What does it mean to feel connected in the world?

  In the quieter aftermath of Christmas and new year, I’ve been thinking a lot about connections and what connectedness means in relation to feeling human. We live in a world which is more interconnected than ever. Synapses firing in all directions, multiple social media networks, intertwined businesses and telecommunications, ties to family and friends stretched out over countries and continents.

  And while all these strands give the impression of weaving an ever expanding tapestry, meshing people together from all walks of life, there’s a feeling that the individual threads are becoming strained and frayed in places. There’s a chamber in my brain somewhere remembering discussions about globalisation when I first started university over 20 years ago- it felt like a fairly fresh topic that was hot across all the social science disciplines. The arguments for and against seemed quite balanced; the worries mainly centering on the impact on trade and governance, with the coexisting excitement for merging cultures, ideas and freedom of movement and thought.

  But 20 years on, the negatives feel much more real and tapping at the core of something closer to home. I think now, the paradox of feeling disconnected in an ever-connected world isn’t lost on many people and is something most of us can relate to.

  It’s been a big bang for communication- an expanding energy that‘s constantly gathering momentum yet pulling so tight on the connections that once felt like anchors, that it feels like these grounding points are starting to strain and snap.

  And as seems to be a human inclination to turn full circle, I’m hearing people say that they’re giving up their smartphones, leaving social media channels, trying to schedule in screen free time and spend more time in nature.

  As more and more people are living alone and working remotely, the way in which we show up physically in each others’ lives has changed immensely. As human beings, we all crave to hear real voices, feel physical touch and experience the real sensations of wind in our hair, cold and warmth on our faces and the smells of earthy woodlands and freshly cut grass.

  One of my commitments for the new year is to turn off my smartphone most evenings. Picking up the landline if I need to speak to someone instead of pinging a whatsapp message has already meant that I’ve had much more engaging chats with people I might not usually speak to properly for weeks. Looking things up in a book again is leading me to open pages I’ve not looked at in years, immersing me in avenues of thought I had forgotten. It actually feels enriching rather than feeling stuck in the shallow loop of googling information. 

I can literally feel my nervous system relaxing.

So how does this relate to design? And what significance to garden design?

  Because it reminds me that we’re constantly designing systems for ourselves on a daily basis, sometimes consciously and sometimes not so much.

  And because we are entwined in this inevitable web of globalised connections, we are repeatedly stepping in and out of each others’ systems too.

  And much like designing a garden, we can decide whether to cultivate processes that nurture or deplete, create abundance or scarcity, regenerate or waste energy. It’s the same tools of observation, survey and analysis, the courage to seek knowledge and make changes and the commitment and flexibility to maintain momentum that apply to both.

  Speaking to a friend today as we were both starting the year with work-planning the weeks ahead, she described her day as ‘orientating’. Which I think is perfect for this time of year. A time to stick your head above the motorway lanes racing in all directions and re-check the map.

  It takes bravery to keep showing up in real life, not just from behind a screen, and that’s one of the powers that being in nature can remind us of. Whether it’s a brisk walk on a snowy night, getting our hands dirty cultivating new plants or bringing freshly grown produce into a warm kitchen to cook, engaging with the outdoors reminds us of what it is to feel human and how that nourishes us to the core.