Are you taking on other people’s stuff?

Recently, I photographed this humble pigeon in Hedgeley Dene Gardens as she (or he) rather curiously sat behind a line marked in the grass. And it got me thinking about the metaphorical lines we make inside our minds, the lines we swear we’ll never cross and the lines some of us with insufficient boundaries need to draw in order to lead more autonomous lives.

Have you give much thought to your boundaries lately? If you find yourself taking on other people’s “stuff” and you know you allow people to cross boundaries they shouldn’t, then there are some pretty cool thinking strategies that can help you build yourself some more healthy boundaries.

As an aside: This lovely pigeon sat calmly and completely unafraid, at the same time watching me intently, while I freely photographed from all angles. For me, this snippet of time was the quintessential ‘peak experience’* described by Maslow.

FOOTNOTE

*A peak experience is one that takes you out of yourself, and you may feel very tiny, or very large, to some extent one with life or nature and the world.