Writer, Speaker, Researcher | Lucid Longing | Companioning For Profound Transitions
For the last six years, I have been exploring what longing reveals in individual lives.
Hundreds of clients, all over the world, all facing difficult challenges.
And I'm fascinated by what happens when we look deeply into and beyond our own longings.
The longings we inherit.
The longings we pass on.
The futures we imagine for others.
And the things human beings seem to long for together.
Our longings offer tender, revelatory information. They that can help us clarify and cultivate the futures that feel most relevant, meaningful, and alive.
So often, we're told to simply imagine a better future. But that isn't quite enough.
We need to ground our imagination in wisdom about what we truly long for, and why.
I developed Lucid Longing as a way to understand what our longings reveal about what matters to us. Through attention, curiosity, and imagination, we make previously unclear possibilities reveal their truths, and we watch some light up as intriguing and inviting options.
We feel more awake and experimental.
And things start to shift as we respond in new ways to what was already there.
Lucid Longing is designed for those who long(!) to:
- cultivate attention instead of reacting or disengaging
- create the habits and habitats that align with their values
- connect more fully in their local community
- craft adaptive capacity that is robust and improvisational
WHAT THIS PROCESS LOOKS AND FEELS LIKE
My original 30-day series included a full week devoted to exploring longing. And every time, it felt like that's when things really clicked for my clients, whether I placed that week at the beginning, middle, or end of the series.
Now, after studying that week-long longing inquiry, I detected the secret sauce, and I am serving it up all on its own.
Because it's got a special power. One client, Lena, described it as ¨like having this major epiphany every single day.¨
But you don´t have to take her word for it.
ONGOING RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTAL APPLICATIONS OF LUCID LONGING
Lucid Longing lives in the spaces between:
♦ collapse awareness.......................and action
♦ ecological grief.................................and awe
♦ environmental psychology......and attention
♦ contemplative practices............and art
♦ behavioral science..........................and agency
♦ systems thinking.............................and adaptation
♦ imaginative futures.......................and audacity
By lacing together the related learnings, we can understand what best supports our ability to adapt and flourish.
Learn more about my research and what's inspiring me.
WRITING AND SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
In addition to my research and work with clients, I share my insights via print interviews, podcasts, and speaking engagements.
FROM MINDFULNESS TO ATTENTION: THE EVOLUTION OF MY WORK
Meditating in a Buddhist monastery in Sri Lanka, 1982.
For five decades, mindfulness has taught me how to pay attention to what is here now.
My work is increasingly exploring what happens when we become curious about what else deserves our attention:
♦ what matters now
♦ what we long for
♦ what we might imagine
♦ what becomes possible when we follow those threads
I´m starting a new version of my Substack newsletter called Lucid Longing.
It´s about exploring the transformative power of longing to help us clarify and cultivate our budding futures.
Part field notes and part storytelling, this is where I share the questions and findings in my research and stories from clients about how they are choosing to engage more fully and joyfully in their lives.