Introducing Intentional Living (and Nature's Dance)

Introducing Intentional Living for a Sustainable World (and Nature's Dance)

By Nathaniel Thomas, founder of Terra Haven 

(5 minute read)

My Dream 

My dream has been to create a sustainable life for myself and to help others do the same. The more I learn about what sustainable living means, the more I see the interconnectedness of life as well as the issues at hand. More than two decades ago, I started researching how diet & supplements support health in order to overcome my own challenges, and a significant portion of that time I spent working in natural foods where I was also introduced to the ideas and practices around organic farming. I became concerned about the long term effects of conventional & factory farming methods on both our health and the environment. 

The more I learned, I began to realize the key to our good health may not be as much about the specific foods we eat, but more about how it is raised or produced. Two significant uniting factors I found is avoiding processed foods, and fostering soil health which benefits both health & environment in myriad ways. (I'll have to explain more in future blog posts!)

I decided to earn a Horticulture degree with a focus on sustainable landscapes and local foods in hopes to do something about the situation, but quickly realized this is just the tip of the iceberg on an incredible amount of information about plants, permaculture, physiology, and relationships between humans and the natural world around us. The deeper I dove, the more I entered into the realms of psychology, mind-body connection, and even spirituality. 

Interestingly, it seems that people who care about, are engaged with their environment, and are least impacted by adverse life events, are the ones most likely to work toward change. A common problem appears to be that people either aren't aware of the issues around them, or they are so worried about climate change and the effects, that they are in a state of overwhelm, not knowing what to do or how to help. 

The American Psychological Association (APA) identifies connections between climate change and mental health. Many experience ecological grief and eco-anxiety, which is described as "the sense of loss or the anxiety people feel related to climate change, including the loss of a stable future. Solastalgia is a specific term coined to capture the nostalgia we can feel for a traditional way of life or childhood landscape destroyed by environmental changes."* The authors continue to explain that "while eco-anxiety is a normal response to the climate emergency and does not usually rise to the level of clinical concern, it may shape views of society and the future, leading to anger, hopelessness, or paralysis, particularly in young people. Activists and climate scientists may also experience emotional burnout or despair when progress towards sustainability falters."*

*Source: https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/climate-change-and-mental-health-connections

Hope is Alive 

Selling products that are manufactured with low impact on our environment is important, yet I hope to do more to get into the roots of the issue. When I launched Terra Haven in 2021, my goal was to provide education around sustainable living. I'm working now to refine the mission of Terra Haven and I hope to launch courses, workshops, and events in the near future to help people find peace for their eco anxiety and discover actionable steps through intentional living. It's impossible for one person alone to save the world, but when we recognize we're not alone, many small steps together add up to a whole lot (this sounds like another quote…). Maybe there aren't comic book superheros in this galaxy, but the super power truly lives in each and every one of us. 

What can we do? 

Through over 25 years of education, research, and personal experience, I dove deep into learning about the environment, eco spirituality, and what it takes to create optimal wellness. I've explored the link between nature, health, and spirituality searching for understanding. I don't profess to know it all, but I excel at collecting info across disciplines, seeing the big picture, observing patterns, and making sense of it all. 

I’m aware of how trauma affects our minds and bodies, and realize the people who are highly sensitive or most at risk to climate change are often the ones who feel the most powerless. I know our processed foods and modern day-to-day stressors are wreaking havoc on our wellbeing. As a society, I see many of us are unrooted – detached from the natural world that our society often battles. 

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."

My favorite quote above is attributed to Gandhi. I believe in a world where sustainability not only starts at home, but starts within our hearts and souls. I believe there is a way to create a truly sustainable world, and I want to be your guide in finding peace and purpose. Intentional Living can see us through the fears & anxiety. It can help us identify our values, gifts & goals. Intentional Living can help us forge new pathways together that were previously unseen or unknown.

Nature's Dance 

Month after month, year after year, the earth is engaged in a dance with the sun and moon. Every dawn the sun blazes at us over the horizon, and creates a gently fading light show as a finale at the end of the day. The moon rises at dawn or dusk depending on the current lunar phase. Each night we see a different face of the moon as she glides through the sky week by week. The stars twinkle and rotate through their constellations far off above. 

These various cycles mark the passage of time. According to Mirriam-Webster, the word "month" originates from "moon," the approximate 4-week period it takes for the moon to return to her full visibility again. Reveling in this dance, embracing the seasonality of life, and weaving the lunar month into daily life is part of my personal plan for intentional living. Why not synchronize my newsletters to feel the harmony of changing lunar months and seasons?

I hope you stay tuned through the moons ahead for more exciting updates on Intentional Living and how it can help you!