Bless you both! Big hugs. Sounds scary. To be calm in the face of chaos is a kind of wisdom. Reflection is a gate to healing. Thanks for sharing. Running is in the bones of us once refugees here in Canada. The stories still tell us. Most of us here from a forced exodus or a choice to run. The fires come fast and the winds change. What would I carry with me if I ran?
Questions. Would I be calm? All I know is that I cherish both of you. I have never met you. Your words are enough to know. Your actions in the face of danger tell me all I need to know.
When the air clears. Just know. If you write. I am here. Always. Your words will always find a safe harbour and a home.
"Running is still in the bones..." what a great way to capture this.
Then the question, "what would I carry with me if I ran?" ...
yes, it flits through our minds too. In the end it depends on the catastrophe, the dance with the fire, how fast is it chasing me.
Thank you so very much for your kind words, Jamie, always! There is a connection we both feel, through our writing. A poetship/ writership from this end too.
Part of me is still running (internally) to process it all, while the air is clearing and the rains send token promises of safety.
The words that come out in my writing appreciate a safe harbour to sail towards 🪂 looking for a home 🙏🩵
As I saw this response as I was writing on what we greeks refer to as the great catastrophe. Always a synchronicity with your words it seems. Words are the clothes we wear. Do we write our own or are they written for us? That’s what I am reflecting on today as poetry as opposed to my own philosophy comes to the rescue. Sending love and light to you both. 🙏❤️
Yes Veronika, as a survivor of numerous near death incidents, I always put it down to not panicking. Now you give me another look - that deep core sensation of security.... AKA Germain's thought on programming. As long as we don't confuse confidence with complacency.
I'm so sorry for you all and Portugal. When I lived in California, and we were faced with waiting and wondering while the sun turned red and ash fell all around us, we simply mapped out a plan of escape. Luckily, we didn't have to pack up our car and leave. Praying for you Veronika.
Thank you Lani. You are summing up the situation very well... the red sun, ashes falling everywhere, thinking about what to pack in your bag/ car, if it was all you could take with you...
Fortunately it seems to be all over now (confirming the theory that these fires were not a 'natural catastrophe')
I resonate with you reflections here on something coming forth as calming in the midst of a storm. Still, I read your words and feel unnerved by the ominous unpredictability of wild fire, and I wish you and your friend visiting and neighbors safekeeping. And, tomorrow, as it is late there now, I shall check in on my son an hour north of you.
The calm in the center of the storm is a familiar place for me as well, though my “training” as you know, has been through the perceived experience of motion and dizziness 24/7. I do feel that it’s cultivated an unconditional stillness and for that, I’m forever grateful. I’m glad you and Josh find that calm together, I imagine you’ve become a great resource and balm for your neighbors and friends who need to feel that stillness amidst the chaos. ❤️
Thank you so much for sharing, Kimberley. I can imagine that this has become an essential survival skill for you. I would say, the ability to stay calm in the midst of catastrophe (of any kind) is a super power in real life.
We homo sapiens are programmed for survival, but I think we humans have, in the last 100 years or so, lost our connection to Nature. Because of the latter, the former becomes more difficult and confusing. It is confusing because we humans, for the most part, have felt that we can control Nature.
We humans have set the conditions, with our arrogance and our delusions of technological superiority, for many of the diseases and disasters in our midst, let alone what awaits us with human-made climate change.
A good idea, Maurice. So, I do what I can, but I hold little sway on the actions of others, including that of my children; I have learned at my age (66) that influence is linked to some power, usually perceived, and I have none.
Aaah Perry, don't underestimate your power.... The very fact that you are here is witness to the Support that your comments and searchings provide to others. All small actions add up to the increasing groundswell of positive change..... Peace, Maurice
I could say that I have a high degree of confidence that humans, for the most part, are willing to make this change. But I can't in all sincerity. Not when I see that few in my social circle are even willing to reduce slightly their habits of consumption.
That calm in the eye of the storm is so primal especially if your nervous system wires in fits of crisis and chaos. It is the spontaneous response indeed.
Hi Veronika, Oooh, how your description crackles, snaps and simmers — as I read you take me into a familiar territory of the Australian bushfire kind. Trusting you are safe in the calmness of the eye of the storm — as you describe — and as Greer alludes to. Stay safe 💜
Didn't know you were writing this for Saturday's posting; an emerging account as it was. I'm thinking of people we know who got burnt out. The gods seem to play 'trick or treat' with lives -- metres apart someone gets burnt out and a neighbour is untouched, as we saw driving through the fire zone after it was out.
Your blog post had me holding my breath, checking Wikipedia, and remembering the summers we had nearby forest fires here in western Colorado. Although they were within 10-30 miles, evacuation was never an issue. Your blog prompted me to go downstairs and talk with my dad about what we would pack if we had minutes vs hours. Besides the basics like medicine and phones + chargers, laptop, and our cats, I started looking around at the paintings he and my mom did, if I would have the time and wherewithall to pack them up. It truly is an exercise in non-attachment, or noticing what you love most. I hope you stay safe and the flames abate soon!
This sounds like a good plan. I always feel it's a good exercise, to go through the things we would pack, if we had to evacuate, for obvious reasons. And also the exercise in non-attachment, to let go of all the things we've accumulated over the years, which seem important but are not essential.
The fires are over for now, we hope. In the aftermath we're thinking about things we can offer to those who've lost their essentials in the blaze last week... The fires have been extinguished. The ripple effects are spreading through the community.
I'm sorry about your experience. Veronika, it's wonderful that you're sharing your thoughts and attempting to make sense and spark sense in others.
My belief is that our connection to nature does not guarantee control over environmental responses. Throughout history, our behaviour has had a significant impact on Earth, and vice versa.
Industrialization and deforestation during the Anthropocene (200 years ago) significantly altered the planet's climate and ecosystems (we are experience the effect now.)
The Toba supereruption (74,000 years ago) and the Younger Dryas (12,000 years ago) show us nature's enormous influence on human survival.
I am most amazed (and I've study this as a geologist) for how the Great Dying (Permian-Triassic Extinction, approximately 252 million years ago) occurred prior to our arrival. This was the largest extinction event in Earth's history, wiping out approximately 90% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial species. Although this event predates our specie, it shows us the magnitude of Earth's extinction events.
When confronted with such overwhelming forces, such as the recent wildfires in Portugal, sometimes the best option is to simply observe (not in the way of being passive).
Embracing a sense of calm does not imply giving up; rather, it involves recognising what is under our control and what is not.
Recognising limits of our influence allows us to focus on effective actions within our power while accepting that some outcomes are beyond our control. This balance I think allows us to better manage our responses and remain resilient in the face of nature's unpredictability.
I am sending you hugs and hope you will soon find your way back to writing and creating!
Oh, how interesting! I didn't know you are a geologist as well... another amazing string to your already impressive bow.
Maybe humans are not supposed to control nature. Rather, we need to learn and accept that we are part of nature.
In the aftermath of the fires, we are grateful for all the kind messages of support, while looking for ways to support neighbours who have lost their homes to the flames. This is a time of healing and processing the raw experience... which will feed the creative process.
Destructive forces bleed into regeneration. Healing and creating are two aspects of the same process ~ dancing around each other in a double helix.
In addition to the fires, I'm busy with visitors right now, ... will be back soon.
Thank you Veronika, I agree, maybe humans are not supposed to control nature.
I'll keep this with me: "Destructive forces bleed into regeneration. Healing and creating are two aspects of the same process ~ dancing around each other in a double helix."
Yes, I've studied Engineering Geology, Geophysics (Paleontology, Geochemistry, and Crystallography), and I wanted to be a paleobotanist, but I didn’t get the chance. There were few options, so I became a full-time photographer instead. This is why I love nature and science so much, and I incorporate geology into my psychoanalysis work.
This is why I love your work also, because it is deep, detailed, open, warm and science is welcomed. 🙏 💕
Sending healing thoughts to you and to those who are trying to recover from their loss.
We are witnessing violent and ruinous symptoms of ignorant and perverse policies
While some give their bodies to the flames to save what little they have
Others plant eucalyptus monocultures and are the heroes of the national GDP
A handful of ash and another handful of nothing
absolutely
Bless you both! Big hugs. Sounds scary. To be calm in the face of chaos is a kind of wisdom. Reflection is a gate to healing. Thanks for sharing. Running is in the bones of us once refugees here in Canada. The stories still tell us. Most of us here from a forced exodus or a choice to run. The fires come fast and the winds change. What would I carry with me if I ran?
Questions. Would I be calm? All I know is that I cherish both of you. I have never met you. Your words are enough to know. Your actions in the face of danger tell me all I need to know.
When the air clears. Just know. If you write. I am here. Always. Your words will always find a safe harbour and a home.
Keep writing. We need you. 🤲❤️
"Running is still in the bones..." what a great way to capture this.
Then the question, "what would I carry with me if I ran?" ...
yes, it flits through our minds too. In the end it depends on the catastrophe, the dance with the fire, how fast is it chasing me.
Thank you so very much for your kind words, Jamie, always! There is a connection we both feel, through our writing. A poetship/ writership from this end too.
Part of me is still running (internally) to process it all, while the air is clearing and the rains send token promises of safety.
The words that come out in my writing appreciate a safe harbour to sail towards 🪂 looking for a home 🙏🩵
As I saw this response as I was writing on what we greeks refer to as the great catastrophe. Always a synchronicity with your words it seems. Words are the clothes we wear. Do we write our own or are they written for us? That’s what I am reflecting on today as poetry as opposed to my own philosophy comes to the rescue. Sending love and light to you both. 🙏❤️
"Words are the clothes we wear. Do we write our own or are they written for us?"
I love that! I look forward to reading what spills out of you living this question. xxx
To carry a sense of Calm in a portion of Urgency, and a cry of "Come with me"
Yes Veronika, as a survivor of numerous near death incidents, I always put it down to not panicking. Now you give me another look - that deep core sensation of security.... AKA Germain's thought on programming. As long as we don't confuse confidence with complacency.
My regards to Josh....
Thank you, Maurice 🙏 💕
You are right. Panicking is a bad advisor, and there's a fine line between confidence and complacency, or wishful thinking.
I'm so sorry for you all and Portugal. When I lived in California, and we were faced with waiting and wondering while the sun turned red and ash fell all around us, we simply mapped out a plan of escape. Luckily, we didn't have to pack up our car and leave. Praying for you Veronika.
Thank you Lani. You are summing up the situation very well... the red sun, ashes falling everywhere, thinking about what to pack in your bag/ car, if it was all you could take with you...
Fortunately it seems to be all over now (confirming the theory that these fires were not a 'natural catastrophe')
I’m glad everything appears to be over now. Take good care of each other, xo
Veronika,
I resonate with you reflections here on something coming forth as calming in the midst of a storm. Still, I read your words and feel unnerved by the ominous unpredictability of wild fire, and I wish you and your friend visiting and neighbors safekeeping. And, tomorrow, as it is late there now, I shall check in on my son an hour north of you.
Oh yes, do!! roughly a thousand fires in the north of Portugal between September 15-20. They have left many thousands of stories in their wake.
Very best wishes to you and your son, dear Renée
The calm in the center of the storm is a familiar place for me as well, though my “training” as you know, has been through the perceived experience of motion and dizziness 24/7. I do feel that it’s cultivated an unconditional stillness and for that, I’m forever grateful. I’m glad you and Josh find that calm together, I imagine you’ve become a great resource and balm for your neighbors and friends who need to feel that stillness amidst the chaos. ❤️
Thank you so much for sharing, Kimberley. I can imagine that this has become an essential survival skill for you. I would say, the ability to stay calm in the midst of catastrophe (of any kind) is a super power in real life.
May you stay safe♥️🙏🕊️
Thank you, Camilla 🙏
Your visitors will be talking about this adventure for a long time to come!
I'm sure it's a memorable holiday
We homo sapiens are programmed for survival, but I think we humans have, in the last 100 years or so, lost our connection to Nature. Because of the latter, the former becomes more difficult and confusing. It is confusing because we humans, for the most part, have felt that we can control Nature.
We humans have set the conditions, with our arrogance and our delusions of technological superiority, for many of the diseases and disasters in our midst, let alone what awaits us with human-made climate change.
Well, the 'natural wildfires' in Portugal may not be quite as natural as they appear at first sight.
And it is we humans who must bear the responsibility to change the change
Then maybe it's you that has to be the first in your social circle to be the example
A good idea, Maurice. So, I do what I can, but I hold little sway on the actions of others, including that of my children; I have learned at my age (66) that influence is linked to some power, usually perceived, and I have none.
Aaah Perry, don't underestimate your power.... The very fact that you are here is witness to the Support that your comments and searchings provide to others. All small actions add up to the increasing groundswell of positive change..... Peace, Maurice
I could say that I have a high degree of confidence that humans, for the most part, are willing to make this change. But I can't in all sincerity. Not when I see that few in my social circle are even willing to reduce slightly their habits of consumption.
That calm in the eye of the storm is so primal especially if your nervous system wires in fits of crisis and chaos. It is the spontaneous response indeed.
Hi Veronika, Oooh, how your description crackles, snaps and simmers — as I read you take me into a familiar territory of the Australian bushfire kind. Trusting you are safe in the calmness of the eye of the storm — as you describe — and as Greer alludes to. Stay safe 💜
Thank you Simone, all good here. xx
Didn't know you were writing this for Saturday's posting; an emerging account as it was. I'm thinking of people we know who got burnt out. The gods seem to play 'trick or treat' with lives -- metres apart someone gets burnt out and a neighbour is untouched, as we saw driving through the fire zone after it was out.
Yeah, right? Crazy life...
It was a spontaneous decision, completely changing the original draft prepared for this posting.
We've been so lucky (if there is such a thing) ~ again!
Very best wishes to you and Josh and everyone nearby. It is a testament that you share
Thank you E.T. 🙏 💕
Your blog post had me holding my breath, checking Wikipedia, and remembering the summers we had nearby forest fires here in western Colorado. Although they were within 10-30 miles, evacuation was never an issue. Your blog prompted me to go downstairs and talk with my dad about what we would pack if we had minutes vs hours. Besides the basics like medicine and phones + chargers, laptop, and our cats, I started looking around at the paintings he and my mom did, if I would have the time and wherewithall to pack them up. It truly is an exercise in non-attachment, or noticing what you love most. I hope you stay safe and the flames abate soon!
Thank you, Shelly 🙏 💕
This sounds like a good plan. I always feel it's a good exercise, to go through the things we would pack, if we had to evacuate, for obvious reasons. And also the exercise in non-attachment, to let go of all the things we've accumulated over the years, which seem important but are not essential.
The fires are over for now, we hope. In the aftermath we're thinking about things we can offer to those who've lost their essentials in the blaze last week... The fires have been extinguished. The ripple effects are spreading through the community.
I'm sorry about your experience. Veronika, it's wonderful that you're sharing your thoughts and attempting to make sense and spark sense in others.
My belief is that our connection to nature does not guarantee control over environmental responses. Throughout history, our behaviour has had a significant impact on Earth, and vice versa.
Industrialization and deforestation during the Anthropocene (200 years ago) significantly altered the planet's climate and ecosystems (we are experience the effect now.)
The Toba supereruption (74,000 years ago) and the Younger Dryas (12,000 years ago) show us nature's enormous influence on human survival.
I am most amazed (and I've study this as a geologist) for how the Great Dying (Permian-Triassic Extinction, approximately 252 million years ago) occurred prior to our arrival. This was the largest extinction event in Earth's history, wiping out approximately 90% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial species. Although this event predates our specie, it shows us the magnitude of Earth's extinction events.
When confronted with such overwhelming forces, such as the recent wildfires in Portugal, sometimes the best option is to simply observe (not in the way of being passive).
Embracing a sense of calm does not imply giving up; rather, it involves recognising what is under our control and what is not.
Recognising limits of our influence allows us to focus on effective actions within our power while accepting that some outcomes are beyond our control. This balance I think allows us to better manage our responses and remain resilient in the face of nature's unpredictability.
I am sending you hugs and hope you will soon find your way back to writing and creating!
Oh, how interesting! I didn't know you are a geologist as well... another amazing string to your already impressive bow.
Maybe humans are not supposed to control nature. Rather, we need to learn and accept that we are part of nature.
In the aftermath of the fires, we are grateful for all the kind messages of support, while looking for ways to support neighbours who have lost their homes to the flames. This is a time of healing and processing the raw experience... which will feed the creative process.
Destructive forces bleed into regeneration. Healing and creating are two aspects of the same process ~ dancing around each other in a double helix.
In addition to the fires, I'm busy with visitors right now, ... will be back soon.
Thank you for all the fascinating information 🙏 💕
Thank you Veronika, I agree, maybe humans are not supposed to control nature.
I'll keep this with me: "Destructive forces bleed into regeneration. Healing and creating are two aspects of the same process ~ dancing around each other in a double helix."
Yes, I've studied Engineering Geology, Geophysics (Paleontology, Geochemistry, and Crystallography), and I wanted to be a paleobotanist, but I didn’t get the chance. There were few options, so I became a full-time photographer instead. This is why I love nature and science so much, and I incorporate geology into my psychoanalysis work.
This is why I love your work also, because it is deep, detailed, open, warm and science is welcomed. 🙏 💕
Sending healing thoughts to you and to those who are trying to recover from their loss.