Commitment like a tree

It’s hard to be committed to anything in a world where our attention is fought for so persistently. How ironic, right? But it’s not impossible… I recently read this quote about the power of commitment from “The Scottish Himalayan Expedition” by the mountaineer William Hutchison Murray, published in 1951 and thought it quite inspiring:

“Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.

Connect with nature #3

It struck me recently*, while standing outside by the kitchen door, how much these two trees resemble a set of lungs. It reminded me of the well-known comparison of trees as the lungs of the Earth. But if you look a bit longer, you’ll see that this is no coincidence. We are connected in more ways – this simple symbolism is one of many reminders of our relationship with nature by nature. Go outside. Look. See. Connect.

*I wrote this in December. There are many more leaves on these trees now!

Connect with nature #2

Take 3,642…
Or so it felt recently when I took this photo, trying to capture some intricate detail. It had snowed in the morning, and for the first time in my life, I had to wipe snow from my car’s windows…

Connect with nature #1

I’ve been posting shorter ‘stories’ on my LinkedIn account. With writing a thesis, I seldom feel like writing blog posts too. Here is the first story I shared in December – I’ll post the rest as I go along.

A story-myth about dying

One of my clients is in the home straight of this life. It made me think of what people tell the dying, and their loved ones, before they take their last breath. Since I’ve been studying some indigenous African theories such as cosmology as part of my Masters, I decided to make up an afterlife Story-myth of my own.

The Universe and its things

I haven’t written in almost three months. I had this idea that I would knuckle down and get my thesis all written up and done ready for submission at the end of October. The only things that went into submission though were my plans and soon after that my pride. Ah well. In hindsight, this was not the catastrophe I imagined it would be.

Home-made, plastic-free toothpaste

The year has definitely run away from me – here we are. Mid June! Nonethless, I am enjoying my northern explorations and it’s a relief to know that I am in the last stretch (well, let’s just play along shall we?) of the studies. It’s going to be hectic, as we say in South Africa, so this might be my last post for a while. So, I leave you with an easy and practical project… home-made, plastic-free toothpaste!

The art of recontextualisation

Some of the reading I’ve been doing for the Masters is around context, simply because context determines culture to a very large degree, and part of the thesis is about indigenous and local knowledge systems and the proposed decolonisation of the prevailing global knowledge systems. And, furthermore, the concepts (words, ideas, etc.) we use determine our context – or at least our perception thereof! This is probably why language forms such a large part of culture.

Mzansi on the mind

It’s no secret that I miss Africa, home, ikhaya, pretty much every day. Some days, Mzansi is a tiny ant crawling on my small toe for a moment, other days, it’s the hadeda screaming in my head and seemingly making a nest in my hair. Nonetheless, I believe I am here to stay. A pale African on a crowded island.