Blog: Land, Place, and Time. A View of Identity and Belonging
When we speak about identity, it’s easy to focus only on the personal—our choices, experiences, or internal narratives. But identity is never formed in a vacuum. It is deeply shaped by the land we inhabit, the places we move through, and the histories that stretch behind and beyond us. Exploring identity through a systemic lens invites us to understand ourselves not just as individuals, but as part of wider ecosystems—cultural, familial, historical, and ecological.
Land: The Silent Influence
Land holds memory. The landscapes we are born into, the soil our ancestors walked upon, and the environments we navigate daily all leave subtle imprints on our sense of self. Even if we are unaware of it, the physical world shapes the rhythms of our lives—how we relate to space, nature, seasons, and the very notion of home.
For some, land represents rootedness: a place tied to lineage, stability, and continuity. For others—especially those whose families have migrated, been displaced, or experienced colonisation—land can carry a sense of loss, disconnection, or longing. These unspoken relationships to land are not just external but live within us, influencing how secure, seen, or displaced we feel in the world.
Place: Where Stories and Histories Converge
Places are not just geographic; they are woven with memory, story, and meaning. A childhood street, a family home, a city left behind—these places create emotional landmarks that continue to shape our inner landscapes.
The places we come from carry collective histories: of migration, struggle, resilience, or cultural evolution. These histories often surface in therapy, sometimes in the form of inherited patterns or unconscious loyalties to the past. Understanding where we come from geographically and historically can open pathways to healing and self-acceptance, especially when working with experiences of exile, diaspora, or generational trauma.
Time: The Invisible Thread
Time weaves through both land and place, adding layers of complexity to identity. Our personal timelines—birth, loss, migration, new beginnings—intersect with broader historical currents. Often, these larger forces are invisible but powerful: wars, political shifts, economic upheavals, or cultural renaissances.
We recognise that individual distress may be linked not just to personal experience, but to unresolved histories from previous generations. In therapy, giving space to these larger timelines can offer a wider context, reducing shame and fostering compassion for the ways past and present intertwine.
Belonging: Finding Home in the Self and the World
Belonging is a core human need. Yet, many of us wrestle with the question: Where do I belong? For those with disrupted ties to land, place, or culture, belonging can feel precarious or conditional. Therapy informed by this awareness can support individuals to reframe belonging—not simply as a matter of fitting in, but as a deeper, layered relationship to self, community, history, and environment.
Sometimes, the therapeutic journey is about recovering lost connections to land and ancestry. Other times, it is about creating new places of belonging—internally and relationally—where a sense of rootedness can grow.
Closing Thoughts
Land, place, and time are not just poetic concepts—they are essential dimensions of identity. In therapeutic work, attending to these layers helps people make sense of feelings of disconnection, grief, or yearning that may have no obvious source.
By understanding ourselves as part of a larger tapestry, we are better able to honour where we come from, grieve what has been lost, and imagine new ways of belonging. Healing, then, becomes not only personal, but an act of reconnecting with the larger ecosystems—both human and natural—that have shaped us all.
