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The action is an antidote for ecological regret and anxiety of climate – the ekutotherapist explains
Jul
There is a popular quote from the 13th-century poet and Spiritual teacher Rumia: “The medicine for pain is pain.” This line often echoes when I work with clients, especially those who experience ecological regret and fear of the climate.
As an ecotherapist-therapist, directed by nature and a therapeutic approach based on nature-and environmental researcher, I work with people who move the emotional importance of ecological breakdown.
Ecotopa helps people Re -combination with the world of nature as a way to support mental and emotional well -being. This may include walking in green space, mindfulness practice in nature, work with natural materials or rituals based on nature.
Regardless of whether it is about planting a garden, sitting under a tree, or engaging in protection in the field of protection, ecotherapy helps people feel more grounded, more connected and more resistant both emotionally and spiritually.
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I noticed in my practice Younger people are more likely experience anxiety of climate, a older generations They tend to experience ecological regret. The difference is subtle but significant. Anxiety often refers to what awaits and a sense of powerlessness. Sadness concerns what has already been lost.
This emotional division makes sense when we think about what happened to the world of nature over the past decades. Older adults witnessed the loss of species, habitats and biological diversity in real time. Many have prosperous memories and relations with landscapes that no longer exist as they used to be. Meanwhile, younger generations face the terrifying uncertainty of a rapidly changing climate and an increasingly unstable future.
Both regret and fear are significant, but they are not the same.
I examined these experiences thoroughly during research The combination of nature, mental health and the way the climate and ecological crisis transforms this relationship.
At the beginning I assumed that a greater relationship with nature would always improve mental well -being. But it wasn’t a full picture.
Instead, I discovered that deepening our relationship with the world of nature can actually support healing, but it can also sharpen our awareness of the damage caused. This increased sensitivity can cause emotional pain, despair and even a decrease in mental well -being.
Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl Jung once said: “There is no arrival in consciousness without pain.” This is exactly what people without climate and ecologically fenced: deep psychological stay of recognizing the scale of the crisis we are standing with. For some, this affects their ability to function, enjoy life and maintain relationships.
How to stay good
The question I was still coming back to in my work was: How to stay good during the fall? My research indicated one coherent answer: action.
Engaging in pro -ecological activities appeared as the most effective way in which people coped with the emotional burden. These were not just acts of activism – they became a spiritual practice based on care, combination and importance. Thanks to these activities, people began to regain the sense of power and purpose in the face of the overwhelming ecological loss.
For many, it was also a path back to what the eco-philosophers call Ecological me: Part of us, which goes beyond the individual and identifies with the living world.
This self is not powered by ego or personal profit, but with an impulse for building relationships, nurturing community and supporting the flowering of all life. Represents the extended way of being; One that understands health and healing as collective, not just personal.
Importantly, these activities do not have to be on a vast scale. For example, they can rely on the cultivation of their own herbs or vegetables or joining local protection, creating a group of communities to protect waterways or green space or participate in climate strikes and defending the Earth. What matters is that the action is relational: rooted in reciprocity and care.
The conclusion of my research was clear: in the face of ecological stress, mental well -being is maintained not by thoughts, but by significant action.
Healing through action
In Northern Ireland, where I live and work, I saw a growing bottom -up environmental movement. Communities accelerate to protect landscapes under threat, against defense campaigns Sperrin mountains from Gold MiningFor local resistance to pollution, which is the destructive Lough Neagh, the largest freshwater lake in Ireland and Great Britain.
It is an unpaid, often undetectable labor force, but it is powerful. This gives people a way to process their emotions, feels less helpless and turning regret into an agency.
Many ecologists talk about “Schedule of the planet”. But the truth is that the earth will last. What is threatened is us: our ways of life, our communities, our ability to develop. The fear we feel is rooted in huge implementation.
It will remain good, caring for the earth, means learning to live with this pain and continue to decide to act. This requires us to be present and take care of the human and non-human world with care and reciprocity. As we do, we become more entitled and less overwhelmed.
If you are struggling with climate fear or ecological sadness, know this: not the goal is not to suppress your feelings. The goal is to recognize them and then operate them as fuel for significant action.
Do not underestimate petite deeds. The path forward is not waiting for hope: to create it through combination, courage and commitment.
In times of ecological uncertainty, well -being does not result from thinking differently. This is due to doing differently.
