In our tribe, one of the primary wounds that we share is one of not feeling that we belong – feeling like an outlier or outsider.
But to bring our work to the world, we seek to ‘fit in’…
But it never works because we don’t belong to ourselves when we do that.

I recently saw a ‘confessional video’ on Facebook by a friend and colleague I love and respect in a big way.
The confessional was that he’s called to something bigger.
For him, it’s working with world-level leaders doing civilization, societal, world-level change…

The return journey home on the hero’s journey is strange.
So much of what used to work to fuel your life just doesn’t anymore.
The return journey calls you to step across a threshold of identity where you drop much of who you thought you were to become the person you’re called to be…
A more honest, true, version of yourself, no longer confined by your old conditioning.
And one of our deepest fears when we really commit to this kind of radical transformation is that we’ll be alone…

Over the holidays one of our community members reached out to wish me a Happy New Year (Happy New Year, BTW!).
He shared that he recently moved back to Saigon, Vietnam, after many years in the west, and named his place “The House of Belonging & Liberation.” He’s building it as a hub for colleagues and peers in Vietnam who need connection and community to create and collaborate.

I hope you’ve had a beautiful holiday season, and welcome to 2024!
For so many, I know that 2023 was tough. Most of us can be too damn hard on ourselves, so whether or not you feel accomplished about this past year, you got here. Congratulations.
And now onto 2024!
Here’s what’s on my mind and in my heart for this coming year…

Whether you celebrated or are celebrating Hanukkah, the Solstice, Christmas, or Kwanza, I send you blessings of connection, joy, and hope this season.
Earlier this week, my family went to the Descanso Gardens “Enchanted Forest” – a beautiful arboretum decorated with different light exhibits throughout (pic below). One of the things I love most about this season (besides the family and food) is the lights – they’re so enchanting!

If you have a new calling – a big calling…
Something that feels like your life’s calling…
Chances are, you’re someplace on the return journey home in the hero’s journey.
The old doesn’t have much energy anymore (which could be your old business, old products, old clients, old ways of working, etc.).
And that new vision and calling is vibrant, exciting, and potent (well, that, and unfamiliar, disorienting, confusing, risky, etc.).

As courageous messengers, part of our soul’s yearning is to be explorers, so that we discover new solutions that our market and this world is hungry for.
As part of that call, we’re regularly pulled to explore different fields of study, get trained in seemingly disparate modalities, visit interesting places… each informing us and adding different colors to the palate with which we can create.

Last week I shared about the return journey home on the hero’s journey, and how so many of us struggle with the “refusal of the return.”

Perhaps making the return journey home is something you do more for yourself than anyone else.

It’s when you have the elixir from ‘facing the dragon’ (facing your deepest wounds) on your journey…

And the elixir feels so good that you just want to bathe in it and hang out with other elixir-holders!

Just like there’s a deeper cause to the symptom, there’s a deeper mission hidden under the solutions you provide.

Over the last couple of years I have slowly but surely dismantled the old business model I had, and I’ve been in the process of recreating.

When I’m in a recreation process, I tend to have big emotional waves…