Julia Griffin - author Home About Writings Contact us
24th February 2024
Written for the BeZine
Here in the United Kingdom, I have been watching a series of documentaries, 'Ben Fogle's New Lives in the Wild', that have been going on for some years now and which show the lives of couples, usually, but sometimes a person on their own, leaving behind the lives they had been living, very often in towns and cities, for a place more remote, sometimes off grid, and always somewhere that is steeped in nature as a backdrop. The main reason that people give for this change is to get away from the stress, the noise, the fast pace of modern living; sometimes people have become ill and cannot cope and don't fully realise why this is. All these people said in different ways how being somewhere quiet and surrounded by nature was both healing and uplifting, and it helped them to find themselves and feel peaceful and well. This did not mean that they cut themselves off from people, most did have contact with the outside world in some way, and many made contributions to the lives around them in their new chosen home and surroundings, which very often took them to other countries.
So, I thought about this series of programmes when thinking of my piece for The BeZine. It shows two things, to my mind: that modern life is stressful and therefore unhealthy and affects people in many ways because of individual human makeup and circumstance; and that nature is such a balm to our spirit, our innermost being, as well as our brain and body with the healing from nature's essence, sounds and behaviour and the vista of green that is usually predominant. Nature is truly wonderful and I wonder if, for many, this loss of connection with nature and all wildlife, and the dominance and pressure to attain physical and material values of today's world are contributing to both the decline and sickness we see around us and, on the other hand, the need for some to change course, to seek something away from the 'noise', to search for peace which I believe is what, in essence, we are all looking for deep down?
I would like to offer here that perhaps the peace we are often searching for is 'peace of mind' which I believe comes from knowing the truth about ourselves: who we are, how we are and what we feel we can and want to do with our lives. Of course, we can feel peaceful at times in certain places, with certain people, doing certain things. But peace of mind I would suggest is deeper. If we believe that there is a part of us that is eternal - I would say that is our spirit - then surely there would be peace within this innermost part of our being? If this is the case, then I can see why it might be difficult to access this part of ourselves with all the turbulence and fantasy of our current world. And would those people I gave as an example who moved somewhere remote and to be more in touch with nature, have felt something from deep within that was telling them that change was necessary? Not everyone is able to move away, of course, as there might be wider family and work considerations, but to put some effort into finding the truth about ourselves is surely something we can all think about doing, wherever we are in the world.
What would this give us? How would it change our lives? Ultimately, I believe that if we can get to know ourselves well, in truth, and accept what 'we have been given' to make us the individual we are, we will not only have found peace of mind, we will feel stronger and more in control, which will help us in our daily lives, and also help us to find purpose and meaning as to who we are and how we are and what we can do; because I believe we all have a purpose and a gift to be or do something. This control through the discipline of truly getting to know ourselves - because it can take some time, in my experience - will also enable us to maintain a peace of mind, despite what might be happening around us; and this will also help others who are with us because they will feel the peace and the strength that we have surfaced and that are a part of our life. This would be particularly helpful in any conflict we may find ourselves caught up in, it would help us to think clearly and reasonably and keep a dignity in how we communicate.
One tool that has helped me in my endeavours to know myself is meditation. Again, it is a discipline of doing this regularly, like any physical exercise, that will train your brain to quieten more easily and readily. Quietening the brain allows the mind, our spirit, to surface more easily. I have always felt more peaceful at the end of a meditation, sometimes with a clarity about myself or an answer to a question that might help me with a decision. It is also a good exercise to find some positivity and acceptance which are often necessary with things we are not able to change. The important thing, I feel, is that there is often much we can change. Is this a responsibility we all have to face to some degree? And could our endeavours to find peace of mind then rub off on how our family, community, country and world tackle the current problems that are increasingly evident? Are we not all connected in some way? With modern forms of communication, it is easy to learn from each other, to find new sources of knowledge to help us think more and differently and, at the same time, I believe we teach others along the way by example. All in all, is this not a positive action for our world and a mechanism to help us cope and survive this turbulence?
The Natural Law, in balance, would not demonstrate the chaos of today, in my view. Nature is speaking to us; our youth are speaking to us; animals are reaching out; evil thoughts and actions are dominating. Is human behaviour the reason for this imbalance? I believe we all have a responsibility to react to this imbalance and the simple way we can do this is to get to know ourselves well in truth, find peace of mind and use the strength and control that comes from this to forge our path in a positive and fulfilling way.
Part of the healing of our world and its people, I believe, is to build bridges: between peoples of different cultures and beliefs; between humans and our natural world so that we are working with nature rather than against. Will this not be easier if we have found peace of mind?