Full Circle, I realize now, is the name of the newsletter of the church I joined in my married life, as well as the result of my life and career with this last turn I’ve taken. I began my career as a video editor for television stations, which is why I see the importance of story and visual media in connecting us to worlds and ideas beyond where we are now.
My work now includes a project dealing with academic explorations of the Bible. This signals a return to editing for me and a reminder of the talent that I have cultivated over many years. It is my gift, as my friend Dominga likes to remind me. I forget how much I love it but am reminded each time I return. Do you do that? Forget a part of yourself? I work now and I am, as I’m telling people “living the dream.” That, for me is fulfilling work with opportunity and a supportive environment. It is also important for me to note that I have lived my dream. I have been following a call and reached another pinnacle in which I feel this sense of excitement well up in me.
I also find myself explaining to a new audience, or wanting to, what ecopsychology is. It is, to draw from the teachings I’ve been exposed to, more soft science than hard science when you consider the scientific method, and more spiritual which has been a part of the credibility conversation. Now, as I’m thinking of the next iteration of my purpose, I got the free offerings from the new Ecopsychology journal which reminds me that we’re not only about reconnecting people to the earth, but about ‘reshaping modern psychology‘ to demonstrate that, as a field, “it cannot stand apart from an intimate human connection with the natural environment.”
This turn I’ve recently taken was announced by a pair of unusual sightings: Eagles majestically positioned on top of posts near the ground along my route. When I researched this, I was alerted to the beginning of a spiritual initiation. I knew then that what unraveled that day would be rewoven in a new path for my work, and thus, my life.
In reading the story of Eagle in the offering of the Ecopsychology journal was a powerful telling of an encounter with a golden eagle. The story began powerfully with “the eagle I hit with my car punctured my arm with its talon.” I encourage you to read it and see what strikes you about the story. For me it was the intimacy with the eagle and the need to stay in that place until there was resolution. How the ease of our breathing doesn’t let you know which path you’re on: whether things are getting better or transitioning to the end. Most notably I love that the end of this accounting includes research into the meaning of an eagle encounter because that is my tendency.
Based on those findings I know now that my bald eagle sightings were suggesting that I reclaim “personal power” because that has been the most noticeable benefit of these last few weeks. And the Christian reference in the end is both what I think was an abrupt end to that story and a nice segue to my journey and how I have been called to work on the story of the Bible for academic purposes. Much of what I am writing now references the Bible. It is a time of personal and professional growth.
What work have you loved to do? Would you consider returning to that type of work at this stage in your evolution?
References
Eagle
B. Williams
