My recent pivot towards a specific field of counselling and consulting was determined by the convergence of my clients consistent messaging and my own inner calling. As we are all too aware of the dramatic decline in mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health, what became obvious was the ‘no where to run to’ pandemic that was also prevalent within those I spoke with. When in the past many suffering from a physical ailment may have been propped up by a resilient mind, or those with desire to change their pathway were buoyed by their financial ability to find that – the ‘no where to run to’ space that we now faced, highlighted that there literally was no avenue for which one could find safety, or respite, not even for a moment.

As I had ventured to explore more of my own push into the fringes of working with agriculture and economies … meshed into social justice work… it became so clear that the constant conversations around the world’s ‘collapse’ was not just one that we are drawn into through the political sphere or by capitalism alone, what was glaringly obvious was the beliefs, values, morals, ethics we hold as both individuals as well a community, are in fact a huge contributing factor. And most importantly – that the speed for which we seek to turn things around and grow through change can only be done through the paradigm mindset shift we each are capable of. Deep within one of my own meditations I was reminded of the Living System of life that ever so gently holds all of creation. That this sacred system is a thread of life wisdom that weaves us all into one, and on exploring this further, is the thread that is frayed loose to the winds, each of us disconnected to the other. As I dove into years long research I listened deeply to the language, to the disconnect, the trauma, separation… I witnessed the damage and destruction, and I waded through webinars of debate as to not only who and what’s to blame but mostly why we will never succeed at turning things around.

My optimism wouldn’t allow me to follow their pessimism, nor my faith allow me to see the gloom. What I saw was how deeply we yearned to right the wrongs, and how many voices there are calling each of us in. More and more I was pulling into the threads of not only how we got here but how we were to walk ourselves out. And that picture was pulling down to two tasks. Both that we each have the capacity to do. Both that if we can understand the landscape that has allowed us to get ‘here’ we can slowly, together pull our way out.

The first of these two phases is knowing our sacred self. That in fact the most entrenched trauma we each hold is the absence of knowing ourselves as divine beings, as a true part of all that is, of the same thread as all else. That through this separation we have only time and care for our own survival, plunged into the rat race that requires us to moment by moment compete with even the trees to breathe. And so who would seek to care for anything outside of oneself, when each at best treads water to attempt to survive? Here in learning our sacred oneness is our first thread to reweave us back into our place amongst all of life.

In knowing this, we come to the second piece and realise that all things impact all things, my life yours as much as our life the oceans. For ‘things to be well’ – all things matter – true wellness and wellbeing can only be found when we are all well. And so our path to “WELLth” (the sum of wellness and wellbeing, a term I explain in the book) brings all of life to “wellth”.

I have found myself teetering on the edges of the principles of science and the sacred my entire career, and it is in deeply exploring the threads of this work that I discovered their unity. Our sacredness and our knowledge, our wellness and life meaning, our purpose and journey, are all entwined into our becoming. Into all of life becoming. That this ‘no where to run to’ place was actually a conditioned mind leading us over the edge, through the systems we are embedded in. Systems that live outside of life’s own universal laws. There is an unravelling to removing ourselves from this system to return to our oneness. I explore this process through my work in my recent book One Living System; an exploration of life’s sacred language and our collective journey.

Through unravelling to release and returning to truth, using the lemniscate as the guide, a path of realisation opens us to our wholeness amongst each other, and all of life, and to the knowing that we will always have a place to run to that holds us, nurtures and nourishes us, as we grow, make way and become.