I realized the other day that I have a bit of “beaver brain”. Just as the beavers that we share our lake with, I like to identify a need or desire and set right about to tackling it. Need a tree for lodge renovations? Swim over, cut it down, pull it back to the lodge, pack it in with some mud and voilà, job done. Float around a bit and then on to the next task. Yep, that is pretty much how I work, although luckily my tasks generally don’t involve chewing down trees.
This approach has worked pretty well for me for decades, but I am now beginning to see the value of layering this with a what I like to think of as a pyramid mindset. By this I mean a frame of mind in which you can embrace the idea that you will work on some projects where you may never see the desired end result. In fact, you may never see much progress at all. It seems to me that cathedral and pyramid designers were locked into this mindset and even though they knew it would take multiple generations to execute their ideas, they did not let that knowledge deter them.
Over the past few days I have been in meetings with several “pyramid builder” people and it has been inspiring. They have visions of not yet created walking paths, local genotype seed banks and cooperative, sustainable communities. The realization of all of these projects is years and in some cases possibly decades away and yet they are tackling them with beaver-like vigor. These folks are not looking for the immediate gratification of a well placed log, but rather see how the well-placed log may lead to a more diverse and enriched ecosystem. I love this!
As I have been practicing layering a pyramid mindset onto some of the projects that I am working on, I am beginning to find a calmness and a re-defined sense of patience. It takes away the immobilizing feelings of futility that creep in once in a while when I look at the current state of affairs that we are living with. Why? I think applying this mindset reminds me that there is a chance, if you make the blueprints and start building something worthwhile, that generations from now something amazing will appear.