Simon x
Set Your Spirit Free

In the past seven days I have completed the second week of a community building project at Embercombe, where we have been building a community of the future, based as much on an emotional structure as a physical one.

The ethos of the project is possibly best summed up by Phill Ireland, head of the Embercombe Building Company, and what he said to us all at the very start, on the first day of the first week of the build. He recounted the story of these swallows that had come home to roost in the eaves of the new Linhay building he and his team were constructing.

For fully 14 years of Embercombe's prior existence no swallow had set up its nest on Embercombe land, despite all the potential infrastructure that lay in place, it was only in the building of this new educational centre in the style of old farm buildings that the swallows had returned and attempted to set up home.

Attempted, being the most appropriate word, as initially the swallows created their nest only for it to fall out of the loft and drop to the floor. The broken nest still lies in the same place where it originally fell at the foot of the building as it symbolically represents the majority of people coming through the Embercombe Building Company who in the main are ex-offenders, from broken homes who have gone on to commit crime in somewhat of a self fulfilling prophecy in the early part of their lives.

The good news is for both the swallows and the people on the project that in such an environment everyone gets a second chance. As the swallows have had an opportunity to rebuild their nest so those ex-offenders and even the volunteers engaging in the project have got to turn things around in their own lives too.

The swallow is also a symbolic bird of freedom. Many a prisoner will have this totem tattooed on to some part of his or her body which is metaphoric of both the 'bird' or time they are doing in prison and the wish to fly free again beyond the four walls or cages that enslave them.

What we of course have to remember is that we are all governed by cages of one sort or another in our conditioning. The fact that some of us resort to crime in an attempt to escape the way we are brought up shouldn't distract us from the fact that the majority of us live in fear in one way shape or form. We are all imprisoned in our comfort zones unable to break free, we fail to use the keys we hold within us to unlock our cages and fly home to our true selves becoming the people we are truly destined to be.

Lastly the swallow brings with it the teaching of the journey itself. Right around this time of year it sets off from the shores of the UK to make its annual migration South to spend the months of the Northern winter basking in the sun of South Africa, only to return in April / May and bring with it the herald of sunnier times again.

We are all on a journey and this voyage can seem particularly long at times when looking to follow our own hearts and create the dreams we want for ourselves in our own lives, however by looking at what the swallow is capable of achieving as such a small being it surely gives us hope for us all when we finally take flight.

Whilst participating in the Embercombe Community Build I have been learning new skills in brick and block laying, plastering and carving green oak, building the physical community. At the same time I have been working alongside fellow volunteers and ex-offenders alike, cracking jokes, having deep and meaningful conversations and bringing forth all my life coaching skills if and when they have been needed, building the emotional community. It has been an absolute joy and rarely I have felt so on song and in the flow of life, being myself and who I am meant to be. I feel sure I will be a part of such a community in the future, inclusive, unified, loving, compassionate and just great fun. How quickly we can bring this into existence however is another matter entirely? But we are making a start at least.

If you wish to begin unlocking your own cages to discover what it is that you are truly meant to be doing on the planet, contributing yourself to the new story of the people, maybe it is time to contact me to see how I can best help you through my coaching. Alternatively if you want to comment on this blog why not do so here.

Otherwise until next time.

Much love Sx.

A New Story of the People

How by changing the way we do things we are in fact changing the world around us, making subtle significant differences to the lives of the people we touch!