Stay and Go

In the latest James Clear email there is a quote by Virginia Wolf that I reckon is spot on. “I am rooted, but I flow.”
To me that gives a real sense of where I am at.  Being rooted is in my mind an absolute necessity.  Burpengary is my home.  It s where my roots are.  We come home to a place in Burpengary, my family is there; and many of my friends hail from it or nearby.  While friends remain from where I have been new friends have been made in Burpengary.
Yet to me the last part of the quote is an absolute necessity to. “But I flow.”  Again I think that is a vital part of life.  I am involved in activities which may be a part of the community but which are vital for my mental heath.  Activities I feel I can engage in because I am rooted where I am.  Activities which take me beyond my family and which though my very involvement make the community a richer and more diverse place.  A place where I can help and be helped.
It really ties in with what I have been reading lately about the needs of a city and how if on a personal level I lack any of these things I leave myself open to a lack of wholeness.
*Government.  I need to govern myself or else I risk becoming chaotic.  I am always reminded of the riots in Los Angeles when I think of a break down in government.  It is the same on a personal level.  Not all impulses are good impulses, and it is critical I control the destructive ones.
*Industry.  All towns have a reason for being.  Many of the towns I now see disappearing  because the industries they were built on are disappearing.  I need a reason for being.  Being rooted and flowing I find are the best ways to give expression to reason for being.
*Communication.  Towns send out alerts of impending danger.  In my mind it is imperative I receive alerts to danger and avoid them.  When I am blind I fall into a ditch, but when I am guided, I avoid the ditch.
*Learning Centres.  There are a number of schools in Burpengary and uni’s are not far away.  I need to keep on learning.  Learning is a life long pursuit.  Learning is a flow.  When I cease to learn I become a stagnant pond.
*Rubbish Collection.  Even my body agrees with this one.  On a daily basis rubbish is removed.  As the middle ages and many places today show, rubbish remaining is a recipe for disease and ill health.  Personally I need to remove rubbish daily.   It is sort of humbling to acknowledge I have personal rubbish that needs removing but I welcome myself to the human race.   I reckon everyone - even when it is not acknowledged has rubbish that needs to be gotten rid of.
*Healing Centres or hospitals.  One of the biggest grips these days is the distance to help needed if not in a big city.  For me it is important help is on hand.  When I get sick or discover a sickness, it is important to me the means are available close at hand to deal with it.  Always the longer it goes on the worse it gets.
I had not thought of such things before but to me it makes sense and is worth pursuing.  Being rooted and flowing may be opposites – but they are for me necessarily lived opposites.
*Pringle, Phil. Leadership Excellence: 10 Characteristics of Great Leaders. Sydney: Pax Ministries, 2005.