Exploring the IDGs: Relating

The IDG category up next is one close to our hearts. Relating: Caring for Others and the World.

How do we feel appreciation, care for, and connection to others, and how broadly does this extend? Our families? Our neighbors? Our colleagues? And what about future generations? Animals? The biosphere? This kind of deep care and contact helps us create more sustainable systems and societies for everyone. A world that works for all. 

With any assessment or looking deeply within, we first invite in self-compassion by setting aside any internal criticisms or judgments and start by asking ourselves a few questions. 

  1. Do I notice myself relating to others and the greater world with a sense of appreciation, gratitude, and joy?

  2. Do I have a sense of connection within my local community?

  3. How often do I find myself acting to care for the greater whole, based on the needs of the situation without only prioritizing my own needs and wishes?

  4. Do I relate to others with kindness, empathy, and compassion?

  5. Do I relate to myself with kindness, empathy, and compassion?

  6. Do I consider nature and the environment with care? 

  7. How often does my response to suffering lead to compassionate action?

In my recent post, I took you through Being & Relationship to Self and offered a Values exercise, which is equally relevant to developing your relational skills. In our busy lives, we can so easily lose contact with what is most important. This is especially true in stressful and challenging situations. A values exercise helps you connect with your core values to support you in taking meaningful action in every moment of your life. 

The IDGs offer a free online toolkit. And under Relating: Caring for Others and the World you’ll find many exercises to cultivate these skills and qualities. It includes tools to develop compassion, self-compassion, and an exercise to Meet Yourself at 90, a guided exercise that helps you be present with your hopes, dreams, priorities, and values by envisioning yourself at your 90-year-old birthday party. But the exercise I want to share here is a simple version of an activity I engaged in on Mother’s Day. A Nature Quest. I’ll write more about that experience soon, but in the meantime, here are the Nature Quest instructions from the IDG toolkit.  


Nature Quest

People mainly protect and restore the natural world for the sake of relational values: due to attachment to a special place in nature and in general due to the feeling of being connected with nature. Our level of connection to nature increases with time spent outdoors, especially with time spent in wild nature. Nature quests can further develop emotional connection to the natural world, and deepen our awareness of the environment and the relationship between humankind and the natural world.

How might it help? Expanding our sense of self so that it includes the natural world can foster pro-environmental behavior, as we will be less likely to harm it because harming the natural world would then be experienced like harming ourselves.

How to practice

  1. Find a spot in nature that's “calling you,” a place in a forest, a park, or by the water where you want to be. Find a safe place to be in this space. Focus, relate, and relax into your surroundings; Observe what is already there and let the beauty guide you.

  2. Profoundly connect the Inner with the Outer. Open your listening to the sounds around you, feeling the ground that is holding you, smelling the air, tasting it, and sinking into your visual field. The aim is to leave everyday habits and patterns behind so something new can emerge.

  3. Let your thinking mind wander; observe your thoughts move like clouds in the blue sky. Notice, and let go.

  4. Relax into the moment. Connect with what inspires you and reconnect with your deeper purpose.

Here are a few inspirational poems I read before my recent Nature Quest.

You’ll find more on their free online toolkit. This is an emerging library of tools to explore the IDGs in practice and help people and organizations accelerate progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Note, this is a beta version and is based on research from the free app 29k. 29k is a non-profit organization and community on a mission to make personal growth available for everyone, for free.

Visit my earlier blog post or the IDG website for more information.


I’d love to hear from you if coaching could help support this developmental discovery for yourself. Unlike some assessment approaches, I don’t take a gap analysis or start from a place of deficiency. We start where you are and explore the threads together. Reach out if you’d like to chat.

Is this coaching for you?

  • You want to pursue a dream, goal, or vision and want support in the process.

  • You have a longing to step into the next version of yourself.

  • You want to advance your career AND find more meaning and purpose.

  • You are a committed nonprofit, climate, or DEI leader, looking to deepen your resilience, integrate joy, and expand your leadership for effective change.

  • You want to develop as a leader in your workplace or community and be of service.

  • You are at a crossroads or feeling stuck.

  • You have received feedback or are noticing patterns and behaviors that you’d like to change.

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Exploring the IDGs: Thinking & Cognitive Skills

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Exploring the IDGs: Collaboration