This week, I’ve found the word gregarious for you.

Gregarious (adjective)

Used to describe people who are fond of company and sociable.

Or animal species living in flocks or herds.

Or plants growing in clusters. 

What comes to mind?

Even from its individual letters, the word gregarious makes me think of a gaggle of geese.  A group of animals living together in a flock. A gaggle on land or on water, a skein in flight.

If you’ve ever watched a skein of geese, you’ll know, like many other birds, they move as one, a swarm guided by the Earth’s pull, the seasons, landmarks and learning from each other. You hear them first, their collective barks and honks, before they appear in flying formation banking round and coming in to land, returning to the same spots year after year.

Where might this week’s word take you?

Interestingly, a typical antonym for gregarious would be antisocial or introverted. Whether you are a gregarious person or not, as individuals we are all part of various groups, our flocks or tribes of family, friends, clubs, social, work, …

Make a list of all the groups you belong to and then spend some time reflecting on what they each mean to you.

And if you need some more inspiration, might we recommend this beautiful footage of pink-footed geese taking flight in Scotland, or these words on what geese can teach us about the value community, and, of course, there’s always Mary Oliver reading her classic poem, Wild Geese.

As always, we love to see what you come up with, if you’d like to share. And if you’d like to share it in our weekly Note and Journal, please send it to me.

Remember…

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

-- from Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese