#67: Flow.

Flow. The release of blockage. Movement created with the strength of purpose and the relief of surrender; an ironic collision.

In flow is how I crave to spend my days. Being who I am.

Knowing is the first step. Or at least being wise enough to follow the instinct that my path must change course, then listening.

Then surrendering (believing). Then being.

Then the path is set and the dam breaks.

Flow is at once ultimate and perpetual.

#66: Systems vs. Things.

Systems vs. things. What a revelation to understand personhood better through the beings of fungus.

We are more than matter; matter is but a conduit for the expression of our ever evolving being.

“A mycelial network is a map of a fungus’s recent history and is a helpful reminder that all life-forms are in fact processes not things. The “you” of five years ago was made from different stuff than the “you” of today. Nature is an event that never stops. As William Bateson, who coined the word genetics, observed, ‘We think of animals and plants [and ourselves] as matter, but they are really systems through which matter is continually passing.’ When we see an organism, from a fungus to a pine tree [to our reflection in the mirror], we catch a single moment in a continual development.”

-Entangled Life, How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake, chapter Living Labyrinth, Random House

#65: Home as Garden.

Home as garden. Pruning and weeding to cultivate an orderly home.

Pruning: decluttering our rooms and editing our collection of belongings. Discarding and donating.

Weeding: putting our things strewn about back where they live. Tidying up.

We can tend to the inside of our homes in the same way that we tend to the outside—in either space we are taking control to make room for order, beauty, and growth.

Tend well and with intention.

#64: The How.

The how. At times, we fixate so much on outset emotions from contemplating how we will accomplish something that the opaqueness of the inner workings of the endeavor prevent us from getting started in the first place. And so we've gone nowhere.

Instead, let us direct and focus our energy on the outcome so as to create a resonating vibration that lights a path with joy. The how will sort itself out.

Be led in joy and possibility rather than stunted by fear.

#63: Gifts.

Gifts. Why does visiting a local haunt after receiving a fine dining experience feel lacking?

It’s not necessarily the food. There is satisfying food all along the fanciness spectrum.

It’s the gifts. Not physical presents. Gifts, as in an intention to delight and connect and make an offering of passion. You feel the gifts in every detail of the encounter. The attention paid. The richness of generosity and caring. Hospitality.

Too often there is a positive correlation between price and gift-giving at restaurants.

Here’s to gifts for everyone in our foodways and social gastronomy as a lexicon toward that end.

#62: Trust.

Trust. Crossing the chasm to get to trust takes diligence in generosity and connection.

Trust such that when I reach out, interest is the reciprocating posture rather than an air of defense.

Trust that anything I have on offer is understood as generating from a place of mutual rather than unilateral benefit.

Crossing the chasm itself is a posture worth taking on.

#61: Turn it Around.

Turn it around. A prompt that brings forth negative assumptions or insecurities. Maybe it’s a meeting invitation interpreted to mean that trouble is in the air.

Instead of engaging the emotional downward spiral before begrudgingly joining the meeting, embrace the possibilities that connection afford.

Make a phone call to a colleague to reconnect and get context. You might find out that there is good news to celebrate and an intention to build.

A suspicion turned into a stronger network.

It’s all invented anyway so pick up the phone (or Zoom or Slack or Teams or…).

#60: The Honorable Harvest.

The Honorable Harvest. I first learned of this ancient practice of indigenous people of North America (and likely most places in the world) from Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of the book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. She describes it as a “canon of indigenous principles that govern the exchange of life for life” where the relationship between people and the Earth is concerned.

It is not written, but goes like this:

Ask permission of the ones whose lives you seek. Abide by the answer.
Never take the first. Never take the last.
Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Take only what you need and leave some for others.
Use everything that you take.
Take only that which is given to you.
Share it, as the Earth has shared with you.
Be grateful.
Reciprocate the gift.
Sustain the ones who sustain you, and the Earth will last forever.

The thesis question: how can we apply these principles of nature to the constructs of a market economy?

It may feel like living wild on the margins but that’s where things get interesting.

“Reciprocity is an investment in abundance.”

- Robin Wall Kimmerer

#59: McPlay.

McPlay. In my dream last night someone confided that this is the nickname work colleagues gave me behind my back. In that context, I take it to mean that I take risks in the work I pursue relative to the norms of the company. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t.

Dreams can be an abstraction or a projection. In either case, I embrace the name. It can be unsettling to watch someone in conflict with norms and conclude that it’s tinkering. No, it’s just clumsy at first.

The adolescence of breakthrough.

McPlay.

#58: Surprise and Carry On.

Surprise and carry on. Sometimes you get what you want sooner than you expected or exposure that you didn't anticipate. What a pleasant surprise! Such encouraging feedback. Bask in it...but not for too long.

Take it as a sign that you're moving in the right direction and stay focused on forging the path.

Recognize and leverage your new assets in service of maximum contribution.

#57: Orientation.

Orientation. As in understanding the game you’re playing and your position in it.

Too often we play by a set of tactical rules for a game whose objectives and strategies are invisible to us. Disoriented.

Being disoriented may work for a time as long as the rules are clear and widely acknowledged. But there is a point along the continuum when growth requires grappling with unwritten rules.

The tussle (to achieve growth) means doing what it takes to see the game board clearly and, only then, choosing to continue to play with eyes wide open or find/create a different game that better suits who you’ve become. Oriented.

#56: Resentment.

Resentment. From being wronged, misunderstood, or neglected. The feeling is only natural as an initial reaction. The key is to learn to process the emotion quickly, moving thoughtfully and deliberately to analyze where your internal child self has been awakened and pricked.

Then send the event through the filter of your informed adult mind. Accept the truth for what it is. Keep and action the learnings, including empathy, grace, and savvy where they are due.

And leave no room in your psyche for any remaining beliefs or intentions that do not serve the person you are striving to be.

How long will this cycle take you?

Take too long and you get trapped by mental clutter, wasting valuable time better spent in creativity and freedom.

#55: Rearranging.

Rearranging. In the understanding that you have everything you need, seeing what to do next may just be a matter of rearranging the components of your life.

Rearranging the configuration of your physical space may reveal an energy flow that generates peace and a clear mind.

Rearranging your outlook on the assets you have built in your career and how you might deploy them may open up new possibilities for the path forward.

Rearranging means actively looking for the gifts we have accumulated and plotting them on a new map drawn with fresh eyes.

#54: Commencement.

Commencement. Informed beginnings gifted at the end of the preparation period being celebrated. A mix of pride, relief…and cluelessness.

What next?

With inspired commitment practice living (being and doing) in new understanding—everyday.

#53: Stories All Around.

Stories all around. In work, in play, in between. Those among us who go the furthest learn how to see the stories in everything--and convey them when and where it matters.

It is worth developing the practice of storytelling to advance our ideas, create resonance, and move the needle.

How must our perspectives change in order to see the stories to begin with?

#52: Resonance.

Resonance. That which leads those you need to you, and you to them. A vibration or frequency to which you are all tuned--even if you didn't realize it until the call sounded.

The only way to achieve the union is to first come out of the shadows and sound the call.

#51: Boundaries and Narratives.

Boundaries and narratives. The ones we set for ourselves. Crushing or completely groundbreaking.

Choose the latter and apply your power.

#50: Being as Lead.

Being as lead. As in, how I want to live each day as the harbinger of what I want to do. The other way around puts daily focus on the struggle of  achievement rather than the value in the present.

Yes, I need to know my direction and allow a posture and practice of expansiveness to propel me beyond what I ever imagined to be possible.

What I do then is simply my most apt conduit of expression.

#49: Deep Eyes.

Deep eyes. Pure. A child’s gaze. No disengagement. Straight and without agenda. Absorbing what is. What does she see?

No matter. I allow time to be irrelevant in those moments. Present.

And purpose to commit them to memory to recall true riches.

#48: Eyes Open.

Eyes open. Make decisions with them or be disappointed and unprepared.

The consequences of our decisions may still sting for a time, but that's because we want it all, all at once.

Remember the 'why', accept things as they are, and be inspired by the possibilities in front of you.