Discovering my environment was very surprising. Not necessarily in a good way. It made very obvious in yet another way how much I’ve been living in not-self my whole life… deeply life-changing, rarely my favorite moments in my Experiment, for sure…

Diffused sound

There are always several pieces to Environment. The least surprising to me was the idea that I better enjoy sound when diffused. When in my life I had to deal with strong noises around me, like in the tube or in crowds, I’d keep my headphones on. I didn’t enjoy keeping them on for long, which seems logical now, headphones being a Narrow Valley thing, being so direct rather than diffused sound. I’ve loved being in concerts and clubs when the music was incredible to hear, probably curtesy of my individuality making me so sensitive to music. Music transports me in an incomparable manner. But I would always be in places acoustically where I would avoid being screamed at by speakers, even if it made no sense to most people. Little did I know that even in very loud situations, it’s where the sound was the most diffused I’d find my sweet spot, even if it was putting the artists out of my sight…

Circulation of people and information

I also lived a lot in busy cities, where I can sense almost going through my cells the meaning of the “places where people and information circulate”, that other huge piece of my Environment. But nestled in some quieter place, close to everything I need (hehe can you hear the 5th line talking?), while also being where sound gets diffused. That tiny street next to everything where cars don’t often go and I get to have all the privileges of the diversity Valleys are full of, while avoiding the major inconvenience that goes hand in hand with city living.

Ra said there’s little advantage for a Valley person to live in actual countryside. Even in actual valleys. Like right now. Not being bridged everyday probably doesn’t help with the unpleasantness. I have a dear Valley friend who lived for a while in the middle of nowhere, but it was a community with many new people coming and going. That seemed to greatly nourish his consciousness too. Here, I’m very isolated, but there’s a lot of people passing by as my current housemates are very social. They’re quite noisy, but sound is diffused by walls and it’s easy to notice that just having people walking in my aura without interacting with me makes a difference.

Ground floor surprises & low altitude love

The most surprising piece was the idea that my body feels best at ground level. I’ve spent so many years obsessed with rooftops, it didn’t make any intellectual sense. Places to go out, places to live in, photography… I’ve looked to move away from ground floors my whole life, actually, except for my childhood house (and even there, my bedroom was on the first floor), I’ve never lived on the ground floor until now, 38 years later.

Low altitude environments made much more intuitive sense to discover as part of my correct environment. I’ve never liked mountains, I never felt good nor relaxed there. Seaside environments have been a big love in my life. Indeed, where my Body would be the most relaxed, a solid indicator for my Right body that I’m closer to be in a correct environment for me.

A journey towards lower grounds

At some point, I found myself investigating where I had been led in my life, and it made me smile to realize the only constant in the places I’d lived in so far, was that I ended up on lower and lower grounds. I spent my first 20 years at 300m of altitude in average in the French countryside, moved 100m lower in a big city for University, than to Paris in a neighborhood at 50m. At that point, I had never felt so relaxed living somewhere and my life changed so quickly that year in so many ways. Each time I did move lower had a major impact on my life, and came with a new form of relaxation I had never known.

I didn’t stop when we came to London, at 15m above the sea level for 8 years, where I kept shedding layer after layer of my past. Only to end up on the coast of a tiny island for 4 years, a few meters up, I could see the soothing ocean from our balcony on the 2nd floor. This is where Human Design found me for the most incredible transformation of my life…

Where mutation can truly happen for me

I’m very individual by design, mutation has been a part of my life for a long time, but this had nothing to do with what seems to happen when spend more time on a lower ground. The intensity of the transformations, the frequency of them. Knowing my design made me feel like the mutations keep coming, even if they may be tiny, they’re mighty.

So I never tried nor trusted mentally that need of staying low, but I guess my second lined body naturally showed me how much it did know, and would lead me there anyway…

First time bodily experiences of Valleys

When in New Caledonia (the tiny island), after getting the information about my Environment, some things started to pop up at the surface of my consciousness. I didn’t think of it much when I found out about my Valleys, but I learned through my Experiment that it doesn’t matter what I’m focusing on consciously. My Body will tell me what I need to watch, it will show me.

The first time I’ve ever noticed a difference was during a road trip. I’ve always loved driving, it soothes me (which may have to do with my Environment too). But that time, I could feel myself tense up and then relax in pretty quick cycles. It took me an hour or so to realize the cycles were exactly timed to wether we the road was going up or down. The more we would climb up, the tenser I’d get. Until we’d drive back down and I could relax.

At some point, I got so relaxed I almost dozed off! I looked around me and saw we were in a picture perfect wide valley and knew we were very low altitude wise. I chuckled, amazed. Life had given me yet another visceral proof that my mechanics are true for me. All kinds of little moments of recognition started to line up from there. I realized that despite my love of rooftops, my whole life, my favorite places to hang out were always on the ground floor. Even at home, I could sense that, even half way through the first level of our building, my body would start to tense up and wouldn’t stop until I’d be back down... Living at such low altitude, even if my flat was up a couple of floors, gave my body a sensitivity I never knew before.

Differentiated kinds of relaxation

It was fascinating to watch how I would both relax being at work, on the ground floor, but also tensing up in a different way the whole way up the hill the office was compared to my home. I learned that way that the tension from not being on the ground floor is subtly different from the tension I experience when climbing up altitude wise. And both seem clearly healing and restful for my body. I struggled to put more words on this subtle difference between them, but the sensations are not the same.

Right now, I have lived on the ground floor almost a year in a half, but 75m high. It’s been very confusing. Despite still eating per my Determination, more even, I can sense I’ve lost some of the sensitivity and relaxation I had found on my tiny island. It’s simply not the same. It’s very easy to notice. When on the contrary, going back to see my family, back at 300-350m is a festival of different kinds of tension, especially now that my mom hosts me on the first floor…

At the same time, it’s the first time in my life that I am living on the ground floor and spending most of my time there. And it’s bringing me a peace I never knew before. It’s opening up my consciousness in a way I never experienced before, watching my world takes a whole different meaning. My life here is so quiet, so unremarkable. And yet so fascinating. I don’t meet many people, I don’t see many people, but the experiences I have with them are so much more meaningful, as if my second lines really got to be as hermitty as can be, unless I’m called out by the right people. And that’s not all…

My favorite Valley so far

When I’m saying “healing”, I’m not only speaking about my Mind, I knew from listening to Ra that our correct Environment brings us physical healing when we’re ill. I had noticed in New Caledonia that after years of twisting my ankles and knees regularly, I slowly stopped once there. I attributed this change to the lower altitude that made me more passive, less active over all, the way my Right body is supposed to be, as it was only still happening when I would be physically quite active. But that wouldn’t explain what happened in my favorite Valley so far.

Last year, a dear friend invited me to her house. When I got there, it was a bit unpleasant to climb up a little hill, but staying on the ground floor there was still more soothing than being at home, on the second floor. Coming in, I felt quite uncomfortable. The house had very narrow walls, the shutters were closed, it felt stuffy. She had two big dogs, one of them very noisy with excitement. My mind was a bit mad at my Spleen for “approving” this invitation…

My friend opened the shutter to let the dogs circulate and asked me where I wanted to sit. The garden I could peek at thanks to the now half-closed shutter looked so enticing, I mentioned it and asked if the garden was an option, she enthusiastically confirmed it was, opened the shutter high and invited me to go out and while she would fetch some drinks for us if it was to my taste.

I set foot in the garden and suddenly my body almost collapsed on the ground from relaxation. It took me a moment to fathom what was happening. There was a lounge chair there, it had nothing special, not even a cushion lying on it, and yet it looked like the most comfortable thing in the world. I chuckled and mentioned how lovely it looked, my Generator friend immediately fetched a cushion for me. From there, I spent the afternoon on a little cloud of calmness and awe. Stress had melted from my neck and shoulders and wouldn’t return until I left. I had a wonderful chat with my friend, requesting tiny moments of my guidance, sharing how profoundly my words were transformative to hear.

Then, friends of her joined us and I spent such lovely moments with them. Dear, clear, moments of recognition, I hadn’t spent such easeful time with strangers in forever, maybe ever, I barely could believe how easy and mutative it was for all of us at the end of the day. And all of it was full of those surprises only my Innocence and undefined G seem to bring on when I’m lucky enough to see it being correct.

That afternoon belongs in my memory in such a vivid way! That garden looked nothing like a Wide Valley to my Mind. It’s not wide at all, not much is happening there, no circulation, it was on higher ground, sound was diffused but almost absent, and yet, the way I felt there had a indescribable quality of relaxation and flow. It showed me how much my Mind knew nothing about what I needed once again, and how much my most correct Environments are where my Strategy and Authority lead me.

Healing my body in ways I was told couldn’t happen

I went back there a couple of times more, once after twisting my knee. At the time, I had 2 kinds of twists happening a few times a year : the really bad ones requiring 6 weeks of knee pad and rest, including a full week of immobilization and the mild ones requiring 3 days of immobilization and 10 of rest and knee pad. I recognized the latter. Nothing too bad, but still quite painful. The night before, after only one day of total immobilization, my dear friend used some Reiki on the ground floor which relieved me immediately and for the first time in years of similar sprains, I didn’t need to be at complete rest any longer.

The next day, she invited me to her place for a chill afternoon. Even if the feeling of relaxation was not as strong as it was the first time, it was still there, and I left that little garden in awe of feeling my knee healing during the 6 hours I spent there. The next day, my knee didn’t even require its pad, I felt the same way I was feeling after my usual convalescence. A freak occurrence that surrendered me to the magic of environmental healing.

Now that I’m living in a valley, on the ground floor, not even at low altitude, it took a few months for any serious sprains to disappear. They used to be related to hypermobility, that simply disappeared. In New Caledonia, I saw decades of back pain subside in a couple of years. I stopped being intolerant to gluten after years of serious digestive problems anytime I’d eat some. Even more impressive to me, after 30 years of lactose intolerance, that made me so incredibly sick for years, I can drink delectable tall glasses of milk again. I also seem to be at the end of 23 years of pelvic weakness. All of that without doing anything, just watching my body slowly eat more and more per my Determination and all that time spent on the ground floor, even if it doesn’t nearly relax my body like that perfect little garden. In case it wasn’t clear : I really struggle even doubting my PHS mechanics when I watch them change so many things in such a little time.

The Mind knows nothing & Spanish magic

The most striking is how much my PHS connects me to the choicelessness of life, the power of my Strategy and Authority and the utter inability of my Mind to know what I need. I hold close to my heart in that way my recent travels to Spanish cities Barcelona and Valencia. I was invited by my partner to both as potential places to live. In both, I had many of what my Love calls “hand on the heart moments”, as this is what literally happens to me in those instances. I gasp and put my hand on my heart at the way the relaxation takes me.

The ones I had in Barcelona were the most frequent and intense, especially in one neighborhood. Higher in altitude than my Mind would like. We found Gràcia (the magical constant hand-on-heart neighborhood), seemingly quite narrow, and mostly noisy, not at all the calmer, lower, seaside neighborhood my mind was eyeing but where I found none of this relaxation… but Gràcia has all those little plaças that took me in a whirlwind of calm and made me want to just sit and watch, made total strangers with their ordinary life so interesting. Really awakening the Observer in me in a very physical way.

But Barcelona is expensive… So we also looked into Valencia, further South, much, much cheaper. Lower altitude all over. Quieter. Still in a valley. My hand reached my heart the moment our plane landed (the airport is also lower there than in Barcelona). We had easily found an Airbnb on the ground floor. The neighborhood was very practical. Yet… The whole week-end, despite that relaxation and ease, I could not find a place where I could stay put for more than a few minutes. Almost nothing grabbed my focus. Despite all my efforts (which in itself screams mental authority), it was like I couldn’t be the Observer there, like my second lined body just wasn’t called out by the place. Showing me once again that my Mind knows nothing, I couldn’t decide mentally at all. I can only surrender to my S&A and the weirdness of Environment frequency.

The weirdness of correctness

If I wasn’t convinced yet, I only needed the weirdest moment of correct Environment I encountered so far in my Experiment. My Love took me to a park in Barcelona, and when we left, on our way, I noticed a very small ditch, like an oval of 50cm by a meter (something like 2x4 feet), I could walk in and feel super relaxed in. It was hilarious, I kept walking out and in, bewildered, expecting to find a trick, to have been mistaken, but no, this was a tiny Wide Valley for my body, even if it had none of the mental “requirements”. Another moment that showed me so clearly Environment is not a decision but a meeting.

I just cannot wait for the other ordinary adventures I’ll encounter next… It took months and many, many tantrums of my Mind waiting until my Love initiated our move to Gràcia for October so far. I’m so very curious about what’s awaiting me there ^^