The Three Landscapes
Our experiences don't happen in isolation. They're shaped by our relationship with ourselves, with other people, and with the wider world we inhabit.
Within, Between, and Beyond are three ways of exploring those relationships. They offer a framework for noticing where we might look more closely, what connections we might be overlooking, and where new possibilities could emerge.
They're not separate compartments, and they're not stages we need to pass through. Each landscape influences the others, and the boundaries between them are never quite as clear as they might first appear.
Within
Our inner landscape includes the body, the nervous system, thoughts, emotions, sensations, and the stories we tell ourselves about our experiences.
It's where we encounter our experiences directly: how something feels, what we make of it, and how we respond. Exploring Within can help us develop a different relationship with what we're experiencing, rather than simply trying to control or eliminate it.
Between
Our lives take shape through our relationships with other people. These relationships influence how we understand ourselves, how safe or supported we feel, and how we navigate the world together.
Between includes communication, boundaries, trust, conflict, community, and the ways we affect one another. It invites us to explore not only our individual experiences, but also the patterns that emerge through our interactions.
Beyond
We're also part of something larger than ourselves and our immediate relationships.
Beyond includes our relationship with nature, place, meaning, purpose, ancestry, spirituality, and the mysteries we may never fully understand. It invites us to consider the wider contexts in which our lives unfold and the connections that give our experiences meaning.
Where We Begin
We don't have to explore every landscape, and there's no prescribed order for doing so.
The place we begin depends on the person, the circumstances, and what seems most useful to explore. Sometimes we start with an immediate experience within ourselves and gradually discover how it connects to our relationships or the wider world. Sometimes the most meaningful starting point is somewhere else entirely.
Often, exploring one landscape reveals connections we hadn't noticed in another. What initially seems like an individual struggle may turn out to be connected to a relationship, an environment, or a larger question about how we live.
We follow those connections when they're useful—not because we have to reach a particular destination, but because they may help us see our experience more clearly.
The landscapes are a way to orient ourselves, not a route we're required to follow.