Nature Stirs Insights and Connections

Our natural world can help us reframe information and ideas that bombard us at work or in learning circles. Folks gifted with strength in naturalistic intelligence easily sense patterns and make connection to elements in nature.

They're keenly aware of their surroundings and changes in their environment, even when the shifts are very subtle. People with nature smarts often possess highly developed sensory perception. They think in terms of similarities, differences and changes in surroundings. So how can naturalistic intelligence benefit you in a practical sense?

Using the natural world helps grab our attention in novel ways. Since our brain's stimulated by novelty, puzzles and challenges, the natural world can serve as an amazing stimulus...

Here's how... "When you pay attention," a Northwestern University study finds, "neurons produce stronger brain activity, as if the stimulus itself was stronger. That would mean that paying attention might make something appear more intense, and possibly distort its actual appearance." Attention to nature can facilitate your brain to work with unique results...

In many ways the natural world helps people sustain attention and process ideas and information more effectively, making the world come into sharper focus. So how might you make the most of your own naturalistic intelligence?

Walk outside with a problem you want to solve. Just observe everything around you as you walk. You literally invite nature to be your partner in problem solving. Before you know it, good ideas come to mind. While you take in the natural world your brain works on the problem you presented. Changing your environment makes all the difference in seeing new solutions.

Choose a metaphor from nature to represent a larger concept. Natural metaphors speak in ways that words often cannot. Suppose you are thinking of the environment in a building... What would you choose? A hornet, a squirrel, an ant colony, a mature oak tree... Then you help others to make links more powerfully than with words. You might find this a logical way to frame larger ideas. In essence, "It's almost like a conductor stepping in," Marcia Grabowecky imagines, "to control a large set of unruly musicians in an orchestra so that they all play together. Cells synchronize precisely to the conductor's cues."

Start a natural collection Once you perceive the infinite variety in natural collections, such as rocks, insects, you'll transfer keen skills for subtle similarities and differences to other contexts. Do you see some parallels between your collection and your next advertizing campaign? Do you see any other possibilities here?

Why not sleep on it... let your brain work out connections and links to nature as you spend more time in the natural world.

Try a nature break to focus more on the natural world today... and, let us know how it moves your thoughts and ideas!