Find Your Tribe to Thrive
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien had Inklings. The Knights had their Round table. The Lone Ranger had Tanto. The 80’s had their Breakfast Club. The Dead Poets Society dared to seize the day thanks to their Captain, Mr. Keating. This next generation has their Think Tanks and their Tribes. I have my Blogging Pen Smithies & WiSLs (Women in Strategic Leadership).
We are a group of multi generational, artrepreneurial, multi-faceted diamonds in the rough. We are relevant contortionists, bending and twisting so as to bridge our hard earned wisdom in a relevant manner towards the next generation of Baroque Arrows (I’ll explain that term in another blog).
We are a small safe haven for each other, given to support and nurture one another in dreaming, encouragement, stretching, growth, ideas, exploration, honest feedback, impartation, ect. Everyone needs a nurturing community.
There is a reason we were all born into a ‘family’ by design and function. Even if our own natural family didn’t provide such support and nurture, it is a common innate drive to seek out connection. Even introverts don’t thrive very long in complete isolation. It’s one of life’s Unnecessary Necessities. You can live without such comrades, so it is a seemingly unnecessary luxury to find such a pack to run with. However, living out a quality of life conducive to thriving, can only be found in community, so it seems to be a necessity for producing a more successful vibrant sustainable quality of life.
It takes courage and a regal confidence to invent and produce, dream and make your dreams a reality, imagine and manifest those imagined things into tangible substance.
A very true and to the point quote from Albert Einstein is, “Necessity is the mother of all invention.” However I propose weighing these two truths: Survival-Mode-Desperation motivates a jimmy-rigged temporary solution and immediate gratification, but Freedom to create with limitless imaginations and resources, well that is to truly live a sustainable life. Which is the more strategic place to purposefully position ourselves to operate from? Work hard to play hard?
I think it is a necessary necessity to abandon ourselves to yielding to our natural design. To be proactive and intentional in finding Our Tribe and that it be a tribe that is mutually supportive and nurturing, so as to promote cultural sustainability in mutually beneficial connection. To be both Right Brained and Left Brained, particularly since we were designed, created and equipped with both spheres in our head. To be both desperate to draw others and ourselves out of survival mode and bridge others and ourselves over to ever emerging freedoms of growth, expansion and meaningful connections.
That is a true emergence of an effectual hybrid. The best of both worlds. Power in numbers. Wisdom is found within a multitude of council. It is this type of environment that is the best petri-dish for cultivating creative convergence. Feeling safe and comfortable in your own skin so as to be a strong effectual contributor to the tribal community around you. This is the strong place from which societies solutions will emerge, both on a personal micro level that expands out into the cultural macro level.
One of the key gifts provoked by one of my WiSL comrades, Kristina,
was the invitation to run, play and splash out a Dream Journey Book. It is a vision board of sorts. Keeping before you the things that anchor you, turn keys for you, keep your passions fueled and focused, a portable personal compass so to speak to glue down things that will faithfully remind you of your chosen values, purposes, goals and dreams.
Yes, Pinterest exists, and I balked at not using such technology for the project our WiSL group did, but there was something magically tangible and seemingly more permanent about creating a physical version to have, hold and carry around. No buffering. Instantly gratifying encouragement to keep you #DoingYourDestiny .
One of our other WiSL Sisters, Rae Lynne,
was so impacted by this project that she had everyone in her family do a vision board for a family advent craft. They all spent time together, during Advent this past December, working on creating their own Dream Journey Book. This is not just a powerful tool for women. I have seen some of the most effective motivation and results come from the guys & college students that have worked through this insightful process.
Kristina, the WiSL sister that is pioneering these Dream Journey Workshops asked me to write the following testimony of how creating a this vision board helped me. This is what I wrote for her:
Creating my own Dream Journey Book has had a profound rippling impact on my focus, my purpose and my Artrepreneurial endeavors. While clipping & pasting pictures and words from magazines that have jumped out at me and resonated with my core, it was as if I was intuitively and subconsciously creating a mirror. While getting caught up in the fun of randomly collaging things that excited me, I didn't realize that I was really gathering a snap shot that would be an effective tool in helping stay grounded and focused as I adventure down this path of journeying into my destiny. Life can get blurry when you have mud on your hands and paint in your hair. Coming to road blocks can stultify creativity. Creating this mirror has on several occasions reflected back to me who I really am and what's really important in moving forward. The pages of my Dream Journey Book, as humble and childlike as they seem, have often been my trusted board of directors and my bumper pads, helping me stay On Track with my values, visions, objectives and purpose. This has translated into more productivity and it has fueled my passion so as to help me hurdle over those puny road blocks. May we all never forget to LIVE OUT our Dreams. To quote a line from Braveheart (said in a Scottish brogue of course), "Your heart is free, may you have the courage to follow it."
Regardless of where, what or how you create your own Life’s Vision Statement, DO IT! Just Do IT! People perish if they aren’t in touch with the vision or purpose for their life. If they don’t have a creative outlet in which to fulfill expressing their vision and purpose, they tend to meander aimlessly. Find Your Voice and Share it.
Shamelessly be desperate to find a tribe or group of trusted cronies that provide a safe place to bounce each others dreams and visions off of. Cronies that will celebrate your victories & accomplishments, be there to help you breakthrough thresholds and obstacles, and relentlessly remind you of who you really are when you face insecurities. It’ll breath life into you and fuel momentum towards making it happen. The World needs this from you. It’s what you were meant for! And it’s a fun adventure worth endeavoring.
