Sheep and lambs and patterns

Took a long walk. And halfway to nowhere I found a large herd of sheep. I sat down and watched...

First I thought it was all chaos. Sheep walking in circles, eating grass, lambs jumping and playing. No order at all. No structure. No patterns.

But after a while I could see patterns. Sheep joined, ate some grass. Lambs played and repeated the "games". Other lambs joined their mothers for a few minutes - and then returned to game.

Not all sheep mixed. There seemed to be three or four groups of adult sheep. But only one group of lambs.

Occasionally a mama-sheep would say "Bah" and her kids would run to her for some food.

I sat down for at least thirty minutes and studied the herd. What first looked like chaos was instead more like multiple organized dances. Not strictly linear order - but creatures moving around with respect for each other and all belonging to the herd. And I was almost (but only almost) able to predict how the individual were moving around.

Next time you see chaos. Sit down and see what patterns you can find. Be patient and give it some time!