“No one builds a house on a bridge,” he said. “Bridges are wobbly, and eventually, they fall down.” She paused for a moment and glanced out the window before saying, “what if that’s where I feel most at home?”
He was clear and to the point. He was a masterful writer. People admired his ability to distill and synthesize complicated issues. When he spoke, it was clear where he stood on any issue. While he was masterful and concise, this was also his limitation.
She was curious and adaptive. People said her eyes changed color depending on what she wore. She could sense into what hadn’t been spoken yet, and speak around the edges of things. She could transform physical spaces and turn a drab corner into a sanctuary.
He saw a light in her and wanted her to find a place in the world where she felt seen and supported. The truth was, she felt most alive when she was between places, bridging ideas or worldviews. For her, it was what happened between things that mattered most. It wasn’t as much about the literal things in life, the people, places, or things; it was the negative space and the connections between things that spoke to her.
In a world focused on doing things that could be measured, quantified, and touched, she often felt alone.
Yet there were moments when she’d sync up with the world around her and feel the fullness of her own being. It was in these moments when she was bridging ideas, moving between cultures, or weaving contexts that she felt most alive.
The sense of being stretched made her feel as though the universe could play music through her being. And in these moments, she’d feel something eternal coursing through her veins, and she knew this was what ‘it’ was all about.
And so she built a home on a bridge between two lands. Suspended up in the air, between here and there, she created a sanctuary she could return to and find refuge.
In this way, she was always in both places at once. Over time she grew roots that bridged these worlds. And as she grew up toward the sky, she could hold multiple perspectives. As the years went by, she came to be known as the woven one.
People came to her with the challenges they were facing. They sought her insight because, often, she saw things they simply could not. Because she stood between worlds, she could hold multiple perspectives. She could see the gaps in many situations and understood how to engage these gaps to coax out inherent solutions.
She built a home on a bridge.
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That thing you feel othered by, that quality you don’t know what to do with, may just be the most exquisite facet of your nature.
How do you relate to the parts of your nature that don’t fit into norms, cannot be tamed, or simply do not make sense to those around you?
What I’m Reading:
We are the Middle of Forever: Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island on the Changing Earth - By Dahr Jamail and Stan Rushworth
This book argues that the challenges we are facing are not entirely new. For thousands of years, indigenous communities around the world have faced radical alterations to the landscapes in which they live and to their communities.
Drawing on interviews with people from different North American Indigenous cultures, this book highlights the voices of individuals who’ve worked at the heart of their communities to live in ‘right relationship’ with their environment and the world. As a result of what they’ve lived through for generations, the individuals within these communities have become able to adapt and respond to change in courageous ways. I am just beginning to read this book, yet I already get the sense that it's full of potent insights arising from the life stories of people who’ve been living close to the pulse of the earth for millennia.
APPLYING REGENERATIVE PRACTICE TO SYSTEMS BEYOND PLACE - SOME THOUGHTS - By Laura Winn
I read this article last October and just re-read it as it was shared in the Network Weaver newsletter last week. What I appreciate about this article is how Winn offers three simple practices that can support a regenerative outlook: seeing life in everything, working with specificity, not generic outcomes, and starting with the care we hold for our fellow living beings. She describes how we can engage these practices in our work and lives and offers metaphors to begin shifting the mindsets that inform how we relate to the systems we are a part of and support the inherent vitality within them.
Constellations - A Group Focused on Cultivating Clarity
On October 29th, I'll be launching a monthly group called Constellations. The intention is to create a container in which we can reflect, explore and connect with others around the themes of clarity, knowing, and bringing more of yourself forward into the conversation of your life.
In each session, we will explore a different theme through metaphor and symbolism. The space will include inner reflection activities, time in small groups, and a few frameworks to deepen the explored themes.
You can expect an approach that draws upon mythological perspectives and living systems and incorporates insights from process-oriented and depth psychology. Each session will include practices to support your inner work and work with others. Learn more here.
Thank you for reading OGI!
As always, please feel free to be in touch with me.