Day #696 - Grounded

Familiar Spaces

I’m heading up to London: it’s a very familiar journey, and the first part runs through the New Forest, one of the UK’s newest National Parks. I know it well, having hiked and mountain biked down many of it’s tracks and pathways, through many seasons. There’s plenty to see: the famous New Forest Ponies roam freely, as do cattle, pigs and donkeys. The other things you will see frequently are the deer.

There’s a spot by the railway, in the heart of the forest, where they tend to gather near a watering hole at dawn and dusk, and if you are lucky, you can see thirty or forty of them, and at times including a magnificent stag.

Whatever I’m doing, I stop and look out of the window in this part of the journey. It’s a glimpse into their world. They are clearly aware of the trains, but recognise they are no threat. So we co-exist in that space for these fleeting few minutes.

For me, it is grounding, a reminder (even when, like today, I am dressed for business meetings) of the times I’ve walked and camped there, of the times I have felt most connected to this environment. There is a simplicity in being within a landscape, knowing it in the most direct ways.

Use your sixty seconds today to consider the moments in your day or week when you feel most grounded.

Is it to do with people, or places, or things (your friends, your car, your snug or office)? It is a collective or individual experience?

And if you lack that feeling, what have you lost?

The new Planetary Philosophy work considers our relationship with the natural world, and aspects of identity and belonging, so it’s very much in my mind this month.

I hope you are having a great week so far.