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I like walking. The single focus of putting one foot in front of the other. its a form of gentle healing and when you are in a completely new environment and have your life in a backpack-a tent, warmth, food and water, no agenda, just a direction, it allows your mind and heart the space to stream through creative ideas, realisations, processes or just how beautiful it is to hear simply your feet kiss, hit, pound on the ground, hear yourself breathing, feel your sweat, sit when you're hungry, gaze you face up to the sun with your eyes closed and feel the warmth and love. this was a journey I took. when you are just relying on your own body, when you are in charge of your hydration, food and home there is such a sense of independence and empowerment of being in control of your situation. Being passionate about the earth and nature and seeing the destruction and negligence of humans on the environment and themselves made me think that people were incapable of change and were like babies. They had become weak to the system, constantly working and living under other people, relying on others for their food, water, fixing their relationships, a broken tile, unable to follow their callings due to lack of self worth and trust... I thought I had to do everything as I didn't see people around me making positive impacts but as I travelled a widening in my perspective was occurring. After walking through a forest all day I arrived at a small village in a valley the shape of a heart coming near sundown, there was a church bell ringing, a man pottering in his garden and the humidity of the day still had a strong presence. I found a bush for my backpack and wandered through this tiny village where the paint peeled off the buildings, hand made pizza ovens where prolific, and a heritage apricot tree shared her incredibly sweet fruits with me next to the fire station. I wandered down another road behind some houses and found fields of market gardens- corn, greens, tomatoes and beans. I saw strong older women working in the garden and a mother and daughter going for a evening walk with their dog. Smiling at these women and walking next to these beds of future food made me realise- we are okay, people are capable, humans can be strong, independent from a wider system but interdependent in their local system. it was a release that occurred for me that I didn't need to try and do the work for the world. that the weight of my backpack was enough and I didn't need to carry the issues of humanity. this dance of growing food, strong women, simple living and a small village has woven into my life in such a profound pattern that it has become a major drive and destination goal - to walk and work with a purpose towards this formation of re-localisation, building resilience in communities, the innate fulfilment of growing your own food, supporting and being supported by the ones around you & putting one step in front of the other. we humans have evolved to create these massive structures, systems and technologies but I feel these vital needs of purpose, community, purpose and living with nature remain constant and unshakable. may we remember them and reconnect to ancient local knowledge.