Path of totality

There is a total solar eclipse today - visible from a broad swath of the United States.
It’s got me wondering: What does it mean to be eclipsed? To be temporarily hidden? Overshadowed? To have your light obscured? And then to return?

What does it mean when we all look up at the same time? Or when we all have our minds on the same cosmic moment? What happens on a day when we all contemplate the breadth of time and space together?

Do you feel compelled to understand deep mystery? Do you chase it? Or do you let the universe keep secrets and retain magic?

I’m just back from some much needed travel. Since we live in the middle of the continent in a place that is usually full of snow, our first plan is almost always ocean, but at the last minute we drove towards mountains.

We spent several days just marveling at landscapes and big skies. It felt SO GOOD to zoom out. To think about things in geologic time and not just minute to minute, meeting to meeting, doctor’s appointment to doctor’s appointment. We mostly unplugged and were unreachable. A bit of an eclipse, I suppose, of our daily lives. A hard reset in a season managing both health complications and life transitions.

One of the books I’m reading right now is “Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History” by Florence Williams and it’s fascinating and weird. I also stumbled upon a much more recent article by Williams published in Outdoor Magazine on the emerging science studying the effects of Awe on humans. It reminded me why travel is good for us, why nature wows us, why celestial events inspire us, and experiencing art and ritual heals us.

“A heightened awe experience stimulates the vagus nerve, which calms us, and releases a pleasant rush of dopamine and oxytocin, increasing a sense of connection.

It also dramatically shifts which brain networks are firing up. Imaging studies show that awe reduces activation in our self-referential default-mode network. The findings help explain two significant features of a classic awe experience: a relatively diminished sense of self, and a tendency toward altruistic behavior.

One study analyzed seven million Twitter posts from the time of the 2017 solar eclipse. Compared with posts from outside the path of totality, posts from inside the path used more collective words like we, as well as language that evoked humility. In another study, tourists at an overlook in Yosemite National Park drew themselves 33 percent smaller on graph paper than tourists looking at Fisherman’s Wharf, a tourist destination in San Francisco. The Yosemite visitors’ signatures were also significantly smaller, and they reported feeling much more awe.”

Awe is synonymous with Wonder. Wonder is synonymous with Curiosity. Curiosity often leads to Creativity. Wandering and wondering are great companions. These things are not only nice to experience, they are fundamental for keeping us well - as individuals and collectively.

Did you watch the eclipse? Did you observe the day in another way? What experiences have moved you lately? When was the last time you experienced full bodied WONDER? Where were you, who were you with? What did you notice? What did you sense? How will you find AWE next?

Creative Coaching Circles

A couple of years ago, I was very excited to create one of my first offerings for group coaching: a Creative Circle for folks launching or expanding into creative work. There ended up being three participants and we were going to meet weekly in one of their beautiful art studios. Each of them had a vision and a vague timeline for what they hoped to accomplish with our time together. One was about to start writing a new book, another was thinking of launching an independent business, and the third was making new work and evaluating their income strategy. We planned to meet monthly. The first session was wonderful, everyone connected and built trust quickly. The second session each member began to get even more vulnerable talking about their challenges and what was in the way of their vision. The third session we began taking turns coaching each other to go deeper. That was January, February, and March 2020. You know how this story goes: the world shifted….

The group decided to continue meeting online during the pandemic once a month, but I felt really weird about charging for coaching when everyone had shifted from “visioning” to “getting through”, so I suggested we stop. They refused and counter offered that I should shift from facilitator to full participant and we should keep going. Everyone needed extra support to process and adapt to life within a global shut down. Over the months, and now years - we have supported each other through significant life changes, title changes, job changes, work challenges, family changes, deaths, births, world travel, new homes, new cities, and all the way through connecting about what we are making, what we are learning, what we are letting go of, where we feel shame, where we are digging deep to be better, what is still bugging us, what is finally making sense, and above all, witnessing each other’s growth.

It was from that Circle, and two others that I ended up facilitating or joining during the pandemic that helped me realize how powerful consistent, structured, community support is and how rare it is. Most people seek input and advice from their friends, families, partners, colleagues - which is wonderful, but rarely unbiased. The people closest to us often have strong opinions or impressions of what we are doing, could be doing, or should be doing.

Coaching Circles open up room for reflection and inquiry, but with ground rules. When structured well, they allow for:
- space to be coached and to coach within a group of trusted peers
- safe and confidential space for mutual learning and growth
- bounded accountability for goals or dreams that may not be ready for the public
- reflection, encouragement, motivation, challenge, radical honesty

They often begin through a designed and held space. And in my experience, they then spin off into the wilds of true friendship.

I look forward to launching a few new Creative Coaching Circles this year.