Hello,
Below you’ll find, some themes I’m offering you to think about, there is also some content I’ve been enjoying, and last but not least you’ll find some invitations to upcoming events.
The spirit of content
The life of content
Everything has a life of its own
Bathing in content
Finding life within content
Everything has a life of its own.
Last week I was in a class where the teacher invited us to be with the material as though we were listening to a piece of music. He encouraged us to let the content wash over us and not to try too hard to grasp what we were hearing.
I’d never been encouraged to let content wash over me or been invited to not try too hard. I relaxed, I listened.
So often in my learning journey, the focus has been on grasping content and trying to retain information. My approach to learning had always been active, I enter in ready to engage with the content and to apply it.
In life, there’s often an emphasis on riding the wave, on staying ahead of the curve, and being active. We are continually asked to respond and adapt to life and its myriad of experiences.
At the same time, I know that by allowing something to wash over me, or by letting myself be carried away by an idea, I am much more likely to arrive somewhere new.
When’s the last time you let something wash over you?
When is the last time you allowed yourself to be bathed in an experience?
Why aren’t we encouraged more often to let things wash over us? Maybe there’s a fear of not knowing what will happen if we surrender? Maybe there’s a fear of letting down our guard and losing a bit of control?
Maybe it isn’t as scary as we think. I think if we choose to allow ourselves to be washed over the experience will surprise us and offer us something we couldn’t have reached on our own.
So there I was in this training, relaxed and hearing this invitation for the first time. The teacher was inviting us to have a new experience. He was giving us permission to let the content work through us in a new way.
There’s an emphasis on consuming content. Instead of passive consumption, this teacher showed us that we could be in dialogue within it. In this way of relating to content, it can feel as if it were washing over you. It can feel as though it is offering you something without you needing to do anything.
I appreciate that in Japan, both in the Shinto tradition and in the practice of Takumi, there’s a belief that everything has its own spirit. There’s a belief that anything, whether an object or nature has an animating force inside of it.
In this sense, every interaction is relational. Content has a life of its own. When I notice this, I relate to content differently. I let it work through me and leave room for it to surprise me.
If you looked at content as having a life of its own how would you treat it differently? Would you mindlessly consume it? Or would rather be in a relationship with it?
Let something wash over you today. Imagine the next thing you notice as having a life and spirit of its own before you consume it. Let it wash over you.
What I’m Reading:
A Hidden Wholeness - Parker J Palmer
This book has been on my shelf for years and I finally read it last weekend.
I resonate deeply with Parker J Palmer’s inquiry and insights into how can we create circles of trust that invite a person’s soul to come forward.
Palmer speaks to the hidden wholeness within each of us, He states that “Wholeness does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life (p.19)”
Throughout the book, Palmer offers gems of insight into how we can create spaces of trust. Here are a few tips that have stayed with me: 1. Keep explorations invitational, allow for participants to engage at the rate that feels good for them, 2. Utilize indirection, explore topics metaphorically through a piece of artwork or poetry to mediate the conversation by a third thing. This way no one is put on the spot and people can engage at a depth and rate that works for them.
A poem I’m savoring:
“I often watch the sky.
I watch it in the morning in the hours of light
and the whole sky latches onto my eyes
and comes to drink,
and I latch onto it,
like a plant that eats up the light.”
Mariangela Gualtieri, Beast of Joy, Selected Poems.
Artwork that’s inspiring me:
I met Amie when I was in New Mexico a few months ago.
She is a magical person and her artwork is so beautiful.
You can learn more about her work here: http://www.amielegette.com
Pasted below is a screenshot of her piece “Plum.”
Here are some upcoming offerings…
Friday, November 19th, 5:00-7:15 pm PST
This week Randal Garcia and I are teaching a class on Branding from a mythic perspective. Together we’ll explore how we can tap into life-giving qualities in creating content and bringing more of our authentic voice forward.
This 2-hour workshop will include a few ideas that RG and I have collaborated on, time for reflection, and an experiential exercise, where you’ll get to work directly with your life myth or the myth of your brand. You’ll leave with a robust PDF to support you in taking the next steps in developing your brand.
Learn more here: https://catalysttochange.biz/offerings/p/brand-signal-myth
Friday, November 19th, 2:00-4:00 pm PST
This Friday, I’m looking forward to holding a space where we’ll explore patterns and the process structure of questions and cases.
When we can recognize patterns and understand how the parts of something work together to create the whole, we can gain new insights into how we can engage with our lives and our work with others.
This two-hour class has space for a few people to present cases or questions to explore the patterns and structure within them to discover additional options for how we can engage with them.
Learn more here: https://catalysttochange.biz/offerings/p/pattern-literacy-1
Gaining Perspective When Things Lockdown
Friday, December 10th, 4:00-6:00 pm PST
In this 2-hour session, we’ll explore ways of shifting and gaining perspective, when we feel stuck, shut down, or when the world around us is uncertain. And, even when things are going well gaining perspective can spark clarity and valuable insights.
This workshop will be highly experiential. We’ll explore time, space, and drawing as doorways, to gain perspective, connect with our creativity, and find new pathways forward.
As always please feel free to be in touch with any requests. I love hearing from you!