COMING TOGETHER

I dropped offline for about 10 days and I’m just making my way back. I find myself in a flow of open hearted gratitude. This morning I woke up to a thread of e-mails of Evolutionary Leaders introducing themselves to each other. Participants in last year’s workshop and those who will be coming together in just about a week. Forgive the dramatic intensity but I literally fell to my knees with gratitude. I was bowled over by the abundance of generosity and mutual care. And I was overcome by a sense of being fully in service of the creative impulse, the evolutionary thrust that propels us forward towards a future that is ceaselessly beckoning, tugging at our hearts, desiring of our participation.

Over the last few weeks I had the privilege of launching a year-long process for a cohort of climate leaders under the age of 40. Our first retreat was a remarkable success. I was then blessed to participate in 5.5 days of intensive warrior training at the Strozzi Institute’s Men’s School of Embodied Leadership. It was so powerful to have a somatic experience of core lessons in leadership. It was intense to literally plant my commitment in my body, using movement, exercise and martial techniques in the effort to fully become that which I strive for. This work is literally changing my posture.

The somatic work was immediately followed by two nights of ceremony in a tradition that the people of the Amazon have held throughout the ages. I had the honor of bringing a group of people together to do this work with truly masterful shamanic healers. The medicine work does not come easy to me, it works me hard, it humbles me, it shakes my core and terrifies me… and yet it continues to unfold in ways that are undeniably beneficial. Unique about this group of seekers is an explicit intention to serve a collective field, to explore the “interior of the we” and to actively challenge a postmodern conditioning that tends to show up in us as relentless narcissism - even in, or sometimes specially in, these powerful healing spaces.

Now I get to be home. Grounding and integrating. Connecting deeply with my family. Sharing stories with my son and deepening the bond with my beloved, standing in awe of her journey. The inner momentum continues to build as this soul is propelled and nurtured. The second ever Evolutionary Leadership Workshop is next, and it’s all coming together.