For over 25 years, I’ve been using nature, metaphor and the language we use to help people see the situations they’re facing differently.

Recently I’ve found myself wondering what might happen if I brought another longstanding love of mine into that mix - poetry.

And then, somehow, a Bookshelf appeared.

A Bookshelf where books talk, poems think and strangers arrive with something they’re grappling with.

So, over the next few months, I’m going to be testing the water with a series of Conversations from The Bookshelf.

And if you’ve been reading Landscaping Your Life for a while, don’t worry - I haven’t abandoned the landscape. You might just find we’re exploring it from a rather different vantage point.

And rather appropriately, our first stranger has a question:

“But will it actually work?”

Let’s find out…

“I just need to test the water,” said the stranger with a coffee cup in hand as they looked for inspiration from the business books on the bookshelf.

“I need to see whether what I want to do will actually work.”

“Great idea,” replied the book.

“But how do I do that?” asked the stranger not missing a beat.

“I've got plenty of suggestions,” said the book. “But I've been hearing a lot from the Poetry section recently about how poems can help people see situations differently. Would you be open to trying that?”

“How intriguing. Yes - let’s do that.”

“Here's a poem about the very thing you're grappling with. It's called Testing the Water. I usually recommend reading a poem more than once and noticing what stands out each time.”

“I just need to test the water,” said the stranger with a coffee cup in hand as they looked for inspiration from the business books on the bookshelf.

“I need to see whether what I want to do will actually work.”

“Great idea,” replied the book.

“But how do I do that?” asked the stranger not missing a beat.

“I've got plenty of suggestions,” said the book. “But I've been hearing a lot from the Poetry section recently about how poems can help people see situations differently. Would you be open to trying that?”

“How intriguing. Yes - let’s do that.”

“Here's a poem about the very thing you're grappling with. It's called Testing the Water. I usually recommend reading a poem more than once and noticing what stands out each time.”

Testing the Water

Take care when testing the water,
that you don't reinforce the belief you already have.

Testing for what you know,
in the places you know to look,
at the time you have available,
won't really bring the breakthrough you need.

Breakthrough comes by planning the time,
the place,
and criteria for testing.

Preparing yourself for that testing,
and what it requires of you,
and allowing time for the analysis of the answers.

So that you may expand the beliefs,
make the necessary changes to that which is being tested,
to allow for success instead of continued failure.

The stranger read the poem again, then sat quietly for a moment.

Eventually, they swore with recognition and then laughed.

“Guilty as charged.”

“In what way?” asked the book.

“I keep getting confirmation of what I think I already know. I don't think I've tested the water thoroughly enough.”

The book flexed its spine thoughtfully.

“The author of the poem described standing on a beach and realising that testing the water at high tide would give very different results from testing it at low tide.”

The stranger's eyes lit up.

“And different results at different times of day, month, or year.”

“Exactly,” replied the book. “That's where the planning comes in.”

“And that gives me my first step,” said the stranger, sounding far more energised than when they had first approached the bookshelf.

“I'm going to plan my testing so I explore the whole landscape rather than just testing at low tide on a warm summer's day as I have been doing to date.”

Conversations from The Bookshelf
Short stories where books talk, poems think, and inner wisdom surfaces. A different stranger wanders in each time - perhaps one day it'll be you.

Conversations from The Bookshelf is a glimpse into the world of my forthcoming book, where one visitor's conversations with the shelves go much deeper. #shortstory #poetry #ConversationsFromTheBookshelf #InnerWisdom

I'm smiling at the fact that I chose this poem for the first edition of this new newsletter because, of course, testing the water is exactly what I'm doing here. So, I'd love to know what you took from this first Conversation.

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