Spring has sprung and there are new babies in the world
One of the many reasons I love living in the Southern Hemisphere is that we end the calendar year as the weather starts getting warmer. There’s a freshness that arises this time of year as the days start getting warmer, the sun starts rising a bit earlier and setting later - unfortunately, though, it’s often hidden by the end of year fatigue; the final push to get more work done.
It’s why taking a week of leave in September/ October is such a very good idea!
I wish it were possible to bottle up the experiences of life I’ve been living for the first few weeks of October so I could carry it on a string around my neck and sprinkle little bits of its magic on anything around me in need of a bit of sparkle. Alas, writing this newsletter will have to do.
(update: I wrote this before I got COVID last week - I’d rather not sprinkle that experience on anything. It was horrible.)
An awe-filled holiday in nature is all it takes sometimes
While Frans and I unfortunately weren't able to make the boardgame conference in Canada as I had hoped back in July, we found a delicious local (and much cheaper) alternative - a music festival in the Tankwa Karoo over the weekend, followed by a road trip down to the area where I grew up to spend three nights at Amakhala Game Reserve. Even though it was the music festival that was called Return to Source, that was really a better description of the second part of the holiday.
Despite the landscape sometimes feeling quite sparse on our 4h game drives, we had incredible close sightings of big herds of animals - elephant, giraffe, buffalo, rhino and of course the many zebra, impala, red hartebeest and black wilderbees and jackal that love the open grassland plains. We were even lucky enough to see some big cats: three cheetah and a lioness - the rest of the pride hiding as a mother kept her 2 week old cubs safe.
While the lions might’ve been the most private about it, all the different animals we saw had signs of new life. From the new born red hartebeest dropping to the floor everyday, to the very pregnant zebra, to the pair of giraffe that looked like they wanted to start making babies as soon as we left them alone.
My favourite sighting of the trip was on our last game drive at dusk when we saw a jackal pup alone staring at us with a playful shyness and curiosity. It was a wonderful reminder of what open curiosity looks like before fear makes everyone want to run away from one another.
I feel so grateful to live in a country that holds so many of these wonderful and wild spaces, and to have the means to find my way into the generous hospitality that lies behind the fences. I wish more people had access to this!
While I unfortunately don’t have the means to send you out into the bush to find that inner peace that comes with watching big animals munch on spiky plants, I do have other ways of finding inner peace to share with you…
There’s a new business baby in the world!
Over the last three months, I’ve been working with Bridget Woods to build a leadership programme for teams that applies the wisdom of the Enneagram. It’s now ready to come out into the world and we’re looking for friends who would like to play!
I met Bridget in 2020 when I joined the mindfulness community in Cape Town called Mindful Mondays which she stewards (and mothers). I was immediately drawn to her wisdom, grounded and gentle presence, and courage. It felt like I had met an old friend, and after the first retreat we co-created together (with others), I knew she was the next person I wanted to work with. When she told me she was in a process of harvesting her extensive career of bespoke organisational design and development consulting initiatives into a product offering that used the Enneagram, I realised instantly that this was the way I could help bring the magic of the Enneagram I’ve discovered to the world in a way that’s fun, easy to grasp, practical and immensely transformative for teams who get stuck in the people stuff.
It’s been fun applying what I’ve been learning online about course design and helping her think of ways to make the journey interactive and designed with the participant in mind.
Introducing EnneaMentor
There are many reasons why a team might choose to work with the Enneagram and we believe that, if applied well, it is one of the most elegant systems that can help teams and individuals:
see the value in working in a diverse team with multiple, often competing, worldviews
level up from the inside-out, with each individual learning to play to their strengths and ease their self-limiting patterns through their own journey of self-mastery
develop skills to better communicate and collaborate, and energise team creativity and output
grow confidence in own style of leadership and create spaces to access the leadership strengths of others
see how even their team can take on a specific Enneagram energy which can help individuals align with
Unfortunately, what often happens is that teams only work with the Enneagram by means of a once-off one or two day workshop. Sure, this might bring some relief by broadening your awareness, but it’s unlikely to lead to any change or growth.
So that’s why we’ve developed a programme that is a slower and more deliberate journey (taking anyway between 4-10 months) that allows each participant to do a self-directed online course with the support of a mentor; accompanied by facilitated group learning sessions.
Having gone deep into the Enneagram by myself, supported with a coach, and also experienced learning more about it in a group through my practitioner training (simply witnessing how it unlocks things for others) - I’m fairly confident that this approach is a great way of bringing a bit more compassion to the world (both to your self and to those around you).
But while Bridget has already worked the first iteration of this programme with a small company for three years and received great feedback, we’ll only really know it’s something that can scale if we can find the right audience.
So here’s my request: if you think this might be something that your team or organisation (anywhere in the world) could use, or if you know of any other organisations that might - please put me in touch so we can see if we can help! (It’s best suited for teams of 8-12 people.)
Over and out x
p.s. I’ll be back soon with an update sharing my experience of the amazing d.confestival I attended recently. Subscribe below if you’re new here and don’t want to miss out!