…It’s late, I’ve just finished some last minute work and I’m off to Poland on a “roots trip” with (almost) ALL my family very early tomorrow (actually today) morning.

So I guess that’s one way of being thrown back on my roots-trees-”Family Forest” project, my storytelling and writing on my grandparents’ stories.

I’m thinking of trees and growth and renewing and home and ancestry and knitting and…sleep.

But before I head to bed, I wanted to share this poem/song & image.

Trunk of The Jagiełło Oak, image source

Здесь забытый давно наш родительский кров.

И, услышав порой голос предков зовущий,

Серой птицей лесной из далёких веков

Я к тебе прилетаю, Беловежская пуща.

Zdes’ zabytyj davno naš roditel’skij krov.

I, uslyšav poroj golos predkov zovuščij,

Seroj pticej lesnoj iz dalëkix vekov

Ja k tebe priletaju, Belovežskaja pušča.

Here is our long-forgotten family home.

And, having heard now and then the voice of ancestors calling,

Like a grey little forest bird, from far-away centuries,

I fly to you, Belovezhskaya Pushcha…

– Belovezhskaya Pushcha”, composed in 1975 by Aleksandra Pakhmutova with lyrics by Nikolai Dobronravov. Poem/Song source - Apparently you can download the song’s recordings here - I can’t work out how as the site is in Polish…but the words are magical - perfect - though and I love all the more that it is a song! And I love oak…even if it isn’t “whole” anymore…

[All found with thanks & gratitude to scents provided by Cathryn (a wonderful friend and colleague) who today told me of the magical land of Poland - it's ancient forests, history of democracy and the Black Madonna of Czestochowa...the town from which my grandmother and great Aunt fled to...Berlin...on false papers...during WWII.]

I will write upon my return…

It is from a modern wedding, a blended Hindu-Christian one at that, in NY’s central park.

But the henna that marks the bride’s hands is from the old…ancient even.

I am still entranced…

image source (c) John Marshall Mantel for The New York Times

image sources 1 & 2 -via google images

Ted talks: Jonathan Harris: The Art of Collecting Stories”…

Jonathan -any chance you want to collaborate one day?!?

Firstly, THANK YOU!!

Natalieshell.com has been quite a ride since 2005 (and before). And you’ve been great company & support!
After 3 years blogging thanks to Sarah, Jochem and Thomer I guess i’ve grown out of my shell a bit. So, the last months some other friends Kat, Alice and Zern (& Michael) have helped me through a blog re-fresh/re-design process - from the spiral on blue header below to the tree-design you see now…

…I can’t pretend I’ve made it easy on them. I’ve been a bit of a crazy client - and they’ve been great support even through that!

Over the next week or so, you’ll see the new design of this blog. Don’t worry, the content on my blog will still be here for you to find, though the navigation structure will change for the better and there will be some more pages/ sections dedicated to my storytelling (I’ve been busy the last years on that) and writing, as well as a more focused space for the subject of ‘change’.

I wanted to share the news with you and also let you know that in the first week their may be a few bugs/bumps as we are transitioning ‘live’ - just like real life…when you make changes they ahem, don’t always run so smooth. As I’m trying to loose my perfectionism streak this approach seems even more apt.

that’s also partly why I’ve chosen this image - I looked on flickr for spirals and saw this spiral staircase and went to grab it - and then saw a note saying there was a crack in the top left hand side corner…which makes it even more beautiful really…and true)

Looking forward to your feedback in the coming weeks!

Image source - (c) philipp klinger

 
Thanks to hugh @ gaping void & esther.

 (love the replacement of ’speech bubbles / ‘thought bubbles’ with balloons )

Have you ever wondered where all this stuff comes from…and where it goes when we throw it out?

Created by Annie Leonard (and a team…) The Story of Stuff details exactly that - how stuff travels through our system! And it presents extremely complex and large bites of information in bite-sized, simple words & delicious visual language - without the oversimplification that tends to happen when models are reduced to three words / images.  Thus where the 20mins explanation comes in… Which you can watch in chapter slots if you want to break up the time across say a week…

I know in our ‘time-poor’ world 20mins seems like a really long time, but I really can’t recommend "The Story of Stuff" enough.

Perhaps another way to look at 20mins is to think of the 20years experience & learning that Annie has managed to condense for us to understand why things are getting the way they are - and why and how stuff works they way it works… In the context of her 20years the time seems minor. And  frankly, the earth has been here longer than us and I suspect that if we don’t start becoming more educated on what we are doing to this poor planet of ours, and using our rights as citizens, consumers and employees and so forth…we may find we don’t have an earth to stand on. Put shortly - the earth has given us far more than 20mins…so perhaps we can start giving it at least the same. And I am not saying I agree with everything that  is said. But I think it gives all of us access to a lot of important terms and language to help us start thinking even a mm differently…and acting a mm differently…

I wish I could make a story about things I have learned as simply…well maybe one day I will. In the meantime, I would like to again invite you to watch The Story of Stuff. And perhaps, also let us / Annie know your thoughts…please.

And for those of you who want to do something about all this stuff, afterwards, here are some things you can do:

- Many ‘10 things you can do’ lists - all put on one webpage - how helpful! 

- Become Carbon Neutral, curtosy of David Suzuki
(I am beginning to realise I need to plant a rainforest personally…anyone know of one I should adopt?)

-50 Things you can do… 

-Save the Earth top 10

-Buy less…or things that will last longer 

I was visiting NY for the first time. After magical visits to Austin and Boston I found myself in Manhattan…

While waiting in a bagel shop somewhere for my friend, Motti - who had excused himself to take an important phone call - I found myself sitting at a table next to a man and his small son. And a conversation was struck…

Pretty soon we were talking about all sorts of things and it transpired that this man was a Doctor who worked for the UN, in the Public Health section. Among other things, he shared a story from when he was in Medical School. Though I don’t remember the teller’s name, or much else, this story of his has stayed with me:

"An important visitor was giving a lecture at our university and all the medical students were invited to attend. I found myself sitting in a crowded hall as D. A Henderson* gave a lecture on the eradication of Small Pox…after the lecture was finished, question time began, with journalists firing questions at the Dr…

 Then one man asked "Dr. Henderson, now that you’ve tackled small pox, what is the next disease you will work on eradicating?"

 He paused for a moment, and considered the question. And then answered: "Mismanagement."

I was reminded of the story today at lunch, and thought I would share it more widely than my lunch table. Of course you may also find it a helpful story when speaking about ‘Healthy Leadership’ in Organisations…

Oh and the Dilbert cartoon above. It actually relates to a story of mismanagement I experienced: A leader of an organisation whose Marketing Committee I was asked to sit on (pro bono) actually told me ‘it’s a secret’. And it wasn’t just me he wasn’t sharing it with…his staff hadn’t seen the plan since the day they made it together in a strategic planning session…but that is whole other story.

* Though I am not 100% sure the man was Donald (D.A) Henderson I am pretty sure it was as ‘Dr. Henderson’ is the name I recall from the story I heard…and given the role D.A Anderson played in the eradification of small pox (see literature) suggests the story is a true one. If you were there - well do let me know!

I drew this up to amuse myself the other day while musing on real change at the same time as writing about organisational change processes for a client…and watching/dealing with the changes thrust upon people close to me …

I actually think I first ‘created’ the doodle while working in the States a few years ago, but I never got around to sharing it.

Today I thought to share it on the inkling you would be amused too!?

I mean, when has your change at work / home ever looked like an 8 step management model (eg Kotler) ?

In hindsight, I am thinking my life is even messier than the blue squiggles  I ‘drew’ above, but you get my point…

While on representing thoughts simply and visually - this also gives me an opportunity to blog about Indexed - a great blog whose author writes her life and musings through venn diagrams on index cards…

And also to reference my grandmother, Ruth: "life doesn’t go in straight lines, darling" and something I often share with clients/friends when we think of our life story - life told in hindsight is deceptively linear / incremental. And incredibly messy and nonlinear when lived…

Perhaps better phrased by Kierkegaard: "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards" - Soren Kierkegaard

My final word today - try and enjoy the mess!