By Shreyasi Brodhecker
- Antidotes to the Wasteland – Embracing Ways to Just Be
“The Wasteland is the hollowness inside us, for we are reflections of the hollow world we live in. To embrace it might mean that we spend our lives doing work we hate in order to feel secure…It might mean that we wrap ourselves tightly in busy-ness and noise and never-enough-time and anxiety and panic and wonder why eventually our bodies break….We are bleeding at the roots, because embracing the Wasteland means that we are out of touch with the seasons and the cycles of the year, with the natural world to which we have forgotten we belong. And when we lose our relationship with the land and the other creatures around us, then in the deepest sense, we lose ourselves.”
Blackie, S. (2016). If women rose rooted: A life-changing journey to authenticity and belonging. September Publishing.
These words resonate deeply. They haunt me on days that I am lost in the hectic pace of work and my daily expectations and needing to do and do and do more. When we get caught up in doing and achieving and checking off tasks from our to-do list, that is when we get lost in the Wasteland. Taking time to go outside, breathe in the fresh air and watch a sunset can all be refreshing antidotes to the tedium of time spent in the Wasteland. Giving ourselves permission to step out of the continual drive to be perfect, to show ourselves in a certain light to others, or to “get better” somehow will place us on another path. No matter where we find ourselves on the journey of noticing the present moment, we can all unwittingly fall into that hectic pace and immediately feel its draining impacts.
Rather than becoming, or going somewhere, or doing something, how can we take a moment to be? Moments to just be who we are, without censoring or glossing over, are crucial to feeling alive. Interspersing these moments into our activities and routines can help to create ease and connection with what matters in life. How can we just be?
Here are some invitations to just be in your everyday life. If any resonate with you, please experiment with them in the next while. If you have other ways to feel connected to the natural world, please share them with us and other readers. Thank you!!
Ways to Just Be (not an exhaustive list, by any means!):
Savoring your cup of coffee, drinking in the flavors and warmth, feeling the smooth heat and curves of the coffee mug, holding this piece of nurturance can be a doorway to a moment in which you can just be.
Petting your dog or cat, gathering yourself into a favorite blanket or soft clothing, letting the sense of touch infuse your awareness and lead to mental associations of comfort, is another doorway to a moment in which you can just be. In the time of the pandemic, if you can still hold someone’s hand or hug another person, then letting yourself feel surrounded in this care and accepting it as something you are worthy of is another moment in which you can just be.
Walking down a sidewalk or at a park, feeling the crunch or texture of crisp snow or mud or other surfaces under your shoes, feeling your hands in your pockets or swinging freely by your sides as you move, and noting the air across your cheeks.
Taking a moment to savor the taste of the next spoonful, the next forkful, the next midday snack, and focusing on the flavours rather than thinking ahead to the next thing that needs to get done or multitasking by eating while you stare at a device screen.
This is just the start of making time and space to enter the pleasures of the ordinary. It is also possible to just be within the daunting parts of the life as well once tolerance expands and you feel ready to embrace other parts of the present moment experience.
In our next article, we explore further the sense of security and safety in familiar rhythms of the natural world along with its lessons into facing unpredictability with grace.
