NATURE CONNECTION
Seeing a Deer in the Wild Means Regeneration
Prompt: how does your name connect you to nature?
My name has been abbreviated since I was little. People call me all sorts of things and only sometimes they use my full name. Abbreviations sound connected. Close. Give us a familiarity that strengthens our bond.
People call me:
- Dé (pronounced Day, which is appropriate because with my wild soul I live in the moment and seize the day)
- Desi (pronounced as Daisy, like the little white flowers popping up in a meadow)
- Dries (an abbreviation of my last name. It’s a man’s first name in my country. My colleagues used it when I still worked as a business unit manager of a team of 60 men in Amsterdam. No one calls me that anymore nowadays. I’ve become too feminine upon finding my wild soul, I guess…)
- Ree (this is what our grandson calls me. He shouts it often. Reehee! Mostly when he wants me to watch him. Pronounced as Ray. I like it. It reminds me of the rays of sunlight that he hopefully perceives in his life when I’m around…)
You guess right that I’m not English, American, or Australian. And in my Dutch language ree means deer.
So every time our grandson calls out reehee, I see a deer in my mind’s eye.
Striking. If I look for the deer as a totem animal the following description appears on the Spirit Animal website:
- Gentleness
- Ability to move through life and obstacles with grace
- Being in touch with inner child, innocence
- Being sensitive and intuitive
- Vigilance, ability to change directions quickly
- Magical ability to regenerate, being in touch with life’s mysteries
Hmm… I really don’t know if the deer is my totem animal, but I like what I see. Intuitive. Check. Change directions quickly. Check. Magical ability to regenerate. Check.
I work in the regeneration movement. Healing what’s broken in our world and creating a regenerative future. Hmm…
Every day, Mike and I take long walks in nature. I often stand still to open my senses. Connect to the woods. Hear the birdsong. Smell the forest soil. Taste the rain on my lips. Feel the bouncy moss.
And lately, we often spot deer in the woods behind our campsite.
“In many cultures, the deer is a symbol of spiritual authority. During a deer’s life the antlers fall off and grow again and the animal is also a symbol of regeneration.” — Notes on the symbolism of deer
Regeneration.
It’s time…
How does your name connect you to nature? I’m really curious. Tag me if you decide to write about it…
Want to connect? You can find me somewhere on our beautiful planet, with my hands in the soil and my eyes gazing at the stars. Or find me via Linktree.
© Désirée Driesenaar
