Displaying 1 - 2 of 2
Ecopsychological theory and practice underscore the vital importance of realizing the interdependence between human beings and the diverse living universes that they inhabit. This article focuses on the mental health implications of the shift toward a more ecologically rooted identity by examining relationships between psychological well-being and the personal experience of connection with nature. Three separate surveys conducted with undergraduate and community samples assessed relationships between the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS), psychological well-being, mindfulness, and outdoor recreation. Higher CNS scores were consistently associated with greater trait mindfulness, more participation in appreciative outdoor activities, and higher scores on multiple measures of both hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of psychological well-being. Discussion focuses on informing optimal strategies for nature-based interventions.
A humanistic and transpersonal approach to personal growth necessitates careful inquiry into the often pathological world of egoistic functioning—where the psyche is engaged in a continual, defensive, and ruminative effort to assert the uniqueness, power, and positivity of an independent symbolic self. This article describes narrative research, conducted at the beginning of several undergraduate courses in personality theory, in which students (n = 229) were encouraged to introspect into the process of objectifying and evaluating the self. After undergoing brief mindfulness training, individuals spent 1 week journaling about salient upward and downward social comparisons, with particular attention to those experiences that triggered strong feelings of inferiority and superiority. Prototypic journal passages are quoted to illustrate central findings. Participants expressed a remarkably intense array of self-evaluative episodes, particularly along the dimensions of physical appearance and intellect. Discussion focuses on the very high frequency of social comparisons reported, the cyclical nature of self-evaluation and its implications for persistent suffering, and the spontaneous experiences of insight into ego transcendence and deeper levels of self-awareness. This work advances the humanistic project by detailing a novel mechanism for facilitating self-realization in an educational context.