Welcome to The Evolved Nest!
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Welcome to The Evolved Nest's monthly newsletter!
Autumnal seasonal changes move us to grab our coats and huddle against cold winds. It is a good time to huddle with family members to make sure our home nest is supporting everyone's wellbeing. Our relational responsibilities start with those near us but extend outward to everyone else because our choices affect them too, like the ripples in a pool. Let us take the time to examine our lifeways and make changes to mitigate harm of others, including the more than human. Better yet, let us take steps to live in ways that enhance the lives of those who live far away as well as the more than human.
Please share the growing resources on The Evolved Nest website and this newsletter with your friends and family. You are always welcome to support our nonprofit work with your
tax-deductible donations
.
Thank you for your support!
Darcia Narvaez, PhD
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Planting a native flower (pollinator) garden with kindergartners at the early childhood development center (ECDC Notre Dame), students in my seminar (Morality, Parenting and Nature Connection in the Anthropocene) get a taste of a possible future.
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For life to continue on earth, every day must be Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Contemporary industrialized nations by and large undermine the development of human capacities, toxically stressing children and adults, leading to disconnection. Our research shows the importance of humanity’s
evolved nest (
Evolved Developmental Niche
), which matches up with the high immaturity and needs of human children in the first years of life when neurobiological systems are shaped by social experience. The nest includes responsive calming care by multiple adults, years of on-request breastfeeding, frequent affectionate touch, extensive play, relational connection and social support.
All these foster health and well-being, sociality, and morality through epigenetics and other plasticity effects in early life.
Nature connection and ecological intelligence are part of our heritage as well, and are critical for sustainable living. But parents in industrialized nations are encouraged (and often forced) to deny babies and children what they evolved to need, establishing neurobiologically aberrant trajectories and long-term ill-being, dysregulation and disconnection.
This article appeared in
truthout
on October 13, 2019.
Read here.
And in
Indian Country Today
on October 21, 2019.
Read here.
Find The Evolved Nest in the news in our
press room
. You can also book Darcia for interviews and events on this page.
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Indigenous Psychologies Contrast With Western Psychology
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Is it time to expand psychological theories?
It is widely known that psychology largely draws its conclusions from studies of WEIRD samples (Western, European, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic), who represent 12% of the world’s population (Henrich et al., 2010). Most studies are conducted with undergraduate participants from WEIRD societies, who represent even a smaller proportion of the world’s population. But that’s not all that is skewed...
Western thinking puts a line between what is considered real, acceptable knowledge and knowledge making, and what are unacceptable forms of knowledge. The latter are belittled as “only”
intuition
, beliefs and subjective understandings. In other words, western conceptual frames are considered forms of hegemonic colonization that have de-legitimized other ways of knowing and being. These alternative ways are being recognized by practitioners of Indigenous Psychologies.
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The Evolved Nest's YouTube Channel
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25th IIBA International Conference, Lisbon, Portugal
Darcia Narvaez talks about Companionship and Connection: Repairing the Cycle of Life for a Thriving World
In this video, Darcia Narvaez talks about Companionship and Connection: Repairing the Cycle of Life for a Thriving World.
"Humans are born highly immature with much to develop neurobiologically after birth. To accommodate a needy offspring, humans evolved a nest that matches up with the maturational schedule of the child, providing the buffering needed to optimize development. Each human self-organizes around experience, especially in early life when neurobiological systems are establishing their parameters and thresholds. However, industrialized nations have degraded the nest, so much so that illbeing is spreading around the world. Baselines have shifted for child raising, what is considered normal child and adult behaviour promoting cultures that perpetuate suboptimal development. I discuss what humans need to flourish and how to repair damaged selves and communities."
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Discover The Evolved Nest
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The Evolved Nest has been integral to 99% of human genus history and provides a baseline for optimizing normal development. Here are more details about the importance of each of these
Components of The Evolved Nest:
Check out our new Components Resources page - in progress - for organizations that support each component
here
. Let us know if you want us to add a resource by emailing us at evolvednestinitiative@gmail.com.
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Read more about the components of The Evolved Nest
here.
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Fresh Eyes on the Evolved Nest
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Follow the Fresh Eyes Series to discover how the next generation perceive the Evolved Nest and relate to children, before they become parents...
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Understanding the Hidden Stories of Distress
By Lauren Heller
Now that I am aware of the many consequences that insecurely attached people struggle with on a daily basis, I am encouraged to look deeper into people’s life stories so that I will not be so quick to judge and label others. Humans, believe it or not, are not naturally cold and closed-off, but rather, literally need warmth and affection. So, there is no reason to label people as “mean” or “grumpy” because they have trouble relating to and interacting with others.
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Indigenous Sustainable Wisdom: First-Nation Know-How for Global Flourishing
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"To live sustainably and wisely means to live in participation with the natural world, fostering biophilia through daily practices of respect and undersanding of the natural world, particularly one's own landscape. This comes about through "becoming open to the natural world with all of one's senses, body, mind, and spirit." When childhood has undermined this openness, the adolescent or adult must deliberately work where "receptivity, perception, and imagination are integrated through participation with nature."
An essay from the book edited by Darcia Narvaez, Four Arrows, Eugene Halton, Brian S. Collier, and Georges Enderle:
Indigenous Sustainable Wisdom: First-Nation Know-How for Global Flourishing.
Did you miss the Sustainable Wisdom Conference? No worries! We have your video playlist ready for you on The Evolved Nest's YouTube Channel
here
.
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Nurturing Character in the Classroom EthEx Series
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By Narvaez and Colleagues
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The Nurturing Character in the Classroom book series is a set of guidebooks for teachers that provide hundreds of ideas for how to incorporate moral character skill development into regular academic instruction. EthEx refers to the lifelong development of ethical skills toward expertise (ethical expertise) in many domains and situations. The four EthEx books each suggest 7 skills with 3 subskills important for a virtuous life. The books outline how to teach these skills in a middle-school context. But the books are used by K-16 instructors.
Each book contains:
· Hundreds of ideas for integrating ethical skill development into standards-drive academic instruction
· Four levels of novice-to-expert instruction
· Guidelines for a classroom climate supporting each skill
· Student self-monitoring items for each skill
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Rock the World Breastfeeding and Parenting Conference
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API is partnering with La Leche League of KY/TN for the
Rock the World: Breastfeeding and Parenting Conference
in Nashville, November 2, 2019! The location will be in the heart of Nashville, near so many family friendly and musical locations.
Mary Tarsha, M.Ed., The Evolved Nest collaborator and
podcast interviewer
, will present a session breakout. The conference will feature
Dr. Bill and Martha Sears, Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker, and many other stellar speakers, exhibitors, sponsors, and, of course, a music event! Come meet parents and professionals from all over the world and celebrate API's 25th Anniversary too.
The conference will be a one-day event complemented by an evening event on Friday and a concert on the day of the event. CEUS will be provided.
Find out more about this 25th Anniversary Celebration of Attachment Parenting International
here
.
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Great Nonprofits' Reviews!
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We have until October 31 to collect a few more reviews. Use the Share Your Story button on the top right of the page.
The Evolved Nest is an educational initiative of the award-winning 501C3 nonprofit Kindred World. You can view multiple initiatives and reviews on the Great Nonprofit's page as well.
Feel free to make your tax-deductible donation while you're there. And thank you for your support!
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Kindred World: Serving the Re-Generation Since 1996!
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Where to Find and Share The Evolved Nest
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SOCIAL MEDIA
BLOGS
DONATE
And support The Evolved Nest's nonprofit work with your tax-deductible donations
here.
CONTACT
Please contact The Evolved Nest with your questions
here.
SUBSCRIBE
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here.
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The Evolved Nest | www.EvolvedNest.org
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