We were wild once

Don’t let them tame you.” Isadora Duncan said.

When I was about nine years old, I recall being very aware that there was a cultural effort to tame my wild and creative self.

I felt the box’s walls, and I vowed not to allow myself to be tamed. Lucky was I to have parents who did not wrap me in cotton wool. The woods and trees were my home. Riding bikes to school in every weather was normal for all of us. Not being allowed inside until 5 pm was the deal. Our playground was outdoors, and we used boxes and scraps with the creativity built into every child. Broken bones scraped skin, dirt…all situations normal.

Conformity is not so bad and has its place. We need to be able to conform to road rules, respect for our fellow travellers…

But the wild, that part of us that seeks open spaces, nature, beauty, dance, movement, play…

How we have squeezed that so successfully out of the ‘regular’ life. Kids too precious to break, parents too scared to breathe, education too tight to move, work too controlled and efficient.

Efficiency and control kill us all in the end. Our spirit, our backs, our wild.

Cultivate the wild spaces. Get dirty. Go barefoot. Apply paint to paper without knowing why. Sing. Dance.

Live the edge.

*And create enterprises where there is a place for the wild. For this is where your enterprise will gain the edge. Happy humans are able to bring their wild to work and have it support the purpose for which you are all gathered.

September 26th 2019