Land, Lineage and You
It’s getting dark at 4:30 pm now. When my day is over, I step out into this early night. It is not raining anymore. The trees are still wet though and the light of the street lamps sparkles on the branches – some still clothed in golden leaves and some bare and black against the pearly sky. Behind those clouds, a full moon rises.
I keep track of such things as part of my relationship with the land.
As progressives, we believe that strength comes through relationships. We do not buy the myth of rugged individualism, which is really just a way to assign pride to people with more privilege. That story — the Trump story, the story of “normal,” of leadership as a solo endeavor based on power over instead of power with, is part of what we must root out to own confident and authentic power.
In my last post, I talked abut the importance of risking hope. How we need hope, scary though it may be, to call us forward into the size of this crossroads moment. And when we dare to hope, it is important to remember that we do not take that risk alone. For each of us, as leaders and also as human beings, it helps to remember that we are in relationship – with ourselves, with our lineage (yes, you have one even if you haven’t worked with it yet) and with the land.
Doing this work without conscious connection to those relationships is to walk through the dark forest with nothing to guide us. Plus, there are constant temptations off the path! Little whispers that “real” leaders know what they are doing. All the time. That “real” leaders have the answers – no matter what the question. That “real” leaders can do all of this alone and perfectly and anything less is inexcusable weakness.
This is a lie, a lie that we might call “The Story of Normal.” It is a lie that describes what leaders are supposed to be like and it is utter bullshit, but it is a lie that has several thousand years of cultural force behind it and that is upheld today by the explicit or implicit threat of violence and exclusion.
Our bodies know these threats. These threats are programmed into the fight/flight/freeze response that comes with every sound in the dark.
But, our bodies also know the way through these threats to the strength and connection that we need. I promise you, I have seen it over and over. And relationships are key. So, we begin the journey with risk of hope and then we pack our tools. As leaders in this crossroads time, we give ourselves tools for clarity, connection and strength through relationships to self, lineage and the land.
Next Up: Relationship to Self- working with the Enneagram as a leadership tool.