Since arriving at my mother and stepfather’s home this weekend, I have regularly seen a Doe and two Fawns in the areas behind their home. One night this week, I went to bed early. When I awoke the next morning, my Mom told me that after I went downstairs to bed, the two Fawns came up to the house and lay down in the grass outside my bedroom window. They rested there for over an hour.
Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but I kinda doubt it. The past two months, Deer has taken center stage.
Ecocentricity
In my meditation program, we are reading The Journey of Soul Initiation, by Bill Plotkin. It’s right up my alley, and I’m enjoying reading Plotkin’s perspective on the development of both human and soul.
He writes of a critical shift from Late Adolescence to True Adulthood. This is not the traditional notion we are familiar with. In Plotkin’s definitions, very few of us ever make it out of adolescence. To make this shift, one key ingredient is a move from egocentricity to ecocentricity.
Egocentricity is a worldview most of us develop early in life, though not every culture cultivates it the same way. When we’re egocentric, we live with the ego, i.e., our personality and social self, at the center of our world. Our center of gravity orients around our standing in human society: how we’re seen, how secure we feel, and where we rank.
As a child, I remember a recurring dream in which I was “G.I. Josh.” In my dreams, I was much larger than everyone around me, the quintessential hero, running around saving everyone. In these dreams, my egocentricity was made manifest by my comically large size relative to the world around me.
As I grew older, my size returned to normal in my dreams. One might assume this represented a move away from egocentricity. In fact, I’d say the egocentricity went from being conscious to unconscious. It had become such a staple of who I was that I could no longer see it. In hindsight, I wonder if G.I. Josh represented the initial development of my egocentric nature.
In an ecocentric orientation, our center of gravity shifts outward. We become fully aware that we belong to a more-than-human world, one that includes humans but extends far beyond us, and our focus turns to recognizing our place within that larger community of Earth and serving it.
Considering my childhood G.I. Josh identity, I see ecocentric orientation as a shrinking down. All the other humans and I are shrinking in size relative to our non-human partners, drawing our attention to the breadth and depth of nature, and showing us what a small place humans represent in the more-than-human world.
This concept is very timely for me because I can see how I’m living this transformation in real time. Don’t get me wrong. I still have plenty of ego. But the natural world is beginning to take center stage, and I can feel my center of gravity shifting.
Gentleness
Looking back, I can see how Deer began to emerge prominently in June. During my meditation retreat on Mount Madonna, we were surrounded by Deer. Coupling their presence with the retreat’s silence brought a deeper connection. I remember walking back to my cabin one day and seeing a Deer in the front yard, eating from a tree, and brushing up against my car. I was touched that my car, Beloved, was able to pet a Deer (or that a Deer pet her).
While in Fairfax, California, I cohabited with Deer. I saw one looking in my bathroom window and, upon further investigation, discovered a Doe and a Fawn resting next to the house. They stayed there all day and returned every day that week. I previously shared this video, where they literally walked up the street, up the steps, and into the yard while I sat on the patio.
So, when arriving at my mother’s house, it came as little surprise that a family of Deer would suddenly pop up and start hanging around. We share an energetic connection.
This week, I connected with a friend, and she shared that Doe was a power animal for her (a concept she’d studied through shamanic practice). I asked her what the Doe signified, thinking of my own recent experiences. The first thing she said was gentleness. There is a gentle quality to Doe, and she saw that same gentleness in my way of being. It resonated deeply.
That gentleness and the connection to the gentleness of Deer feels like a doorway to my own ecocentricity. As I sat in the kitchen this week, looking out at the trees, I could feel the natural world tugging me outdoors. Beckoning me to come outside and just be present with nature. I sat on the porch, watching the Deer graze in the woods, and listening to a chorus of birdsong. I walked barefoot in the grass, over to the pond, and spied a small Turtle. Everything in me settled. I felt the gentleness.
Putting It Into Practice
Where might gentleness already be finding you, if you let yourself notice it?
Tales of Wanderment
I am so grateful for the welcoming love I feel when I’m with my mother and stepfather. Their home is a true waystation for me. I’ve stopped here three times now on my nomadic travels. I remember discovering back in late 2024 that the pond behind their house was filled with Turtles. I have spotted a few, but so far this stay has been overflowing with Deer. Last night, a Fox visited. As they ran across the lawn behind the house, I realized they ran right past a Bunny without noticing, and the Bunny did not move. That was unexpected!
I am an executive coach and consciousness coach with software executive roots in higher education and EdTech. I coach because I love helping others accelerate their growth as leaders and humans. I frequently write about #management, #leadership, #coaching, #neuroscience, and #arete.
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