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one of the main things
is that if you just start by
by understanding that there is this link between sensory awareness and brain
development
then it gives you an idea that when you go outside
it's not just a place that you walk through
um you know and listen to your mp3 player
it's now an opportunity for you to actually use your senses
and I think one of the really main shift that people can make
from experiencing nature
as just something that's separate from them and seeing it as something that's
actually a part of them and has some sort of important gift to bring to their
development as people
is to just start taking the opportunity
making the choice to actively engage your senses
when you go outside. it's not a difficult thing to do
because you know you have the basics you're seeing
hearing feeling smelling tasting and those are all things that
you can sort of, if you have those in the back of your mind that
I can be working on my sensory skills right now
then all it takes is for you to look around and say
okay what can I notice here you know, and you notice the tree
and your actually using your ears so you start to here
there's quite a few birds around here and so it just
helps us to slow down and start tuning into what's already happening there
um, all it takes is that one shift from being focused
inward or focused on the mp3 player
or the thoughts that are going on in your mind to
focusing outword and that
immediately when you start to focus on that you start to notice a whole lot
more
and I really think that if you were to take a brain scan of
what you look like before and what your
brain looks like after you switch your focus external
you would see that the sensory parts of your brain
would just light up like a Christmas tree when you do that and
so that's really um a foundation way to start
thinking about how to have a more full
and rich sensory connective experience with nature
here's where it gets practical is yes
sensory awareness is really easy to develop in nature
and it's a skill that will help you um
understand your natural environment and feel an open sense of connectedness when you
go outside
but sensory skills
are so important for effective communication
that if you the more that you develop your senses
the better you're gonna be at observing patterns in people as well
observing patterns in yourself and being able to communicate
communication is not just a one way street. it's not just about you
hammering out your point
and hoping that other people buy it
you know it's really about um asking questions and listening and seeing
the response, seeing the impact that your communication is having on other people
um and the more that you
develop yourself in a sensory way the
the more you're going to be able to draw on those resources and um
and apply yourself
in an effective way in communications with people
so it's about social skills and you can see you can see the link there
with all these kids who are
growing up with poor social skills so
what's going on there