Flag Oracle #20: Turn on portrait mode
and extend the networks of care
Hello friends,
As a society, we’re obsessed with portraits. Perhaps it’s because they remind us of who we are, and who we are not. We can look at a portrait in a museum of someone who lived centuries ago and feel their aliveness across time. Similarly, we consume biographies and profile articles because we want to know how other people live. As we obsess about the lives of other people, it’s important to remember that we are each the main character in our own life, and just as worthy of a portrait as any celebrity. Let’s look at what the flags have to say.
As the only Flag Oracle card taken in the camera’s portrait mode, this picture brings the flag into close focus while blurring the background. Here, focusing on the No Mistakes flag, the Portrait Mode card invites you to look closely at yourself to see a fuller picture of how you got to be who you are, where you are, and to remember that your unique combination of events and influences is no mistake.
Alternatively, this card might invite you to look at another person—or important object—in closer detail. You might have an in-depth conversation that gives you a fuller picture of a person. What can you learn from them? Can you see how where they are in life is not a mistake? Dare to be fascinated, and appreciate all they have been through.
This network of living and dead branches likely came together over time as a result of tree maturation and high winds. Together, these trees shared the same resources of water, earth nutrients, and light. They are connected above and below ground by mammals, invertebrates, birds, fungi, and insects all playing out their biological function to support the entire forest.
You probably have a similar perfectly imperfect network of care in your own life. Someone says the right thing at the right time to give you an insight into a problem. You probably have people you know you can go to when you need help, or when you want to have fun.
In the Night position following the Portrait Mode card, Networks of Care invites you to look at the characters in your network in closer detail—and consider yourself as a character in their lives as well.
It’s impossible to know the effects of your presence on the people with whom you share physical and digital space. Your role in others’ lives depends on the situation, their perceptions, and any multitude of factors that put you in contact, however brief (e.g., a cashier) or significant (e.g., a parent). Like all the organisms in the forest, every little interaction adds up.
A recent example
A memoir is perhaps the most significant self-portrait a person can offer. A classmate from Middlebury College has written two of them.
, author of Running Home, visited the Bay Area recently to promote her new book Brief Flashings in the Phenomenal World. Though Katie and I barely know each other, we graduated from Middlebury the same year with the same major (American Civilization), love running and writing, and have a spiritual orientation.
Katie writes in her new book,
“We each have our own true way. We imitate or be inspired, but we can only ever be ourselves.”
On Saturday, driving down Scott Street in San Francisco past Victorians and shapely California-style buildings on my way downtown to work in one of the city’s small collection of skyscrapers, I remembered that I am just a small-town girl from New Hampshire who has spent most of my life living in or near a major city. Through an extended network of care, I made the dream of a frustrated small-town teen come true. The portrait mode turned to selfie became one of the brief flashings that Katie mentions in her book.
Thank you for being part of my network of care by subscribing to this email! Your presence here matters, even if we’ve never met.
Have a care-filled week!
Love, Lee Ann
Happy to be in your network!