The Power of the Snowflake

Do you remember learning as a child that no two snowflakes are alike?  There is a beauty in seeing and trying to understand Uniqueness.  But these lessons of infinite design and individuality are often tested against the reality of life cycles.

Travels to Alaska, Greenland, and Antarctica have helped me to see the Power of the Snowflake.  Glaciers are formed by snowfall at higher elevations:  the weight of the snow compresses into glaciers, living rivers of ice that flow down the mountain slopes.  Then, when the glacier's edge reaches a body of water, sections of the ice break off -- returning the snowflake that fell hundreds of years ago back to its watery origins... beginning the cycle again: snowflake, compressed snow to ice, movement downhill to meet a body of water, and its return home.

What makes you unique?
(Photo credit:  Snowflake Photographs, SnowFlakes.com)

The journey of the snowflake is reflected in our lives as well:

• How do we recognize our uniqueness?
• What challenges compress and shape our movement through life?
• When do we acknowledge we are home, we are one with others?

The power of the snowflake, therefore, is in the movement and balance between Individuality and Wholeness.

Are you aware of being part of something larger?
(Photo: Antarctica Glaciers - Larry Gardepie, 2023)

What I have noticed with glaciers is that we must look closely at what is happening now around the glacier:  ice falling off; water dripping; a river of water emerging underneath the ice; icebergs or growlers drifting away.  The original snowflakes fell centuries ago, so it is our current awareness that allows us to understand the movement... THEN and NOW.

 

The same might be said of us:  we may not notice all of the changes occurring, but the falling off of old ideas, the melting of cold relationships, and becoming aware of what surrounds us could invite us to reflect on the long term effect of our lives.  Are we moving towards individuality or coming home to something larger?

Can you allow cold relationships to thaw?
(Photo: Antarctica Icebergs - Larry Gardepie, 2023)

The beauty of life is in its balance:  the acceptance of our individuality AND the power that draws us to join others -- to move towards wholeness!

 

As we journey through these final wintry weeks and begin to glimpse the spring thaw, may we:

• Share our uniqueness;
• Notice when we are being drawn together; and,
• Invite reflection on the power of Both.

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

 

Portraits: What is Missing?

I enjoy viewing the public artwork in my city and while traveling.  To display creativity and beauty invites or encourages us to do the same: be creative in our thoughts; search for beauty in others.  We try to connect, to recognize something familiar.

While on a recent trip, I was stopped by several forms of artwork: pieces of tile arranged to reveal a Dutch nobleman; people dressed in black and red to silhouette the face of Marilyn Monroe; and a figure seated in a Sukhasana pose.

What makes up who we are?

Each of these art objects draw upon individuals (tiles, people, strips of metal) to form the whole.  Similar to a jigsaw puzzle, a missing piece would cause the image to be unfinished, incomplete, not whole. Remember what it was like to get to the end of the puzzle and discover one piece was missing?!

Is that what it is like when a loved one dies, moves away, or leaves us when there is a disagreement?  We feel separated, unfinished, incomplete, not whole.

Can we look beyond our first impressions?
(See what makes up the black and red marks,
click on image to enlarge)

I wonder if that is also true when we do not explore our assumptions about others, our conclusions about their intentions, or how we no longer see how they have changed?  We remain unfinished, incomplete, not whole.

If we focus only on the individual tiles or people in the Dutchman and Marilyn portraits, we lose the ability to see the image that is created when we come together.  Or, maybe we are locked inside the shell of what we believe: a hollow cavern that imprisons us by our thoughts.

Is there more to us than our outer shell?

This doesn't mean that we must give up our values and what is important to us.  Instead, we are invited to share what makes us unique -- while at the same time, listen and accept what is important and unique about the other person.  What binds us together is the Spirit that created and infused us with beauty.  Our goal is to seek the Both-And of the unique individuals we are and the beauty created when we come together.

May we seek out what or who is missing is our lives and learn to cherish our ability to see the whole.
 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)