Aliveness and Wholeness as new metrics of success
Feeling the fullness and wholeness of being alive in these times, in this moment, hour by hour - that is at the root of all the things that I name - from deinstitutionalizing work, grief tending, leadership and resilience, climate work, parenting, gardening, to community connections.
I got back on Sunday after spending six gloriously intense days in residential (in-person) training with my teacher, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés Reyes (CPE).
At 81 years young, dressed in all black with white hair swooped into a bun adorned with red roses, she danced–dare I say, swaggered–into opening night to the song Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees. Her favorite lines being:
Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin'
And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Her song choices for openings and closings are always intentional. This year, she emphasized that yes, she’s witnessed a lot, and yes, these times are extra painful and hard. In part because of, once again in our histories, what she calls the ‘over culture’ is doing all they can to hurt and harm when we ALL deserve to be flourishing.
I love when there’s synchronicity. I’ve been thinking a lot about aliveness, which was my presentation focus for the Ivory Tower Summit the other week.
One question an audience member asked me at the end of the Ivory Tower Summit Q&A panel was: Within the conference theme of Livelihood, how do I define "What is worth living for?" in the context of careers and work?
There were moments when work in academia made me feel alive, and those sat alongside the increasing moments when my soul felt squashed and empty. My life and work now involve continually recalibrating toward more aliveness: noticing where I feel the most, where I am most embodied, and where I want to dedicate my time. Like a regular old school dial adjustment. Where can I get a little crisper, a bit more clarity?
There’s an important point about grief here too: Aliveness is possible in part because of (not in spite of) the losses in the world that partner or counter with joy, beauty, and moments of connection. Climate work has handed me that hard lesson over and over.
Rather than asking only whether work is successful, sustainable, or meaningful, ask whether it lets you feel and participate in being alive. And then it’s what needs letting go of in order to access a more dialed-in aliveness.
This is more than a career pivot story. It offers a different measure of life and work.
So the practice isn't: Let it go! (No, I won’t cue that song)
It's: How can I honor this moment, change, or loss with beauty?
Letting go sometimes is what allows us to shift into something more alive, more aligned, and more urgent to offer this world through our work.
CPE’s closing song choice, folks, broke me open - Rise Up by Andra Day. I was sitting right across from her, bawling my eyes out. And in the beauty of watching her sing the words to all of us (you too), I felt sustenance for this moment of life and work. We choose to get up, day after day, rise up a thousand times over, and focus on what matters (and it’s not more meetings about the meeting).
You’re broken down and tired
Of living life on a merry-go-round
And you can’t find the fighter
But I see it in you so we gonna walk it out
And move mountains
This year’s practices on deinstitutionalizing work are what we do to reconnect to our aliveness because we experience challenging times, changing worlds, and betraying systems, and because we have soul-filled purpose.
In that spirit, let’s walk it out. October’s tasks and work are crushing many right now. I hear it in our calls. To replenish ourselves is to be delighted by beauty. For me right now, it is this season of autumn, the crisp aliveness alongside the fierce and graceful letting go. May you all have more moments outside in the changing seasons and delight in the beauty.
Remember: VOTE! Lives depend on it! Sending much love out to you all!
