I rested.

Now that my mini-sabbatical is over, I am back and ready to focus on the second half of the Dare to Excel challenge.

Interestingly enough, challenge number 9 has been working itself out in my life behind the scenes. In my time away I had a lot of productive conversations about the new space and my life reboot. These talks provided me a chance to really process also how I can bring the re-tooled and freshly shined pieces of myself to others.

I know it all sounds so very vague. But we are working with a primordial creature here. Which is perfect that challenge 9 says “Allow for messiness.”

This is also where we are asked to:

• “Invite a few people behind the scenes.”
• “Invite feedback.”

I have continued the personal ritual process that I defined initially and just engaging others on the topic has seemed fruitful and helpful to all parties involved. It’s like some kind of massive permission giving to restore the sacred to the mundane.

I have also been inspired by friends who work on a very regular traditional spiritual and religious schedule, and those who have forged their own paths and help others to the same, healing through nature and the seasons.

The prompt’s last message included what I will call “the escape hatch”–

• “In the words of Lean Start-up author Eric Riess, then decide whether to move forward and persevere to publish the big project or to pivot toward a different project.”

While I have no desire to abandon the everyday project, I have seen ways I can expand and share what I am gaining through that process. And it, most ironically, relates to my first draft of my burning question, where I asked, “What if we sought inspiration for daily acts of creativity in people’s personalities and experiences, in our relationships to one another?”

You see, I study and teach personality theory, but it has never felt good for me to do so in big groups. I like the small group or one on one discussion where people discover who they are and begin to create a new vision of their self in relationship to the world, friends and family. It’s art. It is. It isn’t tangible, but it is transformative.

As I struggled through leaving another aspect of my life behind recently, my darling Kevin pointed out that I lead people and groups to transform and resistance comes to me when those people aren’t ready for the journey.
I think I need to find a way to work with people who are . . .
so there may be a new project in the works already . . . 
Experiment #2

Stay tuned.