‘North and South. Nothing more. Look for the north; look for the south. Don’t stop travelling between them.’*

I’m on the train, travelling from Edinburgh to London, seeking what my organisation refers to as “seeking to be without appointment.” Effectively this means I won’t be moved to another appointment but I will remain connected.

Thirty five years is a lot of time to turn one’s back on, and I always seek to bring all of my past experiences into the present, as resources for the future – like carbohydrates, but the future is my protein, and skills and passion, my vitamins.

I am seeking to live in the “north” – Developing the work or art I must – but staying connected with the “south” – my organisation (HQ in London).

I’m trying to figure out how how to stay with the organisation – though I won’t be paid and step into a tribe of ‘creative nonconformists, … difference makers, aliveness activists, catalysts for change,’** though I haven’t got it all figured out yet.

‘When you lead without compensation, when you sacrifice without guarantees, when you take risks because of what you believe, then you are demonstrating your faith In the tribe and it mission.^

We all need a North and South – life in all its fullness is found in the tension between. It is where I have found myself to be a dreamwhisperer, listening for thin-silences in the lives of those I serve.

As Saint Hugh of Macleod so eloquently says:

‘This is it. Fight like hell.’^^

(*From Albert Espinosa’s The Yellow World.)
(**From Brian McLaren’s We Make the Road by Walking.)
(^From Seth Godin’s Tribes.)
(^^From Hugh Macleod’s Evil Plans.) – as I’m travelling, the links will be added later; also, the cartoon will be scanned rather than a picture taken on a bouncing train.