In Good Company

I felt really touched that so many people reached out after I shared last week’s feature. It was good to know that it felt relevant to so many of you.

I've been thinking about how we create communities and their importance in our lives. As humans, we have a natural need to belong—to feel connected to others and part of something beyond ourselves.

It has made me think about the people we choose to have around us.

We can sometimes think of personal growth as something we do alone. We reflect, learn, make different choices, and gradually come to understand ourselves a little better.

But perhaps the people around us become part of the conditions in which we grow too.

There are people in whose company we seem to expand. They encourage our ideas, are curious about what we're doing, celebrate our successes, and give us space to change. We leave their company feeling energised, inspired, or simply more ourselves.

Hopefully, we offer something similar in return.

There is something very special about finding people who don't need us to stay exactly as we were when they first met us. People who are growing, exploring and finding their own way too.

Perhaps that's one of the gifts of community. Not that everyone needs to think like us or follow the same path, but that together we create the space where each of us can flourish, in our own unique way.

I'm feeling grateful for those who make the world around me feel a little more spacious, interesting and alive.

Thank you.

My photo of the swallows was taken during the Wylye Valley Art Trail in 2023, on a much-needed tea and cake stop. Artist unknown.

We Grow Together

Nature • Colour • Creativity • Connection • Personal & Spiritual Growth