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Alex Douglas-Kane shares her experiences and understanding of Discover Nature Awareness


Monday 30 January 2012

The Young Man's Anger and the Chaffinch



I would like to share with you an experience I had while working with a young man in Spain while dealing with his anger issues.

Having completed a successful ‘Meet a Tree’ game which in it’s self is another story, a Chaffinch landed in the middle of the track about ten meters from us. The young man I was with looked at me and asked “Can I stalk it” my answer was of course yes.


He started to stalk the Chaffinch along the trail (see picture below). However, it only allowed him to get within twenty meters before flying off down the track and alighting in the middle of it again. He looked at me and again set off down the track to stalk the Chaffinch (a male), again the finch allowed him to only get within twenty meters before flying off down the track, only to land in the middle of it again.


Again he looked at me with a questioning kind of expression on his face. I said to him do you think something needs to change in order for you to get closer to it? He replied “maybe I need to change how I feel about this situation” I nodded in his direction and off he set again. This time I could see that his energy in fact his whole being had changed and guess what.


The Chaffinch this time let him get to within five meters before flying away altogether.


He looked surprised by what had taken place. I asked him “why do you think the bird let you get closer this time”? His answer was “because I changed how I felt about the situation”. I responded with “do you think that when you feel angry in the future and you are able to change how you FEEL your family and work colleagues will let you get to within five meters off them”?


His face said it all…


In this short version of what took place, is one reason why I love working with nature, she is a great and powerful teacher and all we have to do is be open to seeing the answers she is showing us about ourselves.

Monday 2 January 2012

Our Modern Day Warriors

Someone once said to me that they could not understand how I could work in the care industry and was once was a soldier. The two do not add up. Since I left the Army in 1996 this has been a common question; "How could you kill and then take care of people?" I was once even called a murderer.

This still goes on today and many would not have had me down as a soldier, if I do not mention it to them. Why do I still talk about it? Well it's been 22 years of my working life were I have gained untold life experiences and skills, now I am in this world, the world of the civilian were I am gaining new life experiences and skills.


I explain to people for me personally the two worlds do work together, my reason for saying this is very clear. I believed and still do believe that as a soldier I was first a defender of those who were not able to defend themselves, regardless of their background, and secondly I had the ability to be aggressive, and not be the aggressor first, as the majority of civilians I come into contact with believe.


My one common thread through all of these experiences has been Nature.

So what’s going on today, are men and women being seen in a similar light, nothing seems to have changed. Many people identify with the warriors from native cultures like the Indians from the USA and dismiss our soldiers of today... However, I believe they ARE OUR Modern Day Warriors and should be acknowledged as such. Put the politics to one side for the moment and look at the human being who is doing a job that many would run away from. In fact I once met a guy who was doing a study on the homeless in London and he discovered that 22% of the homeless were ex-forces, is that not a crime in it's self not just in economic terms but in human terms (this also goes for the other 78% of the homeless).


Can I recommend a great BBC Drama called Warriors, it shows the British Soldier in the light of a human BEING and not a 'they killed Johnny the dirty rats' type soldier. I take my hat of to Ross Kemp for getting in there with the guys in Afghanistan, what better way of showing what our men and women are about and what they are made of.


I trained some soldiers recently in tracking and they too discovered the power of nature, through some of the nature awareness exercises I use as part of the course, as one man put it "I feel I have been given something deeply profound". In a small way I trust that I am supporting them on a practical level.


Do they NOT deserve our SUPPORT, instead of some of the abuse that is aimed at them? You decide.