If your business was nature, what would it be like?

Alongside the well-worn gravel path of my morning walk, there is a pond.

It’s mostly occluded by tall trees & wild bushes of varying shades of green but if you stand in a certain spot and pause, you are offered a glimpse into this hidden world.

I had to lift my phone high above my head so the pond was visible in this picture!

Most days, the surface of the water is still, undisturbed. Simply reflecting the branches and leaves of its boundary. Some days, however, you might spot a pair of moorhens gliding silently across, their red and yellow bleaks offering a splash of colour as they leave gentle ripples in their wake.

There’s also a small island in the middle of the pond, no more than a foot in width or length. This past spring, my husband and I spotted a Canadian Goose nesting, unreachable by the foxes that prowl the landscape, followed a few days later by the arrival of a handful of beautiful fluffy goslings.

I imagine most people don’t know about the tiny ecosystem that exists there, just alongside the path. This tiny slice of peace. I say this knowing that most others I see are usually walking their dog, focused on the path ahead, occasionally with their phone in hand blind to what’s going on around them.

I see few like me, who stop and pause. Who peer into the copses of trees that litter the walk, promising secrets and life. That listen to the peculiar sound the wind makes when it strokes its fingers across the short dry stalks of a recently harvested wheat field. That notice how each part of the walk carries its own unique scent, a signature of the flora around it.

When I cross paths with those who do not see, hear and smell the same way I do, we usually share a small smile and a little nod and in my own head, I silently send them love and gratitude. I wonder whether they can see it in my eyes. I thank the Universe for placing these individuals on my path as a reminder of how much I have changed. How many layers of the busy London career woman I’ve shed, like a butterfly remembering who it was born to be.

It is this spirit of the secret pond that I carry with me, that serves as my greatest inspiration when I think about how I want my online presence to be. Visible to those who have the inclination to seek out such spaces yet imperceptible to those who are so fixated on the path ahead of them, that they are not prepared to look around and see what else they might be.

The space I am carving out for myself and my community is one of wonder, joy and the shedding of all we are not. A place where we lovingly invite our egos to quiet, where we treasure our experience of life over the validation we might get for it. Where we are unafraid to step off the well-worn path and see what else might be there, and who else we might find along the way.

And I’m grateful to you, for walking this path with me.