A little over a year ago, I had the pleasure of watching my friend Finnan give a short dissertation on the Butterfly Effect to a couple of enraptured adolescents (do those two words go together??) while sitting around a campfire. Being the natural lecturer that he is, Mr. Finnan with a big expressive grin on his face, stood up in front of them, drew his arms up and down dramatically and explained the phenomenon.
A flap of a butterfly wing can alter the weather systems far far away.....................it is the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that ultimately cause a small change in the initial condition of the weather system, which causes a chain of events leading to larger scale alteration. If the butterfly had not flapped its wings, the developing system might have been very different.
Possibilities.........different results................with the flap of one wing.
I liked the whole idea. I decided later to use the concept with respect to my personal trajectory......move it away from weather systems and apply it to behavioural systems. What would happen if I started one new adventure in my life? Would it alter things? With a nudge from my husband and my friend Finnan and a flap of my own wing, I decided to set up my own blog. After years of perambulating, I would kickstart my love of writing again. This time, however, I would take it one step at a time, one topic at a time............and base it around a global theme of Awareness. I would allow myself a chance to explore any topic that piqued my interest.
More aware....alert..........in tune.......inwardly and outwardly....
Over 270 posts later, today marks the first anniversary of my own corner of the blogworld.
One flap of my wing brought writing into my daily routine for the first time ever. One flap of my wing has allowed me to broaden my thinking, to hone my writing skills, to experiment with poetry writing, to tackle topics that I hadn't even contemplated before. One flap of my wing has allowed me to explore my spirituality, to strenghten my faith, and at the best of times to connect with God while writing. One flap of my wing has sent me forward in a completely new trajectory. In fact for the first time, I believe that there is a possibility of a career change through my writing. It has been a full year of generating ideas and never feeling depleted of them. I have more ideas now to ponder over than I did when I started.
The most fascinating and fulfilling aspect of being part of the blogworld are the connections I have made simply through sharing thoughts and words..........drawing pictures with our lyrics. I never expected that at all. As we all know, writing is a solitary activity. That's what I expected it to continue to be. Add blogging to the mix and one transforms the solitude into community.
One flap of a butterfly wing............... brought new breezes, blessings and a completely new view from the veranda. I look forward to what year 2 brings.
PS. Thank you all for supporting my efforts, and for all the encouragement you send my way whether is through the comments, an email, a phone call or a drop in visit to my office for a chat on the topic. Thank you to my family who have all put up with my new obsession. I am very appreciative.
A flap of a butterfly wing can alter the weather systems far far away.....................it is the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that ultimately cause a small change in the initial condition of the weather system, which causes a chain of events leading to larger scale alteration. If the butterfly had not flapped its wings, the developing system might have been very different.
Possibilities.........different results................with the flap of one wing.
I liked the whole idea. I decided later to use the concept with respect to my personal trajectory......move it away from weather systems and apply it to behavioural systems. What would happen if I started one new adventure in my life? Would it alter things? With a nudge from my husband and my friend Finnan and a flap of my own wing, I decided to set up my own blog. After years of perambulating, I would kickstart my love of writing again. This time, however, I would take it one step at a time, one topic at a time............and base it around a global theme of Awareness. I would allow myself a chance to explore any topic that piqued my interest.
More aware....alert..........in tune.......inwardly and outwardly....
Over 270 posts later, today marks the first anniversary of my own corner of the blogworld.
One flap of my wing brought writing into my daily routine for the first time ever. One flap of my wing has allowed me to broaden my thinking, to hone my writing skills, to experiment with poetry writing, to tackle topics that I hadn't even contemplated before. One flap of my wing has allowed me to explore my spirituality, to strenghten my faith, and at the best of times to connect with God while writing. One flap of my wing has sent me forward in a completely new trajectory. In fact for the first time, I believe that there is a possibility of a career change through my writing. It has been a full year of generating ideas and never feeling depleted of them. I have more ideas now to ponder over than I did when I started.
The most fascinating and fulfilling aspect of being part of the blogworld are the connections I have made simply through sharing thoughts and words..........drawing pictures with our lyrics. I never expected that at all. As we all know, writing is a solitary activity. That's what I expected it to continue to be. Add blogging to the mix and one transforms the solitude into community.
One flap of a butterfly wing............... brought new breezes, blessings and a completely new view from the veranda. I look forward to what year 2 brings.
PS. Thank you all for supporting my efforts, and for all the encouragement you send my way whether is through the comments, an email, a phone call or a drop in visit to my office for a chat on the topic. Thank you to my family who have all put up with my new obsession. I am very appreciative.
13 comments:
How wonderful to be discovering your blog on your blogging anniversary! Happy Anniversary! And thank you for your comment on my recent post-otherwise, I'd never have found your blog! It is an adventure writing in this medium, connecting with souls we'd never know of otherwise and I love that, but also feel frustrated sometimes because I've not enough time to be able to participate regularly.! But I can't imagine anymore life without all our written expressions and sharings. I look forward to returning here!!!
Hey, the butterfly effect! I remember writing about that a little while ago. And... I remember someone special using that very search term that led her (you) to me.
Happy anniversary!
It should be me who is thanking you! You have written about all kinds of interested topics and because of you I have also started a blog for myself. I haven't really decided on its theme and I seem to be all over the place but it is a start. Through your blog I have gotten to know a really kindred spirit who is intelligent, witty and sarcastic at times (I love that last part best). Thank you for flapping your wing enough that it caused the atmosphere in my world to shift just a bit. This has been a wonderful addition to my routine and I always look forward to seeing if you've posted something new every morning when I come into work. Not only are your posts riviting but the artwork and pictures are like the herbs added to make an already perfect dish that much more appetizing.
Thank you and I look forward to the next 270-365 posts.
Wow, the butterfly effect is intoxicating (in a good way, of course.)
I love how the bright, piercing orange colors mirror the intensity of the words you write.
Happy blog anniversary and have a good week.
Welcome Alexandra. I agree with you. Not only is the writing and the reading time consuming (but always enlightening) it does chip away at the time one has for other things. One of the pasttimes that has seriously altered since I started this venture is my fictional reading. In fact the books that seem to capture my attention are more related to the topics I seem to want to write about. Look forward to your feedback and comments in the future. I'll be visiting your site often......
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Well, Mr. Althouse. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post. I plan to write on just that part of the butterfly effect. Good to see you again.
Muskie
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sunny.....I love that you have joined the foray. Your posts and insights are wonderful to read. Funny how it's through our writing that we are getting to know one another better. I may be moving across the street on Monday, but I'm still up for a walk at lunch across the bridge!!!
As far as finding a theme for your writing? Just go with what you want to write about and the theme will find you.
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Barbara: I chose that photo because Monarchs are plentiful here in the summer and the zinnia flower is still blooming in my garden. Orange is such a vibrant colour. Thank you for stopping by.
YEAH!!!! Happy One Year! I am very glad that I recently "found" you (don't remember how). This is a great post and I feel very much the same way about my experience. This is year 2 for me.
also - great pic of a butterfly!
Tis a grand year when the nudge of a butterfly wing inside your reality causes great joy across the world. May your next days bring more awareness!
"For centuries, people puzzled over exactly where the millions of Monarchs that spend their winters in Mexico and California came from. But in 1937, a researcher named F. A. Urquhart began putting wing tags on the butterflies, allowing him to track some of the travelers. In the 1950s, he expanded the project, enlisting more than 3,000 volunteers across the country in his Insect Migration Association. For more than 20 years, the volunteers helped track the marked insects, contacting Urquhart whenever they found or saw a marked Monarch.
The results of the tracking project astounded many people. One tagged butterfly was tracked along a 1,870-mile route. Originally tagged on September 18, 1957 in Highland Creek, Ontario, it was spotted again in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, four months later. Of course, the butterfly's actual flight distance was even longer than a map suggests, because the insects don't fly in a straight line. They must dodge mountains, fight against winds, and flee predators on their perilous journeys."
http://tinyurl.com/qqy7j
And despite the typical gloomy news from the liberal leaning environmentalist crowd, the mightly monarch is flourishing once again, proving that we know nothing about nature.
Layla........funny, I don't know how we connected either, but often I visit another site and see that you have been there visiting as well.
Anselm............my Finnan friend. I can always count on you to add some poignancy. Good thing we have the monarch to help us usurp those barking bellicose libs and their sky is falling predictions.
One more thing............for some reason when I read your comment, I automatically read it with an Irish lilt in my head. A surefire way to turn prose into poetry.
PS. Thank you all your bloggy encouragement. See you at the market.
Hey Aware, just saw your comment on Mike's blog and had to come tell you:
YOU ARE A WRITER! AND A DAMN GOOD ONE!
Barbara (aka Layla)
Thank you Layla/Barbara......
This bloggy milestone has allowed me to see myself in a new light. I do feel more like a writer....and I truly appreciate your compliments. I found Mike's post yesterday so serendipitous because there he is MILES away, thinking similar thoughts.......
The Blogworld is a true global village.
Uhh... Anselm flapping his arms? Had a wee bit too much o' Jameson's, didya, Anselm?
I had a weird English teacher in high school who sometimes would take off his shoes, climb up onto his desk and flap his arms... dunno why.
Ah! He must've been a moonbat! Heh!
(There was an even weirder supply teacher known only as "Al", who always did impressions. Now, that guy was a real-life Kramer [Seinfeld]!)
Felicitations on having had a blog for a year, Awareness. Myself, I passed the one-year mark this Sep. 11th and this week passed the 600th post milestone.
Anselm also urged ME to start a blog, and I eventually did. Guess I had to in order to stop driving Kate McMillan nuts with my incessant commentary on Small Dead Animals.
Hey Sentinel guy........
Arm flapping? I think it's to ward off the moonbats :) they like the wafting scent of o'Jameson's.....then when they get too close you can swat them away.......like gnats.
Truth be known? Anselm urged me to start my own blog because I was constantly sending my bloggy type rants his way! I still do every now and then.
Teachers? My wackiest one was a high school biology teacher who owned one suit. When it was time to send it to the dry cleaners once a year (I'm NOT kidding) he would don his university marching band uniform and wear it to class. He also counted lockers when he strutted down the hall. Do you think maybe this gent needed anti-psychotic meds? methinks so.
Thank you for dropping by (and thanks for the kudos). Your stream of consciousness prose is always a welcome treat.
My h.s. principal was quite "different" also. Very nice fellow but famously a bit eccentric.
He's a neat nut- always picking up garbage at every opportunity. Once someone brought in a big dog, which naturally took a crap on the floor in the hallway. The principal came along, picking up garbage, almost picked up the crap before doing a double-take and recoiling. THAT he wasn't going to touch!
Today he dresses up as the Loyalist Man and acts as a town crier. Well, it's a local thing. Lots of folks act weird in my city and it's hard to tell whether it's one of those acts people do in public for fun... or if they're just totally nuts. And there's lots of nuts, (as well as radical moonbats) which is why I actually partly dread going uptown!
The pigeons are quite scary, too, pooping all over everyone...
Oh, and at UNBSJ, the professors were even weirder than my h.s. teachers! Well, many of them are moonbats, as it IS a university, which is a moonbat paradise.
Well, that's the "Oldest City in Canada".
As for the arm-flapping, sometimes it helps if one has just let out a whopper of a gaseous emission via the "backdoor" to wave one's hands around for dissipative effect...
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