Heroes Not Zombies

In the A to Z of Becoming, second part, M is for ‘make’.
I like the verb ‘make’ because its essence is creativity. To make something is to create something. But it’s broader than that somehow because it includes the wider sense of taking an action, of ‘making something happen’.

Maybe you could make some music this week? Play an instrument, sing a song…..I’ve recently purchased a new guitar (I got my last guitar when I was 13, and haven’t played it for almost 40 years) – and I can’t tell you just how much FUN it is to rediscover the chords, the notes, the ways of creating a rhythm.

Maybe you are good with your hands and you could make something in the sense of building or constructing something.

Maybe you could make a change – decide what you’d like to do differently and actually start doing it.

Maybe you could make a meal, or at least a cup of tea…..

Maybe you could make a difference in someone’s life with a simple gesture, or an act of kindness……..go on, make someone’s day!

The joy of making lies in doing it consciously, doing it with both intention and awareness. That’s what makes all the difference.

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Sometimes I think change is like crossing a bridge. You know where you are, you have an idea where you’d like to be, and you see the bridge you have to cross to get there…..

But then when I saw this bridge I realised that change is often more complex than that. There are several stepping stones you have to negotiate before you even get to the bridge!

Doesn’t your life feel like that sometimes?

How many steps do you have to take before you even get to the bridge?

And once you get to that bridge…….what lies over the other side? You can’t see it yet, can you, but you’ve at least decided you’re going to go and explore it.

Well, this is exactly where I am. I’m in the process of moving to live in another country. I can see the bridge, but I’m still negotiating the stepping stones! Exciting, huh?

Just as an aside, the other interesting thing which struck me about this particular scene is that the river which the stepping stones and bridge are designed to help you cross doesn’t actually seem to be there at the moment – its grass instead of water. A lot of rivers are like that, sometimes flowing full and fast, and sometime trickling along a path (usually a stony path, but in this case a green one!) So maybe in certain circumstances you don’t need all these stepping stones and bridges, you just walk straight across…..

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If you look carefully two people in close conversation often end up mirroring each other’s body movements and positions. I’ve always found it fascinating and usually it means they are very much in tune with each other.

But these two trees expands that idea for me – see how they seem to have developed similar features at exactly the same places in their trunks……strange, huh? Guess they are in tune with each other!

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Look closely at this photo. The white object which you can see is a concrete post. The tree has grown around it.

The tree is about the height of a five or six storey building so I’m guessing it is many, many years old. Slowly, imperceptibly, it must have first encountered, then grown around the post.

Isn’t that amazing? A brilliant example of adaptation!

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