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Life as Art: This is 55
Last fall, I participated in an amazing online journey called Transformational Teaching Online. TTO is a beautiful exploration of the power and practice of presencing. It models how to hold transformational space online and is led by two now dear friends, Natasha and Lorenz Sell, creators of a platform for online courses and a collective of heart-centered creators called Sutra. It is an experience I highly recommend, one that has a profound impact on how I show up and how I offer my gifts to the world.
We Are Each a Living Breathing Work of Art
In one of the TTO experiences, we were invited into a pair breakout for a presencing exercise with a stranger. We were prompted to gaze deeply at our partner and give voice to what we saw. It challenged us to move beyond our limiting beliefs — that we’re strangers, unknown to one another, so how can we possibly come up with things to say that are true about the other person? What if we’re completely off base? What if we get it wrong?
I was paired with a beautiful being named Olive Goh, someone whom I’d never met and knew nothing about. As I stared into her face on the Zoom screen, I found myself mesmerized— my initial awkwardness melting into deep presence and curiosity — taking in all of her with all of my senses, studying her as if she was a work of art. Because she was and is. I realized in that moment as I studied her and took in her exquisiteness, that each and every one of us is a work of art. A living, breathing masterpiece of our own creation and curation, one that is always perfectly imperfect and in progress in a life-long journey of creative self-expression.
What You See Is
I gave voice to what I sensed and felt from witnessing her and found myself with so much to say about a being previously unknown to me. Things that resonated deeply and rang true for her. Observations that were received with joy and gratitude. The joy of her sensing and feeling me sensing and feeling her.
Like a work of art, the way we see others is unique — unique to us in that moment. There is no right or wrong answer to what we see, sense, or feel. It is our subjective human experience, a precious gift of presencing, witnessing, and sharing our reflections when we have the courage to give voice…
