It has been a delight to engage with people, in-person, again. Running a workshop for a large number of people, only a short while ago, was a real pleasure.
 
I know so many have missed the sheer pleasure of meeting people – something that we took for granted prior to the pandemic; now something we value rather more. Yet for how long will we savour, even cherish this renew experience before it returns to ‘usual’.
 
I have shared a question with many people over the past 2 years, and dug deep to review what my answers are too. The question is:

 
‘If the pandemic were a teacher, what lessons have I learnt?’

Certainly, I have made changes since our world started to spin on a new axis in March 2020. Changes that I have every intention of maintaining, whilst some things will revert, as they were, and are things I value.
 
It is still a question I play around with as I develop my plans for the next stages of my work, and life.
 
During the lockdowns we had COP26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, held in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021. Sadly, the trite saying ‘when all is said and done, more is said than done’ does seem to be ringing all to loudly. The contrails in the sky, now a familiar sight again, queues at the ports and airport as people rush for their essential break. Indeed, as I write this, it is half-term for the schools, and the complaining about the waiting times are all over the media. There is also traffic chaos on the motorways, and more. I guess the upside is that on a delightful walk, normally busy with ever increasing dogs and puppies, it was all but deserted. It was lovely.
 
What else could I do to consider my impact on our planet? What else could you do?
 
Interestingly, at the workshop I was running, there were quite a number of people in the Earth Green quadrant of the Insights Discovery model, and wheel – Earth Green being their lead colour energy.
 
Spring this year seems even more intense with the sounds of birdsong, freshness in the air, scent of flower too. Perhaps a little challenging for those that suffer with hay fever; fortunately, I am blessed not to suffer so can enjoy nature in full glory.
 
I was taking quite a few pictures on my walk; on looking back at some I had taken, I really took time to enjoy this trio of trees. All green, but of such different shades. One, a strong clear green, another heavily tinged with yellow; the third almost with a hue of blue. With a slightly dappled bright white, blue sky acting at the backdrop. Almost like an artist’s canvas.
 
Of the people I mentioned in the workshop, this so correctly picked up their ‘colours’. Some with strong green, some with yellow as their second ‘colour’, some with blue as their second ‘colour’. Each with similarity, yet each with so much more to offer. Crucially, when the ‘colours’ of Insights Discovery are appreciated, and valued, there is a real opportunity to embrace the difference and work to create something that is a far richer mosaic.
 
Indeed, in this picture, if it was but one tree, whilst still a remarkable gift from nature, it would stand in relative monocolour. The other two trees make this composition so much more interesting – especially if one is prepared to look, look, then look again. Isn’t there so much to see?
 
Sadly, in the rush to do more, see more, achieve more we so often do less, see less, achieve less. Lulling ourselves into the belief that we are ‘more’, when in reality it is a mere veneer of the superficial.
 
Much is now talked about being more human; the need to put humanity back into our work, our communities, our relationships. But are we still ‘humans doing’ rather than ‘human beings’?
 
I remember taking the picture. I had been walking quite slowly, admiring the lush foliage, not remotely think about taking a picture at that point. I walked on only to realise the magnificence of what I had seen, so retraced my steps and enjoyed the sight even more.
 
Often, when I look with the intention of taking a photograph, I look in a more intense way. My father was an excellent photographer back in the days when cameras were so different. Also, with film it was not so easy, or as inexpensive, to take so many pictures. He always said a good picture is less to do with the equipment one uses, so much more about what is seen, and the composition. I am not sure what his reaction would be to this picture, sadly he is no longer around to pass a learned and teaching eye over my work. I do hope I have at least honoured his respect of nature and photographic advice.
 
Nature had been a reminder of those wonderful people in the workshop, and the various shades of Earth Green colour energies that they brought in their world, our worlds. Each unique, each with massive contributions to make; if, like the trees, time is made to value their presence.
 
Now coming back to the initial question I shared – do you think that would be worth playing around with for a while and see what surfaces? I think so.
 
My best wishes,
 
Peter