Meet Deb Matlock

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Deb Matlock. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Deb, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
Finding our purpose is really about following our hearts. In fact, I actually think that our highest purpose as individuals is to follow our hearts. And in following our hearts, we can offer the world our unique gifts and acts of service.

For me, this is definitely how I found my purpose. From a very young age, my heart led me deep into relationships with the animals in my life and the natural world. I could not help but feel empathy for all the being around me. As a child in elementary school, I often cared for the classroom animal companions, coming in early or staying late to let the rabbit out of her cage to run around the classroom or to tend to baby chicks being born in the incubator. I remember spending entire recess periods saving earthworms who were drowning in puddles after a rainstorm. My heart guided me then, and it guides me now. I still rescue earthworms and work hard to ensure my heart is in the driver’s seat as I create my work and offer it to the world.

I think it is important to note that all of our hearts will speak and guide us. And we can listen and integrate the wisdom of our hearts into our lives in so many ways. There is not one way to follow the wisdom of our hearts!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I have come to my work through my amazing, challenging, inspiring, confusing, hopeful, painful, and surprising journey into a deeper connection with the world around me. My personal journey to a sense of empowered, nature-connected spirituality is definitely a long and winding road…a road I still travel upon today. I have gone through times of difficult confusion and emptiness, times of deep grief and despair for the world around me, and times of incredible peace, groundedness, and inspiration.

I have been a professional nature-based spiritual life coach and a nature connection practitioner and educator for more than 20 years. My work is not about specific “techniques” but focuses on listening directly to the world of spirit and the more-than-human world.

My passion is to walk/guide/assist others on their own unique journeys into their empowered spirituality and sense of deep and sacred connection with all life.

I am especially keen on helping other educators, coaches, healers, clergy, and holistic practitioners integrate deeply personal and innovative nature connection work into their offerings for their clients and communities. I grew up in Colorado and bring to my work a profound love and passion for Earth and every living being. Since childhood, I have experienced a deep, personal, and communicative connection with the earth, the world of spirit, and the animals I encounter.

As a child, I spent endless days exploring the Rocky Mountains and my first best friend was a dog named Jenny. Since then, my relationship with all of the life around me has been formed and enriched.

My work is based not only on my own spiritual journey but also on my 25+ years as an environmental and humane educator and my passion for research and academia. My work has teeth as I take my experiences and dig into them more deeply via conventional and non-conventional methods. I have spent the last several years as a professional environmental educator and naturalist, a spiritual coach and guide, and an animal communicator. I also mentor and teach graduate students. I am dedicated to exploring my spiritual connection to life and continuing to work with my mentors, take courses, and engage in research activities. I have passionately refined my natural ability to experience spirit world journeys, communicate with animals, and act as a spiritually-focused life coach, companion, and guide.

My environmental and humane education work includes teaching in the field, offering professional trainings and presentations, and researching the connections of spirituality, animism, and empathy to environmental education. My research has been presented nationally and internationally and continues to be a strong focus for my work. I have vast experience designing programming and evaluating curriculum and was previously President of the Board of Directors for the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education. Additionally, I volunteer my educational and animal communication services with local animal rescues regularly.

This fall, I am offering a lovely, intimate retreat in the heart of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Wild Land, Wild Soul takes place September 15-17, 2023 and offers people a chance to deeply connect with wild nature, live in their own natural rhythms and engage their wild souls. More information can be found here: https://wild-rhythms.com/retreat/

I also offer a series of professional trainings for educators, counselors, clergy, healers, and other holistic practitioners who are interested in incorporating their own, unique form of nature connection work into their offerings for their clients and communities. These training programs are rooted in practical experience, theoretical explorations, and personal reflection. I am passionate about helping folks create innovative nature connection work because I deeply believe that the world needs it! More about my training programs can be found here: https://wild-rhythms.com/professional-track/

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
When I reflect on my journey to date, three useful qualities, or ideologies, have been paramount to helping me get to where I am today. The first one is the willingness to follow my heart. I have always liked doing things my way and letting my heart lead. While challenging and a bit scary, it always works out better than when I deny my deepest feelings.

Another quality that has served me well is the belief that I can do whatever I set my mind to do. This belief has given me the confidence to take risks, make connections, try new things in my business, and know that I can pick up the pieces if (and when) things don’t work out as I hoped. I am not going to lie, this belief has gotten me to bite off almost more than I can chew a few times, but ultimately, it serves me well and helps me move my ideas and inspirations forward.

The last quality I want to mention is the belief that my work is not really mine. It is work coming through me to share with the people, places, and animals I work with. I try hard to keep my ego out of it and trust that I will never understand what I do’s full meaning and impact. I can only try to do my best, act with compassion and integrity, and respond in whatever way I can to the world around me. I hope that my work will lead in some small way to a world full of compassion for all beings. To do this, I believe that I am not doing this work alone but rather with guidance and collaboration with the larger mystery and the wild, amazing world of which we all are a part.

My advice for folks who want to develop these qualities deeper in themselves and their own work is to practice trusting their hearts and acting from this deep place of wisdom. I don’t want to make it sounds easy. I have had so many internal arguments when my mind wanted to go one way, and my heart wanted to go another. The power is when we can get our minds to understand what our hearts are saying. Our minds can help us actualize visions, follow dreams, and make sense of our heart’s guidance. In my experience, all of this is a continual practice in awareness and trust. This is a life-long journey!

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
The book “Women Who Run With the Wolves” by Clarissa Pinkola Estes has been, and continues to be, a profoundly impactful book for me. I first read the book in 2002, but interestingly, I purchased it a few years prior. I loved the title and felt a resonance with it, but I just couldn’t get into it when I first came across it. In 2002, I was going through some intense life changes, finishing graduate school, and reevaluating many aspects of both my personal and professional life. At that time, the words of this beautiful book penetrated my soul and deeply inspired me.

This book taught me so much about honoring my wild self, understanding my cycles of creativity, and trusting that life happens in seasons. As I slowly devoured every page of this book, I highlighted passages, made notes in the margins, and often paused to reflect deeply on what I was reading. This precious book taught me to honor the wild feminine and respect her power and rhythms. I am forever changed and deeply grateful for this book’s gifts, and I highly recommend it to everyone…regardless of gender!

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Image Credits
Doug Hill, Gabrial Reising, Deb Matlock

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