How do you feel about being a spider? Even if you are one of those people, which includes me, who can't put the light out and go to sleep if there's a spider in the bedroom, spiders and their webs are wonderful metaphors for our lives.
As the Weaver of your personal Web of Life you are constantly creating and adapting your web. Maybe you sometimes focus on one or two areas to the detriment of others and the web becomes unbalanced. Sometimes an area may get damaged and need repair work. Or maybe you just want a bigger, stronger, more beautiful web - a fuller, richer, more fulfilling and satisfying life.
Review Your Personal Web of Life
Spiders' webs are beautiful. At different times of the day or year they may be wintry and covered with white frost, or shimmer as sunlight reflects off rain or dew drops.
As the Weaver of your Web you too have the opportunity to create something beautiful. One definition of Creativity is that it is " characterized by originality and expressiveness". Does your life really express who you are? Your dreams and hopes and values? Do you feel as though you are spinning your own web - or do you sometimes feel more like the fly than the spider, struggling to break free from strands of sticky silk that keep you where you don't really want to be?
Spiders' webs are complex. The phrase 'The Web of Life' is used to refer to the huge diversity of life forms on our planet and the fact that they are inter-connected and inter-dependent - as are all the various areas of your own life. If you make changes in one area, there will usually be implications for all or many of the others. One of the creative challenges is to maintain the stability and balance of your web.
The Story of Arachne. The scientific name for spiders is "Arachnid". The name comes from an old Greek story in which a girl named Arachne loved to weave. Her weaving was so beautiful and perfect that the goddess Athena got jealous and to punish her turned her into a spider. However, this didn't stop her spinning which is what she most loved doing!
Do you fear that if you aim to weave the most beautiful web possible for your life the 'Gods' (or 'Goddesses') will punish you? Or are you willing to take responsibility for creating a life that allows you to experience fulfillment and self-expression in each and every area? Top
Review Your Web
The kanji on the
Web on the Home
page represent eleven different areas of life that clients have addressed
in their coaching sessions :
- Personal Development
- Business Development
- Professional Development
- Career Development
- Creativity
- Relationships
- Spirituality
- Sexual Identity
- Stress Management
- Change Management
- Health & Well-Being
Draw a simple web for yourself with 11 sections radiating out from the centre and 10 concentric circles of threads. The centre represents 0 and the outermost thread represents 10. Name the sections then, for each section that is relevant to your life, take a coloured pen and draw over the thread that represents your current level of satisfaction in this area of your life.
What conclusions could you draw from this?
Do any areas need attention?
Is your life in balance?
Coaching recognises that our lives are indeed a web - that all the threads are inter-connected. For this reason, even though clients often start coaching because they want to focus just on one particular area such as career or personal development, they will also complete the above activity to get an idea of the bigger picture.
Perhaps this exercise has helped you to identify something that you would like to look at in a free introductory session session? Top
Kanji
Kanji were originally Chinese characters which are now used in Japanese writing. They are believed to have first arrived in Japan in the first century on a seal given by the Chinese Emperor to the king of Japan. From the 7th century onwards, Buddhist scriptures were recorded using Chinese characters. Kanji are one of three scripts that form the Japanese writing system, the other two being hiragana and katakana and Japanese calligraphy is a highly developed art form, rather than just a way of recording language.
Kanji are complex - a single kanji character may have many meanings. I also find them very beautiful. Which is why I decided I would like to use them on my website.
