Yesterday

Yesterday I ran for miles in the morning, on trail and towpath and through woods. I felt properly connected to the earth, part of it…

Yesterday I ran for miles in the morning, on trail and towpath and through woods. I felt properly connected to the earth, part of it, dancing with it, alive.

I notice how often stages of a run, beyond 5 miles at least, can make me spontaneously emotional, literally bursting with a sort of fizzing grief. Where all my senses are awake and the movement and flow of my body collides with that wokeness and the felt beauty of the world around me.

In the evening I popped into a gathering of Good for Nothing Bath, it was buzzing with people and cake. I wasn’t there long but had several sparky chats which all riffed on co-creating change, communities participating together, creative generosity, open processes, experimentation. I met older retired people, inspirational cancer survivors, younger activists and designers who seemed genuinely excited by spaces like Good for Nothing to explore ideas and different perspectives. There was hi volume hope in the room. That was a good feeling to feel.

Then I left and watched Olafur Arnalds and his band weave gorgeous musical spells in the Forum. After the first song he asked the audience if we would sing together, a particular note he played, we did as he asked, he’s a beautiful human, why not. He recorded it, looped it up and used it in the next song. I could hear it in the mix as he added layers and layers.

It was magical and rad. Participate and experiment.

And then before he played the song Nyepi — he said it was inspired by witnessing the day of silence — Nyepi — to celebrate new year in Bali, Indonesia — a day of total silence — for self reflection, fasting, meditation and for giving the natural world a break from the noisey destructive human project. It sounded like such a wonderful day.

I wish one day we might have a day of silence.