neighbouring lake to honour the Earth and to help heal the negativity introduced by the actions of some visitors. Hopefully the ritual will inspire new respect and gratitude. Much of my personal journey is about trying to reconnect others to the magnificence of the natural world, which so inspires me. With that love comes humility, empathy and compassion, which are building blocks for better relationships with ourselves and our world. The poet William Wordsworth once wrote: 'What you have loved, others will love, and you will teach them how.' When I was desperate to find a way to make a difference, I glimpsed the potential of a long walk. To inspire others I need to be inspired myself, and nature provides the cues whenever I need them. Where once my life was powered by high-octane fuel, today it is powered by Pachamama – Mother Nature herself. I like to feel that my walking is a two-way blessing and I hope I give back as much as I receive. Each step is a prayer of gratitude and more than 10 million since starting my pilgrimage in July 2011 have brought me home to myself. It is a place of awe, wonder, mystery, inspiration and creativity as I reconnect with the natural world and my own humanness, increasingly sensing the interdependency of all things. I'm not the centre of the universe as I once imagined in my younger days as an ambitious, egotistical and materialistic editor of motoring magazines. Since choosing to go from Petrolhead to Pilgrim, my outer journey has introduced me to exciting and often challenging inner landscapes as fresh insights and realisations pile one on top of the other. When we walk we meet ourselves along the way. I feel I've wakened from a long sleep and am learning – or remembering – so much my ancestors intuitively understood. And maybe many things I knew as a child. Today we're suffering from a sickness of the soul; a numbing disconnection from our divinity and the sacredness of other beings. It is what my animal whispering friend Anna Breytenbach describes as a 'disconnection sickness'. On the rare days I don't walk, I feel somehow less capable of meeting whatever challenges arise. It is only since I've slowed down to a pace similar to that of my hunter-gatherer ancestors that my senses have become truly alive. I use them all to see, hear, smell, taste and touch the miracle of life. For countless centuries the very survival of our nomadic forebears was intrinsically interlinked with the cycles of the natural world. They were guided by the stars, seasons and weather
patterns, as well as the movements and migrations of the creatures that they recognised as their kith and kin. Those connections were an integral part of their lives, allowing them to routinely communicate with the animals and the rest of nature, Now we are mostly insulated, anaesthetised, drugged and utterly disconnected from Gaia. We are surrounded by concrete, glass and steel and bombarded by technology and information-overload in a fast-paced world illuminated by artificial light and characterised by unnatural patterns of sleep and waking. We breathe polluted air, ingest chemical-laden products masquerading as food and invariably drive rather than walk. Depression, anxiety, confusion and hopelessness are the norm for pill-popping millions.
So what happened to our supposedly superior intellect and powers of reasoning?
Some 25 centuries ago, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, observed: 'Illnesses do not come upon us out of the blue. They are developed from small daily sins against Nature. When enough sins have accumulated, illnesses will suddenly appear.' Solutions, I believe, are all around us. We need to live simpler, more sustainable lives and find the peace and inspiration that comes from being in nature – from recognising our rightful place not as a controller of the natural world but as a strand in the miraculous web of life. We need to learn from the successful blueprint of nature, tapping into millions of years of accumulated wisdom, instead of pursuing a madness, that if unchecked, can only result in our own extinction as a species.
Answers are all around us – and they're free.
Scientists are increasingly discovering that children are suffering from what is being called a Nature-Deficit Disorder. They need to grow up in nature with animals around them, climbing trees, swimming in streams and lakes, and ideally feeling the Earth beneath bare feet. While I depend on my iPhone and MacBook Air to communicate with the world, and now love carrying a library of ebooks on my Kindle, I know that fundamental to my health and happiness is that connection with the natural world. Nothing is more important to my well-being than the solo meditative walk with which I start each day around sunrise, appreciating and giving thanks for all my blessings. First choice is a deserted beach or mountain
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