Spring has arrived

I am always amazed at the power and beauty of nature. This picture shows some wonderful early spring blossom – how glorious!

I was walking past the college where I studied for my first postgraduate qualification, many years ago, and was rather absorbed in a sizeable trip down memory lane. Then suddenly I noticed this tree which may well not have even been planted all those years ago. How the tree must have grown in the years that followed. How magnificent the blossom looked on such a fresh day – that was enough in that moment, on that day. To wonder at the these soft petals, the subtle colour, the very delicate perfume, the way it made me feel – simple magic.

As I walked on I was captured by the analogy of how the tree had grown; the subtle spectacle of the blossom being ignored by many absorbed in looking at their phones. Perhaps at the important issues in their lives….perhaps distracted by the trivia. I was not to judge.

And yet as I walked on, the thought of the quiet growth of that tree made me question how I had grown over the same number of years. I don’t have seasonal blossom to display, the rich green leaves that will follow, the autumn colours as the year draws to a close, and the stark empty branches that seem to sleep. Yet all the while the tree slowly grows.

In the passing years I have grown too, we all have grown. Yet a question lingered on that wonderful spring day; perhaps a question that started many years ago that tested me to enrol at that college. A phenominal journey of lifelong learning that continues to this day.

Last year I wrote about the mayfly. Soon, I will again return to that business school for new learning, meeting familiar people, meeting new people; will the mayfly accompany me on my next educational adventure? I do hope so. I am sure it will provide another ‘growth ring’ in my own development.

So a simple question: As the seasons change, and a year of new growth starts what will you be doing?

My good wishes,

Peter