Full moon summer celebration

We are now in the second half of the year. Science has thoughts about why the years go faster as we get older, and I suspect that the sheer volumes of information and change in our day to day lives since the pandemic have some bearing on our sense of time as well.

One way to reconnect with the passage of time to become present to the moments in our day. These can be small rituals, thoughtful connections and daily reflections. We can also use the moon to tap into cycles of reflection and celebration - and Thursday’s full moon brings us just that opportunity.

A full moon represents a moment to celebrate our successes before we turn them loose into the world.

Take some time this Thursday to review what is working is your life right now. So often we are look at problems. If we’re lucky we’re working on solutions…to problems. The focus is fixing. It is critical for us to pause and notice what we are good at, how we created or supported a good outcome and understand not only why this works, but how it connects to our passions and values.

After Thursday, we shift to a phase of letting go of both what is complete or what we no longer need. We release what is no longer working. And we hold onto our skills and learnings to create more of what we are good at and what is good for us.

Join in private reflection (see the Soul Sparks section for a worksheet!) and - if you wish - Reiki this Thursday evening.

Not every success is a win

I was invited to audition for an audiobook the other week and it was a topic that resonated with me. I was pleased with my read and excitedly submitted my audition.

I did not get the gig.

This opportunity came up at the same time I have an audio project pending, a freshly kicked off client support project, and two additional client support projects hovering in the wings. I also have a backlog of my own audio to prepare and publish. This wasn’t a great time to take something else on, even if it was a great fit.

I won’t lie. The rejection stung. And I breathed a small sigh of relief when I didn’t have to reprioritize my calendar to make it work. When the overall win is in the failure, take note of that too.

The devil’s in the documentation, the success is in the connection

In the June 22 newsletter, I mentioned the new systems I was setting up to manage my projects and tasks. I’m still building those, but these refreshed ways of working have bubbled over into the projects and tasks themselves.

My latest customer support project is an official capital “P” Project, and there is documentation that goes along with that: a charter, records of decision, metrics design, communication logs and sponsor updates, among all of the other working materials. This is fine. It’s effort and time - both of which are well spent for transparency, record keeping and consistency. I have templates and tools that make this as light as reasonable.

There is also communication and connection. While some projects can seem very straight forward, there is almost always someone else who is affected by the outcome. We make changes and improvements to have some sort of impact, after all. Through change management, we learn about the importance of engaging and communicating with different groups of affected and interested individuals. Through learning more and more about reconciliation with our indigenous partners in Canada and about partnered projects, the critical importance of the “work before the work” of understanding context, needs and building relationship¹ .

Sometimes, we have those in place or initiated before the project. Other times it forms pre-project activities. This isn’t something we’re used to doing, or it’s something we’re used to rushing. These relationships are worth the time. This is time even more well spent in connection and relationship to support community through - and beyond - any project.

¹  one of many resources available for engaging and designing with indigenous principles, and taking steps forward in truth and reconciliation

Connecting to subscribers

subscribe to the newsletter to get all the good connections delivered to your inbox

:: connect your dots ::