I’ve spent the last couple of days alone in the forest, grateful for the opportunity to commune with wildlife, and my own wildness.
The summer is almost over. The days are a little shorter, and there’s a faint scent of decay in the air. Can you smell the shift? Can you feel autumn inviting itself in?
Many of us associate summertime with green grass and shady trees, full of leaves. Did you know that the human eye perceives the color green first? According to ORION magazine, we’ve evolved to discern a broad range of green. Our bodies inherit a compulsion to seek these out, and so to seek out the green in our surroundings. We find reassurance in the safety of the green canopies our ancestors once took shelter in, with the promise of growth, nourishment, and survival.
But seeking out green doesn’t have to be something we add to our to-do list. We can experience these effects just by going outside and noticing the green, connecting with the world around us wherever we are. Walking, sitting, eating, being. No appointments or reservations necessary.
Noticing the colors of nature slows us down.
Being productive and overcommitted to projects and people have been tools I’ve inadvertently used to avoid experiencing emotion. Accomplishing tasks on my to-do list kept me from feeling anxiety, fear, and vulnerability, but also tenderness and joy. Newly aware of this, I’ve been marking the changing seasons by grounding myself in the one I’m in.
This summer has been magical.
According to Erica Hornthal in Body Aware, the practice of grounding offers an opportunity to connect to the present moment. When we are fully in the present, we don’t dwell on the past or ruminate about the future. Grounding supports emotional regulation and builds our emotional energy.
If you have a moment right now, try this grounding exercise with me. It only takes one minute, I promise.
The 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise:
Notice and name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel/touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste.
Now take a deep breath. Do you feel present? Grounded? Connected?
What colors do you notice?
Here are some simple ways I’ve grounded myself in summertime and in the past two weeks:
Visited a farmer’s market
Walked barefoot on the forest and noticed the experience of my feet
Picked wild berries near a stream
Built a bonfire on the beach
Attended an outdoor concert
Biked dirt trails with my dog, Cedar
Stargazed and soaked in the Super Blue Moon
What feels like summertime to you? Can you make plans to connect with the outdoors this week?
I’d love to hear about your experience with the grounding exercise above, or anything else you try that immerses you in the waning days of summer. Share in the comments below!
What practices ground you?
How are you experiencing these last weeks of summer?
And if you’d like me to showcase a photo of one of your experiences, respond to this email with the photo and a caption (including your your name and location of the shot).
My mother taught us to use the first letters of “Survive fear, survive with faith” to remember what to prioritize, should we find ourselves lost in the wild.
• Shelter - Location, location, location. Decide where you will build your nest. Choose a flat space on high ground (a large rock or a mound of dirt, where you can remove roots and debris), away from well-used animal trails, leaning trees, and snow or rockfall areas. A good shelter in a bad location is a bad shelter.
• Fire - A fire can prevent you from freezing or keep you warm enough to do the other tasks you’ll need to ensure your protection. Cooking can increase the range of food you can consume, keep away bugs and wild animals, and improve your overall sense of security. Consider site selection and site preparation away from your shelter. Without matches, your setup will be crucial. Before you attempt to start your fire, collect ample tinder, kindling, fuel.
• Signaling - Ask yourself: Who knows I am missing? Is anyone looking for me? When is the earliest possible moment a search could begin? Do I want to be found? If you want to be found, signal early and often. If the landscape on which you are stranded is dark, collect light rocks. If it’s light, collect dark rocks. Find a clearing and spell out SOS. Make three small fire pits, designed for maximum smoke. If you hear a plane, you will rush to light them. If there is no clearing, use the brightest color fabric you have (tear it from your clothing, if that’s your only option), and tie three flags to the highest tree you can climb.
• Water - Dehydration will directly affect your ability to make logical decisions. Once you have built your shelter, home in on your water system. Water is the earth’s blood, giving life to all the world’s beings. Honor it. The blood in our veins, the sap in the trees, and the water of rivers and streams are united in shared sisterhood. If there is no running water, use a jacket or anything you may have that resembles plastic to build an evaporation net. Find a sunny spot near vegetation to dig a hole as wide as your plastic. Place a cup or anything you can improvise as a container inside the hole, and then cover your hole with the flat plastic, securing it around the perimeter with rocks. You will also need to place a rock on the center of the plastic, directly over the container. Condensation will collect in your container overnight, yielding up to a quart of water a day.
• Food - If it could take more than a couple of weeks for someone to find you, or if you are running from something and want to remain hidden, you will need to sustain your energy with food. Depending on the sea- son during which you are stranded, this may be simple or it may be difficult.
~Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult
How are you experiencing the waning of summer?
Thank you for reading Forager Fridays — your support allows me to keep doing this work. In honor of Forager Friday’s second year, I’ll be hosting generative writing workshops on Zoom once a month for the next year (free for paid subscribers).
Our first workshop will take place on August 31 from noon-1:00 PT.
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Thank you for being on this journey with me. I am grateful for the gift of your presence. Walking this path, knowing so many of you are walking it too, gives me hope. May we continue in our recovery, in relationship with one another and with the anima mundi, supporting each other in our growth, like a mycelial network. If you’d like to continue this conversation in person, consider enrolling in my small group writing workshop at the Maloof this October, or engage in the weekly comments section below.
“Being productive and overcommitted to projects and people have been tools I’ve inadvertently used to avoid experiencing emotion. Accomplishing tasks on my to-do list kept me from feeling anxiety, fear, and vulnerability, but also tenderness and joy. Newly aware of this, I’ve been marking the changing seasons by grounding myself in the one I’m in. “
This is so true and something I try to remind myself every day. Then trying to pivot to listening to the birds, watching a sunset, or simply feeling the breath of a breeze on my face.
For this upcoming week, I have a business trip to London which will be disruptive and busy, but I plan to find time to sit in Green Park, feel the grass beneath me, and let the sounds of the city scape fade away until I hear the birds and the breeze.
I have a daily grounding practice, but I didn’t realize that’s what I was doing. My slow morning walks with my Shitzu is quiet and I am often not thinking of anything in particular. I feel the air temp, take deep breaths, and take notice of the colors and vegetation. I often take photos to capture what I see. I have done this for years and never knew why. I just thought I had to walk the dog.