Winter Bugs: Valuing Physical and Social Systems

Winter Bugs can be insight-giving things, if you let them.  Cleared of the pre-holiday variety, a new Bug has found me.  Annoyed and impatient with its earlier colleagues, I am listening at last. 

I find myself hyper-aware of the physical environment I take for granted.  My constant demand for clean clear air, my unexpected appreciation of warm honeyed water, my new-found need for hot steam, a deep hunger for fresh nutrient-rich food -- all have gotten my attention.  My inter-dependency on my social web has also become front and center.  My soup-making and house-cleaning family, my flexible job, able team and supportive business partner, the call-in care from the doctor's office -- these and more become acutely visible to me.  

With illusions of self-sufficiency fallen away, I see myself for what I am (for what we each are) -- a strong yet fragile complex system, completely reliant on the health, cooperation and support of the physical and social systems I am part of.

You've made your point, Winter Bug(s).  Now, kindly go away.