A friend shared this talk with me from Judy Atkinson, a teacher, writer and Professor Emeretus of Jiman, (central west Queensland) and Bundjalung (northern New South Wales) descent.
Judy also has Anglo-Celtic and German heritage, and has worked in the field of violence/trauma, trying to contribute to healing. She wrote a book, ‘Trauma Trails – Recreating Songlines: The transgenerational effects of trauma in Indigenous Australia’, provides context to the life stories of people who have been moved from their country in a process that has created trauma trails, and the changes that can occur in the lives of people as they make connection with each other and share their stories of healing.
Her own sharing and storytelling is so humble and accessible, and it left me wondering, why do I spend so much time “thinking” or “writing” about truth and reconciliation matters, and so little time walking.
Whenever I take a break from “work”, and peel away from the computer and go for a walk in the woods, I find that my mind wells up with all kinds of ideas and conversations and interactions, most often related to the Wellness Almanac, even though I work on a host of different projects. It’s as if the land is trying to help me walk towards answers and right action. ( And funnily enough, the land never says do more writing. It says, go talk to someone. Go get together. Go have this conversation.)
What if we treated the Friendship Trail as a special walk, one day, and walked our communities towards each other… What if we tucked a few phrases of greeting into our pockets, Ucwalmictws words? What if we even took our shoes off somewhere and sat?
What if we ask our feet to be part of the healing?
What would enter up from the land into our bodies? How might it be different from what comes to us via words or images on a screen? I wonder.
If you take a listen to Aunty Judy, drop a comment and let us know what landed for you.
The Wellness Almanac 