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# Reflections
- URL: https://emilymorter.com/reflections/
- Published: 2024-09-02T22:31:02.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-14T04:29:34.000Z
- Description: self reflection, healing presence, duty of care, cycles of interdependence
- Author: Emily Morter
- Tags: Writing

Sep 2024

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I’ve spent this month in deep reflection…

Partly *self reflection*, as I reviewed my old journals back to 2001\. It was interesting to recognise the qualities of my 19 year old self that are still present today. And those that I have let go. We all live with multiple layers of self. Being aware of these younger selves brings compassion and a sense of responsibility.

And also, I’ve been reflecting on *healing presence*. Noticing how being in nature gives me space to think and feel, to be accepted just for my aliveness, to know I am part of a larger whole - in entangled and reciprocal relationship with the world.

I’ve been practicing embodying this healing presence, trying to ‘be more like my place’, as Tyson Yunkaporta says. This includes:

- sitting in stillness with my family to give them space to think and feel
- accepting our dog’s needs and heightened reactions just as they are
- letting go of the impossible expectation of individual health and purity

It feels like a profound shift. I’m able to support family, friends and clients without feeling depleted from giving too much. I feel whole and grounded. Mutually supported.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5d/ec/5dece2dd-1b31-4e64-87f1-1d453618bd9f/content/images/2026/08/36b62d97-9cdf-4fed-bf8a-f65e21e9188b_4080x3060-jpeg.jpg)

The light above the clouds, Aug 2024

I recently came across Susan Raffo’s blog [giving the bones back](https://www.susanraffo.com/blog/giving-the-bones-back?ref=emilymorter.com), and among other important ideas about my profession, she raises the notion of *duty of care*:

> *The oldest believed root of the English word “duty” is a word that means “to give or receive.” When I read that I thought, but of course. Of course. While the meaning of the word has grown disconnected, the word’s oldest memory is about a cycle of interdependence, of giving and receiving. I would imagine that the ancestors grieve alongside us when noticing that this word - duty - got frozen into something that can feel like a burden rather than life.*

I wonder where you feel a sense of duty? A responsibility to give and receive in a cycle of interdependence? Which places and relationships feel most alive?

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5d/ec/5dece2dd-1b31-4e64-87f1-1d453618bd9f/content/images/2026/08/642613c6-f6d4-4da9-bfeb-f7a172a6fcde_1161x1451-jpeg.jpg)

Being good medicine for my Nanna, Aug 2024

Inspiration

- [Grounded](https://www.ruthallengeotherapist.com/groundedbook/?ref=emilymorter.com) by Ruth Allen
- [Against Purity](https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816698646/against-purity/?ref=emilymorter.com) by Alexis Shotwell
- [Small bird habitats](https://events.humanitix.com/darebin-creek-small-bird-habitat-maintenance?ref=emilymorter.com) at my local creek

Much love,

Emily

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