Moving Into a New Home

The forest cabin in the heart of town

I’ve found a new home for my work on Substack ~ where I’ll be sharing about the “beautiful mess” we’re moving through as individual leaders and as a collective; having inspiring podcast conversations with pioneers who are making a difference by leading differently; and engaging in real-time discussions with more amazing people like you.

This article explains where I’ve been and how I got here {especially helpful if you have been following me through Grail Leadership}. For more about why I’ve set up this new Substack and what is here for you, check out the About page and Welcome to Regenerating Leadership.

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The retreat cabin in the woods

In early 2019, two of my closest friends said “Yes” to joining me on a crazy adventure to prototype a vision that had been powerfully incubating in me for years ~ a round-table organizational model aligned with the holistic principles of nature called Grail Leadership.

I was journeying all around the world on a quest to find ways to lead differently ~ and, as it turns out, to reclaim lost parts of me. This co-creation with Dawn & Julia felt like a sanctuary where I could connect online with these two women ~ one in California and one in Australia ~ and be deeply nourished. A place where I could experience the wholeness I was seeking for myself and for purpose-driven leaders.

Metaphorically speaking, we built an idyllic retreat cabin deep in a remote forest ~ so far away from the cacophony of the day-to-day world that we could actually hear the whispers of our soul and speak into reality the visions we were holding.

We spent our days exploring the forest and setting up trail markers; splashing in the lakes, rivers, waterfalls, and streams that rehydrated our depleted bodies; dining on incredible meals we made from food we grew and harvested from this abundant land; and sitting around a fire telling stories before falling asleep under a billion twinkling stars.

We came alive in that space of deep trust, unconditional acceptance and incredible coherence ~ alchemizing and integrating so many aspects of ourselves. At the same time, we watched in awe as a new organizational model for co-creative leadership emerged before our eyes, directly experiencing time and time again the magic of what becomes possible in a coherent field of synergy around a shared purpose.

Two years in, Dawn was called out of the forest to focus more fully on her family’s upcoming move across country. Julia and I stayed on, continuing to inhabit the retreat cabin, becoming accustomed to a whole new way of living and leading as we allowed the essence of that place to seep into the deepest recesses of our bones.

There we each learned to sing our soul song, recalling the harmony of the spheres that rang through the cosmos at the time and place of our birth ~ the song that contained all of the gifts, wisdom and intentions we were uniquely bringing with us for this life.

The ending of a season {and the reason}

After more than four years of living deep in the forest of this co-creation, I started to feel like one of the wise women in Celtic lore ~ an edge-dweller who is powerfully connected with nature and her own gifts as a healer, but who lives separate and apart from everyday life in the village. She mutters to herself in a language that few can understand ~ one that’s both ancient and entirely of her own making. Her cottage is so far out of town that most don’t know how to find her and few make the effort to visit.

I was beginning to feel lonely and isolated, and a bit malnourished. I began to long for things I hadn’t wanted in a long time ~ to connect with more people; to set down roots in a home where I could be surrounded by my furnishings and treasures that had been packed away in a storage unit in Boulder for the better part of six years; to connect deeply in a local community that felt alive with the buzz of entrepreneurial spirit, an outdoor lifestyle, and a vibrant beyond-organic farm scene.

At the same time, Julia and I were both sensing that something was shifting in Grail Leadership, that we weren’t reaching as many resonant people as we’d like, and that we were being called into a new phase of expression for our passion and genius.

At first, we were confused. Wait, we thought this was it! Why are we not thriving in our co-creation that’s all about thriving?

But ultimately we recognized the signs of completion ~ at least of this phase of our co-creation. We didn’t need to hang on, resisting the change that was happening. We didn’t need to succumb to stories of failure or disappointment that were tempting us.

We could celebrate that things were shifting not because we had failed, but precisely because we had done what we had come together to do ~ to give birth to Grail Leadership and care for it through its infancy, and to rebirth ourselves in the process.

The season was ending because the reason for it had ended. Mission accomplished!

Bringing it all home

The completion of this phase of co-creating Grail Leadership is part of a larger cycle that’s completing, as I close out an epic nine-year journey that began in 2014 with my Dark Night of the Soul.

Two months ago, I arrived in Asheville, North Carolina to visit my long-time friend Maia Toll. I quickly realized this town is the new home I was yearning for and dreaming into my world. I have felt welcomed with open arms by the land and this vibrant community in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and have been connecting with so many talented and open-hearted entrepreneurs, creatives, farmers and friends.

For several years, I have wanted nothing more than to be footloose and fancy-free, traveling around the world and living quite nomadically out of a backpack and sometimes a suitcase ~ viewing roots as anchors that restricted me and tied me down.

I can already feel a healthy root structure forming beneath my feet here. And it feels amazing, grounding and nourishing!

You want to know what’s funny? Nine years ago, it was the mountains of Asheville that I would escape to during my dark-night-of-the-soul phase. It was Maia’s couch I would sleep on in the cottage she lived in then. And it was Maia’s house that I drove away from with a small U-Haul trailer in tow when I made the move across country from Charlotte to Boulder that kicked off the epic seven-year quest around the world.

And I wouldn’t change one bit of it.

I needed to go deep into the forest and live there for years in order to birth Grail Leadership and its powerful, new-paradigm organizational model that is part of the emerging reality. I needed to go on an epic, seven-year quest around the world and immerse myself in a variety of evolutionary initiatives to more deeply understand where leadership breaks down and where it breaks through.

Most importantly, though, I needed to journey deep into these other realms in order to liberate, integrate and ultimately come home to myself.

I no longer need to keep moving in search of something more. And I no longer need to be an edge-dweller, isolating myself from the beautiful mess of humanity in order to feel safe to be authentically me.

In all respects, I am moving into the heart of town and taking the essence of the idyllic retreat cabin with me ~ fully inhabiting a home, a thriving community, a workspace, and a life that I don’t need a vacation from.

Come on over!

The welcome mat is out and the front door is open.

I’m super excited to settle into my new digs in the land of Substack ~ where the infrastructure is already in place, where people are already gathering, and where I have neighbors who are super talented content creators.

You are heartily invited to join me in this new home called Regenerating Leadership. Whether you’d like to sit down with a cuppa and warm your toes by the fire while we share stories of our journeys and our regenerative visions, or whether you’re already thinking about what you’ll wear to the grand galas that will be hosted here, the space would not be the same without you.

But wait! What’s happening with Grail Leadership?

I am not leaving Grail Leadership behind {as if I ever could!}.

The idyllic cabin in the forest is a retreat space, perfectly suited for going deep in a place where you can experience a terrain that feels new and yet uncannily familiar, where you can take guided hikes, and where you and your beautiful soul can be replenished, rejuvenated and regenerated.

The presentations and courses we recently created will continue to be available at GrailLeadership.earth ~ I’m even considering offering a few of them as interactive group programs that we’ll walk through together. {Let me know if you’d like to see that happen.} I’m also playing around with a few possibilities for new programs.

And, if you’d like to work 1:1 with me, that is where you can book private mentoring sessions. {Psst, for a limited time, I am offering a complimentary 60-minute session for those who subscribe here as a Founding Member.}

So, what do you say? Let’s get this Regenerating Leadership party started! Like, comment and share using the buttons below.

Vive la Régénération!