Remembering connection in fiery times

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.    

Wendell Berry

These are times in Australia when despair can grow all too easily, taking root in the scorched devastation that is much of our landscape, fertilised by the rotting, charred remains of more animals than one can conceive of – an estimated billion to date.  Amidst the ruins of homes, the ravages of bushland and the raw grieving of widows, daughters, sons, fathers, mothers, siblings, cousins and colleagues, the force of friendship and the connection and courage  of community co-exist and continue to offer comfort and hope.

These are times that heighten emotions and deepen responses. Doubting our elected leaders and deriding those with differing views, we risk driving a wedge of distrust and division even deeper than already existed.

This is a time when the need for calm, compassionate and connected leadership is more compelling than ever, regardless of whether that leadership is of a fire crew, a country, a family, a wildlife sanctuary, a corporation, a relief organisation or oneself.  We are being called to remember; to remember our connection to each other, to remember our connection to our co-travellers – the myriad of animals who share space on this Earth – and to remember our connection to the land. 

We are supposed to be caretakers and custodians, not chemical cripplers and crucifiers of the land.  We have overstepped the mark in our need to control, to consume our way to so-called success and status. We have cauterised the umbilical cord that connects us to our great mother, planet Earth.  The wounding is deep, yet largely denied.

For all of us who do remember our connection, our inter-being, we feel the pain and hear the cries and vow we will do what we can to heal the rift – to offer our service to repairing the connection, to awakening consciousness where we can.  The first place to start is with ourselves. 

Indigenous peoples have known since their first breath the truth of our connection to the universe, to place, to all our relations. They have known that all things have spirit; the trees, the plants, the rocks, the water – and fire of course, and the wind that fans it.  Some have forgotten as their culture was torn from them in the same way the developers around Sydney tear down trees, soullessly, heartlessly. But enough remember – and many of us wounded from our own disconnection of generations, remember too.  We simply have to stop seeing ourselves as separate, stop imagining that we have control, that we even need control and start realising we co-create, we co-exist, what we do can cause ripples around the world.  Just look how far our smoke has travelled.

There is a growing body of science that shows how hardwired we are for connection with nature, how much more settled our nervous system is, how our ability to think improves, how our mood lifts when in a natural environment or even looking at pictures of nature.  Spending quite time in contemplation of nature, mindfully observing, listening to, smelling and feeling the life around us, being inspired by the minutiae and the magnificence of life that is around us all the time has multiple benefits.

The multitudes of images of ferocious fires we are now exposed to are both terrifying and awesome, in the true sense of the word. We marvel at the sunsets through smoke-hazed skies even as we dread them.  Our nervous systems are at a level of alert and arousal as we view these – we do not become immune – instead we accumulate the markers of continual low-level (high if directly impacted) stress; elevated stress hormones (cortisol etc.), inflammation, elevated blood pressure, poor heart rate variability.  All these things take a toll.

And they are all things I often witness in some of my coaching clients, whose stressful, office-bound corporate careers can create similar physical responses.  Getting out in nature, becoming present through mindful attention to the senses, to the breath, to the physical environment, to the somatic experience, to the presence of horses and the other creatures around, can all help reset the system. Co-regulating with the large, calm presence of a horse can create a space where the monkey mind quiets and the inner voice of intuition, gut knowing, felt sense can be remembered rather than silenced by the endless chatter of the inner critic, or the ceaseless beeping of media alerts.  From this place, we can work with renewed balance and awareness, developing tools to take into daily life to recreate the magic moments, to cultivate the power of the pause and to remember our connection to the Earth and all her inhabitants, to find peace among the wild things.

Sawubona!

Calmness, Connection, Compassion….one breath at a time..

*I am extending my offer of one free session in January to all directly impacted by the fires through February and March – and to all those in organisations at the front line or dealing with the impact – such as wildlife rescuers, volunteers at animal welfare organisations, the police, ambulance, paramedic personnel as well as RFS members and their families etc. Up to 2 follow up sessions may be discounted by 50%.