We don't want to bury it. We want to be aware and then see what we need to learn from it, see how we need to get through it. And that's what I'm sharing with you today in this nature walk talk. So please take a breath with me and allow yourself to live fully, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Thanks for joining me on this Nature Walk Talk.

Website

The Kindness Advantage Book