Your Grey Areas are Killing Your Dreams

Tom Brown, Jr. called the majority of the people living in this country 'the mindless grey masses', meaning that they are people who are living, but not really LIVING, if you follow my meaning.

According to Tom, these people are living lives of routine, following the pathways formed through fear, and playing it safe, etc.

I used that term often among my fellow tracker friends, because it felt so accurate when I could also see how the people around me did ordinary, daily things that seemed boring and mundane. To my wilderness soul, I felt that I hadn't bought into a life that gave me that soul crushing boredom!

But over time, I stopped using that term, because I didn't like feeling like I was better than anyone, especially when I realized that I had my own grey areas!

The grey areas that I am talking about have to do with how we are used to living in indecision.

Here are some examples:

• We know we can't stand our jobs, and need to leave, but we haven't decided we are actually going to take action, so we just wait and wait and wait, for the 'right' time.

• We know we need to move out of our apartment, or house, because our roommates are insane, but we just can't quite bring ourselves to start searching for a new place.

• We know we need to get rid of some of our 'stuff', but we just don't know when to do it, because we don't have the right mindset to sort everything out into piles of 'keep' or 'give away'.

• We know we need to start living our 'vision,' but we don't know what the first step is, so we just wait until it 'feels right'. Etcetera, etcetera...

In most cases, the decisions that we are putting off are typically emotional decisions. The problem with emotional decisions is usually that we have to make a choice about something where we might hurt someone's feelings, or let go of a relationship, or take a risk.

Those things are scary, and they aren't to be taken lightly.

However, NOT making a decision means we pay a price.

When we don't make a decision and take a course of action, we live in limbo, and we can't move forward. Our energy gets trapped because we can't actually make any progress, because we're dragging these unresolved issues that take a lot of effort to avoid or support.

It's draining, and it's tiring, and we start doing what I call 'Avoidance Behavior', to kind of take the edge off of the truth that we are just treading water and not making any real progress...

Video Games.

Television.

Facebook.

Endless Pointless Conversations that Go Nowhere.

Drama.

Addictions.

Sleeping all the Time

Etc.

I mean, pretty much anything can be 'avoidance' behavior, because it's all about doing things to keep yourself from feeling the impact of how living in the Grey Areas is sucking your soul out of your life.

It's easy to spot whether someone is living in the grey area.

Just look at their (or your) eyes. Dull and listless = stuck. Bright, sparkly and filled with light = moving forward, or at the very least, not treading water!

I think we all have a little grey area going on in our lives. It's normal, honestly.

But the key message of my email today is this: When you actually just make a choice and DO SOMETHING, it feels really good. It's like a huge weight gets lifted off your back. You feel free. You feel like yourself again.

Most of the time, the person whose feelings you are trying to protect is also protecting your feelings too. Or, your choice might come as a big shock to them at first, but then, since it's your truth, it works out.

The bottom line is, you have to live your truth. You have to take your next step. You have to take a stand. You gotta muster up the courage to take one path or the other.

So, that's what lies on the other side of your struggle, your grey area.

But how do you get from here to there?

It's really simple: Get some help. Find someone who has broken free from that place, and is on the other side.

Get support from someone who isn't going to tell you only what you want to hear.

Get out of your bubble. Hang out with people who are also living in their truth, who aren't treading water.

If you can't find people like that in your daily life, find them online. Find them in books. Find them, somehow, some way.

Because you aren't going to make real changes until you stop hanging around stuck people.

(Actually, you can still hang out with them, but the fact that you are not staying stuck usually freaks them out and they will get the heck away from you, because it's too threatening to their status quo.)

Start taking small, incremental steps towards whatever it is you need to do to live your life with purpose and passion.

Don't make those incremental steps too small!

Your actions should scare you a little. That's actually a good thing. It will let you know you are on the right track.

Take smart risks, and balance 'following your heart' with other important things like 'taking care of your family' and 'having a realistic strategy'.

I'm not saying to be crazy and radical here, so don't misunderstand me. I have seen plenty of people destroy their families over the need to 'live their vision'.

That's not what I am talking about.

I'm talking about hunting down those grey areas that drag you down, and shifting out of them. So you can do what you are actually here to do.

I don't think we were meant to just hang out and avoid stuff our whole lives. I don't think that's our highest purpose.

Maybe that's the Christmas/Holiday Gift we can give the world this year. It's the gift of YOU. It's the gift of giving us the unique magic of you! It's a gift to the world, to nature, to your family, and to your own life...

Happy Holidays, and happy grey area hunting! It's always open season on those.

Three Reasons Why Our Education System Won't be Fixed on its Own.

The modern American education system is trying really hard. It wants to be better. It really does.

I mean, seriously, there are hundreds of thousands of teachers, from pre-school on up to the college level, working every day to do the best they can to educate our next generation.

But it has so, many, things that are getting in the way of change and improvement that it seems pretty hopeless. I am not being pessimistic. I am just calling it for what it is.

Here's the first reason:

There are private companies vying for the opportunity to take over failing schools, claiming they could educate our kids with better results. They have lobbyists that rig the system, and they are playing the long game, waiting patiently for their turn at the public trough that is Public Education.

It's a major blockade because it's a little devil constantly whispering in the ear of our political leaders, sucking the energy and life out of the process, with very questionable motives.

Reason number two:

We have a literal ARMY of education administrators who don't seem to have the ability to figure out what the right approach is to teach our rapidly changing youth population. There are regulations and so much red tape that teachers are literally bound to that it's a wonder that they can even walk.

It's not that these people aren't well meaning. But honestly, from a parent's perspective, and as an adjunct educator, it often feels as though these administrators are more interested in protecting their own jobs and repuation, playing it safe and protecting the status quo, rather than putting good options on the table and finding ways to make them work.

And when you put twenty suits in a room, it's very rare that you are going to get a lot of 'out of the box' thinking. That's just the way it is.

Reason number three:

The teacher's unions don't seem to be able to break the cycle either. (That's not the third reason, but it's a factor, definitely.)

This is the main problem:

Every idea that anyone comes up with, one faction or the other will gleefully rip it apart without even considering it for it's merits. It doesn't matter what you propose. The feasting on the guts of good ideas begins in the board room and the conference room and then moves to the cafeteria for lunch.

So......

In short, it doesn't take a genius to realize that we aren't going to politically be 'led' to a new solution, or range of solutions. And the system that created these problems doesn't have the resources or the ability to fully perceive what is actually wrong with it's model, let alone come up with the answers.

For all of you that are teachers, know that I am not making this personal. I know there are great teachers out there, many of you, and some great schools, too. But with over 40 million kids needing to be educated in a better, or more effective way, we have a big, big problem.

All of this, of course, is pretty obvious to just about anyone who has an open mind, and can see how it's a perfect stalemate that offers only marginal solutions.

So, why am I writing all this?

I believe that nature and wilderness education has tools that would actually help and begin to shift us in the right direction.

But it has a huge, huge problem. Well, a number of problems, actually. But we can focus on two that are the first hurdles.

The first hurdle is how nature education and wilderness earth skills are perceived by the general public. And the school administrators. And the political leaders.

So, it's about perception, and value.

You see, most people think of nature as more of a backdrop from where they can workout, or just enjoy their daily lives. They don't realize the depth and importance that an understanding of the natural world can provide for us, not just when we are kids but throughout a lifetime.

As the baby boomers retire and pass on, we are losing our last generation that was born and raised with a strong natural connection. They get it, but what can we do at this point in time?

Changing these perceptions involves shifting the messaging in a series of steps, and that's a massive undertaking. But honestly, it can be done.

Which then leads us to problem number two.

If we are successful with the messaging, and sharing about the effectiveness and power of nature, the demand for these tools will quickly

outpace the current supply of existing naturalists, wilderness educators, instructors, camp counselors and program directors.

And this is important because training these folks takes time. It takes a lot of classes, intensives and training. It takes time to get enough experience, under the guidance of an experienced mentor, to work you through the rough patches, and not only learn the skills but also the people skills and management skills, and much more...

So, imagine if the demand for nature programs doubles, triples or multiplies by a factor of ten.

It would be like going into a supermarket an hour before a hurricane or a blizzard hits town. All you're going to get is a few cans of baby corn and some frozen peas.

And in their desperation to get their schools or programs helped out by a naturalist or skills educator, directors will be tempted to take untrained beginners to run their programs, with predictably poor results.

So, I will sign off with this, and say, if we are going to promote this connection to nature as a valued and powerful means to help our culture get grounded, we have to find a way to insure that we have a standard for our educators, and at the same time, find a way to train those folks in greater and greater numbers than we can imagine.

It's a big job, but we can do this... What do you all think?

The Visionary vs the Realist: The Careful Path We Tread

I've always been pretty practical. I mean, I am a builder. I have a business. I have a family. All of those things will ground you in a different, but very profound way.

If you are any one of those things, you know what I am talking about. You understand how people without children don't know what it is to care for someone for years, and 'get' that commitment.

If you aren't a builder, you can't fully comprehend the focus it takes to put a whole building together, and see it in your mind's eye, in layers of wood, shingles, flooring and insulation.

I could go on, but I know you get it.

My point is this: Experience changes you, and it tempers you. It grounds you, if you like that term.

So, at the same time, too much practicality can be boring. It can give you goals that are achievable. It can give you missions that aren't all that inspiring.

There's power in both directions. I mean, we need serious tools and people who can create strategies that are going to actually solve problems and, well, work, right?

And at the same time, we need bold missions that show we aren't taking baby steps or playing it safe.

If you have too much of one or the other, we have a vision that is bold but has no chance of actually making a difference. Or, you have a vision that plods and garners snail-like results.

So, it's tricky.

When I started my camp, Hawk Circle, I would love to say that I took all that idealism and I added practicality and tempered it together, like Iron and Steel.

But that wouldn't be true.

I did it my way. I walked to my own drum and I did it the way I thought was right. I was walking my vision, and following the spirit that lead me down this road to begin with. I felt empowered. I ran programs that changed people's lives.

As a kid who grew up pretty shy and struggling, I can honestly say that it was the most incredible thing I had ever attempted in my life, and it changed me inside and out. I was grateful for the whole experience.

But if I am being fully honest, I will also admit, looking back, that I struggled.

I struggled to pay the bills. I struggled to get students at times. I struggled to put all the different aspects of my 'vision' (read: my business), together in a very workable way.

I struggled because I didn't have experience. And that pain was real! I paid for that lack of knowledge with lots of frustration and head banging.

If you've ever struggled and knew what you needed, but you couldn't find a way to make it happen, that's frustrating. If you struggled and you didn't even know what the source of that struggle is, that's also painful.

Here's the deal: Most young entrepreneurs are struggling. They are missing key details that keep them broke, or frustrated or working far, far harder than they need to.

And sadly, they don't even know it.

In the Visionary Nature Education Program Communities I have been connected to, struggle is almost a culturally accepted part of the landscape. I mean, it's almost built in. Of course, that's all 'behind the scenes', and they are mostly not giving up, but it's there.

Yes, I know. That's depressing. But luckily, we can change that.

I think that's our challenge. Balancing those powerful visions with experience.

We get the best of both worlds.

We get the energy and boost from those visions, right?

And we get to avoid making all those little mistakes that sap our energy and our momentum. We get to experience how easy it can be when we put it all together right.

We need a lot more of that if we're going to reconnect enough people to the natural world.

I kind of wish that the spiritual leaders I had when I started my camp and vision had told me some of this. It really would have come in handy!