Rewild & Slow
Day 18: Agnes Becker
My relationship with nature is one of grounding and a timeless connection to something bigger than myself. A recent Instagram caption I wrote sort-of describes my relationship with nature, deepened by knowledge gained through science and art:
“Put your hands deep in the earth and feel the stories of nature and your place in it in your heart and bones: The stars that created the atoms; the molten core of the Earth, the shifting plates you stand on; the trees linked to each other through the fungi teeming in the soil; the Earth rich with the tiny bacteria that create the smell of nature after rain; the delicate ferocity of spiders and their web. You are part of it all. Connected to everything around you by millennia of evolution. With your hands in the earth, this feeling inspired by knowledge and observation rises through your hands and into your body and to your core. You belong here.”
I make sure I go outside at least once a day, perhaps to feel the sun on my face or look at the stars at night or feel the wind in my hair or touch some frosty leaves! I fill my home with nature finds from walks. I draw from life rather than photos as much as possible and love seeing connections emerge that I’d never have noticed otherwise – perhaps how one petal of a flower folds neatly over another or how a pine cone’s repeated pattern works. I love learning about our bodies and the world around us through science as I feel it deepens my experience of life – a dormant tree becomes a fascinating living thing protecting itself from the harsh winter with callose blocks between the cells of what will become buds in spring, the blocks preventing the cells from communicating and growing until a spell of long, cold weather has broken them down in time for spring.
"Every one of us is a memorial to long-dead stars. Every one of us was quite literally made in heaven.”
Marcus Chown, The Magic Furnace
For me, fostering a connection to the natural world is a part of our history of who we are as humans. Many years ago when the universe was born stars exploded to make the elements of the earth. These elements are what make everything in the world - me, you, the sea, creatures big and small, the clouds and the stars. We are all connected to each other and the universe around us. I love how learning science can help us understand this connection – we are all made of stardust and all living things are connected through our DNA. We are part of the natural world, we evolved along with it and I hope through this we can feel a sense of belonging to our corner of the universe.
Given the state of the Earth due to man made climate change (something that 97% climate scientists agree with), I hope this deeper sense of belonging to and connection with the natural world helps foster a greater respect for nature – as we are the natural world and therefore without the natural world, there is no us!
I believe we can rewild ourselves, though, through curiosity and noticing. As other Rewild & Slow contributors have mentioned, it doesn’t have to be a huge thing, for example, as I walk my daughter to preschool we look at the spring bulbs emerging from the earth, growing a little more each day. This noticing can then be taken a step further with some form of creative expression that helps you look more closely – a drawing that shows how the petals are connected, a poem that notices how the flowers bob in the wind. As you notice, you may start to ask questions – how does the bulb know it’s time to start growing again? And if you have the time and inclination you may look it up and learn about the hormones in the plant that are expressed when the weather gets warmer triggering a growth response and how interconnected nature is through cycles and rhythms and ecosystems. And perhaps you may start to notice how you too are affected by these natural cycles and rhythms and ecosystems - and so starts your rewilding journey.
Nature very much impacts my own wellbeing. I find being in the natural world a physically grounding experience. Just moving my body, feeling the sun or wind on my face, hearing the sounds of the birds helps to calm my mind and puts things in perspective. I moved house just before Christmas and am still in a period of exhaustion from the experience! While my head is telling me to get on with goal setting and producing new work my body is not ready. Being in nature reminds me that all will come in good time and perhaps my body has its own metaphorical callose blocks in place until I am ready to start ploughing on ahead with plans.
There is a growing scientific evidence base about how being in nature is good for wellbeing - if you’d like to learn more, I recommend Emma Mitchell’s book Wild Remedy. One of the most amazing things I discovered last year as about the smell of the earth after rain (called petrichor). It is created by chemicals released by microorganisms in the earth. When it rains, these microorganisms release the chemicals which must somehow trigger a neural pathway in our brains that is linked to a pleasurable feeling – how wonderful is that?!
If you want to feel more a part of nature, I’d say to step outside every day and take one minute to notice something from nature around you. Even if you are in a city, perhaps notice a bird in the sky or some mosses growing on a brick. Take a deep breath and think about how you are all made of the same stuff – stardust blown here on intergalactic winds many, many years ago.
If learning about the science of the natural world feels daunting, I completely understand. I often ask questions about the things I see on my nature walks and then never get round to looking them up when I get home as it feels like it would all take too long. I recently started short, two-page, printable seasonal nature guides focusing on just one natural thing that you can take on your walks with you. If you’re just getting started on your rewilding journey or if you are as curious about the natural world as I am but never get round to looking up your questions, then these guides may help to enrich your experience of nature as you wander (even just to work or the local shop). The latest guide is the Winter Scots pine Nature Guide – 25p is donated to Trees For Life, an organisation working to look after the last of the Scottish Highland Caledonian Pine Forest remnants. You can find out more and purchase the guide here.
May I wish you all excitement and grounding in your rewilding journey!