I’ve been lying in bed looking through old photos with the children.

The timing is interesting because this month in Waking The Wild Medicine we’ve been entering the crucible of Story (especially the telling of the story of our wounds and gifts… and telling them from Sovereignty), so my younger self has already been more in my awareness than usual.

Last week’s #wildwednesday invitation over at Waking The Wild is one that couldn’t be closer to my heart… it’s all about finding your special tree (or honouring it in reflection if you already have one), if you want to join us in this practice, the link is in the comments. And also do share with like-minded friends who might want to join too!

This poem below is one I wrote some time ago that is my reflection of what my tree has provided to me (it’s truthfully beyond words but words will have to do). ♥️

Here’s what showed up for me this year, and in true Lian-style, it turned out to be all about myth and archetypes…

THE CHILD

I devoted to knowing, loving and listening to my inner child more deeply than ever.

I haven’t chosen a ‘word for the year’ for many years since I realised that I’d reached a point on the path where letting go of that form of (perceived) control of my experience was necessary to go further, and yet, this week little Li asked for 2023 to be the year of the Child: the archetypes of the Child, my inner girl, my actual children, and the inner child of everyone who I’m in connection with.

I interviewed a chap (they might not be a chap and I may have changed some details to protect their identity) for The Waking The Wild Show recently… he is one of those people that folk in the coaching world get excited about… a multi-millionaire, a creator, a trailblazer. There’s much to appreciate and admire about him.

For most of us, learning the language of the soul is in part relapsing into a guilty pleasure we attempted to give up in order to grow up.

For those who…

believe they haven’t done enough.

know they’ve done too much (and are now paying the price.)

are alone.

wish they were alone.

For those whose childhood taught them to be…

Waking The Wild Soul Guide is becoming a thing before my very eyes… training others to do this much needed “whole tree work” (see link below for more about “whole tree work”).

This is a barely dared vision, unfolding despite my usual “I don’t know if we’re ready.” proclamations.

Barely a day goes by when I don’t recall or realise a lesson learned from…

my martial arts days

my digital days

my 13-year-old who was obsessed with myths and psychology

I’ve been judged and misjudged for a lifetime… too this and too that.

This week I walked into a mobile phone shop and asked for help, explained I’m autistic and that “I struggle with things like this.”

Like many of you, I’ve practised accepting myself, seeing through the illusion of myself, liking myself, losing myself, transcending myself and loving myself.

And what’s creating the most expansion for me is: being in full, deep approval of myself.

I was talking to a beloved client about her story of becoming free of judgement about her body (she has a powerful offering to guide other women on this journey that’s being birthed soon ♥️).

And it got me pondering further my own journey with this, which is something I’ve been waiting for the right moment to talk about for some time.

“The syntactical nature of reality, the real secret of magic, is that the world is made of words. And if you know the words that the world is made of, you can make of it whatever you wish.” Terence McKenna

An important aspect of the work that we do at Waking The Wild, both our own inner work and the work we do with others, is about the words used to create ourselves and the world.

I remember saying a few times in the years leading up to the rebirth of Waking The Wild “I think I’ll feel like an entirely different woman afterwards!”

As I’m sitting here in my typical spot on a Wednesday afternoon - my usual table in my favourite Thai place - I’ve been checking in with the veracity of that prophecy.

The different zones from Incompetence to Genius are something that the Waking The Wild Medicine ‘22 circle are in the enquiry of right now.

The method comes from Gay Hendrick’s book The Big Leap, and the different zones could be described thus:

1. Zone of Incompetence: Activities that other people can do better than you.

At any one time, the good ship Waking The Wild carries between twenty and thirty souls, depending on the crucibles that are in play, with thirty being the absolute maximum.

The upper limit is fully intentional, based on how many people Waking The Wild can hold so that every person, passenger and crew, can be met in the moAs much as I’m a huge advocate, teacher and practitioner of doing the deep inner work, sometimes the answer we’re so desperately searching for in the next coach, teacher, or method that’s promising to be the magic bullet, is as simple as: Keep going.

One of the ‘trademarks’ of Waking The Wild is the distinction we make between paying the Sovereign Price or the Victim Price.

As we’re journeying deeper into sovereignty in WTW Medicine, this choice is coming up over and over for the circle.

In fact, I just posted this in the Medicine fb group:

I’ve spoken about the Japanese concept of Ikigai before, beautifully distilled into this Venn (gotta love a Venn!) several times in fact, and each time I realise I’m somehow even deeper into that sweet spot right in the middle, than I was the last time.

Ikigai is the union of two Japanese words: iki (生き, meaning 'life’ or ‘alive') and kai (甲斐, meaning ‘use’ or ‘value’), so it can be seen as: a reason for being.

I dance most mornings, usually naked (I threw on this scarf when this post came through and decided to capture the moment with a photo!), often in front of the mirror.

As I dance, I bring awareness… I notice how my body feels and also how it looks.

I’ve always had a good relationship with my body, which is rare and fortunate, I know.

I‘m always in awe of our clients who are mothers... not only are they raising their children, they’re also expanding into doing their deepest Soul Work too.

It’s so interesting having memories like this come up - ie written before the autism diagnosis in May ‘21.

To a large extent, I’d already accepted my quirks, and the experiences, gifts and challenges they’d created over my life, even though I hadn’t yet fully understood the reason for them.