Writings & Thoughts
Reflections
These writings explore the intersection of self, soul and society—interweaving vulnerable personal stories, poetry, and reflections on leadership. A good place to begin is Releasing Love to Create, which offers a window into the vision behind this work. Subscribe to receive updates whenever new posts are shared.
A few weeks ago, I had the idea of highlighting the voices of leaders who are using poetry (mine and others) as a gateway to deeper contemplation (#PoetryInPractice). I decided to start with my friend Ted Howell, who is a respected lawyer, a mentor to many small business leaders, and an early reader of my book. I thought he would respond to my request with a few pithy reflections that could serve as quick soundbites on Instagram, but to my delightful surprise, what came back was worthy of its own essay.
Lately, I have allowed the desires of my mind to mostly be in charge: running around in the worried frenzy of doing sprinkled only with brief moments of resting in my soul’s desire for stillness of being.
Reemerging into my social circles after a period of reclusion was often awkward. Conversations would typically start with, “So what have you been up to?”. I would take a deep breath and look into the person’s eyes, trying to sense if they really wanted to know the answer.
I am sitting here in wonder, reflecting on a piece I performed at a small club a few days ago - a weaving of vulnerable storytelling, social commentary, poetry and dance. What I am playfully pondering is how I got here and why am I continuing this wild journey into the unknown?
As I am writing these words, I feel my chest tense and my breath so shallow it’s almost imperceptible. I sense fear attempting to hook my thoughts into believing that I don’t have another decent essay in me.
After years of what I called a social media fast, I am not only reemerging in cyberspace, but am also attempting to build an intimate following (gasp).
Social norms had conditioned me to rote mindless greetings limited to hello or hi, but lately, I’ve been called to address people in strange new ways that seem to lure their hearts closer to me.
I don’t recall many times when I truly expressed myself with full abandon.
Facilitating among leaders, especially other facilitators, is not an easy place to be, because although we know to arrive curious and supportive, we can still carry subtle habits of comparison and judgments about how transformative the experience could be for us, having “been there and done that.” Or at least, I admit that I did. .
A few weeks ago, I had the idea of highlighting the voices of leaders who are using poetry (mine and others) as a gateway to deeper contemplation (#PoetryInPractice). I decided to start with my friend Ted Howell, who is a respected lawyer, a mentor to many small business leaders, and an early reader of my book. I thought he would respond to my request with a few pithy reflections that could serve as quick soundbites on Instagram, but to my delightful surprise, what came back was worthy of its own essay.
Lately, I have allowed the desires of my mind to mostly be in charge: running around in the worried frenzy of doing sprinkled only with brief moments of resting in my soul’s desire for stillness of being.
Reemerging into my social circles after a period of reclusion was often awkward. Conversations would typically start with, “So what have you been up to?”. I would take a deep breath and look into the person’s eyes, trying to sense if they really wanted to know the answer.
I am sitting here in wonder, reflecting on a piece I performed at a small club a few days ago - a weaving of vulnerable storytelling, social commentary, poetry and dance. What I am playfully pondering is how I got here and why am I continuing this wild journey into the unknown?
As I am writing these words, I feel my chest tense and my breath so shallow it’s almost imperceptible. I sense fear attempting to hook my thoughts into believing that I don’t have another decent essay in me.
After years of what I called a social media fast, I am not only reemerging in cyberspace, but am also attempting to build an intimate following (gasp).
Social norms had conditioned me to rote mindless greetings limited to hello or hi, but lately, I’ve been called to address people in strange new ways that seem to lure their hearts closer to me.
I don’t recall many times when I truly expressed myself with full abandon.
