November 12, 2024

The other side of loss is opportunity

The other day, I had to drastically prune one of my favourite plants in our small back garden. I avoided pruning it for a long time because I enjoyed it so much so it’s been happily (over)growing for almost 10 years and it gives the garden a certain calming feeling.

In a matter of minutes under the heft of a power tool, it went from lush, full, green and beautiful to spindly, grey, and sad. I definitely experienced feelings of loss that day.

But now, just a week or so later, I’ve noticed new growth – a lush, green, bright contrast is emerging on those grey, spindly branches. These are branches that probably haven’t seen light for many years but here they were, responding to and welcoming the change.

We could learn something from that.

Other observations
April 21, 2026

Keeping warm

Why is it more difficult to make creative work when I’ve rested all day? Shouldn’t the energy I’ve saved through rest be fuel to maximise creative output?

April 14, 2026

Feeding off in-person energy

If something feeds the soul and something else drains it, why is it so difficult to prioiritise the thing that’s good for us?

April 7, 2026

Permission to be done

How do we know when something is done and what’s the value of calling something done even if we’re not happy with how it turned out?

View all