I was floating on my back this morning in the freezing cold water at St James tidal pool. The temperature was less than 14 degrees. (Outside it was probably about the same). Don’t ask me why I do it. It is sheer madness, you will say, but I love it. My day is not the same if I have not had my swim. One of my fellow swimmers said the other day, as he emerged from the water, “that was my blessing for the day, the rest is just a bonus”. I can well identify with this sentiment. 

I have thought a lot about why I feel this way. 

Am I a masochist? No! I like the nice things in life. 

Am I mad? Well maybe my doctor would debate this with you?

One of the reasons I can see is that in some way it gives me power over the weather. When I was a young kid, summer was the time you swam and winter was the time you didn’t swim. Because I loved swimming I hated winter. It was a time of the year when the world died for me and when I felt sad and sorry for myself. My mood matched the dead grass and bare trees around me. (In those days there was no such thing as seasonal disorder – well it probably existed but it was certainly not documented – or at least I didn’t know about it.)Winter was a time I dreaded.

So now that I am committed to my morning swim, I do not have to dread the winter. I don’t even have to dread the Cape rain because I can swim no matter what and swimming is what makes my world go round.

Well now to get back to floating on my back in the cold water at St James. As I lay there a flock of geese flew in formation overheard. I watched as they took turns to take the lead. It is an effortless routine. There was no major debate or decision making process, just a seamless exchange of positions. That reminded me of the flow of creative ideas. One leads to another in an effortless wave. One idea takes the lead for now, and does its thing in our mind, until something related arrives and evolves. We are not consciously aware of the swap, we do not make a mindful decision to leave one idea and go with another. Goose-leadership therefore becomes a fitting metaphor for the creative process.

HAPPY CREATING!

(I live in Cape Town South Africa – one of the most beautiful cities in the world. St James is one of the beaches along the Cape Peninsula. It is well known for its multi-coloured wooden beach huts which are much photographed. There is a tidal pool at St James which traps the sea water and allows for safe swimming. This is of course southern hemisphere where it is winter time in July. The day temperatures can be between 10 and 20 degrees Celcius... don't ask me what that is in Fahrenheit! Cape Town falls within a Mediterranean climatic zone, so it rains in the winter.)