Readiness

We all coach people who are facing big decisions, or who seek support in change. We witness, in them, the dynamic tension between the comfort of the known, and the disorganizing and liberating experience of stepping into something new. We support our clients in their discernment.

And, of course, we work with ourselves around similar discernments. It is often harder to see the ways in which we ourselves hold on to a practiced way of being or keep investing in a narrative that is limiting.

In this light, I have been fascinated by conversations with several people about the EcoSomatic Leadership Intensive that Henry Kimsey-House and I are offering in New Mexico in the fall.

This work builds a deeply connected, EcoSomatic awareness, in which we experience ourselves at the “frothy edge” of a marvelous evolutionary story. (Literally, it took the universe 13.7 billion years to produce YOU!)

We explore the experience that we are expressions of the living earth, collectively responsible for authoring how the story unfolds from here. I mean, of course, not just our own individual stories, although those are part. Rather, I am speaking of the story of how we increasingly contribute to the unfolding of creativity and aliveness on this planet, rather than undermining it in the name of our habits and attachments.

In our audio podcasts and virtual conference, we have touched into this awareness. Several people have shared with me that they don’t feel ready or competent to access or hold this powerful perspective. And, so they question whether the Intensive is right for them.

This is, to me, really interesting. Actually, we don’t expect people to already embody what we’re moving towards. (We are works in progress ourselves!) Readiness is an outcome of what we intend, not a prerequisite.

I understand the need to assess our readiness for a big new commitment. (e.g., it doesn’t make sense to buy a house if we can’t make the payments, or to accept a job that requires experience we don’t possess.)

From a different perspective, any worthy commitment produces disorientation, and requires development, as we live into it. (Who could possibly be ready to have a child? While most of us assess our personal and circumstantial readiness before conceiving, every parent has also felt at times unworthy of the trust placed in us by the audacious act of having a baby. We gasp at the miracle of birth, and at the daunting responsibility that comes with it. Still, most of us grow into reasonable competence as parents.)

We acquire the competency for parenting through parenting, for leading through leading, for living through living.

We could wait until it’s too late (many people do!) to decide that we’re ready to have a kid, marry, launch a business, follow a dream, or allow the Earth itself, speaking its aliveness through our very being, to shape who we are and the commitments we enter into.

What assumptions do we live in about readiness? Does readiness mean that we already possess the competencies for a commitment? That we have confidence that things will go smoothly? Or, simply that we’re ready for the adventure? That we trust ourselves to be as resourceful as the situation requires, and that putting ourselves in the game is really the only way to find out what IS required?

EcoSomatic Leadership isn’t just about recycling or changing light bulbs or buying a Prius, although those generally are good ideas. Rather, it’s about living in the awareness of our place in things. It’s about recognizing that every moment matters. And, realizing that every action we take in a particular moment and over a lifetime is fundamentally authoring a grand and elegant story.

Any decision, any new commitment, will “bend the arc of history.” So, whatever commitment we are considering, how do we assess ourselves as ready? Is there some level of competency required to wake up and face the opportunity we are living in? Must we be worthy? Must we earn the right to enter the conversation?

How can it ever not be the right time for awakening?