Part of our thinking at present and where we are putting our attention, is that the environment we’re in impacts on us in different ways and we can be better versions of ourselves if we can recognise this.

Who do I think I am? – What do different landscapes mean to me?

This reflective thought explores particular landscapes and how I feel I engage with and am affected by them.

Key questions

• What meanings do rural and urban landscapes have for me?
• What is my preferred landscape and why?
• How does a particular landscape impact on my thinking?

My thoughts are leading me to consider the relationship between myself and particular landscapes, considering how I value different landscapes and give them meaning. Identification with particular landscapes indicates a connection with the world around me. Landscapes make up part of my personal map of the world and, it can be argued, help me to understand my identity. I came across this quote, “Place is intimately entwined with identity…” (Vimmi Vatish)

The value I attribute to particular landscapes results from the connection and meaning they have for me as an individual. I recognise that certain landscapes are associated with certain memories and people and that this contributes to who I feel I am.

I can recognise that I prefer rural landscapes and, in recent years, the place I am able to do my best thinking is in the quiet and peaceful surroundings I find on the Isle of Iona.

I can also recognise that this particular landscape in Iona is similar to the one in which I spent my early years. Regardless of where I am in the world I still consider myself to be an “Argyll Boy”. At the same time, I recognise the urban landscape in which I live and consider it to be my home. It is both familiar and comfortable and brings much that I value and care about.

Moving this on a little, I have been considering the importance of understanding this in myself, and at the same time considering that the people I am surrounded by as part of my work will have different landscapes to me and it may be beneficial for me to understand their landscapes.

Exploring landscape meaning and its association with identity for others can be considered by inviting people around me to share their reflections about their favourite landscapes.

Using their geographical imaginations and personal experiences, people are able to consider what it is about their favourite landscapes that makes them special, and what particular meaning they have attributed to these landscapes.

So, to my final thoughts about what I recognise in myself. I prefer to be in a rural landscape to do my thinking. This is made even more comfortable for me if that place has water. Both the sea and inland rivers and lakes work equally as well. It does not seem to matter whether the water is calm and still or fast and powerful.

So, my question for all of you out there reading this is: “What is your favourite landscape and why?”

The pictures I have included I took last week on the Isle of Mull, which are representative of the type of landscape in which I feel most relaxed and able to do my best thinking in.