Inspiration

It all begins with an idea doesn’t it. For me there was a moment, a moment when I saw something beautiful and it filled me with awe. In early 2023 I was on a walk along my local river, a path I had followed many times. I was in deep thought that day, lots spinning through my mind, lots of pressure in my life but the river called me. I would often stop by the bridge and just watch the river flowing, thinking of a meditation I had heard about putting your thoughts on leaves and letting them drift along the river. Mine often stuck like pooh-sticks, collecting together at the other side of the bridge, woven together like fabric. As I walked along I remembered some of my previous walks - walks in the snow where the ice cracked beneath my feet, walks where it was so muddy I could hardly pull my boot out of the deep puddles. Today it was drier, the impressions of walkers boots and dog paws ingrained in the dried mud like open fossils.

I had not expected to see much that day, I was too much in my own head. However on glancing to the left for a moment I saw it, a flash of blue. Bright blue. The sort of blue that is so jewel like it doesn’t look entirely real. It flashed past me and flew along the river and then it was gone. I stood for a moment, pulled from my thoughts. That was a kingfisher.

Two years later and I was thinking about what inspired me, what I was trying to embrace in sharing my work. It was then I remembered the kingfisher, it’s fleeting beauty, it’s ability to be resilient on land and in water. I thought of birds and of being held in wings and how sometimes we just need to be held and to learn to do this for ourselves. What we need in life is to feel like we are Between Wings being supported until we are ready to fly; ready to soar and to reach our potential.