Rewilding Your Awareness One Sense at a Time

In the January 12th episode of Dear Grandchildren: A Tracker’s Tale, titled Rewild Your Senses: The Eight Points of Awareness, Michael Douglas invites us to stop surviving and start sensing. What begins as a simple reminder to “quiet the mind” unfolds into a layered, practical system for returning to the fullness of life—and it all starts with our own bodies.

Our modern filter, the reticular activating system, lets in what we value. And in a world of noise and pressure, we too often value the wrong things. Michael’s antidote? A step-by-step return to total sensory awareness. Using ancestral skills like fox walking, wide-angle vision, and “sacred silence,” he teaches us how to re-engage the full spectrum of perception without being overwhelmed.

These aren’t abstract meditations. They’re nature skills meant to be lived: the wind on your cheeks, the itch of clothing suddenly felt, the dead spaces between trees that hide a thousand stories. It’s a form of mindfulness grounded in primitive skills, shaped not in yoga studios but in forests and fields.

What makes this episode uniquely powerful is its emotional honesty. Michael names the toll that disconnection takes—and how awareness, if left unsupported, can even feel like a burden. That’s why the final point, appreciation, is so crucial. It’s not just a feel-good add-on; it’s the survival mechanism that keeps us open, curious, and resilient in the face of overwhelm.

For those craving not just calm but capability, not just escape but engagement, this episode is a call to return—to the body, to the landscape, to the wisdom passed down through generations.

Listen to the full episode and reawaken your senses before crisis calls you back to them.