E39: Trust, Trauma and Reality w/Mark Matzeldelaflor, Former US Navy Seal
Episode 39 of We are Open Circle’s Beyond Listening Podcast saw Mark Matzeldelaflor come on to the show to share his experiences as a former Navy Seal now heading up Guardian Grange, a veteran-powered regenerative agriculture and healing network.
How Mark has interfaced with organisation, disorder and change throughout his life.
Reintegrating with ‘reality’ after the military: finding value and healing trauma.
The power of collaboration, communication and nature in invigoratinghumanity.
Mark Matzeldelaflor is the CEO and founder of humanitarian and environmental regeneration project Guardian Grange. By protecting and revitalising natural spaces, Guardian Grange offer a space of collaboration, creativity and healing for veterans - to combat trauma and isolation for the benefit of collective humanity.
Here are some of the key insights from the conversation...
Engaging in positive work allows bridges of trust to transform communities.
”I've seen it across communities too, where it's just like: we have different sets of trauma, but because we're still sitting, sharing in work to move through suffering or to do something positive, trust forms across communities... it allows us to see each other as humans.”
Throughout his life, Mark has felt intrinsically connected to the potential of nature.
”I had this epiphany going back to my childhood... nature is where I'm just tapped right in. Whether it's hunting or hiking, climbing a tree, sitting around looking at a leaf, looking at the sun... whatever it is, the natural world and the organized beauty of it, of life, is healing, especially when you have a purpose connected to that.”
The work of Guardian Grange allows conversations to form naturally and in turn, for healing to take place.
”You know maybe just notice someone and say, "Hey, well we're getting together and we're going to make a fire... we're going to clean up some area or plant some crops or go fix an erosion point or something. Do you want to come?" And that way there's a purposeful connection and then the opportunity for communication to naturally occur, on their terms, once there's a level of trust built, happens and that's where I see the "therapeutic value", even though it's like a natural therapeutic value of human beings coming together, doing work in a positive direction.”
The best place to find Mark is here. For the work of Guardian Grange see here.
