Maya Frost | Lucid Longing, Imagination, & Possible Futures
Writer, Speaker, & Researcher. Founder of Collapse Forward.
Things are feeling dark.
Here, we find and craft the bright spots around us.
For the last six years, I have been exploring what longing reveals in individual lives, and how it can inspire action.
I've worked with hundreds of clients, all over the world, all looking for a sense of clarity, steadiness, and direction as things shift.
Welcome! I'm Maya.
And I'm fascinated by what happens when we look deeply into and beyond our own longings.
The longings we inherit.
The longings we have lived with and pass on to others.
The futures we imagine. And what we long for together.
We're often told to simply imagine a better future. But there's something missing.
First, we need to ground our imagination in wisdom about what we have longed for, and why.
Because if we don't, we risk repeating the same motivations that have led us here.
Our longings offer tender and revelatory information that helps us clarify and cultivate the possible futures that feel most resonant and alive.
Lucid Longing invites us to explore longing across time: what we inherit from our families and cultures; what we have carried, rejected, or pursued ourselves; what we long for now; and what we hope or imagine for future generations.
WHAT IS THE 7-DAY LUCID LONGING INTENSIVE?
It's a seven-day inquiry into what you long for, where those longings come from, what they reveal about what matters to you, and what possibilities you might cultivate from what becomes apparent.
I developed Lucid Longing as a way to understand what our longings reveal about what has been important to us.
Through attention, curiosity, and imagination, we surface the truths of previously unclear possibilities.
Some truths light up as intriguing invitations.
You begin to engage, and feel more awake and experimental.
And you start responding in new ways to what was already there by simply noticing and reconnecting with the silent invitations all around you.
WHO IS LUCID LONGING FOR?
Those who know something needs to change but are uncertain about what comes next.
It is designed for those who long(!) to:
- cultivate attention and discernment instead of reacting to everything or disengaging
- create the habits and habitats that align with their changing values
- connect more fully in their local community
- craft adaptive capacity that is caring, robust, and improvisational
This is not simply self-help or inner development.
It is a tested process for turning awareness into agency and action leading to engaged adaptation.
This benefits you, your loved ones, and your community.
WHAT DOES THE LUCID LONGING PROCESS LOOK AND FEEL LIKE?
Daily conversation, prompts, reflection, imagination, and small experiments help participants investigate their longings and explore possible ways forward.
One client, Lena, described it as "like having a major epiphany every day while going on a great walk with a friend...for a whole week."
WHAT MAKES LUCID LONGING DIFFERENT?
Find clarity, restore your sense of agency, and begin enticing experiments that start to shift things in your life in days, not months.
Instead of weekly or bi-weekly sessions, your next steps emerge naturally as you build momentum through consistent daily inquiry and reflection.
You give yourself permission to start small right away rather than wait for an external sign to begin.
No rushing. No motivational chart. No overthinking.
This frees you to get creative and playful.
Fun enters. Energy returns. Joy emerges.
And connection flows.
WHY IS LUCID LONGING EFFECTIVE NOW?
It started as a direct response to systems failures.
It is based on a practice of working with those who were directly impacted by the reality of our colliding crises.
They found steadiness and a thoughtful response that was aligned with their new understanding of how the world is changing.
We face our reality head-on, find what matters now, and figure out how to adapt alongside others.
Lucid Longing connects:
♦ collapse awareness.......................and action
♦ ecological grief.................................and awe
♦ environmental psychology......and attention
♦ contemplative practices............and art
♦ behavioral science..........................and agency
♦ systems thinking.............................and adaptation
♦ imaginative futures.......................and audacity
By lacing together the related learnings, we can understand what best supports our ability to adapt and flourish.
WRITING AND SPEAKING
In addition to my research and work with clients, I share my insights via print interviews, podcasts, and speaking engagements.
FROM MINDFULNESS TO ATTENTION: THE EVOLUTION OF MY WORK
Meditating in a Buddhist monastery in Sri Lanka, 1982.
For five decades, mindfulness has taught me how to pay attention to what is here now.
My work is increasingly exploring what happens when we become curious about what else deserves our attention:
♦ what matters now
♦ what we long for
♦ what we might imagine
♦ what becomes possible when we follow those threads
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It´s about exploring the transformative power of the wisdom of our longing to help us clarify and cultivate our best future now.
Part field notes, part storytelling, this is where I share the questions and findings in my research and stories from clients who are choosing to engage more fully and joyfully in their lives right now, despite the challenges.
Weekly articles. Always free.
Grounded in our reality, but infused with gratitude, humor, and joy...because that is how we will get through this together.
I invite you to join me!