Day 67: Human Flourishing
Human flourishing is not a solitary act. It is a chorus. A gathering of voices, rising and falling, weaving through one another until a larger music emerges. one that says: we are here, we matter, we belong.
At TEDx Doncaster today, that chorus took shape in every speaker and performer who stood before us.
Each one offered a thread of wisdom, a fragment of truth, a reminder that flourishing is not about the glossy image of perfection but about the living, the failing, the trying, the breathing practice of showing up - vulnerable, brave, real.
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I was moved by all of them. Truly. But I carry a special pride in my 2 great friends: Raj and Lee.
Raj, with his natural calm, his humour, his way of speaking as if in conversation with each heart in the room, reminded us of the ancient medicine of storytelling.
He showed us that stories are not ornaments we put on display, but seeds. seeds that, when planted in the soil of listening and trust, grow into a communal tree of life. He made us believe that by connecting, by belonging, by chatting and laughing and daring to share what aches and what shines, we can become together. A tool to heal the contexts of today.
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And Lee. I thought of all the walks we’ve had around the lake, those late evening talks about belief next to the lift at work. How stories, his and mine, seem to echo in strange, similar ways.
Just 2 kids from the Donx, growing up with the heavy whisper that we weren’t worthy of love, or care, or belief - thanks to the mean words/actions we had been told by those supposed to care for us. Carrying that luggage for too long.
Both of us a little obsessed with the USA, its promise of elsewhere. And yet: here we are. Back/ sticking in the Donx. Deciding not to run away, but to help make this place shine. To believe in it, like we were believed in too.
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Watching Lee on stage was something beyond pride. His words carried the same deep listening I’ve always felt from him. I remembered a winter day, a couple of years ago, trudging across the Roman Ridge on a site visit.
We lagged behind and I mentioned, offhand, the health issues I live with. And his response - immediate, uncalculated, utterly compassionate - has never left me.
In that unlikely moment, I felt seen. His talk today was that moment writ large: compassion as presence, empathy as power, showing someone care and support is rocket fuel to becoming.
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Lee and I share a rare thread of fortune: the same person, D, believed in us at diff times. It’s something that surfaces again and again in our conversations, like a reminder of how one person’s faith can ripple across 2 lives.
I count myself lucky - more than lucky - to have been met with belief in so many unexpected places, I can pin-point exact turning points in my life.
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From amazing school teachers (like Phil, Marie & woody!) my summer camp friends like Kate & Anya, Chris, coleeen & Sally, to university mates (feebs, rich, gem & Jen, KT, char , courts, Shazam) and colleagues like Bex, Claire, Penny, Rose and Allie (so many to add!), to all of you who have stood beside me (truly too too many to write - but Helen, Julie w, Julie g & Leanne, Liz, Debbie, & dean locally!). And lately, I’ve been gifted the daily wisdom of Fran, whose words arrive like small lanterns in the fog of this uncertain time in my life: reminding me that, somehow, I’m doing okay. I told yall. I am incredibly lucky & blessed for these riches.
Both Raj and Lee reminded me that human flourishing is never just the story of one life. It is a constellation of care. It is the people who believe in us when we cannot yet believe in ourselves.
It is the friend who listens without judgement, the colleague who makes space for our whole selves, the mentor who hands us the torch of possibility.
To flourish is to remember: we do not bloom alone.
