The Well-Gardened Self: Nature, Growth and Personal Transformation

What if the key to navigating chaos isn’t more control—but more connection to nature?

In this episode of Shobukai Shift, Mary explores how the natural world—gardening, birdwatching, even groundhogs—can heal us, grow us, and guide us through personal, organizational, and societal transformation. Drawing from Sue Stuart-Smith’s The Well-Gardened Mind, neuroscience, client stories, and her own pandemic experience, Mary unearths a simple but powerful truth: transformation is our nature.

Whether you're planting tomatoes, battling burnout, or feeding the birds, this episode will remind you:  Growth is messy. Nature is wise. And healing starts where you are.

 

Topics:

🎯Nature as a metaphor for personal evolution

🎯The neuroscience of growth and pruning

🎯Grounding, mindfulness, and biophilia

🎯Client stories of finding connection through nature

🎯Carl Jung, Erich Fromm, and the psychology of being

 

Key Takeaways:

💡Nature provides a living metaphor for change: cycles of death, renewal, and intention.

💡Engaging with nature activates right-brain attention and reduces stress.

💡You don’t have to escape to the woods to experience the healing power of nature—it starts with awareness.

💡Tending to a garden, or even a houseplant, can cultivate mindfulness, purpose, and connection.

 

Quotes:

🎤“When we sow a seed, we plant a narrative of future possibility. It is an action of hope.” – Sue Stuart-Smith

🎤“You are not a machine. You are an ecosystem.” - Mary Schaub

🎤“Nature meets us where we are—and grows us from there.”

🎤“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” – Carl Jung

 

Keywords:

✅nature and healing, ✅the well-gardened mind, ✅Sue Stuart-Smith, ✅gardening and mental health, ✅transformation through nature, ✅grounding, ✅burnout recovery, ✅biophilia, ✅mindfulness and nature, ✅Jung transformation

 

#NatureHeals #TransformationPodcast #MentalHealthMatters #ShobukaiShift #Biophilia #MindfulLiving #PersonalGrowth #SlowLiving #GroundedLeadership #WellGardenedMind #JungianPsychology

Links:

🔗The Well Gardened Mind: Rediscovering Nature in the Modern World, by Sue Stuart-Smith. 

🔗Earthing documentary

Disclaimer:

***The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice.***

Credits: Written, produced and hosted by: Mary Schaub. Theme song written by: Mary Schaub. Mixing Engineer: Dylan Yauch

Contact: Tell us how your transformation is going. Email us at [e-mail] or leave us a voicemail at ‪[phone]‬ and we may play it on a future episode.

Website: M. Schaub Advisory (MSA)

** Shobukai Shift is a MSA Production **