Orientation, Narrative, and the Ecological Ground of Self Many psychological frameworks describe the self as something that must be discovered, constructed, or repaired. Developmental ecopsychology approaches the question differently. It begins with the observation that the sense of self is present from the beginning of life as a lived orientation
Like many who study human development, my deepest education has come from raising and homeschooling our children within the context of our family. Not in the sense of teaching them, but in witnessing, day after day and season after season, how development unfolds when children grow in relationship with their
At certain moments in life people encounter a version of themselves that feels unmistakably true. It may appear during a walk through a familiar landscape, while working in a garden, or in a long conversation where something newly understood comes into view. In those moments attention settles and the noise
We who have lost our sense and our senses – our touch, our smell, our vision of who we are; we who frantically force and press all things, without rest for body or spirit, hurting our earth and injuring ourselves: we call a halt. We want to rest. We need to
Developmental research increasingly describes self-regulation as foundational across cognitive, emotional, social, and motivational domains. It is difficult to find a contemporary strand of developmental psychology that does not position regulation as integrative infrastructure. What receives less attention is what makes regulation possible. Regulation does not emerge in isolation. It rests
Environment Organizes Capacity More Than We Acknowledge There was a child who had already been given a settled picture of what they could and could not do. I was new enough to the setting that I had not yet inherited that picture. What I saw was curiosity, musicality, and a
Much of what we call help is designed to produce resolution. What people inside change most often need first is orientation. Our culture moves quickly toward answers, diagnoses, plans, and forward motion. Yet many of the tools used in pursuit of resolution can generate further uninhabited change. A diagnosis, for
Change is often spoken of as something we initiate or pursue. Yet much of the time we find ourselves already inside it. This essay explores how meaningful change unfolds not only through intention or intervention, but through the conditions and relationships that make transformation possible. Rather than treating change as
Many people are drawn to ecopsychology and nature-based practices for a simple reason. At some point in their lives, they notice that being in natural places helps them feel better. Time outdoors can bring calm, clarity, or a sense of orientation that is difficult to access elsewhere. This recognition does