The picture of your power source

Joanna — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 10:57:19 +0000

I wrote a little while back about the importance of ‘plugging in’ to your own power source – of knowing what it is you need to do or where it is you need to go to recharge your batteries. Shortly afterwards I came across a piece of writing that described this same idea – of plugging into your source – in relation to the Hawaiian concept of “N?n? i ke kumu” or “look to your source”. (I was both excited and amazed to find the words that matched so well what I had been trying to describe.)

This is what Rosa Say tells us about N?n? i ke kumu on Managing with Aloha:

“Literally translated N?n? i ke kumu means “look to your source”. Seek authenticity, and be true to who you are… In the Hawaiian culture, sense of place factors very deeply into this value, sense of place being defined as both the feel of a place, and the feel for a place.”

As I said in my earlier piece, my own ‘power source’ is the west coast of Scotland. I was lucky enough to have a flying (not literally!) visit to Oban at the weekend. The sun came out as I headed west and I enjoyed a glorious afternoon of west highland sunshine. I realised when I was there that certain images contribute to my ‘sense of place’ and to the feeling the place evokes in me, the sense of recognition that I am ‘here’.

Those pictures and images include:

The deep blue water of a sea loch
An oystercatcher at the shore
Black faced sheep
Tiny flowers creeping out of the rock
A Calmac ferry crossing the bay

If I had to pick just one… I think it’d have to be the CalMac ferry.

Anyway all of this made me wonder – are there images and pictures that give you that sense of place, that instant surge of recognition, that knowledge that you’re plugging back into the source?

Coaching Wizardry » Oban

The picture of your power source