Pilgrimage, Picnic, and Deep Networking

First, the backstory. Many of you must have done your year-end audits of your personal and professional lives (I see it as one holistic life) towards the end of 2023.

I did it too.

Something that came up for me when I did my audit for 2023 (and visioning for what I wanted to create in my life for 2024 and forward) was a knock-knock from my soul to reconnect with some aspects of life and living that I had left behind in more recent years.

I call this aspect, ‘the gypsy part of me’. A wanderer, an outdoor person, communing with nature - but not just alone, with a tribe of other human souls. This is where a preliminary vision of ‘Gypsy Girl Getaways’ was born - and trust me it is still preliminary - an evolving vision that will continue to evolve with me and with the other wonderful women who will keep joining me in this (I hope).?

As I started putting together the form and structure for the first trip - Gokarna, was a non-negotiable first choice in terms of location. I first went to Gokarna 20 years back, and since then I have visited it quite a few times. No single trip had been enough for me to explore and feel satisfied with the soulful vibes, jaw dropping sceneries and almost non-earthly energies that Gokarna has to offer. Even as I type this today (having just returned from the first maiden trip of Gypsy Girl Getaways), I am still not satisfied. I doubt I ever will, and I am sure this piece of ‘heaven on earth’ shall keep pulling me back - again & again.

So back to the topic - Pilgrimage or Picnic?

These days, I almost don't do anything without first checking for internal alignment with my soul and my core self. This is true for every project that I say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to, and this approach is serving me better and better.

The creation of ‘Gypsy Girl Getaways’, was no different. Except, it has been one of the most challenging things I have personally done in terms of overcoming my own inner resistances. There were so many critical voices in my head - voices of fear, voices of cynicism, voices of doubt about whether my body can do it, voices that made me feel guilty of doing something I enjoy without taking my family along, voices that said why do all this headache of trip organizing, voices of scolding that said this project was too frivolous and I should focus on my teaching and coaching instead - and on and on.

However, this was also a ‘calling’, for which the thrust (yes, i will call it a thrust rather than a whisper) was very very strong. And my soul would put these beautiful pictures into my head every time I sat to meditate. Pictures of a group of women hiking on a trail. Pictures of women sitting in a circle around a bonfire - often on a beach. Pictures of a tribe of women healing and supporting one another's inner evolution through authentic sharing of their own lived experiences, deep heart-based listening, and the soulful witnessing of one other’s heroic journeys.?

My inner core self, kept nudging to tell me that there was some beautiful work I was here to do - a role that I could play as catalyst, organizer, leader, listener, and glue that brought the members of such a tribe together. So, I held the vision, and kept chipping away at the limiting beliefs and critical voices that showed up as resistances. I also started taking baby steps towards actualizing the vision.?

One tiny step each day. First baby step was to create whatsapp group by getting vulnerable and sharing my vision in a sisterhood that I was already lucky to be a part of. This a sisterhood of women from IIM Worldwide, a truly supportive group and for me ‘sacred’ sisterhood.

From there, I started taking more baby steps - not knowing how or (even whether), this vision could or would materialize. Each day, I would ask the universe, “you gave me the vision - now point me to my next baby step”. And I would take that baby step in the morning before the critical voices could have their say.

On many days, by evening, the critical voices would be doing a full dance in my head and calling me an idiot dreamer wasting her time, or calling me names like a ‘bad wife, ‘bad mother’, ‘bad daughter’ for planning to leave my family behind and take off. On some days, the critical voice would show me my bank balance and argue that I should be focusing on my revenue-generating activities instead of trying to coordinate a beach trip.?

Quite frankly, I did not try very hard to battle these voices. They were strong and irrational and repetitive and stubborn. So I would just let them have their say, and then wait quietly for my next meditation - to silently check with my soul on whether this vision still had its ‘power’ and if so what could be my next action step. It was through this process, that I was shown every next step - including reaching out to BMC ( Bangalore Mountaineering Club Pvt Ltd ) , and requesting them to plan and guide the trek. The universe had my back all along the planning & execution process, and so did the wonderful team from BMC.

Before I knew it, we had a trekking trip planned for the end of January, and 12 brave women signed up for it. As the date grew closer, my inner critics and doubting voices also grew louder. Scolding me, scaring me, and making me doubt everything - right from the physical capabilities of my body and my stamina to fears about my professional reputation being at stake (for some of the women who registered had come from a pool of my previous clients and professional network).?

But the energies of the vision remained strong, and everytime I meditated and tuned into this vision, I only felt peace, harmonious expansion and joy.?

‘Pilgrimage or Picnic’?

The day before the trip I went to meet my close friend, who is also my spiritual co-traveller and buddy. I usually restrict all my God conversations to her, since most other people in my life don't like to discuss the ‘G word’ much ;-). I had been telling her about the evolution of this plan and she had been cheering and supporting me all of January. However, this time when I went to meet her, I said something like, ‘I seek your blessings for this pilgrimage’. She lovingly gave me her blessings but also said, ‘But you are not going on a pilgrimage - you are going on a picnic!’.

I left it at that, and laughed it off - because I had not actually planned on using the word ‘pilgrimage’, - it had just come spontaneously, and so perhaps it was the frame that my own mind had found most useful (or relevant) to look at the upcoming trip through.?

Later that day, I asked for blessings from my mother, and at that time I told her about the pilgrimage versus picnic conversation with my friend. My mother gave me her sweetest blessings, and then within hours, she followed up with this whatsapp message that I will paste here verbatim.?

“ This is a kind of pilgrimage....for the upliftment of spirit....to nourish the longing of the soul...doing something u badly wanted to....something that soothes a hidden part of u. I can go on and on. It is definitely a kind of pilgrimage...so is playing a tournament...so is flying a kite...so is working for a cause we like. I hope it is a fulfilling experience for u. ???? Come back with renewed energy....motivation....fresh spirit...umang and utsaah.????????????”

Lovely message from my mother - is it not? I believe it is a message for all of us, even though she wrote it just for me. If my heart and mind and soul sees this trip as a pilgrimage - then that is indeed what it is for me.

And the inner work of this pilgrimage had started a month earlier as I unraveled and worked through all the ‘lies’ and ‘limiting beliefs’ and ‘judgements’ and ‘fears’ and ‘doubts’ that the inner critic part of my mind kept churning up.?

Whenever we take a bold step in the direction of our dreams and visions, it is like a churning of the mind. The fears, doubts, limiting beliefs, and all flavours of critical voices will come up through this churning, like the toxins and poisons that need to be released and let go of. Then there is space for the nectar of confidence, hope and inner strength to also flow out.

So that’s why I call it a Pilgrimage, but as my dear friend said, a Picnic is a good label as well! You will undoubtedly agree with the ‘picnic’ label once you see the pictures of the six beautiful beaches we visited to commune with the energies of the ocean and earth in all their magnificent beauty.?

Quite frankly, we could call this trip anything, all labels are just that - labels - but then labels also serve a function. They help us build and give form and structure to our creations - and if more than one person is involved (as in this case), they can help us attract the ‘right’ tribe members to carry forward and co-create our experiences.?

So Pilgrimage for some, Picnic for some, and what else are these trips about? What can they be about? And that’s where deep networking comes in.

So What is Deep Networking?

I just coined this term up - but let me tell you why. On the first day of our trip we had a really tiring and challenging trek. It was 14 km long, and we walked through mixed terrains of jungle, beach, rocks, cliffs, wading through waves and there were places where the descent was so tricky I will just call it ‘tree branch and root hanging climb-downs’. By the time we reached our final stretch (a super long walk on the flat main beach of Gokarna), we were already very tired. Some of us (including me) covered this last stretch almost in autopilot mode. The mind had gone blank, and the body just knew that its job was to keep walking and so it just kept walking.

As we walked we began to open up more and more, letting our stories come out and merge with the sunset peace of a seemingly never ending beach that just went on and on and on.?

We shared about our personal and professional challenges and we shared our happy and memorable moments. We shared our own personal philosophies of life; we shared about our past, about our present, and about our dreams for the future.

We just shared whatever came up for us without overthinking or judging and we listened to each other with our hearts because our minds were quite silent by then. At one point, we were talking about our professional lives, and in what might have been the perfect universal timing, the lady I was walking with said, “I know networking is important but I just never manage to do it”.?

And that’s when the light bulb came on in my head: “ I turned to her with my biggest smile and said, “Sweetheart what do you think we have been doing for the last one hour? - This is the deepest and most potent form of networking that I have ever experienced.” And that is what I am calling ‘Deep Networking’!

So on the second day, I deliberately started focusing on getting to know every woman in the group as deeply as she would allow me into her universe. So for me this trip now has become a ‘Deep Networking Opportunity’ as well.?

I am sure a trip or collective travel can be many things to many people. Just as work can be many things to many people. If you want to join in such future ‘pilgrimages’, ‘picnics’ or ‘deep networking sessions’ dm me and I’ll send you an invite. It’s an invite-only group, just so I can check the alignment of whoever is joining with the vision that I have created for this group. Of course you will have to be a woman based in Bangalore though. :-).?

Irrespective of whether you join in me as part of one of the future ‘gypsy girl getaways’, or not - I have two more invitations for you. And for these invitations you can be a man or a woman, based anywhere in the world!

See, the whole reason I can now take time out to pursue dreams like this (which are zero revenue generating projects :-)), is because this is not my only work. I do a bunch of different things - personally and professionally. I call this a portfolio career (and life). Some of my projects are safer than the others, some are more revenue generating, some can cater more to certain passions of mine, and some can be more focused on long term growth - etc. etc. You get the picture. It’s just like how we create balanced financial portfolios for ourselves - and customize it to suit our age and stage in life.?

I have a recorded online course that you can use to get started on creating an abundant portfolio career for yourself. And Abundance, is not just financial abundance, but overall abundance. Your own customized RICH LIFE. For example spending time on beaches is one of the things that makes my life RICH!. You can access this course on crafting an abundant portfolio career here - https://courses.craftingourlives.com/single-checkout/64be6c86e4b0330752070b04?pid=p1

My second invitation is to allow me to support you to alchemize your own career (whether a portfolio career or a single job career) so that it can become more rich, meaningful and fulfilling for YOU. This is also one of my life’s work and I have been helping people craft their careers through following an inside out approach for over a decade now. I am currently offering this support through an online 6 month program (with various options of engaging with me that include both group and private coaching). You can learn more about this 6 month program here - https://courses.craftingourlives.com/single-checkout/647a0761e4b0f5a86c7c8332?pid=p1

I look forward to engaging with you somewhere - online or offline, sometime in the future!?

Have a lovely day!

Ramya

Dr Ramya Ranganathan

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Leadership Coach & Adj. Faculty, IIM Bangalore?

PhD (London Business School) | MBA (IIMA) | B.Tech (IITM)

3 Times TED Speaker

www.craftingourlives.com

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