Reflecting on your journey… on the Summer Solstice
The adaptive cycle provides us with a beautiful reflection tool as we ask ourselves what we want to cultivate and “let come”, and what we want to move into “creative destruction”, to “let go”. Positioned as an “EcoCycle”, it helps us get intentional and conscious about what we are conserving, destroying, germinating, and growing along our journey.
A framework like this helps us during uncertain, wobbly times. We use it to land the pieces of our lives. It brings the conversation outside of our heads, so we can observe it in front of us and see it differently.
Here is my invitation. Draw the eco-cycle as a sideways infinity loop and recreate the questions (see image). Now ask yourself:
- Start at the top right – conservation. What do you want to maintain in your life/profession/family/relationships/projects/world? Are there constraints that are not negotiable? Are there elements that are really working?
- Now challenge this… bottom right – creative destruction. What am I open to letting go of? To unlearn? What no longer serves me?
- Now that you’ve made some room, take a breath. Close your eyes. Call upon nature as your ally. Connect into your intuition… Germination. What are you sensing that wants to emerge? What seedlings have you sprinkled that are germinating? Write down the seeds you are planting. Write the ones that make you smile.
- Move on to Growth. You have seen some of your efforts in action. What has roots? What do you want to grow and cultivate further? Where are the opportunities to grow with others?
Wow. Wonderful. Now, here is a hard question – what are your blind spots? Reach out to others to test and play with the ideas you have mapped.
For me (see image), I am conserving what is stable and working – my family and my home. I’m letting go of my fear. This makes room for me to come into a space of service through my work. And growing not only my work, but embodying my most sage self.
Summer solstice is a seasonal moment that encourages us to reflect on our journey, listen to nature’s signals, and make a commitment to our practice. What’s your commitment? What’s one clear action that you focus on daily, which is connected to your head, heart and gut?
