Rewilding Our Lives
The Cambridge Dictionary defines rewilding as, “the process of protecting an environment, and returning it to its natural state.” As life gets faster and flooded with more technology than is probably good for our already over stimulated minds, hanging on to what is left of one’s sanity gets a lot more challenging. Thus my gentle plea for orienting ourselves towards a simpler, more natural and humane way of being in a world increasingly governed by technology and the busyness that accompanies it.
For me, prioritizing the creation of some spaces in my life that aren’t governed by technology and busyness has been essential. I think of these spaces as fallow ground. Fallow ground is ground wherein a farmer allows their fields to rest for a period of time in order to restore and regenerate them. Likewise, when we do ourselves the kindness of making space for lying fallow, it is an opportunity for resting and being restored to vitality essentially by doing very little.
It’s amazing what fecundity comes naturally to bear when we simply leave ourselves alone and get out of our own way for a while. As we spend more time being in these quiet, contemplative spaces, we may begin to notice signs of new growth and change arising of its own accord. This is an auspicious sign as these seedlings of mental regeneration commonly lead to other unexpected pleasantries such as flowering and fruiting and re-seeding, resulting in a beautifully unrestrained yet harmonious flowering meadow. Which is to say, a beautifully unrestrained yet harmonious flowering mind; one that is a little looser, freer, calmer, and more centered than it was before.
What I am alluding to with all this is that if what we truly want is to move in the direction of flourishing, we must likewise create the conditions in which that is most likely to occur. We are very much a part of the natural world and its processes. Creating a life with spaces for lying fallow makes sense, it is the terra firma on which growth and vigour depend.
Rewilding as I’ve been writing about it here, shouldn’t be understood as a project curing life of its darker dimensions. To the contrary, it emerges by creating fallow spaces in our life which invoke a healthier integration of the lighter and darker dimensions of living, aligning us more closely with rhythms that by nature lead to greater personal integrity and the sanity of a simpler, more natural existence.
Love and courage.