As judge of the 2010 Earth Vision Nature Writing Contest, I freely admit to a personal bias. In my opinion the Earth Vision Nature Writing Contest is one of the most important writing competitions in the world today. It asks each of us, individually, to connect to our personal relationship with the Earth and engage with the visionary; meaning future, wise and imaginative.

These are new parameters, fresh frameworks, taking Creative Writing beyond the sensual and observational; homeground of a nature writing competition.

To dare to look at this subject, to engage with it, is a leap in the dark. Rather than focusing on the minutiae of a personal life, our habitual mindset, the invitation is to partake in the biggest sharing humanly possible. This sharing embraces deep intimacy, all personal friends and relations, the brotherhood and sisterhood of our own species and every other species on the planet. The necessary expansion of embrace finally brings us to the ultimate, the holy grail of human imagination, that which sustains us all, - the Earth.

Until and unless we clearly see the Earth as an enormous gift to us all, supporting and sustaining us every nanosecond of our lives, we miss and miss out on the miraculous. That is, the collective ongoing miracle to which we all awaken each day.

A sense of the miraculous seeds in the human heart key positive emotions: amazement, awe, respect, reverence, humility, hope, deep joy and maybe even gratitude for the sheer privilege of being able to see, be, and relate in this way. It's individual empowerment through this deliberately earthed connection.

So what stops this? Why does this obvious ongoing miracle pass us by?

Bruce Lipton accurately describes it as 'weapons of mass distraction'. This phrase provides us with a big clue. We never, or rarely, return to primal perceptions. If we do, the natural world slips, slides, slithers and settles back into place. Changing elements, it breathes, blows and beckons to us. The letters of the word 'EARTH' re-arrange themselves as 'HEART'.

The first time I entered the Earth Vision Nature Writing Contest was in 2007. That year I received an Honourable Mention. In 2009 I tried again and won with a piece called 'The Declaration of Interdependence'. It became Chapter 1 of my book 'Earthbonding: the Matter of the Planet and You'. I was also invited to be the judge of the 2010 Earth Vision Nature Writing Contest.

A seed, a seed-idea, that of naming our relationship with the Earth as our earthbond and celebrating it in true bonding style, took root, grew and branched out.

It took time, of course, as does all natural growth. But three years, geologically, is but a wink of the eye.

The kind of perception that can see the events of a personal life reflected back through and in nature is one tuned to the real reality. It confirms connection to the Earth, heals and empowers, forming, of itself, a miraculous trinity.