I have always felt the most alive and the most myself near the ocean. It calms and energizes me in a way nothing else can. I always find that I naturally pay less attention to my phone and feel less distracted and overwhelmed by everything. This is true of nature in general, but to a slightly lesser extent - the ocean just really calls to me differently.
I feel you in this. I have always lived on a coast, a maximum of a two hour drive to the ocean. I don't feel I could live inland. I need the ocean. And I too feel more "calm and energized" when I am there. Something about the rhythmic sound of the waves, the smells, sounds of the birds and the sand beneath my feet. I feel at home. A. do you live near the ocean?
I don't! I think I might be about 2 hours from the Jersey beach, though I've never been. We have always driven to Maryland or Massachusetts or, more recently, Maine. I've been talking to my husband about moving closer to the ocean and he calls it my "retirement plan" but I don't think I can wait that long😅
I used to live on the east coast in Connecticut, across from Long Island. I have been to only one Jersey beach and that was Cape May. My cousin took me sailing, it was a magical experience. But that was years ago, I have not idea what it is like now. I get "I don't think I can wait that long."
i LOVE everything you wrote here Julie. The "Situational Awareness" section was especially happy for me. Why happy? i couldn't tell you. Ha!!
I have learned from nature that I belong. That I have a place that is meant for me to fill. And that with that, there is a role for me too, something i am meant to be doing in the larger ecosystem web of relationships. And that i am one among a multitude. Small. A just right size that makes me feel safe and comfortable with in the whole bigger scheme of things.
Hey Mare! I sooo agree with you here. Human made systems have their place, but when I sit inside them there is always something lacking. They never come close to what being in nature provides. Deep connection, feeling relational with everything, the trees, sky, pebbles, moths, squirrels, hawks, etc. Paradoxical in that I too feel "save and comfortable" while also honoring the wild nature that is unpredictable and even dangerous.
Julie this is beautiful. Firstly, the mountain lion! That felt like an initiation of sorts...so potent and real and otherworldly at the same time.
I really appreciate what you write here about situational awareness...your words here
"Life flows, forever in constant motion, even in its unhurried ways. Even in its dying and decomposition. Yet there is this tendency to try and domesticate the moment. Making it an external morality on how to be. Then labeling it, packaging it up and trying to sell it." Oh why do we need to do this? Why do we need to analyses and label and put things in boxes... Julie your post is liberating and enables me to breathe out. Thank you.
Ps/ my favourite landscape is the ocean. The sound of the waves. Sitting on cliffs overlooking the unlimited horizon. Swimming in the ocean and knowing that I can't touch the floor... oh how I love it. I have too see the ocean from my window to be close enough to it. I need to smell the ocean air and feel the change in the breeze because of the ocean... maybe I'm a selkie...
Thanks Sam and ohhh I love the last line, "... maybe I'm a selkie..." Well then we definitely are sisters. I too love the sea and have never lived far from it. Sometimes a couple hour drive, but that is tops. But to live by it, ummm that is a dream! The closest I came to that was visiting my parents when they were alive and well on Kauai. You could see and hear the ocean from their house. I spent the majority of my time at the beach or walking trails near it or sitting on cliffs above it. Yes I believe I am a selkie too, I had a powerful dream this past December where I was selkie! My computer screen even has a pic of a selkie!
"Situational awareness is not just being present, it is the ability to flow from one moment to the next. Meeting the arising of life that is currently unfolding, navigating its waters rather than holding to a static belief or fixed stance."
I really love how you're applying the idea of situational awareness to something much bigger. I wonder if it's the difference between situational awareness (how it is often used) and Situational Awareness (with capital letters), where the latter refers to what you are describing here?
Yes situational awareness is a more psychological tool or modality. But I believe we can take anything deeper. The mundane, the ordinary, becomes sacred and extraordinary when we take a pause, observe, listen and interact. It just goes deeper. That is what I did here with situational awareness. I brought it from the therapeutic were it lives into a spiritual and embodied realm.
I grew up with walks in the great outdoors with the safety of never meeting anything more dangerous than possibly an adder. That's changed a bit since moving to Portugal, but wow, mountain lion - what an encounter!
This was beautifully put together, your story and message perfectly woven. And those park comments - still shaking my head in astonishment!
Thanks Safar! I know those park comments, I wish I could have included them all! And Yes that encounter has taught me a deep respect for the wilds. Every time I tell that story I remember how close that lion was to me. I have met bears too, ingraining even deeper that respect. The time a bear got our food while backpacking. He/she had a feast. And the other times I have heard them breathing outside my tent at night.
Wow, what a magical encounter you had with a mountain lion! ♥️✨ I saw one in the wild once, on a cliff above me (not nearly as close as the encounter you had). We had that moment of stillness, looking at each other like you describe, but then she went on up the cliff away from me. Something about those experiences weave themselves into our very cells, don't they? I love your take on situational awareness and how it equates to mindful/bodyful presence. Being fully with the moment and responding in that whole presence. I love that! And, omg, those comments from park visitors are hilarious. 😂
Yes the comments were quite funny, I wanted to add more but I try to keep my word count in check. They were both funny and very telling! WOW you have seen a mountain lion too! Truly an amazing experience and gift. For me as I reflect, very humbling. That lion was really close to me, if it wanted to it could have got me. Yet she did not, instead as you said, those experiences weave themselves into our very cells." Yes they do!
"Situational Awareness" has always been something my aunt has echoed to me no matter what I am about to do !!! This spell is always singing in my mind. What a powerful experience with the Mountain Lion - I have longed to meet with one in person (in a safe outcome situation) for YEARS. I often dream of them and feel deeply connected to the spirit of big cats.
How wonderful that your aunt talked to you about situational awareness. That is really special, not everyone gets that valuable information. For me I had to learn it on my own. Maybe that is why I had this encounter with the mountain lion at a relatively young age. It taught me so much, changed my life after that. Yeah big cats are amazing! Drawn to cats in general, might be partially due to the Leo in me.
I love this Julie, I have spend so much time inwards that I have been forgetting to look outwards into nature. I am ready to roam free again and allow the fresh air to bring in new life and new breath. I will often walk down to the Nature Reserve near where I live and in a few weeks time when I move it will be on my doorstep. I’m ready to be out and be connected again. 🙏💫
How wonderful there is a Nature Reserve nearby and that it will be even closer once you move. ...And the moving... Blessings to you dear one with that change. May it flow easefully and be uneventful. May you be supported well physically, emotionally and in whatever ways you need in the process as you walk/pack/lift/clean/leave and enter your new environment
I appreciate your kind words Julie, I am nervous I’ve lived in the same house for 17 years. Not a huge move in distance, but a big change anyway. I’ll take your words with me in my heart. Thank you. 💫🙏
I have always felt the most alive and the most myself near the ocean. It calms and energizes me in a way nothing else can. I always find that I naturally pay less attention to my phone and feel less distracted and overwhelmed by everything. This is true of nature in general, but to a slightly lesser extent - the ocean just really calls to me differently.
I feel you in this. I have always lived on a coast, a maximum of a two hour drive to the ocean. I don't feel I could live inland. I need the ocean. And I too feel more "calm and energized" when I am there. Something about the rhythmic sound of the waves, the smells, sounds of the birds and the sand beneath my feet. I feel at home. A. do you live near the ocean?
I don't! I think I might be about 2 hours from the Jersey beach, though I've never been. We have always driven to Maryland or Massachusetts or, more recently, Maine. I've been talking to my husband about moving closer to the ocean and he calls it my "retirement plan" but I don't think I can wait that long😅
I used to live on the east coast in Connecticut, across from Long Island. I have been to only one Jersey beach and that was Cape May. My cousin took me sailing, it was a magical experience. But that was years ago, I have not idea what it is like now. I get "I don't think I can wait that long."
Me, too! I love oceans.
i LOVE everything you wrote here Julie. The "Situational Awareness" section was especially happy for me. Why happy? i couldn't tell you. Ha!!
I have learned from nature that I belong. That I have a place that is meant for me to fill. And that with that, there is a role for me too, something i am meant to be doing in the larger ecosystem web of relationships. And that i am one among a multitude. Small. A just right size that makes me feel safe and comfortable with in the whole bigger scheme of things.
Hey Mare! I sooo agree with you here. Human made systems have their place, but when I sit inside them there is always something lacking. They never come close to what being in nature provides. Deep connection, feeling relational with everything, the trees, sky, pebbles, moths, squirrels, hawks, etc. Paradoxical in that I too feel "save and comfortable" while also honoring the wild nature that is unpredictable and even dangerous.
Julie this is beautiful. Firstly, the mountain lion! That felt like an initiation of sorts...so potent and real and otherworldly at the same time.
I really appreciate what you write here about situational awareness...your words here
"Life flows, forever in constant motion, even in its unhurried ways. Even in its dying and decomposition. Yet there is this tendency to try and domesticate the moment. Making it an external morality on how to be. Then labeling it, packaging it up and trying to sell it." Oh why do we need to do this? Why do we need to analyses and label and put things in boxes... Julie your post is liberating and enables me to breathe out. Thank you.
Ps/ my favourite landscape is the ocean. The sound of the waves. Sitting on cliffs overlooking the unlimited horizon. Swimming in the ocean and knowing that I can't touch the floor... oh how I love it. I have too see the ocean from my window to be close enough to it. I need to smell the ocean air and feel the change in the breeze because of the ocean... maybe I'm a selkie...
Thanks Sam and ohhh I love the last line, "... maybe I'm a selkie..." Well then we definitely are sisters. I too love the sea and have never lived far from it. Sometimes a couple hour drive, but that is tops. But to live by it, ummm that is a dream! The closest I came to that was visiting my parents when they were alive and well on Kauai. You could see and hear the ocean from their house. I spent the majority of my time at the beach or walking trails near it or sitting on cliffs above it. Yes I believe I am a selkie too, I had a powerful dream this past December where I was selkie! My computer screen even has a pic of a selkie!
"Situational awareness is not just being present, it is the ability to flow from one moment to the next. Meeting the arising of life that is currently unfolding, navigating its waters rather than holding to a static belief or fixed stance."
I really love how you're applying the idea of situational awareness to something much bigger. I wonder if it's the difference between situational awareness (how it is often used) and Situational Awareness (with capital letters), where the latter refers to what you are describing here?
Yes situational awareness is a more psychological tool or modality. But I believe we can take anything deeper. The mundane, the ordinary, becomes sacred and extraordinary when we take a pause, observe, listen and interact. It just goes deeper. That is what I did here with situational awareness. I brought it from the therapeutic were it lives into a spiritual and embodied realm.
So true!
I grew up with walks in the great outdoors with the safety of never meeting anything more dangerous than possibly an adder. That's changed a bit since moving to Portugal, but wow, mountain lion - what an encounter!
This was beautifully put together, your story and message perfectly woven. And those park comments - still shaking my head in astonishment!
Thanks Safar! I know those park comments, I wish I could have included them all! And Yes that encounter has taught me a deep respect for the wilds. Every time I tell that story I remember how close that lion was to me. I have met bears too, ingraining even deeper that respect. The time a bear got our food while backpacking. He/she had a feast. And the other times I have heard them breathing outside my tent at night.
Unnerving!
Hahaha, me too. Growing up in Northern Germany, I had a similar experience of safety in the woods.
I know! The only food I had stolen when camping were bites taken out of silicone utensils (mouse) and stolen bread (fox).
Wow, what a magical encounter you had with a mountain lion! ♥️✨ I saw one in the wild once, on a cliff above me (not nearly as close as the encounter you had). We had that moment of stillness, looking at each other like you describe, but then she went on up the cliff away from me. Something about those experiences weave themselves into our very cells, don't they? I love your take on situational awareness and how it equates to mindful/bodyful presence. Being fully with the moment and responding in that whole presence. I love that! And, omg, those comments from park visitors are hilarious. 😂
Yes the comments were quite funny, I wanted to add more but I try to keep my word count in check. They were both funny and very telling! WOW you have seen a mountain lion too! Truly an amazing experience and gift. For me as I reflect, very humbling. That lion was really close to me, if it wanted to it could have got me. Yet she did not, instead as you said, those experiences weave themselves into our very cells." Yes they do!
"Situational Awareness" has always been something my aunt has echoed to me no matter what I am about to do !!! This spell is always singing in my mind. What a powerful experience with the Mountain Lion - I have longed to meet with one in person (in a safe outcome situation) for YEARS. I often dream of them and feel deeply connected to the spirit of big cats.
How wonderful that your aunt talked to you about situational awareness. That is really special, not everyone gets that valuable information. For me I had to learn it on my own. Maybe that is why I had this encounter with the mountain lion at a relatively young age. It taught me so much, changed my life after that. Yeah big cats are amazing! Drawn to cats in general, might be partially due to the Leo in me.
I love this Julie, I have spend so much time inwards that I have been forgetting to look outwards into nature. I am ready to roam free again and allow the fresh air to bring in new life and new breath. I will often walk down to the Nature Reserve near where I live and in a few weeks time when I move it will be on my doorstep. I’m ready to be out and be connected again. 🙏💫
How wonderful there is a Nature Reserve nearby and that it will be even closer once you move. ...And the moving... Blessings to you dear one with that change. May it flow easefully and be uneventful. May you be supported well physically, emotionally and in whatever ways you need in the process as you walk/pack/lift/clean/leave and enter your new environment
I appreciate your kind words Julie, I am nervous I’ve lived in the same house for 17 years. Not a huge move in distance, but a big change anyway. I’ll take your words with me in my heart. Thank you. 💫🙏