I’m working this week in Arlington, Texas. Co-leading an Art of Participatory Leadership offering with my friends Caitlin Frost and Chris Corrigan. It’s three days. There is a group of 40 for this one.
One of our first steps on the first day with the group is creating a center. We invite people to bring a small object “that inspires them in their leadership.” In this format, after a bit of welcome and context, we give them 10 minutes in trios to share story of their items. Then in whole circle, each gets a sentence or two and places their item in the center. We go around the whole group.
A theme I’m living lately is how some “seemingly small things are actually big things.” Inviting this circle with these artifacts is an important example of that.
Helps people have voice immediately.
Makes it personal.
Invites tone of story.
Brings connection.
And then so much good grows out of that. People show up with a bit more belonging. And a bit more courage and compassion together. The learning is so much better then.
Some people bring poems as their item. One from yesterday was this Maya Angelou quote:
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
That’s what that opening circle with artifacts is. A feeling to remember. And to carry into all of the other learning of the day.
Earlier she published “25 Words for 2025.” Long post. Fun to peruse. Many words I would have expected. Collaborate. Integrity. Emergence.
But also some surprises. “Sonder” is the one that caught my attention extra. Delightful to see the surprise.
“…the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own…”
That and, it connects to wander for me. It connects to becoming and belonging for me. Which lights up something in the heart. Which feels like incredible learning and practice for 2025.
“The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love — whether we call it friendship or family or romance — is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light. Gentle work. Steadfast work. Life-saving work in those moments when life and shame and sorrow occlude our own light from our view, but there is still a clear-eyed loving person to beam it back. In our best moments, we are the person for another.” James Baldwin
It’s a peek outside of the doubts and droughts, I suppose, that are so real yet feel nice to leave behind for a moment, or for a cup of coffee.
It’s a courtesy, I suppose. Yup, I like the courtesy. Some leaning in, sometimes consciously, with a bit of invocation. Happiness. And beauty. And kindness. And flow. And some of the other emotional cousins that live nearby.
Somewhere along the way in 2024, I had a seemingly small, but actually big aha. It was that I think in collages. Collages in discussions. Collages in plans. In designs. In conversations with loved ones. Collages in dreaming the day and the night. Or the week. Or the year. In dwelling with the difficulties. Of the day, the night, the week, the year.
Collages include. They are also rather imperfect. They are rather incomplete. Collages create a relationship between things. A connection between things. An association. A spatial awareness. I love all of that.
Because, well, life is so much moving, dynamic, and fluid. I’ve long sought to hold the certainty of life. The dots connected. The imposed linearity of charts. But real life, the one that I so love exploring, is so much more fluid than that. It behooves us humans, right, to get more comfortable with things chaotic and dynamic. With order that is short-lived. Or with order that is constant, but only in the biggest of pictures.
Happy New Year.
It’s a hope. For connection. For learning. For loving. For living. For surprise. For delight. For attention to those things that are happening all of the time anyway. Collaged. Sometimes for the depth. Sometimes for the whimsy.
The above collage of recent photos delights me on this January 2nd day.
Our cat Marmalade loves to cuddle in the closet. On top of Dana’s clothes. It’s Marmalade’s private space. Particularly when we have dogs visiting. It’s kind of endearing. I like endearing somewhere in today’s collage. And wish it for others.
The seagulls sometimes gather on the dock at Oquirrh Lake. And poop all over the dock. But something about seeing their colors with the similar colors of winter. It’s beautiful. I want palette and color in my collage of life today. And wish it for others.
The stature of the child holding a dandelion is nearby trail art. It’s called “Dancing With A Dream” by Elizabeth Carter. Yes please. I love the whimsy and think whimsy feels like a good strategic plan today and this year. I wish that for others too.
More sky. Dried miniature crab-apples on trees where Dana and I walk. Again, something about open sky. I love vista. I love the spacious and unplanned. I want that in my collage of Happy New Year. I want that for others too.
And then loved ones. What a fun Xmas afternoon. Dana and I hosted family. Friends. Blends of family and friends. Dogs (with cat in the closet). What delight. What momentary delight. What lasting delight. An afternoon of joy. And gifts. And games. And a meal. I want that in my collage. And wish it for others. And delight in such joy and celebration, even when, yes, so much trouble stirs and vortexes in the world.
So I wish for many what I wish for myself. The practice and orientation of collaging. Physical if needed (my walls often have a lot of post-it notes on them — phrases and tiny drawings). And emotional collages. That exist in the heart and brain. Or even in the knee cap.
Hey, Happy New Year.
Offered with love.
Gifts of Circle
asd Gifts of Circle is 30 short essays divided into 4 sections: 1) Circle's Bigger Purpose, 2) Circle's Practice, 3) Circle's First Requirements, and 4) Circle's Possibility for Men. From the Introduction: "Circle is what I turn to in the most comprehensive stories I know -- the stories of human beings trying to be kind and aware together, trying to make a difference in varied causes for which we need to go well together. Circle is also what I turn to in the most immediate needs that live right in front of me and in front of most of us -- sharing dreams and difficulties, exploring conflicts and coherences. Circle is what I turn to. Circle is what turns us to each other."
Question Cards is an accompanying tool to Gifts of Circle. Each card (34) offers a quote from the corresponding chapter in the book, followed by sample questions to grow your Circle hosting skills and to create connection, courage, and compassionate action among groups you host in Circle.
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In My Nature
asd
In My Nature is a collection of 10 poems. From A Note of Beginning: "This collection of poems arises from the many conversations I've been having about nature. Nature as guide. Nature as wild. Nature as organized. I remain a human being that so appreciates a curious nature in people. That so appreciates questions that pick fruit from inner being, that gather insights and intuitions to a basket, and then brings the to table to be enjoyed and shared over the next week."
This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes) quotes a few favorite passages from poems in In My Nature. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.
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Most Mornings + Note Cards
asd Most Mornings is a collection of 37 poems. I loved writing them. From the introduction: "This collection of poems comes from some of my sense-making that so often happens in the morning, nurtured by overnight sleep. The poems sample practices. They sample learnings. They sample insights and discoveries. They sample dilemmas and concerns."
This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes) quotes a few favorite passages from poems in Most Mornings. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.
