“You have to walk the whole path to get to any destination - even if that particular destination ends up only being a stopping point, a milestone, on the way to another destination. Continually walking half a path, and then changing our mind drains our energy and passion for life.”
Using nature as our coach and nature’s landscapes as metaphors for our lives enables us to see patterns of behaviour more easily.
For example, a business leader demonstrating their pattern of going round in circles whilst we took a walk in a local wood recognised that they did know where they wanted to go to. They also realised that only ever travelling half a path kept them circling, like an airplane, in a holding pattern. Neither leaving nor arriving, and yet on constant alert.
The remedy for this leader was committing to walking a whole path, and only assessing “what next?” when they got to their first milestone.
What path can you commit to take this week?
I’ve been wanting to write this post for some time but, as
it’s about timing, I had to be patient as it wasn’t fully developed enough till now.
If you’ve only a few moments free then that’s the punchline
too – not taking action till the timing is right, the pieces of the jigsaw are
available and have all been turned over, spring has arrived or sunset is
approaching.
Specifically not taking action too soon, nor hurried, nor
just because you think you should, ought, or must be doing something.
Busyness for busyness sake will not deliver the harvest if
the seed is planted too soon, nor will it be an abundant harvest if we keep pressing
reset, checking its growing for fear of just biding time as it percolates and
develops unseen till the time is right.
Yesterday’s #spiritchat on Twitter was about rituals –
morning rituals, daily rituals or even annual rituals that we have that support
our mind, body, and soul. It was the catalyst for writing this post on timing.
New year has always been a time for me revisiting my visions
and goals. A time for some peace and quiet, time to release the old year and
embrace the new. A time to have a transformation game, make a vision board
and/or collage. A time of reflection and inspiration.
Except this year life got in the way, and my ritual moved
out by a couple of weeks. Coincidentally out by a couple of weeks to when the
weather turned much colder after a warmer December than normal!
Interesting therefore as I reflect on nature’s patterns that
the new year doesn’t feature.
The 1st January is a human construct, an
arbitrary date to reset the year. Our ancestors would have used nature’s
patterns to live their lives by – whether that was aligned with
sunrise, sunset, longest or shortest day, equinoxes, the arrival of spring or
autumn, or so on.
In nature there’s a natural order of things – harvest comes
some time after sowing, the longer the germination and growth period the
greater the longevity of the outcome. If you want quick germination be prepared
to have to resow repeatedly throughout the year.
It’s the metaphor of this natural order of things I want to
explore today.
My belief is that logic can only get us so far in life, and logic can
certainly throw a whole load of blocks and barriers in the way with its “that
wont work”s, “it didn’t work last time”s, “I can’t”s, “must do it this way”s,
and even “won’t”s.
That is, logic is great if we’re not dealing with expanding
comfort zones, transformational change or the need for inspiration. These
require a different language, a language logic has yet to learn.
Use of metaphor allows our mind and its logic to take a
break as we get in touch with our inner wisdom – an inner wisdom that does not
have words but understands and speaks in metaphor.
As you reflect on a situation you’d like more clarity on,
perhaps one you’re becoming impatient about, or wondering when the best time to
start would be, what aspect of nature’s timing comes to mind?
Sunrise/ Sunset
Day/ Night
Longest day/ Equinox/ Shortest day
Winter/ spring/ summer/ autumn
Full moon/ new moon
High tide/ low tide
Sow, grow, harvest, seed
others?
If one pattern of timing jumped out at you, or another came to mind, take some time to
reflect on what that pattern is about.
Don’t jump too quickly to what it might mean in
the current situation. Simply think about, or even write down or draw what you know
about that pattern, look it up on the internet, keep digging into the pattern
to discover all of its features - not just the obvious.
Last week sunrise was a pattern I was exploring, and its
features included:
It follows the night
It comes slowly
It’s timing is predictable
It can’t always be seen but it’s always there
There’s a sunrise happening somewhere in the world at every
second
It’s beauty is often demonstrated when there’s just the right amount of cloud about
It’s followed by a midday and sunset (it seemed like I went
from one sunrise to the next without allowing time for the day to develop, nor
end!)
The aim is to keep going.
To keep exploring the pattern.
Once you’ve fully dived into the metaphor it’s a case of then
relating it to the current situation. What different perspective might this
pattern in nature be asking you to consider?
For example, here's some examples of what these insights might include, although this will relate to my own observations which will be impacted by my life experience at the moment, so don't be surprised if you get something very different:
I need to have a little more patience - to set something off and allow it time to get to midday and beyond, to mix the metaphor a little, to not get angry because it's still below the surface of the ground developing.
The need to sow more than the one seed might be helpful - ie an abundant harvest comes from sowing many seeds some of which will never grow or flourish.
The right time of tide depends on what you're doing - so don't judge yourself until you know the best time for the activity you're wanting to do - ie don't just follow everyone else - they might be wanting to fish not set sail!
Jumping from one deadline to another isn't allowing anything to flourish and is killing creativity.
Perhaps I just need to take action in a different location to take advantage that sunrise is at a different time there than here!!
Rather than trying to do it myself and getting lost in the dark perhaps I can ask for help to provide some moonlit illumination.
And so on.
How to embed any insights that resonate can take various forms:
You can stick with the metaphor and use screenshots or images of seeds growing or sunrises, or even go for a walk and observe the pattern in question, or
You can invite your mind and its logic to help develop a plan to release the pattern.
Good luck, and may all your seeds grow and flourish.
There's many different ways that Landscaping Your Life (LYL) uses nature as our coach,
nature’s landscapes as metaphors for our lives, to provide insight and
inspiration for the task in hand.
There's many posts here and there's even an index of highlights from 2018 that will also give you a flavour for what's possible, and includes the publication of Can’t see the wood for the trees which had featured on many a vision board for the last 20 years. (As they say, patience is a virtue and great things are worth waiting for.)
