The Evolution of Me

In my previous blog I spoke briefly about the theory of evolution. In the perspective of human evolution of modern lifestyle the term environment means changing your daily habits to something different. For example if you walk out the door every morning and turn left and take the same route to the bus or train or the job that you do everyday your mind and body becomes so used to the routine that you never think about what it is you are doing. You just do it. But what happens if you turn right? All of a sudden your brain starts to function, it has to make decisions about which direction to go, how long each different option will take etc etc etc. Your body becomes alert to the new sounds, feelings and sensations you are experiencing as you make the change. If you turn right it means you are taking yourself outside of your natural environment. The process of adaptation to changing environment means your genes are overlaid with new information that then become a part of your genetic encoding, thus the process of evolution continues. Why this sudden interest in evolution? Let me explain.

Whilst in London we workshopped as a group in Leadership training. It was an interesting program and it got me thinking about what it is that I really want to do. I thought that I had it all sorted out. You know my goals and aspirations, my career path etc etc etc. Turns out I am so far off the road to reaching my goal that I had to really think about how to get back on track. Parts of the solution came about through workshopping with my peers. The other part resolved itself by my determination to change my life. Change is a difficult thing to do. Especially when you step over the threshold into the unknown. Taking that first step is the hardest part because you have no idea what is in the unknown world or how it will turn out. You take a leap of faith. You put trust in the process of change. And let me tell you I was scared. However, the good news is that it is working out beautifully and I am so glad that I stepped over the threshold. On my return home I decided to put some serious effort into changing my job. I put my CV out there with intent. I had not wanted to leave the Museum, however I now have a very large mortgage and I needed to gain some lee-way financially so that I could at least eat something for two weeks and not just one week. Stretching food is also difficult especially seeing as I do not have time to cultivate my own, although I will do that eventually. I fly solo so it is not as though I have a partner to share the load. I do have a fantastic brother who I share the house and mortgage with. However, my pay does not seem to cover much. Inflation is wearing me down. I was losing my happy nature to the bonds of finance and gain. I had to do something positive to make my life a little easier, a little lighter and less burdensome. What I really needed was a new job that paid more and gave me professional development. I needed to create the changes necessary to enhance both my personal and professional life. 

I had already made the decision to leave the Museum mid-year, however I had not put much effort into actually making the change. Once I realised that I had to make more of an effort to make the change I can happily say all is well. I now have a new job that fits my required criteria and it is in Anthropology. I am so happy because it enhances my personal and professional life. I feel relieved and grateful to the powers that be who support my decisions and thank my friends, family and mentors for their ongoing encouragement. Stepping outside my comfort zone frightened me yet I love the challenge of learning something new. I love the unknown because I have no idea what to expect. One thing I do know is that I will learn and grow as a person, both professionally and personally. Therefore I am a product of the process of evolution!

Life is good!

London Dreaming

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I wonder if that is evidence to my fascination with England and my wish to return. I have been home for over a month now and my head, my heart and my soul hungers for London. An amazing city that appears to have filled my heart and soul with something that I cannot do justice too in words. I think if I had stayed in London for one more week I may not have been so willing to come home. It was wonderfully exhilarating and extremely foreign, yet I felt right at home. Now how does that work?

Having said that I was glad to see sunshine once I hit Sydney airport and I did not realise how bright it is over here. In fact the glare at Sydney airport sent me searching for sunglasses in the bowels of an endless pit of a small thing called my handbag. It is really interesting how things get lost in a woman's handbag. Still search I did whilst my eyes began to water from the glare. I didn't miss that at all. 

Since arriving home my head remains in London. I watch every English program I can just so I can see the buildings and the suburbs and listen to all those foreign voices that I loved hearing. Most of all I look for places that I visited. I am feeling an incredible sense of missing London. I want to travel around the UK and see the places I did not get to see. I want to go to Wales and hang out at Petworth House, home of William Turner's works that hang on the walls. I want to study Turners works up close and personal. I want to experience snow. I have never seen snow and I really want to be in England when I get my first touch, taste and feel of snow. I want to feel the cold on my cheeks and rug up in warm clothes. Yes folks I fell in love with London and the surrounding cities that I did visit. There I said it. It almost feels surreal to admit that I fell in love with a city. I never thought that would happen to me, not ever. I thought that nothing could equal my sense of belonging and love for Noongar country.  But there you have it, I fell in love with London, and I have to say it is a strange feeling to have a love affair with a city. 

Now that I have declared my love for London openly to the world, I just want to say returning to normal has been a struggle. I spend parts of my day with the sights, smells and sounds of places that I experienced. I can visually see them in my mind and it has just occurred to me that I am extremely observant. In fact so observant that I have imprinted my experience into my genetic coding and overlaid my genes with new information. Having noticed my sense of observation I realised that my experience has added to my evolution as a human being. The basic principal of evolution is to be taken out of our natural environment into a different environment thereby creating adaptation to our changing environment that then overlay our genetic coding with new information. It is this basic principal to the process of evolution that I feel the change. I feel the difference in me as I begin to think globally rather than locally and broaden my response to the local with a global perspective. It is amazing how small the world is once you step outside of your backyard and roam the foreign highways of another culture, familiar yet different. The most incredible difference in my thought process is the realisation that we are all fundamentally the same yet different. I always knew this but when you actually experience it you really begin to understand that phrase, it becomes clear and transparent. Our similarities as human cultures out weigh our differences and if we actually focus on our similarities rather than our differences the world would be a better place. My thinking is roaming foreign lands with foreign thoughts and I am having trouble putting things into perspective as I move out of the localised setting into the global. My adaptation to new information is continuing to be processed.

I have had a taste of what is from my perspective the 'other' and now wish to explore its culture and experience the history of those that lived before us. It is an amazing journey of human resilience and is testament to our ability to adapt to our changing environments and to improve our lifestyles. In fact you could say that I am having an anthropological response to a wonderfully exciting experience that I wish to continue.

Life my friends is here to be lived!

Life is good!