strike a spark and form a circle…

 I'm celebrating the 6th anniversary of 37days this week with a few guest posts. This one is by the wonderful Viv McWaters from Australia.

Gathering, again

Powerful fun and learning

merge -?Opens hearts and minds.

Haiku, Applied Improv Conference, Banff 2007 

There’s something quite magical about stepping onto a plane in one country, one climate, one time zone and stepping off somewhere completely different. I’d travelled with my friend Andrew Rixon. More than 24 hours together. Queuing, leaving, talking, questioning, anticipating, queuing, eating, flying, queuing, driving, arriving. And what a place to arrive. Banff, in the Canadian Rockies. It was cold. It was November 2007.

This is where I first met Patti Digh, at an improv conference in Banff. Who would have thought that three years later I’d be sitting at my computer writing a blogiversary post for 37 days? The world needs more celebrations. This chance meeting and all its consequences are well worth celebrating, that’s for sure.

—

On the same day as I read Patti’s post about her blogiversary, a package arrived in the post from my friend Anne, in New Zealand. She’d had a rough year in 2010. Doesn’t everyone have a rough year, one way or another? Big and small challenges, disappointments, surprises.

In the package was a matchbook – a collectable souvenir – by New Zealand artist Megan Hansen-Knarhoi, who is a master at making things that in reality are not what they appear to be. Inside is one crocheted burnt match and two ready to strike. The front of the matchbook says “Strike a spark!”

—

We were gathered in a white room in a building in inner London. The walls were white because the space was often used for art exhibitions. It was an eclectic gathering of people who’d come to explore alternative approaches to meetings hosted by my friend Johnnie Moore. He is fond of using the talking stick approach. So we sat in a circle and he explained that whoever has the talking stick can, well, talk, and everyone else listens. It enables us to experience the gift of speaking without being interrupted. When finished, the talking stick is placed in the centre of the circle, ready for whoever wants to speak next. As Johnnie was explaining this he was holding a small rainstick. I’d never seen one so small. As he placed it in the centre he explained that it had been given to him by his friend Patti Digh at an improv conference in Banff.

—

These events – in different places, at different times, with different people – are examples of the invisible, yet powerful, threads that connect us. What sustains these connections and gives them resilience is people. People like you, and me, and Patti. People who are generous, curious, creative and spontaneous. And the secret – that I’ve learned from connecting with Patti – is that we can all learn to be more generous, more curious, more creative and more spontaneous by simply being who we are. We are already all that we need to be. Sometimes we just need to strike a spark for ourselves or for others. For me, and for many of us reading 37days, Patti is the one who strikes that spark.

 -Viv McWaters

Oh, Viv. I love the circularity of this, of that wee rain stick I gave Johnnie showing up in your presence in London, of the spark. My thanks to you for this beautiful reminder of our interconnectedness.

[If you'd like to contribute a happy blogiversary guest post for this week, please email it to me at patti@pattidigh.com]