Episode 37—Out in the Darkness
In episode 37 of the nature therapy podcast I go outside at night and ponder on how some very basic, primal (or socially conditioned?) feelings arise when the Earth rotates away from sunlight each day. Click on the slim black player above to listen.
For this ecotherapy podcast, I went into my garden at night. I looked over the back wall at the fields and hills, and I listened to the owls (unfortunately you can’t hear them on the podcast….the modest things didn’t want to be recorded). I pondered on how safe I feel here, in my garden, compared to an experience I had recently when I went to my local forest after dark. At times, it was utterly terrifying.
Whilst there definitely some very basic, primal reactions to total darkness that we as humans have, this is also mixed in with our social conditioning. How I feel as a man alone at night might be different to how a woman feels. How I feel as a person raised and living in the British Isles may be different from someone raised and living in Malawi. What stories and superstitions do we have about the night in different parts of the globe? My person history will play massive part too.
Having said all that, in my garden at night I feel protected. There’s a sense of ownership on this tiny piece of land that I live upon, which brings a feeling of safety. I ponder on how, really, it doesn’t make sense to feel so much safer in my garden than out in the woods, and yet the arising of those feelings is something that I have almost no control over.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic folks. Please tune in to this week’s nature podcast and share your experiences with me, either in the comments below or via email. I love hearing from you.
I hope this finds you well.
Green smiles,
Stephen
