Curious for more? Each month, I share reflections on the nervous system, creativity, and our connection with the more-than-human world. If that’s something that lights you up, I’d be so glad to have you along for the journey and explore together here 🌿
When I was invited to speak at the Journey On Podcast Summit, they gave me one question to work with:
What’s the message you want to send the world?
And then… make that your talk.
Oh right. No big deal then.
I’d spoken twice before on a similar platform and always stuck with what was expected of me (or perhaps more what I expected of myself). Nervous system, movement, the connection between them. What I knew for sure was I didn’t want to go down that track this time.
After much musing, the spark that became the essence of my talk came from an unexpected place—a rainy-day trip to the local museum with my boys and a surprisingly lacklustre presentation about frogs. I left feeling genuinely heartbroken (true story), and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Aotearoa New Zealand is home to one of the world’s rarest and most ancient frogs—uniquely beautiful, and deeply in need of our protection. That flat, uninspired talk felt like such a missed opportunity to captivate, educate, and ignite a room full of people who were already sitting there, ready to be enchanted.
That moment led me into a long marination on the role of wonder and creativity to care and conservation. And, more broadly, what it means to live a life rooted in all those things.
As I shaped my talk, a line from the Patron Saint of Poetry herself, Mary Oliver, kept echoing in my mind:
“Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”
With her existential, wholly intuited, not-for-certain blessing, those words became the heartbeat of everything I shared.
Because I don’t believe creativity is just something we do—I think it’s how we stay awake.
For me, it’s how I stay connected: to the more-than-human world, to my ancestors, and to the parts of myself that were never meant to be quiet or small.
So while on first appearances, this does look like a talk about some (truly remarkable) frogs, what it’s really about is magic, connection, grief, and joy—and what I believe is the beautiful, urgent need to share what we love. For the good of ourselves, and everything around us.
xx Jane
Fancy joining me for more? Wild Insights is my offering for paid subscribers—a space where we explore the connections between the body, creativity, and the nervous system. Each month, you'll receive nervous system reflections, a deep-dive essay, and a companion video (and some other bits and pieces in between!). I’d love to have you along for the ride 🌿
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