“In appreciation of ALL the BEES in the World.”*

photo credit: www.britannica.com

*@Emília M. Ludovino writes:

”BEES SERVE AS IMAGES OF THE MIRACULOUS INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF LIFE. The intricate intercellular structure that secretes the golden essence of life is an image of the network of invisible nature that relates all things to each other in an ordered harmonious pattern.”

I have been fortunate to experience this miraculous interconnectedness here on beBee and I think the element in nature that sustains this relationship is choice.

Choice is an act of freedom not to be taken for granted. Even when all that we are experiencing, internally and externally, has robbed us of our choice in the matter, we are always left with one choice:
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Viktor Frankl

Everything in nature functions on choice. The difference between humans and other organisms or species is that we, as humans, have more to choose from.

Using the metaphor of the grape, @Ali Anani, makes a distinction between the values of the seedless versus the seeded grape. He writes: “Grapes that are seedless may grow, but differently. Instead of growing them from seeds, seedless grapes are grown from cuttings taken from existing plants. They are clones of other plants. Does that mean we may dispense of seeds and go for cloning?” For me this was like a wake up call to open our eyes to our choices; how we choose and why we make those particular choices and most importantly to the consequences of our choices.

I choose to be on beBee, to engage, read and write, share and “cross pollinate” ideas. Sounds simple enough yet, as a process oriented person, I am hoping this Buzz will reflect the complexity embedded in this simple process of choosing to be on beBee and a part of the cross pollination of ideas.

Connecting

@Joel Anderson writes:

“As I have tried to navigate social media sites that I have participated or continue to participate in over time (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, beBee, etc….), I am constantly amazed at the somewhat surreal complexity of life as it is portrayed on any one of these social media venues. How easy it is to start my day long journey with a new and refreshed sense of commitment, only to find myself constantly being herded to the edges of chaos. 

Why, one may or may not ask? I can only surmise that in each of these venues, in our emerging world of globalization, it may be that for many it is a result or consequence of the influencing factors of digital disruption and a disengaged connectedness.”

Joel has just identified a paradox, the paradox of “disengaged connectedness”. Another paradox came up from comments by @Laura Mikolaitis. She made me think of differentiating distraction from disconnecting. The reason I say that is because, even before the experience of technological development we have today, distraction has been used since the dawn of time as a "defense mechanism"; as a way of coping. Whereas some of the technological devices we have today which are meant to connect people are paradoxically leading to a disconnect.

The two paradoxes described exist as a potential outcome of our choices.

It is how we choose, or not choose, to engage that will result in the outcome; across the spectrum of connectedness.

Place

The spectrum implies placing ourselves along a line. I have always considered the question, where am I, to be a precursor to, who am I. Where we place ourselves, literally or figuratively, is directly related to ideas.

@Ali Anani writes: "Seeking an idea is not different from a bee seeking a new location. Great ideas carry us to new locations with new challenging landscape."

The potential of beBee is that the ideas and new challenging landscapes can all be found here in our engagement and cross pollination.

Cross Pollination

The following is a very small sample of the results of my choice to be in the heart of engagement, connected and involved in cross pollination. (I could fill many more buzzes with all the bees I did not include in this one. If your name does not appear it only reflects on my limitations, not on my gratitude.)

How deep can we go? I asked @Milos Djukic this question after viewing his Buzz on, The Secret of Butterfly Wings.

Milos and @Ali Anani have opened my eyes to the connections between the laws of nature and human dynamics, personal and professional. As someone who sees the world from a sensory perspective, it all makes sense; not only from the perspective of the laws of nature but the movement and patterns (fractals) found in nature as well. 

Hexagon patters of honeycombs.

The field of Biomimicry and one of its voices Janine Benyus have been a rich source of cross pollination of ideas

Movement

@Ali Anani writes: "It is interesting how putting the same force in different needs change their role from pushing to pulling and from diverging to converging." What a concept; the same force used in different needs changes their role. This is such a powerful reinforcer of how we can't apply the same strategies in the same way no matter the individual context.

@Sarah Elkins’ comments made me see that there seems to be an intent to move attention away from something when in the process of distraction but we cannot forget to return to the original place now that our attention is better engaged.

@Anees Zaidi’s story is one of presence. For me this is a state in which we place ourselves and it is made up of pure movement. The presence Anees describes in each of his experiences was definitely the key to his engagement.

@Mohammed A. Jawad shared his insight in comment, that a "relaxed posture" influences our mood or outlook. Postures have been studied and proven that how we hold ourselves and move/propel ourselves across space, directly impacts on self-esteem.

@Deb Helfrich added movement to her comment on feelings and appropriately so; it isn’t a coincidence to describe being emotional as being moved. Deb believes in, “the process of learning to keep love flowing even when you aren't in an easy vibration with the other person." I can’t imagine anyone not being able to “resonate” with this idea.

Discussion of feelings and specifically of the feeling of love that @Ali Anani had us focus on brought up much cross pollination. And I found it to be a nice bridge from movement to feelings. @Anees Zaidi cross pollinated with Dr. Ali’s Buzz on love and produced a Buzz himself which led me to think that how we transfer romantic love, or love for others to ideas and objects is more metaphorical than literal. The new feeling I experienced when I held my first niece in my arms the day she was born was something I had never experienced before. The wave of emotion that came over me could not begin to be described by the word love but it definitely was in that dimension. I find myself using the word dimension because, once again, we experience things as humans that "move" us across the biological dimension of innate feelings we share with other species for survival. Words like bonding, attaching, imprinting, caring, connecting, uniting, and relating are skills and abilities all living organisms need in order to survive. Yet love is something that permeates human creative expression; we write, sing, dance, paint, sculpt, and act about love more than any other subject, all this taking us beyond the boundaries of survival.

A line in one of the comments which @debasish majumder wrote is still "buzzing around" in my head; "we, human are only impulsive about the reflection of nature we receive, though in reverse…" This thought shifts the expectations regarding “moving forward”.

Boundaries

Discussion of connecting, place and movement naturally leads to the discussion of boundaries.I appreciated how @Vivian Chapman told her story about relationships and how she made it flow from the individual relationship to the global discussion. Her writing provoked in me the image related to boundaries in relationships; holding, imprisoning, opening, transforming, breaking though a boundary, expanding and so on. I felt as if her story was first seen on ground level and then a zoom took me up higher and higher to an aerial view. Individual and global relationships are both identified through the formation of boundaries. One of the aspects of the relationship that deserves attention is to look at what we carry into the relationship from a previous experience or boundary; a spouse came from the boundaries of family dynamics and needs to either reproduce those boundaries or transform them. We often describe boundaries as healthy or unhealthy, depending on the impact of our ability to function. The feelings we describe are in reaction to or result from the impact of those boundaries. I appreciated Vivian’s optimistic outlook and how she saw the potential in changes for the better.

In his discussion of love, @Milos Djukic wrote that, "Love is the essence of time." This has opened up a whole new thread for me to the concept of the relativity of time in that not only physical movement and where we are in relation to another influences our perception and difference in our experience of time, but being "moved" emotionally will do the same.

@CityVP Manjit asked a very important question, "how can we have unconditional love in a conditioned society?" I found myself answering in a very strong way that yes we can. We can love unconditionally because it comes from us, through us, internal to external process. We are in control of that regardless of the potential influences that we experience in society. It all boils down to choice versus control. Remember Frankl's quote, "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." This means that in spite of being in a conditioned society we have the freedom to choose to love unconditionally.

Questions and Communication.

We are moved by ideas, physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially. Questions are one way to keep the momentum going. All animals can respond to the questions:

- What (identifying/recognizing) – was that sound?

- Where (direction/location) – do I go for shelter?

- When (time) – I have to go find a mate.

- Who (other) – do I choose to fight?

- Which (selection) – is my pack?

- How (action) – will my cub get food?

Only humans ask Why - was I born, am I here, did this happen to me, do I feel this way, are there stars in the sky?

In his comment to this idea of why as a human question, @William King, offered his perspective of not just being aware of asking why but being aware of when to stop asking why. With this insight William brings to light that the concept of the shadow of presence is that of absence. 

Questions move us to engage and metaphors engage us in creative forms of communication.

Here is a great example of a creative expression of an idea through its metaphor by @CityVP Manjit.

"As it is with the value of a great business, the value of great love requires a high BRIX - otherwise we create vineyards of metaphors and who will squeeze them and store them, care and wait for time - so that love is like fine wine."

In communicating in person, non-verbal communication speaks volumes. @Laura Mikolaitis writes, "We often tell a story without words simply by how we act and react." So true. And it never ceases to amaze me how unaware we are of our non-verbal communication. In certain types of training individuals are videotaped. What an eye opener for them to "see" their non-verbal communication. Videos can be a great teaching tool.

@Ali anani writes, "It amazes me how we use words very frequently without knowing exactly what they mean." Dr. Ali is describing the tension between a human whose innate language is non-verbal and his or her lifetime of learning and communicating with words. Often some things may be "beyond words" but not beyond our drive to try to find the words.

@Deb Helfrich offers her insight into the integration of the verbal and non-verbal forms of communicating; "why not be exactly who you are online as well as in person. Authenticity works, even via comments."

I can think of no better way to sign off for now by communicating what @Mamen Delgado has to say, that a "very powerful "word" in every single language: the smile." Her picture "says it all"!