The Human Hub: Biodiversity and Serendipity

Our words of the month are biodiversity and serendipity.  

• Biodiversity means the number and types of plants and animals that exist in a particular area, or in the world generally – and is often referred to in terms of the difficulty we have in protecting biodiversity from ourselves.
• Serendipity means the finding interesting or valuable things by chance.

We humans are extremely lucky that we live within this incredible biodiversity across the earth – its is indeed interesting and valuable, and completely unconnected to human invention.  But human intervention – well, that’s a different story.  There are many examples globally where humans and our expansive consumption are diminishing biodiversity day-by-day, and stories of the unintended and damaging consequences of human ‘intervention’ in ecosystems.

I have experience of serendipity almost every week – connecting with someone on LinkedIn who knows someone or is an expert in something that I need support in, coming across writing or research via some other document that illuminates a big question I’ve didn’t know I needed an answer to, having a conversation in the calendar that just happens to be when stars align in our separate worlds to enable us to collaborate right there and then in a magical way.  

But, much like luck, I believe serendipity increases the more you put yourself out there in the path of it.  If we remain too closed to our own circles, our own ways of thinking, our own lives – we’re not so available for serendipity.    

And nature, as is proven time and time again, can bring calmness, healing and inspiration.  All of which put us in a better position to put ourselves out there, and to welcome and attract serendipity.  So I have 2 requests this month:

1. Take some time to experience nature – a window box, a garden, the beach, a sidewalk tree, a dragonfly, bee, bird or dung beetle.  Five minutes or more, listening, smelling, feeling, watching.  Take a moment to appreciate and value biodiversity.
2. Put yourself out there with someone you don’t know, or read about a topic you’re not familiar with, or ponder someone else’s perspective on a policy or industry.  Put yourself in the path of some serendipity.  

And I’d love to hear how it goes!

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