#129: Three Thoughts To Consider

Some of you have asked me to include the images of the artworks I reference. You want to see the art but don’t want to leave the words. I’m still thinking about that. For now, I want to keep the letter as words, and also, I’d like you to visit the artists’ pages.

Still, I have listened and found a solution for the art lovers among you.

First, my ever-effective research assistant Romy Suter created this compilation of all the different artists I’ve mentioned since January 2020. Grab a glass of wine, your family, and your credit card and start exploring.

Then, I shared some of their work on my Instagram account. 1, 2, and 3 will take you to this week’s posts. I hope they bring you as much joy as they bring me.

Given that last week’s letter was pretty lengthy (thank you for all the messages, I appreciated them), I thought that today I would keep it a little shorter and share just three thoughts to consider. That said, each of these thoughts has triggered chapters worth of musing for me. I hope that they do the same for you.

/strategy 

The first is this “Mr Smith doesn’t see the change as good or bad, ‘just different.’”

Let me explain. Earlier in the week, my attention was caught by Catrin Einhorn’s New York Times piece “It Was War. Then, a Rancher’s Truce with Some Pesky Beavers Paid Off.”

She explores how some farmers are shifting their approach to beavers. Einhorn explains that for decades beavers have been regarded as pests, to the extent that the federal government killed 25,000 of them last year.

Yet, as with so much current science, researchers are discovering that beavers play a valuable part in a more dynamic ecosystem. Well, more accurately ‘rediscovering’ what was known for generations to first people cultures.

The dam-building that they do, simply because they’re beavers and that’s what they do, turns out to be invaluable. The dams store water in times of drought, they slow water run-off from big rain or snowmelt, in turn, enriching groundwater reserves. And the resulting wetlands create habitats that encourage biodiversity.

All in all, working with the beavers generates some pretty spectacular results, but it does require working with them. They don’t follow job descriptions. They refuse KPAs. They do as beavers do.

Einhorn introduces us to Horace Smith, a rancher whose been exploring ways to partner with beavers.

She tells us that “Mr Smith’s father got so angry at beavers in part because the sides of their dams would fail during the rush of the spring snow melt, sending damaging sediment onto his hayfields. But the younger Mr Smith decided to try a different approach to cattle management, moving them around his land and letting them spend less time around the creeks. That allowed shrubs and trees to grow in along the banks, making the whole area more stable. Eventually, if the beaver dams did give way, they would do so at the center, and the surge of water would stay in the channel.

Over time, beavers expanded the wetlands. New meadows grew in. Willows sprout from beaver dams, having taken root where the animals anchored them. The water runs clear. Fish and frogs have returned.”

And so, we return to our first thought to ponder.

Einhorn reflects that “Part of what has made the partnership successful is Mr Smith’s flexibility. For example, beavers have completely rerouted one section of creek. But Mr Smith doesn’t see the change as good or bad, ‘just different.’ The most important thing, he said, is how much water they’re storing on the land”.

We often get stuck trying to impose a model or a process onto our business or our lives. We burn enormous amounts of energy fretting that it doesn’t look or work like it is ‘supposed to’. It does work, just not in the way we want it to or think it should.

What if we accepted that we do as beavers do? That perhaps there is a logic to our way of being. That perhaps there is a logic to others’ way of being. Horace Smith teaches us an important lesson. Whether the creek goes left or right doesn’t matter as much as whether the outcome is achieved. The right way isn’t as important as the way that works.

And, of course, there are boundaries. When the beavers build dams in the irrigation channels, he takes them out. The dams, not the beavers.

/self

Our second thought comes from psychologist and director of the Pacific Zen Institute, John Tarrant.

In Bring Me the Rhinoceros And Other Zen Koans That Will Save Your Life, he writes that “If you are used to living in a small room and suddenly find yourself in a wide meadow, you might feel unsafe. Everyone thinks they need happiness, but they might not. They might rather keep their stories about who they are and about what is impossible. Happiness is not an add-on to what you already are; it requires you to become a different person from the one who set off seeking it.”

/soul

And, finally, a thought from Pan-African platform for writing, art, and politics, Chimurenga.

They wrote, “If this is the world designed and sustained by the winners – let’s listen again, more closely, to the losers.”

And that, my friends, is us for today. I trust that you are inspired and provoked. I will see you next week.

Please share this letter with a friend who helps you live in the meadow and who lets you build your dams in your way, trusting that you’re adding to the ecosystem in ways that they might not immediately understand. They’ll be happy to know that you know that they know you.

All the very best to you and yours

Karl

PS: You can learn more about my coaching practice here. If this is the first time that you’re reading this letter, you can subscribe here.