Nature and You - a lifelong relationship
Hi, I hope you are well.
I was running a workshop in Manchester during the week and it was lovely. The people who attended were open and receptive and the vibe was very open and easy going. Afterwards, one of the people who said they had felt relaxed and free, for the first time in a long time asked a couple of questions, which went something like "How do I get out of this state of anxiety and self-criticism I find myself in all the time? How can I escape from the inner voice that seems to criticise and control everything I do?"
The questions came from a genuine frustration and acknowledgement of something that was staring them in the face in that moment of 'letting go' in the natural world. I felt responsible and also privileged to be asked. There is no real answer to this but a good start is to look at my understanding of how mindfulness works:
Be aware of your mind activity
Use your body to anchor your experience
Distract yourself from the headiness of your mind into the groundedness of your body (and the ground, if you can!)
Easy peasy - not! But in principle, that's it. It takes regular practice and a strong wish for freedom. So, in nature-based mindful practice we use the experience of the natural world to anchor us and when we approach the natural world with that intention, a powerful route to connection and awareness opens up - it's so clear from every outdoor event I run.
Try This Thing
Here's a little practice you can try to ground yourself and experience thinking in a different way:
When we walk somewhere every day we can see the same scene, everything can look the same, often that scene can feel dull or boring, same ole, same ole. But what if we choose to look at that scene differently?
Here's how to start:
1. Go for a walk, somewhere familiar, somewhere you know well.
2. Keep in your mind the intention to see things a bit differently, even if you don't believe it can happen.
3. Allow things to catch your eye - could be birds, something moving in the breeze, another person you see.
4. Allow your imagination to connect with the things you notice. Ask yourself questions, things like: "What makes this happen?" "How old is that tree?" "Do those birds know each other? Are they talking to each other? What does it feel like to be a blackbird?"
5. Allow yourself to get carried away by your thoughts - just stick to the scene you're in, rather than getting caught up in anxiety or worry.
6. Consider that every moment is different and anything can happen as you go about your day.
Being outdoors is a great way to help you to 'approach yourself'. If you are scared to open up or feel too vulnerable, by doing this practice in the outside world you will stimulate yourself to notice how you are feeling, as well.
Know that the natural world is open to a relationship between you (your body, thoughts, feelings, emotions) and the trees, rocks, sky and whatever else. The natural world is on your wavelength. Accept that and open to it. Get grounded.
Let me know if you try it. Tell me how it was for you
Next Level
"Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better" - Albert Einstein. I don't actually know for sure if Einstein wrote this, as I used an internet search to find it, but this quote says a lot about relationships, without referring to them directly. It is an invitation to be with the natural world from one of the cleverest people who ever lived. That's enough for me!
When describing relationships we tend to use 'me and them' or 'me and you.' We also do this with the natural world. In fact it's not easy to describe relationships without using pronouns i.e. ways of defining ourselves as separate. Here's a definition of the word 'relationship': the way in which two or more people or things are connected, or the state of being connected.
The state of being connected. That sounds far more appealing to me than the first part of the definition. At the same time it feels right for us to define ourselves as apart from others 'I am me, they are them.' Fair enough. If, however, we are able to focus more on the state of being connected, it starts to change how we view things.
I entitled this email 'Nature and You....', because it kind of makes sense. We need to not forget to include ourselves in the relationship. I would like to modify Einstein's quote here, for my own ends, to 'Look deep into nature and then you will find who you are.' We are on an unending search to meet ourselves - that's what Einstein was doing - looking more deeply into nature, more deeply into who he was. Understanding everything better is getting to know ourselves. When we study the natural world, we are studying our own existence. There is no difference, but we have to see ourselves as separate in order to do the looking!
One time a pine cone told me 'All matter is alive!' Little bit of context here: it was a few days into a vision quest type experience called 'the sacred passage', where I was fasting and being in the natural world alone for several days. Relationships change in that type of scenario. That was a deeply profound moment for me and one that changed how I saw my relationship to the natural world - the fact that all matter was alive meant to me that everything is connected. Some kind of life force connects everything. I mean, a pine cone isn't going to lie to me, is it?!
How we view connection and relationship is important. So much of the time we evaluate, measure and figure out. We use questions like "How much do I like this person/place?" and "Is this good or bad for me?" We ask questions because we have feelings, which are so often beyond definition. We put ourselves at the centre of everything and become afraid. In a sense, we want control. Developing trust in the feeling realm, in things you just know and feel to be true, can happen in a flash of inspiration or is developed over time. We all have the things we don't question - the beliefs that define us, in some ways. In many ways, it's better when we can't define a relationship because it mingles and is part of us, just like we are part of the other. Accepting that is powerful and something I try to hold in my awareness, these days.
We are so obsessed with how things affect us, we are often missing all the fun! The fun of feeling, of being in relationship rather than studying relationships, of following the ups and downs of life rather than trying to control them. When we're on the sea, we can't control the waves. It's like the weather. Where I live is often particularly damp. It could be a disaster but there's nothing I can do about it - it's just a characteristic of the part of the world I have chosen to live in. Some friends of mine created music from the water dripping from a leaky greenhouse - beautiful! We can build houses that keep out the damp and we can have everything we need in our house - warmth, food, water, stuff to keep us occupied. We can control our environment - but we can't control what happens when we go outside, into the natural world, the habitat we grew up in. Exciting!
Meet Your Nature
Meeting Your Nature is an evening course I’ve created, which will start to bring the worlds of nature connection and mindful awareness together.
It will be a 6 week course, taking all the good things I’ve learned and continue learning from – the things that keep me grounded, aware and curious about what’s going on at – what I would call – a Deeper Level.
Through the weeks we’ll explore mind and body and the connection between what we have and who we are, in relation to our experience of both every day life and our relationship with the natural world.
This course is for you if:
You are interested in exploring your relationship with nature in a deeper way
You are curious about the more subtle ways we communicate with and relate to the natural world
You are interested in increasing your awareness and choice within your mind activity.
You wish for a way to find a more connected, peaceful way of being
You feel there is more to life than your work/study/everyday routines
You have always wanted to explore this deeper relationship, but in a non-religious, non-dogmatic way.
We will explore elements such as:
ways to connect with your mind and body in a grounded way
techniques to spend time in nature in a more connected way
ways to move your consciousness into natural world awareness
eco-anxiety and how to be with it
finding the right way for you to connect with the natural world
This 6 week evening course will start on Thursday 13th October, between 7.30 and 9pm GMT and will continue until 17th November.
The price is on a sliding scale, depending on your financial situation, between £150 and £600 for the course.
Please get in touch if you want to join. endlessriverflow@gmail.com
here's a subscribe link if you know someone who might like this
Also, here's a link to my website. www.endless-river.org
Please share this email with someone you think might like it. I hear a lot of people saying they want to have a deeper connection with the natural world. Reading about it is a good place to start!
Here's the link to subscribe to this newsletter https://buttondown.email/endlessriver Please note that I use a newsletter service that does not gather and sell data from subscribers, like others do. It is just between us :-)
With a genuine wish for your good health and joy in your life
Alan