The Lioness
May I be the tiniest nail in the house of the universe, tiny but useful. Mary Oliver (quoted in Asia Suler’s Mirrors in the Earth)
Guided to pick up a book that I haven’t yet read and opening it to a random page, this quote hit the nail on the head this morning. I was present to a sense of unsettledness that’s visited me recently with more frequency than I’d prefer. I was remembering that this week marks the beginning of the 14th year of this weekly post. And, as always on ‘blog day’, I was wondering ‘what is to be shared today?’.
I thought about what a journey this weekly writing ritual has been and continues to be; of how the world has changed since August 15, 2013. Of how I and we have changed as well. And of how our evolution individually, collectively, planetarily, and cosmically marches on at seemingly quickening paces.
That initial post, indeed the early years of what was then SuccessZone, focused on personal and business success, just as my coaching practice in those days did. My focus was never solely measuring success on the world’s terms but rather aimed toward measures of success beyond them. I suppose in some sense, I’ve always had some awareness that the world and its systems don’t quite measure up to the true nature of Life, and in the spring of 2020 amidst Covid lockdowns and global fear, my attention was called to how Nature was responding to our collective pause. She was restoring. SuccessZone was laid to rest and The Pivot was born.
It began like this on April 22, 2020:
If you do not change direction, you may end where you are heading. - Lao Tzu
Yes, that’s right ‘Happy Wednesday!’ Happy Earth Day! Happy New Moon! And, welcome to The Pivot, a new name and a stronger intention for my weekly musings to provide inspiration and intelligence to support a shift in consciousness – mine, yours, and OURS.
My intention has not changed, rather it has deepened as I’ve come to know and begin to understand how disconnected our world is and we are from Life. The Pivot has become somewhat of a journal on my ongoing journey to reconnect with Life and the pivots that I make and those I see that I (and we) need to make along the way. Recently I’ve come to holding this as being in service to Life, to that which is “Life generating and Life enhancing” to use the words of an Earth elder whom I’m privileged to learn from.
And just what does this have to do with ‘pivoting to deeper care’ you may be wondering.
This walk down memory lane and a recent conversation with a dear friend took me to a place of feeling heaviness, grief for the lack of care in our world, especially in its systems. We need deeper care for one another, for the Earth and her waters that give us Life. We need care for Life itself. Our collective lack of care and those places where my own care is lacking is more unconscious than conscious. We live and navigate systems that don’t include care for Life, much less have it at their very core. We go along to get along simply because that’s what we’ve learned.
But what if more of us made more conscious choices to refuse this ruse and turned our attention from entertainment and distraction to care and building new systems that prioritize Life? Rather directing our resources toward the illusory safety of accumulating more, what might putting more our time, our energy, and our financial resources to work on behalf of All Life, nurturing and supporting those who are already on this path and who need our support – regenerative farmers, ecological restorationists, healers, regenerative economic system thinkers and builders, those who care for the ones unable to care for themselves … and so many more. What if we trusted the flow of Life rather than fearing and guarding against its ebbs?
This is the house and the community that I want to be a part of building. In what house will you put your nail?
Mountain Dawn