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Today is the first session for a new book circle with my group of individual leaders.
Unfortunately, one woman who wanted to participate isn't. Why? Because the publishers choose a font that doesn't work for her dyslexia. And it's not available in Audio or Kindle version in her country -- the United Kingdom.
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 Not all risks are equal, so when it comes to uncertainty, some of us can thrive in some moments, while others of us languish. If the context of the uncertainty switches though, the opposite might be true. As part of our reading of The Upsides of Uncertainty , today I led a group through the process of evaluating their risk affinities and aversions according to the Risk-O-Meter created by Tina Seelig. Each of the participants looked at themselves honestly, and then reflected on how these aversions and affinities connect to their work. How are they supportive? How are they an impediment? It’s an exciting Friday night in the Destrebecq house.
I am sitting at the kitchen island with a work book and pen in hand, and my husband is taking apart the hot water heater. (The kids are asleep) As I sit here reading, I realize that I am actually not doing much reading. I am following bread crumbs (and now writing about it.) In my reading, I stumbled upon a poet that I had never heard of, so I looked him up. In any given week, I am leading anywhere from 2 to 10 book circles (Yes, I could balance it out better, couldn't I?)
Each book circle is unique. I don't have a blueprint meeting facilitation guide that I copy and paste each session. What that takes, then, are thought and creativity. I live into a range of questions. Yet, if I sit in front of my computer planning all of these sessions, I go nowhere. On Monday, I will be starting a new book circle, with a steady client, in which we will be exploring resilience and how we respond to uncertainty.
The book we chose to read to explore this topic is The Upsides of Uncertainty by Nathan Furr and Susannah Furr. As I was reflecting this week on what we could do for our first dive into the content, I had the idea of creating uncertainty monsters. When I first immersed myself into the world of reading personal and professional growth books, it was out of necessity.
I was trying to save my career. I started by reading books about resolving conflict and managing difficult people. Then, I turned to books on leadership and managing up. And none of it really helped me. Do you know why?  "I can't hear."
"Okay" "I can't hear." "Do you have a question for me?" "Can you raise the volume?" "Absolutely." The other day, I was driving my son and his friend home from soccer practice and his friend wanted the radio to be turned up, yet all he kept repeating was that he couldn't hear. He wasn't asking for anything. It was only when prompted to ask a question, that my son asked, and in turn I raised the volume. Twice a month, I have the honor of volunteering as a co-host for Healing Circles Global, whose goal is to create safe spaces for people to find refuge and deep healing in community with others.
We aren't there as a therapist, a doctor, or a coach. We are there as a fellow human being, sharing ourselves, and accompanying you as you share your full self.  What's play got to do with work?
Actually, quite a lot. Earlier this week, I was re-reading #Essentialism by Greg McKeown, where he talks about how PLAY is essential to life, and essential to figuring out what's essential. (LOL, no?) As I ponder how I will design next week's session on Part 2 of Essentialism, it's pretty obvious that I will want to come up with a creative way to play on the topic of play. Hmm...  When someone asked me that question yesterday on a podcast, I was able to magically weave together a metaphor about how books give us seeds of ideas, and that it is up to us, the reader, to nourish those seeds with our time, attention, sunlight, and water.
The podcast host was in tears. It was a beautiful moment. The reality isn't quite so beautiful, though. |
Hi there!I am Theresa Destrebecq (I dare you to try to pronounce it...) |
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