As this year comes to a close, I wanted to say a massive thank you to you – the wonderful leaders I have had the privilege of supporting in 2021. I especially want to extend that gratitude to the dedicated health professionals and other leaders in our community at the forefront of the Covid response that we thought might have been a sprint but is turning out to be a marathon.
There have been so many acts of extraordinary leadership – often at great personal sacrifice – and to these people I say thank-you.
I took a pre-xmas break and spent much of that amidst the magical wildflowers on Taungurang Country – Mount Buffalo in the Victorian Alps. It was a reminder to me of the regeneration and healing that happens when we spend quiet time in nature – something that has been known and practiced by Aboriginal people for thousands of years.
“My people are not threatened by silence, we are completely at home in it. We have lived for thousands of years with Nature’s quietness’’ – Miriam Rose Ungunmerr Baumann 2021 – Renowned Aboriginal artist, Educator and Senior Australian of the year 2021
If we can create habits and practices to spend time in nature and learn to be still and silent in its presence, then we unearth our own special relationship and begin to understand viscerally just how interconnected we are.
When I spend time in nature, I find the clutter and confusion falls away, my busy mind can release and my body relaxes. If I am sharing this experience with another, I find the simple act of walking shifts any energy that is out of alignment in the relationship and opens up greater levels of connection. New insights appear often in a most unexpected way. I return energised, clear and focused and ready to be present with whatever comes next. It is my happy place 😊 The place where I feel most connected to myself and where I feel a powerful connection to something greater.
Amongst the uncertainty, shifting goal posts and intense noise and distraction that has become our new norm, I believe that spending time being present in nature is perhaps the greatest antidote we have available to us.
As you embark upon this festive season, I hope that you too can spend some quiet time in nature – refilling your own cup and honouring mother nature as the great teacher and healer that she is.
Sending love and light for the festive season wherever you are.
See you in 2022.
Nicola x
PS You can read Miriam Rose’s full article here🙁 and it is well worth taking the time to do that)