Dear Lord, I have swept and I have washed butstill nothing is as shining as it should befor you. Under the sink, for example, is anuproar of mice — it is the season of theirmany children. What shall I do? And under the eavesand through the walls the squirrelshave gnawed their ragged entrances — but … Read more
We’ve all had those experiences of earnestly searching for something we’ve lost, only to find it right in front of us. Not seeing for looking. The other day my second lesson from clearing the thistles felt like this. In endeavouring to gather all the flowering stems along a track by the lake, I walked with … Read more
They are all around us if we dare to look. They may not be waving little flags, saying, look at me, but they are there because this is the nature of the wonderfully emergent world we inhabit. I suspect the only place we won’t find them is behind us. Because these are called regrets.
Walking in the valley this morning, I was struck by the inexorable passage of autumn. Yes, that means running in semi-dark and always going out with wellies (gumboots if you’re not from the UK). And as I paused to observe the light rain collecting on yellowing leaves across a damp landscape, I realised I was … 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
We know the phrase “he who hesitates is lost“, but there is also foolishness in stepping forward without looking. However, many of us are now facing a conscious decision to step into the unknown. Unknown because it can’t be determined, not because we haven’t done our homework. Yet while our future can’t be understood through … Read more
Just looking. I wonder why we make things so complicated. As if it’s an improvement. When we could be feasting on beauty.
“Each of us is responsible for how we see, and how we see determines what we see. Seeing is not merely a physical act: the heart of the vision is shaped by the state of the soul.”(John O’Donohue, Divine Beauty) You know those occasions when something you read takes your breath away? This morning it … Read more
What an astonishing thought! No, don’t rush away, pause for a moment instead of discounting yourself. These are the thoughtful words of Meg Wheatley and Myron Kellner-Rogers in A simpler way: “We peered out through our senses, describing our experience of what we think reality to be. We choose images to convey our experience. We … Read more
This isn’t a place where we often go. Either because we’re busy dealing with the outside stuff or it feels too scary to peer inside. Yet what’s going on in our inner, subconscious world, shapes what we see and do all the time. A recent blog from Seth Godin – The non-urgent advance – offers … Read more