How we experience our journey

This year, I set off in the direction of deepening my relationship with nature. I phrase it like that because, as I have got to know myself, I have realised that intentions and goal setting are rarely fruitful for me. I like the freedom that heading in a direction brings, the unknown able to unfold and changing directions not seeming like a failing to get to where I was headed.

As everything, this way of being has it’s duality! It enables spontaneity and nurtures curiosity and awe. It can also mean getting lost and being spread thinly – hello, mountain of enticing books to read and courses to go on! 🙈

This is my way, and you will have yours.

Perhaps you would like to consider how you travel your journey? Do you like to know where you’re heading? How do you feel about milestones? What level of preparedness suits you?

I’ve digressed already in this post… Back to the original path, to deepening my relationship with nature.

I have found I can listen to nature by bringing my attention to what is. What am I sensing from the world around me? What do I hear, smell, taste, see, feel?

Alongside that, I try to notice and be aware of when I am projecting my own self onto what it around me. For example, the morning I took this photo, the world around me felt unassuming and gentle. Perhaps a reflection of something internal for me? It’s how I felt in relatedness to the environment.

It is about returning to an openness to experience the other, and the awareness of all that we want to see within the other. We are bringing our attention to the place in which we meet another.

As we can explore our relatedness with the other-than-human in this way, we can approach our relationship with other humans in this way, too. Through active listening, non-judgement and empathy. What is someone really saying? What do we think they are communicating?

To understand the difference between the two, we must also listen to ourselves and what we feel, need and want.

We can get a deeper understanding of our experience in life through exploring our relatedness to ourselves, to others and to the world around us.