Here’s How We Can Move From Exhausted Awareness To Engaged Agency and Enlivening Adaptation

And you can now learn the process in a week. (Really.)

It's been three months since my last post. The break was intentional, but a bit longer than I expected.

And, as you may have noticed, I have changed the name of this Substack to Lucid Longing.

It’s the next season of my evolving work.

You see, I’ve been researching, thinking, and sorting out why the work I have been doing these last six years has helped hundreds of people restore their sense of agency and spark real excitement and action toward their new imagined futures…in a 30-day series.

At first, I was just happy it worked at all. (The majority of my clients were struggling with serious challenges related to systems failures.)

Then, I got curious about WHY it was working.

So, I started asking WHAT PART was making it work.

I switched things around, tested, switched again, gathered qualitative data (how people felt each week and long afterward), and then did some chart-making.

And the real core of that 30-day series became very clear.

It's the week-long deep dive into longing.

It has ALWAYS been about the longing.

Because in order to imagine a better future, we need to know what we long for.

And not just today, but what we have longed for over the course of our lives.

This process helps us define what’s underneath the things/people/places/roles we have thought we wanted, whether we chose to move toward/away from them, and how those choices have impacted us over time.

We’re not just talking about longing as in, “I wish I could do/have/be that.”

It’s not the kind of longing that says, “I want to manifest this by lighting a candle and imagining it.”

And it is certainly not the longing that shouts, “Let me make a vision board and a motivational chart and ROCK THIS LONGING!”

I’m talking about a deep, nuanced understanding of your longings over time, even over generations.

What did you learn from others about what was okay to want or imagine?

How have your choices to act (or not) toward your longings impacted you?

What are you longing for now as we face an uncertain future?

These questions (and many more) show us that our longings are packed with useful information that is both tender and revelatory.

We just need to get curious, and practice looking at our longings without grasping, obeying, rejecting, or avoiding them.

Because there is wisdom waiting there, if we are willing to look closely.

And we need that insight in order to create what’s next without repeating past mistakes.

I turned the 7-day longing inquiry into a stand-alone experience.

And I tested it with lovely people who were unable to afford to pay. (Just like I did for over two years with my first companioning clients at the start of the pandemic.)

Knowing what we long for isn’t just an interesting little exercise.

It is a critical part of helping us make insightful choices that align with our reality and what we truly want for ourselves and the people and places we love.

NOTE: The Pilot Study I offered in this post is now FULL. 

Learn about openings for the 7-Day Lucid Longing Intensive HERE 

In other news:

I just returned from the International Conference on Environmental Mindfulness in Rome, where I presented my research on Lucid Longing.

It was an illuminating and intimate three-day gathering (more think tank than conference), which allowed for private conversations with nearly all of the enthusiastic presenters and attendees.

After that, my husband and I traveled by train to Innsbruck, where we spent several glorious days visiting gardens and gazing at stunning alpine views.

As we headed back to Amsterdam, I was filled with gratitude for both the gathering in Rome and the time to reflect on it in Innsbruck. It was the perfect way to segue into this new season of Lucid Longing intensives.

Whew! That’s it for this update.

I’ll be back next week to share what clients are doing with what they’ve learned about their longing.

In the months ahead, things are going to get harder. But I am not planning on giving any hot takes here.

Nor will I be focusing on our responses to our colliding crises.

Instead, I want to offer a look at what is helping people actually craft aligned and fulfilling lives in their communities right now, despite the dark predictions.

And I warmly invite you to ride along with me. Let’s find our way forward together.