Here we are, coming full circle once again. We’re entering a quiet time of year that can be cozy and full of reflection. Last month, I shared with you all some thinking around kith and kin; our connection to the landscape and other beings - especially birds! I continue to hold these relational thoughts as I look back on this year and look forward into the next.
My slow birding practice has grown and evolved so much over the past year and I’m grateful to each of you who have shared this year with me either through a course or a workshop or even a simple correspondence through email. This December, I’m holding some time to reflect, to celebrate, and to express gratitude. And as I do that, I’m finding a very clear path for my work in 2023.
Maybe this is a time of reflection for you too! I’m practicing this in a few ways, I have some questions I’m asking myself and then a few actions to remind me of where I’ve been that will help me dig a little deeper into my reflection.
A few questions I’ve been considering…
How has my birding/slow birding practice changed this year?
What are some slow birding moments that really pop out from this year?
What edges did I explore, push up against this year? What’s still an edge for me? How can I embrace edges in this next calendar year?
Who helped me along the way this year (a person, a bird, a program)? How can I better express my gratitude?
What stories do I want to tell, to share as I move forward? What is my heart telling me about my Slow Birding work?
I’ve had many transformational moments this year as I sought out support to develop a deep connection with place and to better understand the intersection between mindfulness and my slow birding practice. I took a land acknowledgement course to better understand how the indigenous people where I live are in relation to the land, I spent 101 days with others discovering and practicing ways to connect with place, and I immersed myself for 9 days in the study of mindful outdoor leadership. My slow birding practice was key in each of these experiences, and I definitely felt a shift in my mindset - a shift from striving, knowing, objectifying to one of kinship, kithship, and relation.
The time spent with many of you during either in-person outings or online courses was deeply moving as well. I found myself blown away in moments of story sharing or just overflowing with the warmth of camaraderie in a shared experience. Truly grateful. During the behavior course this year, one participant’s reflection on how she was experiencing a shift in her birding stuck with me. Her comments would replay in my mind throughout the rest of the year becoming a sort of touchstone for my own practice. She said she appreciated the space to explore birds in a spiritual way, that this slow birding practice was allowing her to observe birds from her heart. I am so grateful to her for speaking that in our sharing session. The intersection between spirituality and birding can be an edgy place, but it’s a place many of us are beginning to embrace. I am grateful to that whole bird behavior cohort as we got into some incredible conversations together that grew from our focused time noticing birds.
Birding from the heart is something I will carry forward with me. And, it is what I hope to bring to you all next year in my work. I see new courses on the horizon as well as a new way of strengthening and growing our community of slow birders.
I’ll be carving out some time to go through course videos, your feedback, and my own field notes from this year to glean as much as I can to carry with me into the next year. So, I’ll invite you to share a bit with me here in the comments!
What sticks with you from this past year of birding or slow birding?
How have birds played a role in your life?
What would you like to experience in the year to come?