In our culture, life and death have been separated. And in the process, we have lost the sense of transcendence. THE BEAUTIFUL GIFT OF LIFE The gift of life isn’t about how long or how much, but being here immersed in the fragility of each day, making tender connections that frame our meaning, and being … Read more
Nothing stands on its own. We are all connected. Yet, in failing to honour and pay attention to this myriad of intersections, we lose the flow of life. And without this, we are dead. We just might not realise it for a while…
Thursday was the anniversary of the death of the English poet John Donne nearly 400 years ago. Yet his most famous lines are as relevant today as they were then: No man is an island,Entire of itself,Every man is a piece of the continent,A part of the main.If a clod be washed away by the … Read more
We think we see reality when perhaps we only observe what we expect. And the stories we tell ourselves become amplified, and our role in them is firm and secure. Until they aren’t, and the world is no longer what we thought. Yet we have this opportunity to see with fresh eyes. If we are … Read more
We know we can’t pick up anything more when we physically have our hands full. It’s impossible. Yet, how often do we hold on tightly to ideas and identities that might have served us well in the past? Not realising that we can’t see the new connections if we don’t let go. Or is this … Read more
I spied this gorgeously coloured leaf while walking up the green path in the late afternoon. Lying on a damp mat of mushed leaves, this one shone like a gilded emerald and took my breath away. It was the only one, and I wanted you to see it too. Because you are as distinctive as … Read more
Like the overnight appearance of fruiting bodies – mushrooms, toadstools and other fungi popping up through the leaf mould or grass – the fruit of our own lives has much deeper entangled origins than appears at first sight. Yet we continue to expect it to arrive ready-packaged, like mushrooms on the supermarket shelves. Divorced from … Read more
My thinking has beenfar too small.Too small for my mind and heartand too small for my soul.I am not just ‘me, myself and I’I am ‘we, us and other’connected by invisible threadsthat weave our cloakof personhood.And that changeseverything.
When we stop to listen, we find new voices are emerging—those with the courage to speak about things that matter, without shouting. Voices that are curious about how and why things are, who ask questions that lay bare the status quo. Insights that arise from a breadth of perspective and enable us to see differently. … Read more
This slightly damp multi-layered web caught my attention. Constructed in an obscure crevice in an old guard rail, the ravages of the thunderstorm had not destroyed it. I was fascinated. And it made me think about the web of relationships that have been quietly growing over this extraordinary time. Hidden away out of normal sight, … Read more