How Did You End up Here?

A Great Big Welcome to New Followers

To my surprise, over 500 people followed my blog in the week since

Dr Stacey Patton

recommended it. That tells me that you really trust and value Stacey and her opinions - as I do. Or - you accidentally clicked on a button inviting you to blogs that Stacey is following - Substack can be sneaky like that.

In any case, please allow me to introduce myself and let you know what to expect from me, a European immigrant woman.

My mission for this blog is: “Nature re-connection through our senses, creative expression, imagination, mythology and archetypes.” The blog name, Seasons of a Wild Life, is also the title of a book I published recently.

I am working on my next book about the contributions of immigrant women to the US. I am looking for women from all around the world who are willing to share their experiences of coming to this country, the challenges and obstacles encountered, and their personal accomplishments and contributions. So, if you came to the US as an adult (at least 18 yrs old) and are interested in participating, let me know. This is my resistance project against the cruel anti-immigrant policies under the current administration.

My personal story: I immigrated to the US in 1979 from Germany. My first husband was from Trinidad and Tobago and I was able to witness the immigrant experience not just through my eyes as a white European woman but also through his experience as a Black Caribbean man, and how we were perceived as an interracial couple and, after my daughter was born, as an interracial family. So you can see that I have had an extensive interest in the meeting of cultures and how we find our way through cultural differences. In graduate school, I constantly annoyed white professors by asking how their theories applied to people of color and to women (often, they had no clue). After receiving my doctorate from the University of Cincinnati, I worked as a clinical psychologist in the Washington DC area. I specialized in psychological assessments of culturally diverse people and in non-verbal therapy techniques such as sandplay therapy and nature immersion. I was at war with the white male psychiatry superstructure that insisted on Freudian talk therapy as the ONLY legit way to do therapy. In short, I was always the trouble maker who made eurocentric people uncomfortable, nervous, and defensive.

I am drawn to individuals who have crossed cultural and racial boundaries and wrote about one of my cherished cross-cultural friendship, still going strong after 12 years. Written in 2017, my comments are even more poignant today: “During these dangerous times of turning those who are different from ourselves into the “other” (and, too often, into the “enemy”), our cross-cultural friendship is particularly precious to me. We share a lot of things in common: love for nature, literature and writing, life-long learning, standing up for our values, compassion for those less fortunate, pride in being an accomplished professional in our respective fields, maneuvering through American culture as a member of a multi-racial, multi-cultural family.”

Nature is my healer, my teacher, my refuge. One of my earliest Substack posts describes a collage I created about my need for sanctuary from the despair over the destruction we have caused our environment.

Since I was a teenager, I have been educating myself about world history, especially the colonial period and its aftermath. I am understanding more and more how our views of Nature often run parallel to our views of other cultures and people. Currently reading Waste Wars by Alexander Clapp, which clarifies how the colonial plundering of resources carries over into the present time where poorer countries are forced to accept toxic waste from richer nations thus continuing to endanger and kill people in the former colonies. The tightening of environmental standards in the rich countries over the last few decades only led to more pollution in the poorer countries. When will we understand that there is no “away"? That we are connected and interlinked around the globe, that we cannot enrich ourselves at the expense of others and the environment? I enjoy sharing interesting and inspiring solutions, especially if they are multi-faceted like this enterprise in Tanzania I visited last year.

When the new administration took power in the US, I knew we were in for deep pain on so many levels. I created my own little “resistance” series, Daily Moment of Calm & Beauty that began here. It was my attempt to infuse a bit of calm and serenity, a small break from the headlines, worry, anxiety, exasperation, trauma, and fear - for myself and my readers.

I love to share my own photos to create a mood and get a message across.

I am also very interested in myths and deities from around the world and recently shared this post about the nature archetype of the Green Man and all the different cultures where he showed up.

So, if you have read this far, you are probably the kind of person who will enjoy my posts and, hopefully, engage through comments. I welcome comments as reciprocal action that helps me gauge how my posts are landing with my readers.

I promise to provide

• beautiful, intriguing nature photos that carry a message

• sanctuary from the madness

• questioning of the status quo balanced with inspiring solutions (if I can find them)

• multi-cultural focus (because mayonnaise is just too damn bland)

Stay fierce, but walk in beauty!* (hágoónee, a farewell greeting; one of the Navajo words my Diné sister friend L. taught me)