How to Belong to the Whole World

With Deb Matlock, Wild Connection Guide

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Bonus Audio: Podcat Conflict Consult with Deb

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SHOW DESCRIPTION
Have you ever felt out of place?  Have you been surrounded by people you don’t get and who don’t get you?  Do you like spending time in nature or with animals, more than with other humans?  Or, do you love humans and the natural world, but feel concerned about how that relationship is going?
We understand and we are so pleased to bring you this conversation with a person who has dedicated her life to helping bridge the gaps between humans, animals, and the larger natural world.  She helps remind us that while sometimes we feel separate, we are always a meaningful part of this remarkable life on planet Earth.
Our guest this episode is Deb Matlock. Deb is an environmental educator and naturalist, a shamanic practitioner, and an animal communicator.  She helps people and animals through spiritual coaching and shamanic-style journey work.  Deb is also dedicated to exploring her own spiritual connection to life and the more-than-human world.
Deb’s has a Master’s degree in environmental education and is working on her Ph.D.  She is a certified Life Coach and a Wilderness First Responder.
Deb’s personal mission is to help others explore the wildness within themselves as well as their love and connection to the amazing world around us.  She is dedicated to working in service to the wild spirit that lives within all.
This is just the short version of Deb’s Bio.  Find the link to her website in the show notes for all the details on Deb’s varied and impressive career.
Listen to the whole episode to find out how we can feel more at home in our own skins and in this more-than-human world.

Clyde and Munchie working out their "kitty politics"

SHOW NOTES
Key Takeaways: 

• Be open to connection and to mystery
• Don’t take for granted what it takes to be alive
• Give back in whatever way you can
• The scale of the give-back doesn’t matter

Do a Deb's Science:

• Open your door every morning and ask yourself, “Who is here right now?”

 “If we start to feel compassion and empathy and for the bird in the tree, do we start to see life as wider? Do we start to see community as more than us and our neighbors? So we start to expand our comprehension of what life is?”

Episode References:

• Deb Matlock's Website - Wild Rhythms
• Deb’s full bio
• Social Media Links
  • ​Instagram @wildrhythms
  • Twitter @WildRhythms
  • Facebook @WildRhythms

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Other relevant Episodes: 

• Episode 55 How to Not Know - Balancing Contemplation and Action with Pete Pierson 
• Episode 11 Facilitator Of The Inevitable - With Ecotherapist Adam Vellturo

​Dive Deeper on the Topic: 

• Books with animist themes or just deep reverence for the wild/human relationship:
  • David Abrams The Spell of the Sensuous 
  • Barbara Kingsolver Prodigal Summer
  • Bill Plotkin Wild Mind - A Field Guide to the Human Psyche
  • Craig Childs The Animal Dialogs - Uncommon Encounters in the Wild

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Music Credits: A Hawaiian in Paris feat.-Pierre-Grill