Instead of walking down the hill on the opposite side of the street, as usual, I notice Diane crossing to my side of the street toward me, leash in hand, trailing her dog Gracie.
"Good morning," we say together, then laugh.
I've always been good for a cheery greeting and a 3-minute convo about the yard or the weather or the latest neighborhood gossip when I'm doing my morning rounds in my garden. But then I wind it down and return to the landscape.
And I am also aware that my 6/2 Role Model/Hermit profile must seek balance. I am two sides of the same leaf. I can only be a role model in the eyes of others, so if I'm practicing my full energy, about half of my life must be interacting in some manner with the world. Left to my own devices, however, I'd be perfectly happy mid-COVID to isolate as a black belt hermit in my own little world. Manifestors already have a propensity to be just fine in their own energy.
"How are you this beautiful day?" I ask, maintaining my aim on the knick-knick with the hose nozzle on "shower" setting.
She stops, gazes up and away to the right and says, "Uh, I'm ok." I can hear sadness behind her words.
Just the day before, after four years of studying Human Design, I have an aha moment when I hear and then read for the first time in my memory, that as a Manifestor I am a catalyst for others' change. First I feel dumb because it feel like something I should've known by now. And then next it feels worthwhile and doable. It feels like important work.
I lean in like a real role model might do and say teasingly, "Why am I not convinced?"
She looks back down at me, startled by the audacity of my question, and then relieved for the opportunity to process out loud all that's going on for her. The whole family just freed from a virus that wasn't COVID, after 3 weeks. Oldest daughter off to college. Second teen daughter morose. Nephew staying at her house. And more, some having to do with her next big thing. I ask questions and listen. And I can see she listens to herself. Catalysts, I found, barely need to say a thing.
Feeling seen and heard, I guess, Diane finishes with an optimistic statement about things being where they should be and takes Gracie on her way.
The severe Pacific NW winter took a large tree, leaving my newly planted forest floor landscape and my front deck in the morning sun. It was one of those "my barn burned down; now I can see the stars moments." What I lost in shade I gained in sun, leaving my front deck as the perfect office annex for the summer--sun beginning around 9:00, dappling mid-morning through the alder canopy until around 2:00 when it was time to crank the patio umbrella and prepare for full sun till 5:00. Pretty much every day of Summer 2021 was spent in this sweet refuge. What it afforded me was a half-hidden perch below the street level where I could tend my garden or sit on my cushioned bench, play hermit and pretend I was absorbed, or play role model and look up and engage. Many hours were spent reading cues and inviting conversation when if felt right. The stories were amazing.
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