Notes Along the Way
The path toward becoming a shepherdess had many twists and turns.
Doing my own work came with thinking through a lot of stuff and more inflection points than I want to imagine.
The posts below are a collection of observation and thinking paths I’ve taken during my own journey.
See the Framework series for how I think about supporting others, including more information about the Life Support Paradigm.
Enjoy.
There Isn't a Process, and That's the Point
We are trained to think that there's a magic key to get us out of wherever we found ourselves.
Nobody questions it. A process sounds competent. It sounds rigorous. It's the shape we expect coaching to take.
I don't have a process.
Failing Calculus Saved My Life
For me, perfection falls into the category of absolute words. Absolute words, for me, have one precise, immutable meaning…
Why Does Reliance On Our Humor, Smarts, Or Usefulness Complicate Our Lives So Much?
Then come the inevitable moments where we aren’t funny, smart, or useful, and we experience the folks we’re with ignoring or attacking what we’re experiencing. Not only do these moments suck green fuzzy rocks, but they also reinforce our belief that only the funny, smart, or useful parts those parts will be welcome.
Tackling the Armor Takes Intention
Spending years in a defense-focused survival mode often creates a hard outer shell around our expectations for how we need to show up in the world to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.
Believe Both Sides of the But
From a simple logic perspective, ‘but’ and ‘and’ get coded the same way. The statement to the right and the statement to the left of the conjunctive word have to be true for the statement to be true.
Support Is Being Helpful without Helping
*I’m being left behind again,* a resigned inner voice noted as the group I visited Teotihuacan with moved forward much faster than I could manage. My hips ached, my breathing wasn’t sucking enough air, and the sun sapped my energy. Still, I plodded along behind, knowing movement, even slowly, was the only way…
Practice All the Things
There’s a permission to not be perfect inherent in how I define practice. Learning a skill, trying a new sequence, and working on a challenging bit of behavior all require room to mess up.
Don’t Call Me Cute.
OK, so I know saying that while sharing the oh, so perfect picture of my attitude the summer I turned one isn't fair. And I'm not kidding. Don't call me cute.
It's a boundary I have.
Learning to Ask
We were six steps down the grocery store cereal aisle when my mother hamstrung me…
Power in the Wings
I often imagine myself standing in the wings of an active stage for my turn to enter the story. This improv stage is my life, and I have only a glimmer of an idea about what's next. Standing there, waiting to enter, is like a new beginning. The moment defines one of my knife's sharpest edges.