This One | Multitude of One

Like many of us, I'm balancing a complex life of multiple roles.

Between these roles there are the fabulous and inspiring liminal spaces, the edges and the intersections where inspiring and collaborative cross pollination occurs. And that is why I am here!

I hope that something on this website and among the blog posts will help you to step up to your potential and to find satisfaction and happiness while on the journey ahead.

I will be updating with links and resources and blog posts so subscribe if you want to hear about these.

Please contact me if you would like to brain storm as to how we can collaborate.

This Page is due to be updated but here it is for now:

A bit about this One so far:

I was born in London in 1969 and grew up in rural Suffolk. The deepest impressions of my childhood were those of the common land upon which we lived, solitude and nature. My Mum taught me to see the sacred in all things, though she kinda phrased it differently :) And my Dad told me that Love is not finite.

The excitement of studying in the city of Liverpool and later the cacophony and tug of Istanbul and the Bosphorus could not keep me tied for long and I have lived most of my life so far on the southern coast of Turkey and now on the Black sea.

Art was an early passion and a constant ally, the twists and turns of life that caused relocation, marriage, motherhood, turmoil and then widowed, partnered and inspired motherhood again were all soothed with an immersion into creativity throughout the journey. (Whether through painting, designing, writing or the ingenuity required to simply get by)

To see spatial design/construction and art work visit www.jodieharburt.com

Motherhood is an enriching, life changing event that continues to shape my vision and prompt my desire to help make the world a better place. My big kids grew and just as they entered their teenage years I started again with our child number 3, seeing life through the innocent, pure eyes of my little one, explaining things to her, teaching her collective responsibility and assisting my (now university age) big ones with their transition into a rapidly changing world are the parental duties that we are blessed with. Reliving the mothering process from scratch has given me opportunity to witness myself and the family with insight and though I'm repeating what can be described as a challenging process I am no less in awe and wonder of it and my children. Being the partner to a wonderful man is a core part of me and as with motherhood the ebb and flow of my relationship is intricately intertwined with every aspect of my life and productivity.

If you pop by you will might find me weeding our vegetable garden and chatting with the creatures I encounter.

See Blog post Career/Earning/Self

I'm not sure what the future will bring for us, the world is in a time of great change and I feel the implications drifting in our direction, it is, however my intention to be a collaborator, connected party and a mirror rather than simply an observer of life and to strive not only for my family and loved ones, but for far and wide and to spread my deep belief in the possibilities of what we can create when we mutually lower our shields, our apathy and especially when we unite.

There is a story in everything and everyone and through the telling and the sharing we have the potential to get on parallel tracks.

I remember, when I was 12, looking up at the black night sky scattered with stars and feeling overwhelmed by the hugeness of everything and my absolute insignificance. It was scary at the time but also exhilarating. It doesn't matter who I am in that I am no more relevant than any other thing or person, we are alone as individuals and as our planet in infinite space, which is exactly what unites us.

Many of the ideas here are ones that have existed for years and were conceived by others, I am merely a vehicle between some of these ideas and the reader.

I've found that it's hard to wade through endless writings to get to ones that actually help me focus. Many articles etc resonate with powerful truths but after reading I often find myself simply asking... now what? I don't want to tell anyone what to do, but I do want to help everyone see that it is within their power to do something, the nature of which is theirs to define. I wonder if it is possible for me to share a vision of hope and possibility?

For most people in the world these posts are inaccessible because of language or circumstance. Many do not have the luxury of internet and the time to ponder, so I believe it is the responsibility of the rest of us to create a network of positive action that transcends the limitations of our small clans and close networks. Most of us are trapped in within our own familiar boundaries and we avoid facing the reality beyond. I think it is my duty to try breach the divides, illuminate our connections and our worthiness and to share this through words that may inspire others. We are not alone and every person and their effort is part of the big, amazing picture of our lives and this planet.

Why write a blog about it?

We are each a testimony to the relevance of the micro scale of the human experience, our potential and the miracle of existence.

There are so many questions, these words are various ambles through some of the adventures, problems and possibilities that I encounter. I believe that if we take a walk and ponder together we might find ourselves walking in the right direction, or at least we can share our journey.

I've always made visual sketches or written notes so it isn't hard to compile some posts from within their content, but to take it further takes time that is not easy to justify allocating, but what if I can provide pause for thought, cause for empathy towards whoever the reader may encounter and if I can prompt action? My post content is eclectic and I'm happy with that especially if I can grab someone's attention through a post about growing spuds or kids fairy costumes for them to then feel intrigued enough to browse through and consequently come up with a Manifesto of their own.

The way I see things.

There are different kinds of people with different ways of doing and seeing, but I'll talk about mine as I expect many can relate to this. I describe my vision as kaleidoscopic

in that what I see merges with sensory stimulus and then these audio and visual patterned puzzles collide with multiple memories which then trigger a cascade of thoughts and associations. I both witness these and become engulfed by them and from within emerges a dialogue or a vision. If shared, I wonder if it may transpire that these words are a part of someone else's puzzle too.

Without flippancy regarding mental illness I probably have a mild obsessive compulsive trait which has served me well along the way, I've tried to use it to my advantage to get jobs done with passion and attention to detail, however there is a downside. There are jobs that can't get done and many issues beyond my reach or capability to solve. My kaleidoscopic brain churns out critique and possible solutions, but is left in a paralysis of suppressed action, this creates a wave of depression, which is a horror that renders even the most motivated weak and defeated. So though I try not to bite off more than I can chew I have learnt that getting a grip on something, anything that is meaningful to me is what keeps the horrors at bay. Being useful is an antidote to the poison of hopelessness.

Painting and writing are my expressions, art in all its forms offers a means of communicating reality and dreams in a way that the human heart can comprehend. See Blog post: Art and Why we need it. My love of design and construction was the cure for my misery regarding the state of building in my locality, I continue to design space that promotes well being at its core, but a better proof of how I discovered that doing stuff actually helps can be read about in my Blog post. Action in Action. Kas park and school story.

So doing stuff individually is helpful, but what about unity?

One of the major obstacles in achieving big goals is the problems we encounter when trying to motivate big groups and in overcoming the myth that we are essentially individualistic. see here. We can theorise about polarisation and the return to tribal traits (which fuel divides and hinder coalitions and healthy progress), but the way to overcome these remain elusive while we just talk among ourselves, it is ironic but seems elementary to me that the way to break those divides and to confront the problems as a whole is through the micro and individual efforts of us, the masses. By each activating ourselves we make a manageable and significant contribution towards the bigger goals. Through this and especially for those like me who feel challenged by the notion of collaboration and collectivism we will become participants in something that transcends our own limitations.

My underlying feeling is one of optimism and truth, when we look down into the abyss of all the muddle of our precious world we can see that we will inevitably fall. Facing reality and dealing with it is often excruciatingly painful, but if we open our eyes and look as deep as our individual capacity allows we can each embrace the possibility of flight. There is potential in everyone, (provided we are all granted compassion and empathy). Our tendency to become overwhelmed by the enormity of issues can be counteracted by chipping away at things from the bottom, that is not to say that the we should not swoop down from above and extinguish disaster or provide relief if it is within our capability, but let us not desist from each of us doing the best we can.