Posts tagged with "trees"

I am NOT a tree hugger!

But I am embracing nature……..

Funny I remember a session from our time in Glen Tilt in the trees near the house.  We all did the ‘tree breathing’ exercise - you’ll find this in the research/taster section of the site.  It was really quite lovely and certainly  reconnected me to a sense of interdependence and mutual exchange with nature.

Amazing coats of lichen that I’d never seen.  I asked about this and why we didnt see this on urban trees, the answer seemed to be related to air quality, funny that.  What else are we missing?  What else can we retrieve?

Let’s look through the Wilderness shaped window!

 ”What do you see?”  Was the question given by my paired partner Emily, on settling at the place found by natural inclination and gut instinct. Well, I saw a stream, mossy banked, at the tree-line edge facing up to steep escarpments of Glen Tilt, it was very inviting, the ‘babbling brook’ was calming, and the Scots pine trees enveloped and created a sense of security. 

“What insights does it give for your life?”  Well, it gave me a picture of a re-ordered life.  Frequently I am at the summit ridge, possibly over the horizon, away working, providing for my family in the forest brook.  The glade spoke to me about home, a place of canopied security, sheltered, a source of comfort and nourishment, yet I wasn’t within sight of it often enough.  I need to find a way to stop ascending ridges of work pressures and pressing on to the next career summit and find the will to stay closer, within sight and calling distance of the valley, the tree line, and the homely bank.

Land of the living…?

Back from Knoydart for a few days, and it’s been an intriguing continuation of the journey. Lot of emotion and confused thoughts - ranging from pure rage at discovering on my first day back that they are going to tear the beautiful trees down outside my office to make way for the trams (and feeling so helpless about my power to stop it); to a real feeling of renewed perspective, with a counter-balancing awareness that keeping the sense of “connectedness” that all of us have written about is going to have its challenges.

But I do - after a week of intense city-dwelling, including a trip to London - have an overwhelming urge to be outside, despite the rain. My first convert is my husband, who arrived home today with his own pair of brand new walking boots - yaay! So any recomendations for some good walks around the Lothians very welcome!

The language thing is still my big issue - trying to explain what I’ve been doing to people has been tough, no getting away from it. And I have worried more about what people would think than perhaps I should. But reactions have been interesting - people I thought would laugh out loud have been curious and even envious, whilst others who I had predicted would “get it” have looked strangely bemused.

The other thing that is dawning on me is that there is a whole hinterland of academia surrounding this that I simply wasn’t aware of - from psychology, to environmentalism, to creativity and expression. Being the type I am, I’m tempted to start ploughing into theories and books (confession - have actually bought some already), but a part of me is resistant to it. So what if whatever I’m feeling and experiencing can be explained by Jung? But then, I’m part of a research project - a guinea-pig - so in the end, it is likely that secondary research like that will be drawn out, and parallels and assertions made. However, it reminded me of a poem that my Uncle Rae wrote for me before he died, in answer to me always asking the childlike question “why?” about everything. It’s buried in another book somewhere - will have to find it now - but essentially it was all about not always asking why (why is the sky blue? how can birds fly?), because in doing so; in forensically tearing things apart to see how it all works, you can lose the magic - and that’s what I really don’t want to do…

Boy, are we here!

So…we’re here. Boy are we here. It’s an amazing place, no question – so far beyond anything I have ever experienced before. And my boots have lost their shine already…

Am in a bit of a quandary about this blog. Spent a lot of time – too much probably – trying to think of how to begin. The temptation is to record all we have done, diary-like, but I don’t really think that is the point of the exercise. It’s all about reflection, on what we have seen, heard, done, discussed, debated and laughed over. There’s a thing I’m pleased about – there’s plenty of laughs – which may come as a bit of a surprise to those outside the eco-movement: news just in folks – they have a sense of humour too, even though they know the end of the world is nigh!!

 Actually, that flippancy seems inappropriate – disrespectful almost to this place and this experience. The sense I have most at the moment is privilege – I feel so privileged to be able to be here and participate in this. Whether it was sitting in a tepee, gazing out across the shoreline, water and mountains through the heat-haze of the fire; or walking alongside a burn, trickling under an intense green canopy of breathtakingly beautiful trees; or discussing Maslows Hierarchy of Needs and modern western consumerism – it’s been intense and powerful.

 So – do I know REALLY what this is all about yet? Maybe a glimmer. The disconnect from the earth that we have, focussing simply on consuming more to fulfil and sustain us, rather that tuning in and paying attention to our real needs – few of which are authentically met by “products”. This is a tough one for me personally – note my very first blog – but I take comfort in the fact that, in my love of all things Dolce & Gabbana, I’m perfectly aware I’m shallow!! Seriously – none of this argument is new to me, or anything I take issue with. The key question is: why don’t I do more to address it? What can I do – personally and without compromise – to make that shift? And - horror of horrors - will it mean giving up Christian Laboutin? Answers on a postcard, please, or just hit the comment button below, seeing as how we’re saving resources…