Setting Intentions: The Wild
03.01.24 | 29205
03.01.24 | 29205
Setting Intentions: The Wild
For Reflection:
The dictionary definition of “wilderness” states, “an uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable region.” Is this how you understand the meaning of the term? What does / doesn’t resonate?
Do you see the wild as a positive place?
Would you characterize yourself as wild? Have you been more wild in some seasons of life than others?
Would you like to be more wild (however you define that term)?
Do you feel restrained in any aspects of your life? What limitations (externally or internally created) do you feel?
Do you naturally like having boundaries and limitations, or do these feel like an imposition?
Where are restrictions or boundaries helpful, and where are they not?
Thinking about the wilderness as unrestrained, would you like to be more wild?
March 1st. My birthday month! The beginning of a new year, for me. Every year around my birthday I do a sort of reset (honestly, this is more important to me than the New Year). I can feel myself growing older and perhaps a little wiser, and I enjoy the practice of considering where I’ve been in the last year.
25 has been both a high and a low point for me. I spent six lovely months in a place that became a true kind of home for me. I rekindled my love of reading and moving my body. But I also spent some time feeling down and lonely. And in those moments, I made a true effort to sit with the feelings before addressing, curtailing, or “fixing” them. I tried to allow my feelings to remain unrestrained, at least for a while.
For me, allowing myself to simply be, refraining from putting limitations on my feelings and experiences, has been the most liberating feeling. I am, naturally, a “fixer.” I would like to “make everything okay” as quickly as is humanly possible. And I have long been in communities and spaces that demanded a “buttoned up” attitude and approach to being around others. But this year, perhaps for the first time, I made a true commitment to allowing myself to feel. I allowed myself to be vulnerable with others, expressing my feelings even when nothing could “fix” the situation. I reassured myself that these feelings were valid.
I’m not sure that having feelings is an inherently “wild” idea. But being lost and lonely this year actually reminded me that being untamed or uncultivated isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Often, these feelings are the bare, raw, blank slate of how we truly are, in our soul. So this month, The Zip Code Project is all about the wild. We will be exploring how the idea of being wild impacts our thoughts and actions, our relationships with others, and our sense of self. Concurrently, we will also explore how restrictions and boundaries impact us in both good and bad ways. We will seek out a deeper understanding of the gentle push-pull of freedom and restriction, so we can better understand how we are impacted by both these ideas.
Truthfully, when I think about the wild, my mind immediately goes to Disney movies. Not only The Wild™, but also Madagascar and Inside Out and Moana and Soul and all the other delightful animations of people and animals being less restrained than I often am. So, this month, I’ll also be watching some Disney, in the hopes I’ll be inspired. I hope you might join me – and that you might share your favorite representations of the wild with me.
The questions offered at the top of each Zip Code Project post can be used as daily journal prompts. This month, there will be 31 in total. If you’d like access to all 31 March questions ahead of time, send me a message at hello@thezipcodeproject.com or on Instagram @autumndelongrodgers. I would love to send them over so you never miss one.
Until next time, friends.