During our last Breath of Fresh Air® taster session we walked amongst hundreds of bluebells – a carpet of blue was spread amongst the trees. When we stood in the middle of them looking at the sun filtering through the branches, hearing the symphony of the orchestra of birds and smelling the almost overwhelming scent of bluebells I had a tremendous sense of the power and greatness of the natural world, of being part of a bigger system.
We can learn such a lot from nature and we talked as a group about what we can learn from bluebells. Bluebells appear when the environment, conditions and time are right for them. They shoot up when the days start to get longer and just before the leaves grow on the trees. Once the leaves have formed a canopy above them, their seed has been sown and their work is done for another year.
Have you ever tried to do something when the conditions are not right? Perhaps you have been looking for ideas or have been trying to achieve the buy-in of others when something about the environment and conditions has been wrong.
How can we notice when it is right or wrong, how can we create the right conditions for ideas to pop up or for others to follow us without forcing them? It starts with awareness – notice the environment and tune into the conditions. What can you change?
Bluebells are only in bloom for a few weeks of the year and if we don’t make time during these few weeks we miss them. Be careful not to rush so much that you miss ideas and opportunities that pop up just like the bluebells – if you miss them you have to wait for another year.
We can learn so much from bluebells and for me the greatest learning is in noticing and creating the right environment and conditions and allowing time to spot opportunities and ideas.