The sense of nature and community connection calling me home
Great to connect by the magic of the Web. Andrew introduced himself and his working life in Social Work and Counselling (Southern Beaches Counselling) are his passion for working in communities for past 20 years. Andrew and I trained together with our ATEP (Association of Transpersonal Experiential Psychotherapies). He is a passionate gardener and Dad with a beautiful 4-year-old son. Live in an ideal location in Tasmania moved there 2 years ago. Tasmania is home to Andrew having grown up being born and bred. He moved to Melbourne to study and work, a lot of Tasmanians in doing the course of their lives.
The landscape and community kept calling me back home. Could you describe the calling as a connection? Absolutely, there is something about the mountains way the light falls, the shape of the landscape feels like home. Like a coming home? Yep.
In your body all of the above, definitely heart connection, it’s definitely cellular something that infuses my being and mental and psychological too and emotional. It’s a land of opposite great light and great darkness here too and the land holds that energy.
This Connection creates authenticity and grounded Self
Does it facilitate a connection to yourself? It’s a good question, certainly feel a sense of belonging, a groundedness, a sense of authenticity, feeling more authentic in myself its landscape, it’s the people, it’s the climate, it’s the way I live here. Brings forth all those connections.
What does the connection to self, mean to you? I don’t really think about self particularly anymore not a concept that I am relating to very strongly. Do I have a self? Perhaps. Do I have an ego? Perhaps and at the same time, they don’t really exist they are labels because useful as they point to certain things. Not really.
What happens at a heart level for you? Where does that take you, where does it resonate with you? At heart level, there is a sense of peace and simplicity. Is there the opposite to that in the heart as well? Not really, no. If still talking about connection to place – it’s at a deep level living simply and experiencing life as it, just a clear peaceful simplicity.
From Calling Connection of Place to the Person
From place to person more to you? What happens, where does the heart of connection fit into the person into you? How often coming into your Self/person, the heart representation of an emotion, a person’s love, vulnerability at heart level maybe. How do you connect to all of that manifestation? All those things are there, fear, vulnerability anger, all the emotions. I guess tends to take me away from that would be overwork, over-analyzing, over-thinking and what brings me back into that connection are the simple things in life. Bushing walking, getting into nature, chopping firewood in the morning, lighting fire, maybe cooking a meal from scratch getting all ingredients – Just the act of living life in a wholesome way.
Busyness takes us away from our heart of connection
In a wholesome way seems to lessen the busyness? It does. The Podcast conversations are showing how busyness takes us away from the heart of connection. Absolutely, busyness, stress, those sought of things, seeking recognition striving for something outside of myself I find it takes me away from the heart of connection. It is a challenge as we live in a capitalist society and have to pay bills. We are exposed to many models of false models of success and abundance which are very tempting. So for me to step away and recognize what brings peace, authenticity, and harmony is really what helps brings that Connection to the Heart.
Overthinking, overanalysing – do you reflect or check in with myself what going on why am I, what’s going on within the realms of my psyche? Why am I over thinking? Absolutely, and often it is fear. An insecurity and that leads to worry and that leads to problem solving useful but when it leads to ruminating that is not useful.
Fear and Vulnerability and allowing it
That fear, is the fear a vulnerability? Absolutely. Is it at a heart level hard a soft a hard thing to articulate and point to it? I believe so. When you recognise it, how to nourish and connect to the fear? Is there a process to bring a connection to the fear? Yeah, look for me there’s several things, I find meditation really useful because it settles the mind and allow the emotions to come up and be there and to be felt. I strive to make sure when I meditate not just meditating from the intellect, so I try to bring feelings present to that and that really helps. I find creative art really useful and I also find the physical exercise really good tool. Does that bring you into your body and out of your mind, out of intellect? Yes very much. Lifting weights really good as a grounding. It also releases endorphins (LOL) beautiful neurotransmitters – absolutely. Feeding off that, I’ve linked meditation to exercise – when I’ve done weights the meditation sessions seems deeper than when just riding the bike.
A Felt Presence of Connecting to the Heart
When connected to your-self, or back in your body, how does your Heart respond to that connection? It feels settled, calm, clear. Nice place? Yes, (LOL) yeah, it’s a little hard to put words on that space. You & I are sitting here, we are miles away and I am wondering if we were connecting to that felt sense a just then? In the just in the presence of it. You are in Tassie and I assume we both resonated at that level. Powerful.
Working with A Heart Felt Presence
Is that a good conduit to connect to others? In my counselling work over years studied a lot of techniques those can be useful but the one thing noticed over time – if you can bring a ‘quality presence’ and ‘heart felt presence’ to interactions with people that is invaluable. I am wondering in our work bringing that heart felt presence to the person’s pain that they are experiencing? I wonder whether your Heart felt presence then enable there is no judgement of their pain and meeting their pain and somehow their manifests for them that It’s okay for them to meet their emotional pain.
It’s about creating a sense of safety and a sense of security if I can provide that safe secure place free of judgment and expectation I believe people feel that and it gives them permission to release that grief, anger, confusion, fear.
The sense of vulnerability underneath the protective anger.
What is under anger? Look, under anger, at some level, there will be fear and below that, vulnerability. Is there a hurt in fear? Is there emotional pain? Do people connect back to old, where does it come from? Anger seems primarily defensive it’s a protective emotion there to keep us safe. But people get trapped in and they live in that anger protecting themselves against from old wounds, hurts, disappointments. If you can really allow and validate that anger not be afraid of it, not try to shut it down that builds trust – people feel okay I can let me guard down and I can show you what’s underneath that anger. I can show my vulnerability, expose my vulnerability? Expose an inner Self that is really phew!
The powerful beauty of meeting the Vulnerable Energy
What it is like meet that inner Self in other people and connect to that? Just beautiful, powerful isn’t it. When we are meeting theirs are we meeting ours as well? I believe so. If we just followed that thread, I wonder if that is universal, we’ve all got it? I say undoubtedly. If we recognise the heart of connection in someone else we are recognising it within our-self and it’s definitely there.
The boundless healing potential for the World
If we took it broader and what if we all got more touch with that and more connected to it what might that energy do for the world for the earth, staying with that energetic thread we have been sitting with. I think that healing potential is boundless. If that connection was there we wouldn’t have climate change as an issue to worry about. We would resolve that. There wouldn’t be poverty or starvation. All the great issues we face as a collective group of beings on the planet are solvable. They are all solvable but when people are disconnected from that Heart of Connection things becomes polarised, people live out of greed, fear, vengeance, anger all those negative be careful saying negative but destructive aspects of the psyche and they dominate and because those aspects are dominating on a global level at the moment we have a situation where we have a fraction of world is held by the top 1% of the wealthy on the earth could be used to feed and clothe all the starving people
It was like before you and I we were connected before in the presence for me there was a felt sense with you in that presence and I was sitting here and I wanted to go deeper into it, if we had of kept sitting in the essence how deep could you go de go beyond the small “I” do we connect into a deeper cosmic universe just curious.
I believe we are talking about a beyond concept really and beyond words and human construct and yet it’s there and we can feel it. Can we name it and do justice to that with it for words have words that point to it, but don’t believe we have the words to encapsulate that energy.
A space of enlightenment just felt
Imagine living in it? Yeah, Could that be what they talk about as enlightenment? I think so. You said imagine living in it. I had a bit of reaction to it, shit we’d never get anything done (LOL) Feeling the love. I say jokingly in sessions I love to levitate above Tibet 24/7. (LOL)
I believe from that space we can take action that is the challenge is bring it into the world with a mindful loving heartfelt action, that’s compassion, and sounds simple but it’s not and that’s a challenge. If then and some of the worlds not coming with you and then that creates a reaction? It does and not in that Heart of Connection.
What is reacting in you is there an emotion there? Frustration creeps in and a desire to change things creeps in, a wanting for things to be different. Then once entered that space its avoidance and craving begin to take hold. Then I moved away from that Heart of Connection. As you are moving away from how do you reflect on that? How do as you sense yourself what’s is the calling you back? Great question. Love to say that I reflect but like everyone I don’t and I do get taken away – what calls me back after I have lost the connection there is a mystery in there for me. It’s a real mystery.
Is it something that calls or is it that space that calls you back? The paradigm shifted for you and because you’ve experienced it-it becomes your new normal so to speak?
We as Human Wired for Peak Experiences
We as human seek or are wired to seek the best experience – we wired to seek that peak experiences, spirituality, business, family, sport are all seekers in some level – all seeking a feeling of wholeness, of the wellbeing of contentment.
Just like the author Stephen Kotler who wrote a book the ‘Rise of Superman’ about flow states and then his next book with Jamie Wheal, ‘Stealing Fire’ describes those 4 elements you spoke about the extreme sport, rave parties, meditation and musician all reaching similar peak states but in different ways.
All getting into the peak experience is that part of connection and is the depth of Heart of Connection a peak experience? How do we keep coming back? What is that calling for you what happens to your passion and purpose when your there? Passion & purpose. What is your energy like when you are coming from the space? It’s alive. Are you buzzing at a cellular level it’s just there? I don’t know about buzzing just throwing words out there.
As you reflect, where is your mind at the moment, there is a connection there is there a presence at the moment – it is a struggle of words asking questions and reflecting on feelings – just curious struggle for word asking questions expressing passion I can reflect upon creating a drawing, playing music and dancing that bring me into that moment can reflect on it but not being able to put into words.
The energy of connection is there a love a penultimate love or just a “being”? For me, love has many connotations and I’ve settled upon love as a doing word. We seek to name things. Just a “being” what a beautiful ‘being’ what a gift – powerful gift mate – yeah.
Out of that gift have you got any messages for techniques and strategies – Everyone has their own pathway and everyone got their own way of finding it. Seek it and you will find it. Beautiful to sit in the presence with you. Are you are okay to close? I think that feels goods. Feels good. Thank you at all levels physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually mate. Namaste.