I love it when something unexpectedly triggers thoughts and feelings.
Today DH and I visited our woodlands to check out how the felling is going. We got the woods back in 2013 and DH (who spends a lot more time there than the rest of the family) has been observing the woodland over those years. This year he requested a report from the Woodlands Trust about how to manage our woodland over the next few years. Part of that report identified that up to 20% of the trees needed to be felled to allow the woodland to mature into a native woodland that will also allow us to occasionally make money from felling (continuous cover forestry.)
20% is a lot of trees considering we are used to the woods the way they are and it was definitely something that we were nervous about. We knew it needed doing as the woodland was sold to us after having been used as a plantation but how would it affect the feeling and look of our woodland?
Today the 'feller' (see what I did there?) / woodcutter had done about 80% of the cutting down and it looked amazing. New ground cover plants were already beginning to show as the sunlight was getting through to the woodland floor.
The destruction was noticeable but I was surprised by how it felt like our woodlands but seemed so much better. I felt I could breathe more and it was so much fun finding the new mushrooms, moss and other things that were beginning to grow.
Anyway, why am I telling you all of this? Well, it got me thinking about parallels with life. In fact, I posted about it on Facebook when I was actually walking around the woods.
I have been contemplating how much I 'do' in an average week especially as I have just relaunched my Essentially Shamanic business now dd is at college one day a week. I started wondering how the activities I do add to my life (or not.) Did I need to think about pruning back / felling or letting more light / breath into my average week?
I am aware of Tony Robbins 6 human needs (1 = certainty; 2 = variety; 3 = significance / love; 4 = connections; 5 = growth; 6 = contribution) and it was weird how well it mirrored in our management of the woodlands as well as my life.
| Woodland | Me | |
| 1 | Our woodland will thrive now there is more space | My family is ok, my children are happy, my DD is still happily home educated and I am happy with the life I have. |
| 2 | Getting rid of most of the spruce (non-native) and some of the pine allows the silver birch, oak and other trees to flourish as well as allowing more ground cover plants to grow | You really don't get more variety (or uncertainty) than me - I home ed. which is always full of variety as we don't follow any curriculum but live free-range. I have a paid part-time job, am part-time self-employed as a shamanic practitioner and an essential oil educator and volunteer at my local community cafe. No day is ever really the same! |
| 3 | We want a mature, native woodland. It beings my DH much joy and it is very significant to our plan to live lightly on this planet. | I feel that my shamanic practitioner work could be my most significant contribution to the world as there are not many of us in the country and it is important valuable work. I also get significance from my home educating status especially as a home educator who has radically unschooled / free-range educated / not followed any of the national curriculum. Again there are not that many of us around and I feel it is an important way to show that it can be done and your children can thrive. |
| 4 | More ground cover plants, leads to better quality soil, etc. allows for more connections between plants and especially allows for mycelium and mushrooms to flourish which we love. | I get many connections from my MLM essential oil work. It is one of the things I love about it strangely enough. I am in a UK team that has the best leaders from the point of view of leading with care, consideration and ethics which is massively important to me: it is about being of service rather than money. I feel more disconnected from the home education community now that my children are older and one is at York College but I have made some lasting friendships from home educating my children. I love being a cafe volunteer and value the connections there as well. |
| 5 | Better soil, better growth, more space for native trees to grow and for the woodland to grow and mature. | Being a shamanic practitioner and essential oil educator has forced me to grow as a person over the years. CPD and learning about both of these healing modalities is important to my need for growth and variety in my life. |
| 6 | Better soil, better quality and healthy plants, more oxygen into the atmosphere, more carbon absorbed from the atmosphere. | I help people through my shamanic work and essential oil work and feel that these are important roles to play. I also like that I volunteer at my local cafe and give my time for free to anyone who wants advice about home educating their children and not worrying about standard education that I feel is out of date and not relevant to today's climate or the well-being of our children. |
I think I have some contemplating to do looking at the thoughts of mine above.
I am glad I got to revisit these human needs just because of a visit to the woods - isn't nature brill?
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