When I was younger and living in the interior of BC I used to explore up in the desert hills above a canyon in the South Okanagan and sometimes the wild horses that call that place home would come up to greet us. (this clip shows the area https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ3MT6MGX5s , please forgive the abrasive language, I was in 18 year old mentality at the time of recording). I would bring an extra apple from my parents orchard incase I was blessed to cross paths with them to share with them. The first time I saw them it was the stallion who came running up to greet me. my conditioning from living in "civilization" in this life told me to be afraid and run, but something deeper in me, something wild within my heart and spirit that recognized the stallion as my brother told me to stay. I stayed and he stopped within a foot of in front of me, lowering his head in a gesture that moved my heart.
Now I live in southern Ontario where most of the wild four legged beings have been killed or driven away to the north (in the name of "progress", industrial agriculture and urban development) so I strive to engage with that which is wild through connecting with and nurturing wild rooted beings.
One such wild being that I have invited to call my garden home is Malus sieversii
I feel that in order to embark on a path of re-wilding and healing our relationship with the wild, we must invite people to fall back in love with the wilderness and the wild beings that dwell there. No amount of threatening, guilt tripping, bribing or other top down methods will convince the lost humans to change their ways. It has to be love. Thank you for walking a path guided by love and encouraging our human family to remember their innate love for our fellow beings.
Oh dear Alicen, how everything you write speaks right to my heart... I too love the Wild Ones, and being with them is truly the best medicine for me. I am struggling fiercely with meditation these days, but each morning when my best friend Stella, the sweet beautiful little black squirrel shows up on my porch, immediately and instantaneously, I am peace. I am love. I am joy.... But there is something about which I worry: I worry that in my desire to befriend the Wild Ones (there is not only Stella, but many other animal friends: chipmunks and red squirrels and crows and blue jays...), I worry that I corrupt their wildness. For example, when there is a particularly bad storm outside, or it is a particularly cold night, I find myself actually worrying about Stella and the others, and wishing they could come inside with me and I could protect them. "Poor little ones," I find myself thinking. My desire to befriend them so quickly seems to becomes paternalistic, as if I were somehow protecting them (from the WILDS)... I used to have so many wild animal friends in our yard every day, coming for the nuts and seeds (and water!) I joyfully and abundantly provided, that looking back, I am not sure I was doing anyone any favors.... I worry I was fostering dependency, upsetting natural territorial imperatives of the squirrels and chipmunks and bluejays.... When we had to leave that house I grieved the loss of my animal friends more than any humans... I worried so much whether they would be OK, and wondered if I had wronged them.... So I feel always now this tension between the wildness of the Wild Ones and this fear that I am somehow corrupting/domesticating them in my attempts to befriend them. I guess the obvious solution is to relate to them in a way that does not involve any food, but I would love to hear your thoughts. I remember this one morning Stella came for a visit and a terrible wind and rain storm started. She was not shy of coming into our house to retrieve a walnut but she would not hang out there, and when the rain and winds picked up she ran to a nearby tree and positioned herself on the trunk, face down, hugging the trunk tightly, and seemed to become one with the tree, as it bent in the wind and the driving rain. I will never forget that image of my little gloriously wild friend, and I think she really taught me something that day. My mind kept telling me that I desperately wished I could protect her and she could come inside with me, but my heart knew that this was her, in all of her glorious Wildness, demonstrating true Freedom to me.
I have been trying to convince myself that every suffering will come to an end one day. I have been convincing myself that every wound will heal in time and every sadness that I feel right now will disappear and be replaced by happiness. I was deluded. Going deeper in the mountains and spending time with the wild ones or kissing every flower in the park, I found myself taking a pause and admiring all that is present in the world. My heart is not heavy now, and I am learning to fall in love with life again.
Great timing with this! Am hugging folk with fervour these days as so many I see are looking weary or down.
Love the quote too! I think it's incredibly huge with respect to it's truth, a simplistic yet paragon practice of stopping any unnecessary thoughts and it's freely available to all of us!! It's NOT too good to be true 🙏🥰
When I was younger and living in the interior of BC I used to explore up in the desert hills above a canyon in the South Okanagan and sometimes the wild horses that call that place home would come up to greet us. (this clip shows the area https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ3MT6MGX5s , please forgive the abrasive language, I was in 18 year old mentality at the time of recording). I would bring an extra apple from my parents orchard incase I was blessed to cross paths with them to share with them. The first time I saw them it was the stallion who came running up to greet me. my conditioning from living in "civilization" in this life told me to be afraid and run, but something deeper in me, something wild within my heart and spirit that recognized the stallion as my brother told me to stay. I stayed and he stopped within a foot of in front of me, lowering his head in a gesture that moved my heart.
Now I live in southern Ontario where most of the wild four legged beings have been killed or driven away to the north (in the name of "progress", industrial agriculture and urban development) so I strive to engage with that which is wild through connecting with and nurturing wild rooted beings.
One such wild being that I have invited to call my garden home is Malus sieversii
For more info : https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/the-wild-apples-of-the-tian-shan
I feel that in order to embark on a path of re-wilding and healing our relationship with the wild, we must invite people to fall back in love with the wilderness and the wild beings that dwell there. No amount of threatening, guilt tripping, bribing or other top down methods will convince the lost humans to change their ways. It has to be love. Thank you for walking a path guided by love and encouraging our human family to remember their innate love for our fellow beings.
Oh dear Alicen, how everything you write speaks right to my heart... I too love the Wild Ones, and being with them is truly the best medicine for me. I am struggling fiercely with meditation these days, but each morning when my best friend Stella, the sweet beautiful little black squirrel shows up on my porch, immediately and instantaneously, I am peace. I am love. I am joy.... But there is something about which I worry: I worry that in my desire to befriend the Wild Ones (there is not only Stella, but many other animal friends: chipmunks and red squirrels and crows and blue jays...), I worry that I corrupt their wildness. For example, when there is a particularly bad storm outside, or it is a particularly cold night, I find myself actually worrying about Stella and the others, and wishing they could come inside with me and I could protect them. "Poor little ones," I find myself thinking. My desire to befriend them so quickly seems to becomes paternalistic, as if I were somehow protecting them (from the WILDS)... I used to have so many wild animal friends in our yard every day, coming for the nuts and seeds (and water!) I joyfully and abundantly provided, that looking back, I am not sure I was doing anyone any favors.... I worry I was fostering dependency, upsetting natural territorial imperatives of the squirrels and chipmunks and bluejays.... When we had to leave that house I grieved the loss of my animal friends more than any humans... I worried so much whether they would be OK, and wondered if I had wronged them.... So I feel always now this tension between the wildness of the Wild Ones and this fear that I am somehow corrupting/domesticating them in my attempts to befriend them. I guess the obvious solution is to relate to them in a way that does not involve any food, but I would love to hear your thoughts. I remember this one morning Stella came for a visit and a terrible wind and rain storm started. She was not shy of coming into our house to retrieve a walnut but she would not hang out there, and when the rain and winds picked up she ran to a nearby tree and positioned herself on the trunk, face down, hugging the trunk tightly, and seemed to become one with the tree, as it bent in the wind and the driving rain. I will never forget that image of my little gloriously wild friend, and I think she really taught me something that day. My mind kept telling me that I desperately wished I could protect her and she could come inside with me, but my heart knew that this was her, in all of her glorious Wildness, demonstrating true Freedom to me.
I have been trying to convince myself that every suffering will come to an end one day. I have been convincing myself that every wound will heal in time and every sadness that I feel right now will disappear and be replaced by happiness. I was deluded. Going deeper in the mountains and spending time with the wild ones or kissing every flower in the park, I found myself taking a pause and admiring all that is present in the world. My heart is not heavy now, and I am learning to fall in love with life again.
Beautiful ❤️
Great timing with this! Am hugging folk with fervour these days as so many I see are looking weary or down.
Love the quote too! I think it's incredibly huge with respect to it's truth, a simplistic yet paragon practice of stopping any unnecessary thoughts and it's freely available to all of us!! It's NOT too good to be true 🙏🥰