Hi Subscriber First Name,

It's good to be back.

I was away last week and for the first time I can remember, I decided that also meant a break from writing this. So here I am with a fortnight's worth of field notes to share.

The Friday before my break, we hosted our seventh workshop in The Natural Network wheel of the year. It's an adventure me and Kate at Four Acre Farm started back in September to build workshops that balance seasonal energy with practical insights for work, life and everything in between.

The whole thing is built on a curiosity about why so many of us separate work from our deeper self. Many of us will happily go on a 'woo-woo' retreat to navigate our personal lives but we're far less willing to bring that energy into the office. It's as if we need to be professional and organised when we're talking about money and KPIs but we're allowed to remember we have a nervous system and have passion for things that light us up once we're home.

It's something I grew tired of in my corporate years - forcing productivity that ignored my inner wisdom and the natural seasons of life.

So I love it now when I see the people and businesses I work with feel the power of this - the more we admit these truths, the more productive we become on the things that actually matter

It’s become the antidote to the many years I spent in senior commercial roles being what I'd now call a busy fool. I demonstrate that tapping into the deeper self isn't indulgent, it's better for you and the work you achieve.

When we split ourselves into a work self and a real self, we fracture our own ability to function. The inspirational philosopher Alan Watts talked about the risk of working a serious job to earn enough money to one day have fun and how that turns into a lifetime chasing fulfilment while burning ourselves out along the way.

So with that in mind, what do your days feel like? Play, or definitely work?

I think play is the outcome of creativity and creativity comes from curiosity given room to breathe. Which brings me back to what we explored at the farm before my holiday, ‘the full self’.

It's the question of who we truly are.

When we introduce ourselves, we start with a name, maybe a hometown, maybe a job title or maybe our nationality. None of that is really us. It's identity built from stories we were handed or chose to perform, to stay safe or obediently fit the group. And it’s why I hate most networking events, we perform our ‘pitch’ based on what I think will make you like or want to work with me.

If you’d like to have a play now, grab a notebook and give this exercise inspired by the wonderful Joanna Macy a try:

How was that? Did any of your responses surprise you?

I’m always curious about how much of our identity could be considered a ‘label’. And it worries me that the more labels we carry, the more we can become divided. And at times of increasing division, we could be enforcing differences that don’t actually exist.

Buckminster Fuller (the inspiration behind the TrimTab metaphor and this newsletter) coined the phrase 'Spaceship Earth' and reminded us that our success on this planet is mutual, so any sense of division is futile.

So maybe when someone asks us who we are, maybe we should think about who we are at a deeper level? Maybe things like, 'I'm a good person', 'I help others', 'I act with integrity'. But only say those things if they feel true. And if they don't there's still plenty of time to become whoever you want to be, you just need to do the work.

But for us to have the confidence and compassion to test out these deeper conditions of worth, we also need to know what success might mean to us, rather than what others might have projected on to our shoulders. And by doing that, we can begin to see that true success is interdependent with the others around us, not independent. And that feels less lonely.

Once we choose metrics that truly matter to us, we can begin to know what our version of ‘enough’ looks like. It could be a 7 figure business or it could be a 2 day working week. Neither one is better or worse, it just depends on which game you’re trying to play.

The idea of ‘enough’ is the theme of our next Longer Table gathering, this Friday. We'd sold out, but a couple of extra seats have opened up, so come and join us if you’d like to.

Upcoming Events

I’m lucky enough to be involved in some wonderful events soon. You can find the full calendar here.

The Longer Table At Four Acre Farm

10th July: 7pm - 9.30pm. Tickets here

We’re back for our second dinner at the farm. This time our theme is related to our perception of ‘enough’ and why we sometimes buy things we don’t truly need. What might happen if we sat with the question with others?

The Natural Network at Patch

30th July: 10am - 12pm at Patch. Tickets here

This is our monthly gathering as a collaboration between The Natural Network and Patch. We're passionate about bringing people together to explore how we work, lead and do business in more sustainable, human and natural ways.

Wrapping up

I feel like there's a thread running through all of this - our event at the farm, Joanna Macy’s exercise and the concept of 'enough'. I think it’s asking the same thing in different ways - how much of ourselves we're willing to bring into whichever space we're standing in.

I don't have a tidy answer for that, I'm not sure anyone does. But I've noticed that the more I let the different versions of myself sit at the same table, the less tired I feel by the end of the week.

Maybe that's worth trying. Bring the whole of you somewhere it isn't usually invited, have a play and see what happens?

As always, with compassion and curiosity,

Nick