Clinical & Business Consultations, Programs, Presentations
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Green Psychology:
Renewing and Renewable Strategies for
"Managing"* Dreams, Demons, Dependents & Departments
a menu of keynote, seminar, consulting programs topics presented by...
John Wingspread Howell, M.Div., LCPC
*First, the asterisk.
You may have already thought to yourself as you read the subtitle that this can't be a very green presentation since we use the term managing. We use the term to get your attention and because it accurately communicates what is not green, renewing, or renewable about our approach to living life, dealing with challenges, or interacting with others, whether loved ones, coworkers, or employees.
"The attempt to manage, in other words, to control, subdue, or exploit, is just as ecologically destructive when humans are interacting with themselves or each other as it is when humans attempt to force their will upon the rest of the ecology."
-John Wingspread Howell-
Green Psychology includes intellectual, spiritual, psychological and relational health, growth, and wellness as a way of understanding one's identity, worth, roles, and relationships, in terms of the macrocosm (the universe including "God" as you understand the concept) and the microcosm (one's own personal world, feelings, dreams, goals, and immediate relationships).
Green Psychology is about applying the same principles, values, and ways of being with ourselves and each other that those in the Green, Renewable, Sustainable, Earth-Friendly movements are applying to natural and animal resources. Individuals, Relationships, Companies, economies, cultures, societies, and Civilization as we know it are also endangered species unless we change our way of relating from a management model to a stewardship* model.
Green Psychology involves taking a more intentional look at how we are entrusted with the care of the people under our leadership, in our employ and in relationship with us. That includes ourselves first, of course. While there has been a great deal of emphasis on caring for the earth, on protecting endangered species, and even on eating locally grown food, there has not been a corresponding emphasis on the ecology of the psyche, whether ourselves or the people we influence.
Green Psychology includes intellectual, spiritual, psychological and relational health, growth, and wellness as a way of understanding one's identity, worth, roles and relationships, in terms of the macrocosm (the universe including "God" as you understand the concept) and the microcosm (one's own personal world, feelings, dreams, goals, and immediate relationships).
Green Psychology is an orientation toward the path of least resistance, an approach that is always seeking the least violent, adversarial and hierarchical approach to meeting needs and accomplishing goals. Rather than pitting power against power, it is an attempt toward the alignment multiple power sources for mutual good. Rather than an attempt to control energy, it is an attempt to channel it.
*Stewardship vs. Management:
Management is about control. Stewardship is about caring for people, things, and circumstances in our spheres of influence.
- Management is normally understood as top down, hierarchical and often adversarial. It separates our sense of who we are as actors from the people and things we act upon.
- Stewardship is understood as the responsible and just treatment of everything and everyone in our lives and in our world. Rather than top down and hierarchical, it is rooted in a sense of equality (in the sense that the best interests of one do not supercede the best interests of another but are all equal and when seen in this light a zero sum (win/lose) equation becomes a win/win situation.
Applications of Green Psychology for Your Company, Organization or Event, with John Howell as your resource:
Keynote Presentations
Panel Participation
Half-Day, Full-Day or Multiple Day Seminars, Workshops or Retreats
Analysis of organizational structure and culture toward finding Green Psychology solutions and strategies to enhance interpersonal dynamics, loyalty, efficiency, and productivity of your organization or company