On Noticing and Movement.

Sometimes, words, phrases or things will occur with such frequency over a short period of time that you can't shake the feeling that someone, or something, is desperately trying to tell you something. I sometimes refer to it as 'the universe' sending me a message.

Most will have experienced the Baader-Meinhof effect, where after you've noticed something for the first time, you have a tendency to notice it more often, in turn leading you to believe that the thing has an increased frequency of occurrence - rather than acknowledging that it is in fact the noticing experiencing increased frequency. That question - 'why am I noticing this repeat sign or message?', is way more interesting (and easier to resolve) than 'who or what is trying to tell me something?'

What have I been noticing? Two things. There has been a warm, subtle undercurrent around generosity - from joining other creative humans exploring the role of creativity in coaching to finding amazing resources that others have created without ego or preciousness about where others might take them.

Then there has been an overt, slapping-me-in-the-face phrase that I can't ignore. It has found its way into at least 3 workshops and 2 conversations over the last 10 days: 'Take a step'. These 'steps' have all come up with different contexts - moving towards or away from an outcome, with no goal attached, with both trepidation and with 'f*ck-it' energy. The constant has been the step - for me, the idea of movement or motion as a tangible intention.

Last year, whilst I was studying the MAPPCP at UEL, I was playing around with the idea of setting up an organisation to house my coaching and supervision practice. I've always worked under my own name whilst self-employed, but I knew that I wanted to build something that was bigger than myself and that created space for collaboration. My aspirations are not to take over the world (and I'm very much 'pinky' in that sense - I like to get curious about the possibilities, versus brain's single-minded nightly attempts to take over the world, captured beautifully in this compilation video)

I landed on 'The Milk Of' - from the phrase 'the milk of human kindness' - not only is it the name of a brilliant album by one of my favourite artists, it reflects my values of compassion and connection, allows for playfulness in creating branding and assets, AND the phrase was first said by Lady Macbeth (my name's mirror). It couldn't be more perfect!

This article then is my intentional movement towards the light of my vision - a playful Baker-Miller pink vision - and an invitation for you to make your own movement. Share with me, or someone else, what movement are you making today? Say it out loud, write it down, sing it, shout it, whisper it. Put it out into the world and notice how it feels. Feel the fear and do it anyway.

I know the evidence is stacked against me, but I reject the idea that a clear vision or goal is necessary for meaningful action to take place. Even if you're not sure what direction you're going, there is still a movement you can take into the darkness - if this last 10 days has shown me anything it's that when you trust in generosity, others will bring their light and reveal your shadows of doubt as simply ideas dancing on the walls of possibility.