“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead.”
- Albert Einstein
What is something that virtually all humans desire deeply?
OK, other than chocolate, what I have been thinking about and exploring this summer is: Connection. After all, isn´t connection something that everyone desires; Deep Human Connection… with friends, with family, with community, with the world at large.
According to Maslow’s Heirarchy of Human Needs, connection is an essential element of the third level. (The first two levels are: the physical needs and then safety). Maslow claims that meaningful connection is the birthplace of Love and Belonging. Without it, people in our world struggle and are often left unfulfilled and disconnected. Much of my work consists of first connecting with people, and then helping them with their pitches, messages, presentations and ultimately with finding their unique voice. So how can I learn to connect at a deeper level? I need to know more about how to connect.
I’m currently reading a book entitled “Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm* ”, where the focus in on learning to tune-into and listen to plants. It’s not like: go hug a tree and it will whisper to you in human prose and words, but it’s about sitting quietly and asking yourself about what deep knowledge a tree carries? What has it learned by standing here in the wind, rain and weather for so many years? Since the biggest part of a tree is in the roots and the thousands of miles of mycelium that stretch in all directions and connect it to the World Wide Woods of information, what does this tree really know about our planet? What can it teach me as I try to understand my own place in this universe? As I am pondering these thoughts, I’m reminded that learning how to connect with other humans involves me putting aside all my pre-conceptions and judgements and truly listening deeply to someone else’s voice. Genuine and deep listening is perhaps the greatest form of respect you can show another being, human, animal or plant.
So my summer project has been to listen more deeply. And what an interesting and rich experience that has been. How about you? What are you studying this summer? What new learnings and opportunities for growth and expansion have come your way?
* Author: Stephen Harrod Buhner
This is me sitting in awe with a Cieba tree in Costa Rica. The caretaker of the land guessed that it was 800-1,000 years old. This Grandmother of the forest was a sacred tree to the Mayans and indigenous tribes of the jungle. And as I sat there, I was overwhelmed by it's strong sense of presence and wisdom. I'd never before experienced this! ❤️❤️
Another interesting tree story is that when we visited the Yawanawa people in the Amazon jungle last year, the first thing they did when we arrived at their village was to take us to their sacred village tree. The old and wise elders of the village needed to introduce us to the tree before we could be their guests. In a beautiful and emotional ceremony, they washed us with leaves and water, cleansing away the Western beliefs we carried with us and introducing us into their village and family. Trees are perhaps more important than we in the west realize?
I would like to have a talk with you about your team. As you know, pitch-training with me is not just about practicing pitches. It's about discovering and connecting to the bigger WHY of your business. What is the fundamental problem that you solve for your customers and how are their lives affected by you and your team? Communicating this clearly and at a high-level is about learning to introduce your products, services and ideas in a way that quickly gets people's interest and encourages them to seek you out as a trusted advisor.
And best of all, when I work with teams they learn how to give and receive valuable feedback to each other. They learn to collaborate, sharing best practices, stories and experiences. This can be the start of deeper trust & commitment and a path to becoming a high-performing team. Also, it's a lot of fun!
As you are planning 2024 and thinking about what you can do to help your teams stay inspired and motivated to achieve even greater results, give me a call. Let's discuss how to engage your team so they start the year focused and inspired. Whether I simply come and talk to your team for a 30-minute presentation, or we work together over a 3-4 month period in a process to make big and lasting changes, I would love to tell you about the team programs that I have run in the past and to brainstorm ways to help you unlock your team's greatest potential.
