Bridging
We are all bridging yesterday to tomorrow through today.
I was in San Francisco this week running an offsite with a leadership team I have worked with for a long time. However, this time was different - over night they were a new team with a new CEO and new dynamics. In front of us was the beautiful enormity of the Golden Gate Bridge - a bridge that never gets old, no matter how many times I have traversed its magnificence.
When I run these offsites, I come in about 75% prepared and leave the rest to co-creating with the life force that is around me. I get really present to where I am - the land, the energy of nature around me, and the essence of place. More times than not, it ends up being the most perfect metaphor for what is present in the room.
This bridge set the tone of everything that was facing the team.
Getting from one destination to the next, crossing a chasm of rough waters
Seeing the destination through the fog
Ensuring a foundation of stability to hold all that will be carried
Balancing forces of pressure and tension (push and pull)
Creating clarity of form and function (roles and expectations) for collaboration
It also set the tone for each person - how they contributed with their unique strengths, and how they showed up as a bridge between goals, between people and between yesterday and tomorrow.
A question I anchored into the many days was “How are you being a bridge?”
As I thought about this metaphor of the bridge, I was even more enamored by the simplicity of its lessons. We are all bridging yesterday to tomorrow through today. With the chaos of life after the holidays - and in my case added jet lag coming back from Egypt - I have had the mantra “I am where my feet are”. This reminds me that living in the past only causes rumination, at best a distraction and often leads to suffering. And living in the future leads to overwhelm and anxiety thinking of all that is on the list. We only ever have the now moment - and in the now moment, things are usually quite manageable.
What is in the present? I am sitting on my computer writing - something that gives me great joy. I have a few key things that are big this week that need my attention. I can hear the voices of my daughters scurrying about the house. I hear the crackling of the wood in the fireplace next to me. In the far distance I can hear the hum of a washing machine and the feint sounds of a football game. The week I came from was nothing short of intense, and the week that follows looks very full on my calendar. And in the present, it’s all pretty calm. My breath, my words, my hands typing away.
What is always here bridging yesterday and tomorrow is today. Is now. And this is where agency shows its greatest power. What are you doing today, with the learnings of yesterday and in service of tomorrow? And even more potent - how are you BEING today, evolving from yesterday and setting the tone for tomorrow?
We can move through our days sprinting towards tomorrow or running from yesterday. Or, we can slow down, get intentional, and be where our feet are as we bridge this moment from yesterday to tomorrow.
This Friday, I’ll be hosting my first ever Ages and Stages workshop on “Starting the Year with Agency”. We will be bridging the learnings from last year, looking through the fog to see where life wants to take us, so we can be intentional about where we place our attention and how we are being called to show up.
Join us as we bridge the memories of yesterday and the possibilities of tomorrow, while firmly rooting in today. Sign up here: https://www.ages-stages.org/new-year-reflection
What are you bridging today?