The Nature Of with Willow Defebaugh Uncovering the Holy Ordinary with Terry Tempest Williams
Mar 17, 2026
Terry Tempest Williams, award-winning author and environmental activist who writes about nature, place, and spirituality. She recounts a dream-born word, follows an ant carrying a blossom as a lesson in attention, and reflects on pandemic stillness revealing everyday sacredness. She shares the story of a beloved Harvard oak, climate-driven landscape changes, and the practice of living with eyes wide open.
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Glorians Are Moments That Make You Disappear
- Williams defines a Glorian as a moment or being that dissolves her sense of self through focused attention, leaving a shared presence.
- The term came from a dream; she removed fixed definitions because recognition is felt, not named.
Ant Carrying A Blossom Became A Lesson In Attention
- Terry Tempest Williams followed an ant carrying a blossom across her porch during the pandemic and watched it enlist other ants to overcome obstacles.
- After 20–30 minutes the ant brought the petal into a large colony where dozens shredded it, a small scene that revealed attentiveness as sacred.
Fall To Your Knees To Listen
- Let yourself fall to your knees as a deliberate gesture of surrender and listening when overwhelmed by grief or crisis.
- Williams treats kneeling as prayerful receptivity: it shifts prayer from asking to listening to ancestors, dreams, and the living world.
