vesterberg.se

I am sure you have had moments when you felt especially close to nature. It could have been a sunset or when you met a deer in the forest. It could have been hearing birds singing an early morning in the spring. I believe that these moments are precious. No, more than that. They are important, very important. We should seek these experiences or rather expose ourselves to them. But you can’t command or control them. You have to take the time, be still out in nature and wait for them.

I spent time trekking and living in a tent in the Swedish mountains at two occasions this summer. I was at the bare mountain region where the clouds are sailing. It was a great experience. Up there in the stillness with no people in sight (except my fellow-trekker) I took the opportunity to “connect” to nature and the wildlife. We had sunny days, which are great. Stormy weather (the wind can be very strong up there) and fog can also be positive experiences if you let them. I remember standing in a vast valley with the strong wind blowing through me. I remember seeing the clouds pass by close and I was profoundly affected.

- Hmm, what do you mean by that?

I can’t describe it really. I felt small and at the same time surrounded and embraced by nature. Now afterwards I feel that my relation to nature has changed. The wind and the clouds somehow feel familiar. Does it sound spooky to you?

I believe one of the reasons that man can destroy nature without hesitating, is that he hasn’t gazed in the eyes of a wild deer long enough.

Tell me reader, have you had experiences like these?

When I have spoken publicly I have often wondered about the dynamics of speaking to a crowd. Sometimes it is easy, like a brook flowing out from you and sometimes it is like chewing sawdust or sand. Sometimes you are able to catch the attention of the audience and sometimes you are very happy to have notes and you just want to finish your speech as soon as possible. The brook-experiences are great. It is like what you are saying is created afresh in that very moment and you say things you have not thought about before. An interested and participating audience “pulls” out a living message.

Some days ago I read an interesting article at the Pegasus site called “A whole approach to public speaking” by Carla Kimball that describes this phenomenon very nice. She talks about how we can grow in our public speaking abilities by  developing awareness when speaking. You can connect to the audience, seeing both yourself and the audience as a larger whole. She talks about establishing a relationship with the ones you are talking to and creating a shared space. What is being said is, in a way, created by both the speaker and the audience. One of the keys is to think how you can be of service. It is not about presenting your thing, but about being a servant.

I have recently experienced both being in the flow and chewing sand, so the explanation really came alive to me.

Isn’t she lovely? Almost like in the children’s books. Beautiful to look at, but don’t take a bite!. Does anyone know what it’s called in english?

Amanita muscaria

A while ago I finished reading Weinberg on Writing – The Fieldstone Method by Gerald Weinberg. I have always been interested in storytelling. When my children were small, we dreamed up stories and fantasy creatures, each one crazier than the other. I used to have secret plans of making children’s books. Writing has for a long time been on my list of personal development areas.

Since I have read other books of this author and like them, I bought The Fieldstone Method. In it, Weinberg manages to clearly describe the creative process of writing, step by step. The writing style is very practical, with a lot of exercises in each chapter. He has regular training seminars on this subject.

Fieldstone process

Weinberg uses the metaphor of building with fieldstones to illustrate the process. When you build with fieldstones you first walk around in the fields and gather a lot of stones. After that you line them up for inspection. Every stone is rough, uneven and unique as nature made them. When building, you take them one by one and try to find a fitting place. Sometimes you have to do some trimming or even cutting to get a smooth wall. Perhaps after a while, you must go out collecting stones again to fill some obstinate holes. The result is a unique wall that’s not as boring and predictable as a brick wall.

Writing process

Gathering fieldstones is catching the ideas that pop up in your mind. You catch them by writing down phrases or key words that carries the idea. Ideas can come haphazardly or in any order, but you just hang on to what is coming. Don’t try to organize or trim them at the same time. After a while you have a pile of interesting thoughts and reflections that might end up in several articles. As next activity, go through your ideas and organize; see how they can fit together and arrange them in some order. Lastly trimming is necessary; looking at the flow of language.

The metaphor he uses is spot-on. Weinberg states that creativity is a non-linear process. Reading is a linear process; most of the time you read a book from beginning to end, but creating a book is different. There is an inherent randomness in creating, because of how our brain works. Weinberg talks about different activities in the writing process; briefly he calls them gathering, organizing and trimming. You stay with one activity for as long as you have ideas. When the flow stops, you change to some of the other activities. Don’t force yourself to continue. Different activities need different states of mind. Gathering is unlike organizing and organizing is unlike trimming; the focus is different.

Software development process

I can’t help comparing Weinberg’s method to the prevalent way of creating programs. In software development we talk about working incrementally and with many iterations. That means that we build little by little and go back and forth between different phases, instead of first doing all the analyzing, after that all the design and lastly all the implementation. Software industry has found out that this way of working is consistent with man’s creative abilities and is the best way to handle complexity and the ever changing requirements.

Precious stones

Here is another word of wisdom from the book; Look for stones with emotional energy. Weinberg discusses how you can use your inner being to find the real gems. Watch your own emotional response to your stones. Don’t look so much at the exterior, you will trim and polish them later. Go for stones that awaken something in you.

Understanding through writing

To me writing is very much part of the process of understanding a subject. I don’t wait to write about something until I have fully understood. I write, and during the writing process, during the gathering, organization and trimming the deeper understanding comes. Rearranging and rephrasing becomes a powerful tool of reflection.

Weinberg’s book made explicit the way of working that I partly already used. It has deepened my understanding and enhanced my creativity. Now, I can “go with the flow” in a better way. If I would summarize with a sentence I would say “practical wisdom”. I really recommend it.

I just returned from a long walk in the forest nearby. We northern Swedes get so happy when temperature rises above 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit) and the sun is shining. We have summer now. I am fortunate to live near nature and every day I spend time there with my dog. The last weeks I have focused on listening to sounds when I walk in the forest. I make my ears big. You might think I’m crazy. Do you remember that I wrote about prioritizing senses recently? I hear birds singing, leaves that are rustling and the wind blowing. I hear my own shoes treading on twigs and dry leaves on the ground. The small sounds of leaves shivering in the wind are just wonderful. I drink it in and take the opportunity to live in the present. I pause from thoughts and plans.

Who could imagine that my dog would find such a little fellow one morning? It is April, 30th and about 8 degrees Celsius in the morning. The snow is barely gone.

It isn’t a poisonous snake and it was very dull, but I reacted quickly as you can understand.

Later, my dog found another unexpected fellow in the woods…

Songs from the wood; wonderful tones from flute and birds. The hat is mine and the young man is very familiar. He’s a great guy.

- He says it’s a lot of fun
- But he ain’t jumping around
- He is smiling
- But he ain’t moving much
- I believe he enjoys it
- Bah, I want some jumping and shouting
- Perhaps he does it on the inside

I have been moving around slower for a while. The middle part of my body has been malfunctioning and it turned out to be a failing gall bladder. Last week surgery removed it, full of stones, and now I am approaching full speed again. The way they did it was fascinating. I was asleep and I am glad for that. I usually don’t like TV programs with doctors and operations, but this operation I would have liked to watch. I now have four small holes on my stomach, the largest only 2 cm (0.8 inches). One for the camera and the others for pliers or I don’t know what. How on earth do they do it? The recovery time is much shorter with this kind of operation than with full surgery. I felt the change almost immediately. Now I can eat without feeling sick afterwards.

We live pretty close to a forest and me and my dog have wandered to and fro there, continually expanding our territory and learning to find our way around. Sometimes we tread the common tracks, but most of the time we make our own paths. Very seldom we meet someone. The animals we have met are mostly birds, like woodpeckers and black grouse. I have almost felt like it was me, Viggo and our forest.

Then one day a week ago I found footprints along my path, footprints of a bear. The population of brown bears is increasing in Sweden by 5% per year, though we do not have nearly as many as there are in Canada for example. Viggo wasn’t that interested, so the track must have been a few days old. I can tell you that a look around a bit more now when I walk in the forest and I always have my camera with me. I might have big company.

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