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| Natural beauty in native settings (Photo credit: Walkhighlands) |
Recently, traveling in the hills surrounding Dunedin, New Zealand, I was reacquainted with gorse which filled the hillside and valleys of the Taieri Gorge. Some slopes were brilliant yellow, beautiful! Others were deadened, nothing growing.
Our guide explained that Scottish immigrants had imported their familiar gorse to create hedges between their land parcels and to protect their crops from the harsh winds. The wind swept the gorse seeds throughout the region, choking out all native plants. Gorse, in all of its beauty, had disrupted the life cycle of the region's plants and animals. Pesticides were being used to kill the gorse, attempting to return the region to its previous balance.
I wonder... how often do I take what I know into new situations, hoping to make the unknown more familiar? Do I import my definition of normalcy and impose it on those I encounter? Do I hold onto what I know rather than discover anew?
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| Transplanted beauty in foreign landscapes (Taieri Gorge, Dunedin, New Zealand) |
Our guide also explained how rabbits were brought into the country as a food source. Without any predators, the rabbits overtook the countryside. The immigrants then brought in weasels and other predators to kill the rabbits. But, the introduced predators soon decimated the bird populations. The European settlers used home-learned solutions to harness the wildness of this new land, but in doing so, the natural balance was negatively affected.
I wonder... how often do we rely only on what we know and the solutions that have worked in the past, and overlook the delicate balance of what is before us: old and new; introduced and native; known and unknown; already discovered and discovery awaiting?
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| Child-like curiosity discovering together (Tauranga, New Zealand) |
To allow a new situation to unfold, let’s consider the following:
- What can I learn from what is present (now)?
- How might I let go of what I have known (past)?
- Can I hold gently and observe lightly this moment of discovery (now)?
- In what ways can I allow new thoughts and solutions to emerge (future)?
And, maybe, we are challenged with broader questions:
- Are we willing to allow the present moment to change us?
- Rather than recreating or changing the situation with our past knowledge and understandings, are we willing to be curious about the pathway before us?
May this New Week in this New Year provide opportunities to become child-like: rediscovering our world and the people around us!
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| Larry Gardepie
(click on link for website)
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