I’m a believer that if we get quiet enough and look closely enough, the natural world offers us a mirror. Reflections and new perspectives peak through. They come through not in plain English but in symbol, metaphor, felt sense and intuition.
Practice is a potent reminder of our relational nature. When we take the time to practice, we come to see how we relate to ourselves, others, our environments, our challenges and successes, our dreams, our fears. If enlightenment really is intimacy with all things, how can we cultivate healthy, intimate connections of all sorts in all parts of our lives?
To be regulated is to stay within an optimal state of arousal – not too hyperaroused (excitable or revved up) and not too hypoaroused (numbed out or shut down). But dysregulation is baked into life. From the moment we exit the womb we are highly dysregulated. We come out screaming and crying, seeking to be soothed (co-regulated). As infants our regulation is entirely dependent on others. As we grow up, we have more capacity to regulate ourselves. In the same way that the mind wanders and we bring it back in meditation, our nervous systems get dysregulated and we (try to) bring it back to regulation. Regulation is a practice as much as it is a state.
Ceremonies and rituals can be as unique as those who practice them, deriving their meanings from the intentions behind them and the presence within them. Mindfulness and presence breathe life into ceremonies, they help us attune and attend to the subtle yet powerful energies that we invoke when we open ceremonial spaces.
As I deepen into questions of identity and ecopsychology, I am coming to experience the nature and the wilderness that appear beyond or outside of me as extensions of the nature and the wilds within me. Meditation offers us the opportunity to sit within ourselves and to clarify our true natures.