Over our recent weekly meet-ups we’ve been helping create themed pictures for the youngest visitors to the YetStreams Talents Club using hands & feet art creations : drawing around dinky digits to make hand-bouquets for mothers’ day last week, then having a go at circling crayons round tiny toes to eventually turn these into fluffy rabbit pics for Easter now fast approaching!

‘Planting’ hands in the flower-pot pictures sparked chatting among the grownups around the subject of how do we plant ourselves in real life. What would it look like to plant our hands to a task or to plant our feet into an opportunity?  All of us have numerous hidden talents, many of these closer to the surface than we realise – and it often takes a wise or seasoned learner to help us draw these out and begin to use our talents for our good and the flourishing of our community. If we are currently battling stolen or denied opportunity, have a go at thinking through the planting of our feet firmly on more level ground, the settled ground of knowing we have more to happen in our lives, further to develop, and greater to succeed at and be generous in.

Let’s help each other remember to over-estimate, to imagine for bigger..and to see each other through when there’s a curved-ball near-hit.  Be bold to think of yourself as uniquely planted for the next landing into an opportunity, keeping hands usefully rooted upon the purpose-filled tasks you really delight in – this is far from surrendering with hands-up or resigned to same-old ‘same=old’!  When we can remind each other to live like that, we have found a level field where our progress is no longer hindered by limiting barriers, and it’s so much clearer as a vista for seeing those talents glinting near the surface for you to trade upon in your field, and the field of your wider community.

This week has been a great one for pancake-bingeing and dreaming up weird toppings to go with them.. or maybe that’s just us! We’ve had fun trying to out-do each other with the whackiest combinations on a pancake – try marmite & fruit; bacon & bananas; chocolate & beans; pasta & syrup – and the dog’s always hopeful when we fail to catch them. It’s great to look round the room & see all the various ways everyone enjoys wrapping, rolling, folding, shaping and decorating something as simple as a pancake – there’s so many different ideas on what makes the perfect one! Looking at kids’ science homework study on dough types, this is even reflected all over the world in the huge number of different flours, fats, additives, dairy versions, cooking types and methods that are used to produce what in the end is really a variation on the humble pancake. The history behind this here is traditionally that the pancakes were a way to use up everything in the store cupboard on a big-bang batter feast before the season of fasting time started around March/April.

We’ve also been looking at what we feed ourselves in our minds : coming up with ideas on what we would like to feast on (could be anything – holidays? time together? box set?) and what would be lovely to fast from (alarm clocks? paperwork? sums?).. there’s a popular saying that ‘we are what we eat’ – but that’s only half the sentence. Really, we are what we eat in our minds. What we choose to consume or feed our eyes on, even on our miniature mobile screens, could be part of that process. If we leave our minds half- or whole-empty we’re in danger of an over-the-top diet or mega-fasting!  In fairly recent times, science of the human brain has discovered that we can go through times of working our minds in order to quieten or redirect emotion and thought processes, and those that govern our choice of words to each other. That’s an amazing discovery & reminds of the old proverb about having the control of the mind is to have control of the whole body. Maybe science will discover that we can even have an influence over our wellbeing by being careful what we feed our minds! It sounds like a certainty, if the proverb is to be believed. It can bring a peace to know that feasting our minds on what really fills is to look after our whole self.

This last month we’ve been considering the themes of Beginnings & Fresh starts; Good endings & Better New Year;  Forgetting the stale and  Building well from here. There are different ways to approach these themes – for some it’s mulling over perhaps with a sense of relief or thanks, for others maybe it’s a fresh way of thinking about the old mountainous challenges. Some enjoy sharing arts as a way to remember we’re changing for the better – we decided to individually do ‘pegging out’ of any concerns for the past, choosing what is better now and imagining how things could really move on and to put these ideas or drawings into frames to remind us it’s a time of change that we can all contribute to.

In the new month we’re focussing on the younger generation and enjoying making Heart tokens in the craft section and hearing stories of being brave to overcome worries. Yesterday in a training course the description of contented youngsters included the phrase ‘engaged with their community’, so this week at the Community Talents Club come and join us as we share ideas on how we can build a bridge of trust in the right setting – seeing this happen between generations is a great way to build up a bridge, and as it’s built we see it overspan the stagnant water of worries and result in new understanding and perspective.

Come on in & join us for coffee, chocolate & grab a newspaper for a break while the kids play – you will be more than welcome!

With an aviation history to be proud of, Thornhill Community Centre at Hinkler Parade – Hinkler Road hosts the launching of a local community group-based initiative YetStreams Thornhill 2017