Extrapolating upon #AUN2023 plans

First of all, what is the Year of Aun? To find out, visit the Nordic Animism Youtube channel.

I've been giving some more consideration toward my plans for the Year of Aun next year after having watched Rune Hjarno Rasmussen's video review of the book "Sand Talk", by Tyson Yunkaporta.

Having watched this, especially the part discussing how people from non-urban cultures experience loneliness in western "civilised" society, I have thought something else would be important to work upon for the Year of Aun. Just as Rune describes other cultures having a much closer connection to friends and family, I remember as a child being made to associate with both sides of my family. My mother was the eldest of ten children. Every weekend, ourselves and the families of my uncles and aunts would gather at the home of my grandmother. There would often be more than a dozen of us, all in a small house. Making food, discussing the world, playing and laughing together. Similarly, even though my father was, in contrast, an only child I would spend school holidays at his mum and dad's house (my other grandparents). My mother worked on a farm, so rather than be left alone in our house, I was looked after by my elderly grandparents. This is was a great learning experience for me.

So, I am hoping to make a concerted effort to spend more time in the company of my family, both in-laws and blood relations. I am usually something of a curmudgeonly old sod who prefers his own company. My in laws have always been more gregarious than myself. Very welcoming from the outset, I certainly felt like a part of the family from the first time my wife introduced us. I will work to be more engaged and involved with everything going on.

My brother and sister have always been kept at something of a distance. That is just how our family did things. This month, though, we are planning a get-together. The first since our mother passed last summer. Again, I will strive to strengthen my connection to each of them and their families. All in the name of engendering a closer connection to my fellow man.

Less time spent on social media wouldn't go amiss, either. ;)

My tentative first ideas for the Year of Aun #Aun2023

First of all, what is the Year of Aun? To find out, visit the Nordic Animism Youtube channel.

When I was young, I lived in Lincolnshire. A very rural county, not really known too well outside of its borders for anything other than farming. Mostly arable farming, though I did live near many fields of (dairy) cows, a piggery and a turkey farm. Back then, I felt a really strong connection to the land. I appreciate my mature mind might well be embellishing this a little. After all, what did I know back then of spirituality or, indeed, the mundane world at large? I was a socially-awkward teenage boy who'd rarely ventured further than perhaps the 20 miles to the nearest market towns.

Back then, however, I did feel a certain connection to the land as something more than just "the area in which I lived". I felt a connection to the earth, where a good portion of the food I ate was grown. When I fell over and scraped my knees (as kids are wont to do), it was that same earth that my blood fell upon and soaked into. When my elder relatives died, it was the earth into which they were buried. Or, in some cases, it was the air around us into which their ashes scattered. As the descendant of farmers and farm workers, it was that same land that my ancestors had worked for generations. It felt like it was a part of my DNA.

Fast forwarding to the present day, I'm sitting in the spare bedroom of my house before a laptop, working from home. "The new normal", apparently. In my youth. I've tried re-engaging with some of the hobbies I used to enjoy. I've renewed my contact with old friends. But nothing quite seems to quell that feeling of something missing. Perhaps it is that connection to the land that I miss?

For my Year of Aun plans, I think I will focus upon rebuilding that connection to place that I felt as a boy. Albeit this time across the Pennines in the northwest. Lancashire is very similar to Lincolnshire it a lot of ways. Lots of hills and large city-sprawls notwithstanding.

#AUN2023