A Blurred Life
"All your life you live so close to truth, it becomes a permanent blur in the corner of your eye, and when something nudges it into outline it is like being ambushed by a grotesque."
— Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, 1966
I didn't take many photographs in September, at least not deliberately. The one included here was another of those butterfingered photographs that occur from time to time either by accident or by some design beyond my comprehension. Either way this one seems to capture the feeling of the past month a sense of overwhelm and loss of control, life moving at a too-fast pace for me to be able to focus...but then, even in the mess there are angels descending.
I could give you specifics: this happened, that happened, so-and-so did such-and-such, but the outlines I might offer would only be grotesque: unfair, unjust, blaming or bitter. No, better to perceive the whole, however unclear, and to embrace all the not-knowing it contains. Stoppard's play, from which I quote, emphasises the randomness of the world and the conflict between perception and reality. It is both funny and disturbing, an apt reflection on life itself.
When I planned my September I perceived it as beautifully ordered, with lots of white space. The reality was quite different, one event blurring into another, much time lost to periods of despair and disgruntlement, an imbalance of giving and receiving, and a desperate striving for clarity that never materialised. But step back, it was only one month, one among hundreds. It was a month of great change for our family: Asrai and Zoë back at school after a long, lazy summer, Rayna now a mature student, a university freshman embracing all that student life has to offer, me stepping more into the homemaker/carer role, squeezing in time to run in the early mornings, and all of us resuming one or another evening or daytime class to maintain (or even improve) our minds and bodies—and house renovations happening around our ears. Well, of course it's all a blur!
Those 'descending angels' in my accidental picture, they are the moments of beauty we find in our messy, blurred life, the humorous references to lines from our favourite films, the hugs of amends, the kisses of parting, the embraces of welcome, the shared meals, our nightly Bible reading, our bedtime rose/thorn/bud ritual. All the disagreements and arguments of the day can sometimes be dissolved in these small, precious moments, and we each get to wake up new.
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September News
As planned, I took up running again after a two-year lapse due to injury. Starting with short local runs of one mile or less I have worked up to five-mile morning runs most days of the week, filling in the gaps with two or three mile walks. I have an app that tells me off if I miss one or the other. I've also resumed my guitar lessons and ballet practice, but not yet drawing again. Perhaps that will happen in October. No pressure. We are all slowly adjusting to our recalibrated life and I imagine it will soon become routine—well, as routine as four volatile, capricious people could perhaps hope to experience :)
October is here, my favourite month of the year, all golden brown with a crisp, chilled edge. Time to open my box of scarves.
"It's amazing the difference a piece of cloth can make" — Lila Valentine
See you in thirty days,
Tobias
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September Writing
- No such thing as "Waterfall", LinkedIn
- Scrum is not an agile framework, LinkedIn
- Is an "Agile Coach" actually agile?, LinkedIn
- I'm continuing to illustrate my KJV 365 reflections with drawings, found images and contributed art. September saw the conclusion of the Old Testament with reflections on ten prophets, namely Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. The last three months of the year are committed to the New Testament, and many of the illustrations will be my own.
October/November events
- 7th October: Scrum Beyond an all-day, open space event in Amsterdam, facilitated by the wonderful Charles-Louis de Maere, who some of you will know through his long series of storytelling workshops. Click the link to see the list of attendees, and maybe be inspired to join them.
- 19 October & 7 December: The Collaborative Scrum Team a one-day online workshop, offered in two different time zones to accommodate people in different parts of the world.
- 16th November: Deconstructing Agile a physical, interactive, in-person workshop in London. Highly recommended for those disillusioned by the corporate capture of the Agile movement, and with a desire to regenerate its anarchic essence.
- 17th November: The Scrum Exchange an all-day, in-person event in London. Join us for another gathering of humans and ideas.
- In-person CSM workshops are happening again, approximately once a month in London. The next one is 17-18 October. Please spread the word. Online CSMs also continue, for those far from the UK shores.
- My Advanced CSM program is now offered at no cost to those who choose to participate as scrum masters on my online CSM classes, and, of course, do all the requisite work to qualify at advanced level. You can join this program at any time. Read more and click the blue button to join.
- And finally, please check out The London Scrum Academy, my recently created home for all things scrum: workshops, certifications, people, articles, videos, books, and more to come...
2nd October 2023, 12.00 Reply to this newsletter