Seasonal update #1
Autumn Equinox Edition: what I've written about, been reading, listening to and getting up to.
This is the first seasonal update, which will replace emails notifying you every time I post something :). There’ll be another in about six weeks.
Sun, trees and shadows at Allestree Park, Derby, UK.
What I’ve written about
The last six weeks has been fairly slow on the writing front. Nevertheless, I shared a short piece on entrepreneurship, leadership and management in the creative context at the beginning of August, which broke through the resistance I’ve been experiencing to posting here since the Spring. And that felt good.
I’ve been focussed on undertaking my annual business review, which this year turned more into a 10 year retrospective as I move into what feels like the next cycle of my career. In doing so, I came across some background research for a commission to map free business support resources for creatives and pulled some of those resources together into a short post.
With my head still in business review mode, I also shared some of the questions I consider as part of my annual process.
Just today, I shared some Breakthrough Prompts for the Autumn Equinox. I’ve been using these as workshop check ins. What I noticed is that most people are both harvesting and sowing seeds simultaneously, describing the dance and constant cycle of growth, decay and renewal that feels so familiar right now.
What I’m reading
I’m about half way through Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects by Joanna Macy and Molly Brown. Having not been directly plugged into climate activism and related movements, this incredible body of work had somehow passed me by. But diving in now feels like coming home and appeared on my radar just I was looking for both wisdom and practical, grounding guidance and how to navigate these incredible times, through deep nature and earth connectedness.
I LOVE IT when the Resurgence & Ecologist arrives in the post! It’s so beautifully put together and the imagery is divine. This edition on ‘Nature, our teacher’ doesn’t disappoint - too many brilliant pieces to mention them all. But I especially enjoyed Fritjof Capra’s piece Principles of Life, in which they share an advanced theory of systems thinking, synthesising the biological, the cognitive, the spiritual and more.
What I’m listening to
I discovered the Work that Reconnects discovered it through a For The Wild podcast episode featuring Molly Young Brown a few months ago. There’s so much gold in this episode, I felt compelled to listen again this week. Molly shares deep wisdom weaving psychosynthesis and ecopsychology, in the context of The Great Turning.
Having recently learned that references to nature in popular culture (films, books, music) have been in steady decline since 1950, I’m building a nature playlist. I’m working my way through recommendations from friends and colleagues and have fallen in love with The Tree by John Metcalfe. The album serves eight immersive compositions that “take the listener through twenty-four hours in the life of one of nature’s most majestic creation”. It’s divine.
What I’ve been up to
Here’s where I’ll share a few highlights from this season - this are the experiences that often prompt the reflections that wind up here …..
There’s an exciting announcement on the horizon which I hope to share in full soon - it’s about a new platform and community for remote workers who want to embrace the great outdoors as their office called Wild Working. I’ve been living, and working on, this concept with my partner Leon Davies for several years and we’re just about to sign on the dotted line to receive some funding, which we are thrilled about. We’ll be launching a new stack called Adventures in Nature Desking next month to share the developments, and ideas on weaving nature connection into your work life.
I delivered my first of five workshops for the Activate programme as an Associate for Advantage Creative last week on Values-based Entrepreneurship for creative freelancers. An amazing group of souls convened to share their vulnerabilities, hopes and future plans based on values, superpowers and strengths and I’m so grateful for all of their generous contributions. I’ll be sharing some reflections on the workshop and converting the content into some breakthrough prompt posts later next month.
In August I ran a session on business modelling and planning for the bright sparks on the UAL’s Creative Business Accelerator and it really got me thinking about goal setting. We had a really lively discussion about whether we need goals, how constraining many creatives find them and what other methods might be applied to foster more emergent working. Personally, I moved away from rigid goal setting for my business some time ago in favour of intentions, habits, systems and conditions, so perhaps it’s about time I stopped talking about them!
Ok that’s it for the first seasonal round up. More soon. Thanks so much for reading.