There are moments when we can choose to step from one world to the next. And the world we may choose to step into is the one where live, with its richness of wonders and its many layers, seen and unseen.
"If you stay put, your place become a holy centre, not because it gives you special access to the divine, but because in your stillness you hear what might be heard anywhere." Scott Russell Sanders
The gift of these times is just beyond our door. In our gardens, on our daily walks. A gift of getting to know the place where we live. It's been well reported how people are hearing birdsong like they haven't before, how they are discovering new paths on their daily walks. And maybe these new paths are a path which lead to a new way - a new way of being more closely connected with the place where we live.
This connection is certainly one that I've been searching for for a long time, as I've moved from place to place, country to country, and most recently spending most of last year travelling. Perhaps this is a lesson from my journey to the trees that the current crisis is now forcing me to put into practice - the power of being in place.
"Stop searching, start finding", as the saying goes.
I'm grateful to the place that I find myself in now (multiple meanings intended). I have discovered a wood that I visit regularly, and a beech tree which invited me to step over a threshold, a threshold to deepen my relationship with place. I took this picture of shadow falling over the beech roots. It was only when I got home that I noticed that the shadows framing my shadow, creating a portal for me to step through. Starting to read about the beech tree, I discovered that the beech tree is known as being a tree of thresholds. And so the story of the beech tree will become one of the chapters of the book.
As many of us continue to shelter in place, I'd love for you to join me on a journey to individually and collectively deepen our relationship with place. I've created a set of 31 prompts, one for each day of May. The invitation is to use the prompts to explore your place, whether the place of your garden, or a wider place on your daily walks. You can capture your response in a photograph or words, or your creative medium of choice. If you are on Instagram, you can share your images and words using the hashtag #mayinplace. And, of course, you are free to start at anytime, if you are reading this after 1 May!
Please feel free to share your thoughts, images and experiences with me directly as well - you can use the contact form on the home page. Or you can find me on instagram https://www.instagram.com/oliviasprinkel
Wishing you well.
Olivia x