Reflecting on the Present

And reciprocal relationships

Last week, in this month of reflection, we considered the past, or the history of your place, and how it shaped the present. For most of the year, though, we were focused firmly on the present, or what is happening now in your place. We did this by activating the senses and listening and observing intently. I read through every post and pulled out key ideas and themes, which I’ll share below, along with some reflective questions. Feel free to read through them with pen and paper in hand and write down your responses as they come up. 

Biome

We began by reconsidering our places as biomes - a community of plants and animals that live together in a certain kind of climate. Then, we spent a good amount of time noticing the other than human inhabitants of your place, including birds, animals, insects, soil and plants, fungi and forests.

One very important element of a biome is the water that flows through. We first identified our watershed - a region of land in which the water drains into a particular body of water, and eventually into an ocean or sea. I asked you to walk your watershed and also to sit by a body of water to experience its healing aspects, a meditative state called “blue mind.” 

Are you seeing your place more in terms of biome and watershed and ecosystem maps as opposed to street and city maps?

How have you expanded your understanding of the many other than human inhabitants of your place? 

Weather and Climate

Weather has a profound effect on how we experience our place from day to day. We spent the month of March considering the seasons of our place, including its unique micro-seasons and reflected on how the climate is changing. 

Climate is the typical weather pattern for a region, based on averages over thirty years or more. Noticing fluctuations from the norm gives the concept of climate change relevance in our lives and activates our relationship with the earth. We also paid attention to the wind, sky (day and night) and clouds. 

One of my favorite practices was called Reading the Day, which came from Mitchell Thomashow and his book, To Know the World. We began each day one week by stepping outside first thing in the morning to “feel the temperature, wind conditions, light, sounds and smells, or whatever visceral impressions filled the senses.”

In the month of September, we talked about how the climate is changing in our place and what our community is doing to mitigate and adapt. We became more aware of the quality of air and water. 

How do you appreciate and accept the unique weather and climate conditions of your place? 

How has the climate changed where you live and how is your community adapting? 

Culture

For the month of August, we focused on the culture of our place, which is a shared set of attitudes, values, goals, and practices - ways of being and living in a community. Culture brings us together as people; it creates a sense of belonging and shared purpose. It emerges from a people and a place working together.

One of the most basic connections between culture and place is what grows there, the native plants and animals and the food we eat. We also talked about the people who live in our place, who they are, where they gather (public spaces), and what they celebrate together. And finally, we looked at the economy of our place, which is about much more than jobs. More broadly, it’s about how resources are allocated and what makes a people and a place thrive.

How would you describe the culture of your place? What do you appreciate most about your place?

What makes your place thrive and where is it not thriving?

Major Themes

Experiencing through the Senses and Walking

The best way to get to know a place more intimately is to activate all of the senses, and I emphasized listening.  Being a good listener is one of, if not the most important qualities in any good relationship, whether with a person or a place. Through listening we come to know and understand, and hopefully empathize, with whoever or whatever we’re in a relationship. We spent the month of April being an “earwitness” to the soundscape of our place - listening to wind and water, birds, and even rocks. 

Later in the year, I also talked about the importance of walking (and sitting) as ways to spend time with your place and get to know it better. 

Are you noticing your sensual experience of place more?

Do you have an ongoing practice of walking or bicycling or sitting in a special place where you live?

Reciprocal Relationships

A healthy, whole community begins with people in relationship to one another and to the land, and with this underlying assumption: “Relationship to place is as important as the place itself.” ~ Peter Forbes, Center for Whole Communities via The Nature Principle

At its most basic, a place is defined by the interactions that occur there and the relationships that have formed. We spent a couple of months focused on those reciprocal relationships.

First, we talked about kinship and how all kin relationships have reciprocity at their heart - some kind of mutual exchange, give and take, or a recognition of interdependence. We are always entangled with the world around us, in a web of relationships. 

We spent some time focused on the language we use and how we can learn the language of our place. There are many different ways that we communicate - through spoken words, but also through touch and taste, smells, and gestures. When it comes to a language that can bridge species, it needs to be one of respect, care, and reverence for life. Robin Wall Kimmerer calls this ‘The Grammar of Animacy,’ which is “language that affirms our kinship with the natural world.” 

We spent some time recognizing the gifts that we receive from our place and how we say thank you for those gifts through rituals, traditions, and celebrations. We talked about how we give back by offering our own gifts in return and finally, we considered the role of restraint or holding back in reciprocity and how to restore or repair where we have caused harm. 

A long while back, I wrote a post about the common traits of our best relationships. I was referring to people but these traits apply to any relationship. Basically, a good relationship requires trust, awareness, acceptance, and love. I hope that deepening your relationship to your place and all of its inhabitants, has changed how you interact with it. 

How would you say your relationship with your place and its inhabitants had changed and deepened?

Conclusion

Choosing to know your place at a more intimate level creates kinship. I’ve noticed a deepening of my relationship with the animals and plants and birds in my yard and neighborhood. I feel a closeness, even love, with the lake and the creeks and the rocks of my place. They are a part of me and I am a part of them. We coexist together.

Next Week: Reflecting on the Future and your Role Moving Forward