I love stripes for their simplicity, structure, symmetry and elegance. Imagining a task I need to do I see a line – start, middle, end. Linear. Flat. Achievable.

But who am I kidding? Tasks, or journeys very rarely follow the track of an elegant stripe. They may start out like that, in our head, or crafted from material, look what happens…

Despite best intentions to keep this fence uniform, neat and in order, things changed. Nature is the one that changed things. Nature determines how things are.

The vision of a stripe is beauty because it offers an easy path, of least, or actually no resistance. But in reality, what we experience in life is rather like a curly wurly bar. Still an A to B but with some twists. Sometimes presenting challenges and struggles, and sometimes giving us unexpected lovely moments. The highs and lows, not just a stable flow. As I said, just like the curly wurly bar, sometimes hard, sometimes soft, sometimes melted 😉

We never really know what is around the next corner curve, but we can still achieve something – we might just have to change our goals along the way, or even through them out of the cart altogether. Life is a rollercoaster. We know that.

As I experience more of life, and hear the experiences of others, I see that when things happen (good or bad), we try and overlay a reason onto it, something we might’ve done to cause it, and then a false correlation is born which is believed and shared and sticks. But really, things just happen to people, and it’s often just a coincidence that something else was going on. The only thing I have found that has a reason is nature.

We are not in control. Nature is.

Find it, accept it, understand it, embrace it, respect it.

Love Stripes & Trees xxx

Jogging along the river towards my secret rest stop, my special rock, I saw a couple walking ahead and getting rather close to the rock entrance. “Noooooo, don’t go left, don’t go left” I said in my head, glaring at them with lazer eyes. I knew I couldn’t catch up to them in time and overtake them, so I just kept hoping/glaring/lazering. Then, they got to rock entrance and just kept on strolling. They didn’t stop. “Yes” I thought and felt super relieved. The relief lasted a mere two seconds…because when I went left onto the rock there were some other people there. People sitting on my rock. “Nooooooo.”

I did wonder if I should stop or just turn around and go. I wondered if I’d enjoy the rock if others were there too. I wondered if they’d been there a while and if my presence might make them go…but oh, what if others come along too? My rock time was now or never. I chose now.

I sat, I breathed, I looked out at the river, I felt the cold hard rock, I heard the other people chatting quietly, I smelt the mangroves. I melted into the moment. I was right where I needed to be.

Nowadays I don’t look ahead. I don’t try and guess what others might do, or how it will affect me, I just do me in the now. Me in the now.

Love Stripes & Trees xxx

My recent attempts at finding stripes have been rather unsuccessful. I’ve seen many manmade stripes – plastics, metals, stripy envelopes (thanks Mum), but not the usual stripes of nature.

Hmmm. I thought we saw what we wanted to see. Well, it’s not happening folks. Right now I seem to be seeing how I am thinking, and my thinking is certainly not linear, but instead a jumble of tumbleweed. There is lots happening to those I love.

If I saw straight lines everywhere it might be a sign that things were just fine and dandy – stable, smooth, clean, certain. But I’m not sure that’s realistic, or sustainable, or even good for us. I’m thinking that a straight line life might be monotone not a melody, and personally I’ve always liked a good tune, especially a catchy chorus, or the lulls of melancholic pop.

The other day on a bush walk, my kids said something along the lines of ‘it seemed to take longer on the track than the road’ and we talked about not knowing where you are going when there are bends on the track. Never knowing what’s around the corner, not seeing the goal, but instead navigating the moment and noticing things along the way, and growing and learning as you go.

Straight lines do give us a breather though, and for that I am grateful. It’s a mini break from daily stresses. Tracking along the 180 is far easier on the eyes than following a spiral or any angle. Less energy expended and the satisfaction of completion – from start to finish. Sometimes it is good to know there is an end.

But best of all, when you have several straight lines you have stripes. I’d like to gift a few straight lines to my family and friends who need a break at the moment too. Or find your own stripes, they are out there somewhere, lurking beneath the tumbleweeds.

Love Stripes & Trees xxx