May sound funky or just plain funny, but when I’m in the wilds(or for that matter in a quiet green space in the city), I will find a comfortable place to sit(usually under a tree for some reason) and I work on honing my senses.
I’ll get comfortable, close my eyes and practice attentive listening. First I’ll just listen to the world around me, then try to hear as many different sounds I can, and try to identify them. I do this for as long as I wish. Then still with my eyes closed I try to do the same with smells(I find at least for me, this is my weekest sense).
Next, still with my eyes closed, I try to be attentive to any and all pyhsical sensations I encounter.
Lastly, and this is the most fun part, I open my eyes, and perceive the world that I see in front of me without focusing on any one thing in particular. Everything looks SO vibrant and alive…
Just a little trick I use to reconnect…
Alex
Nope, not funky or funny. I did that when I was 7 years old, intuitively. You’re not alone.
Unfortunately forests are not as accessible in my immediate surroundings as they were when I was a kid. I strayed from my intuitive instincts during HS/college and made some choices that were far from myself and far from the forest. So now I live in the middle of Seattle and I don’t own a car to get out of the city once in a while. I’m becoming city-fied (at least it’s better than surbanified and I for one prefer it to ruralified, at least from a social/intellectual standpoint, having experienced both rural and urban life). I’d love to eventually end up living near/in the wild again, but I don’t want to be a social recluse. I want to belong to a (but of course not just any) society. (You’d think Seattle would be a good place for that, but I’m beginning to have my doubts.) I’m still looking for people like me, but in real life, not online.
It’s a delicate balance. As it is, I haven’t found a way to have both connection to nature and a healthy society to belong to, at the same time. (Then again, I only recently started to take this stuff seriously again, so I haven’t done a lot of searching.)
Hi SilverArrow. I also strayed for a while while raising my kids, not completely, but enough to take the edge off.
It’s funny how you mentioned becoming ‘city-fied’. It seems to me that the tendrils of this society can quite easily ensare us when we’re preoccupied, and before you know it you’re reconnected to it more than you would like.
Me too. Presently it’s a two step forward, one step back existence, but at least I’m honest with myself, know my limitations, and doggedly work towards the goal I feel we all want to see.
Good to talk with you.
Alex