Wandering The Return
Discovering the Unexpected
Dear Readers of Now New Next. Thank you. For allowing me to pause and wander a bit.
Today’s Newsletter represents the return from my journey. It was 18 days of discovery and saying yes to new ways of being. It is a TL: DR kind of reflection. I hope it hits a nerve in you to do something similar.
My wife joined me on the trip. She had never been to London or the UK for that matter. I had been a few times, but only in and out for business. Never took the time to learn London. And, as mentioned in my prelude Wandering post, I was returning to visit my homeland of Camborne, Cornwall to discover my roots and pay homage to my great grandfather who immigrated to Michigan in 1881.
As I reflect on everything we encountered and then my extended stay for DO Wales 2024, I am still decoding the volume of stimulation and conversations. But, if I were to boil it down to one theme - it is about human connection and being curious.
I purposefully put my work on hold. I committed to staying off the screen. I committed to not posting. I stayed true to holding my “business engagements” to two meetings per day in London and none thereafter.
I visited the Tate Modern museum with my wife to take in Yoko Ono and the Expressionist exhibits. I went back to the Tate Modern with my client, turned partner Mario Major, to walk and talk for six hours about our forthcoming launch of the Neuro Universal Language (NUL) project.
I visited the National Portrait Gallery by myself to study the evolution of the portrait and self-portrait to better incorporate history into my Narrative Mosaic thinking. It is amazing to realize the significance of portraits and self-portraits over history. The evolution of what that means as new technology and mediums come forth.
I discovered a book in our hotel lobby in London about Banksy. I just sat with it and discovered the evolution of counter-culture in Bristol, England, and how one graffiti artist redefined the idea of tagging into street art with a perspective. How he turns things upside down. He is still anonymous to the masses and known only to his team of supporters.
THE COUNTRYSIDE
I drove on the wrong side of the road, down tight streets and hedgerows and the god forsaken roundabouts. Narrow roads that merged into single lanes that required backing up to let the other guy through tested my every nerve ending and sense of control. I learned that my parallel parking skills acquired in Los Angeles and perfected in Chicago and San Francisco came in handy when doing everything in opposite.
We met amazing people. We fell in love with the simple life outside of the hustle of a big city. Everyone lives on a different time schedule. We explored the English sparkling region and learned about climate change and its impact on the Champagne region in France. English sparkling is starting to have its day. It reminded me of early Napa scoring high in the snobbish French wine circles. It was happening again. We were sad to learn that English Sparkling wine is not shipping to the US. Tariffs and Brexit challenge the economics of doing so.
As we traversed from London to the South of London (Sussex, Arundel, and surrounding villages) to Cornwall, we witnessed the bucolic nature of rolling hills, agricultural heritages, buildings, and homes from historical eras. Our senses were awakened.
The food was amazing. We had what amounted to four of our 10 Top meals ever. I can still visualize and taste everything as I write. And, being a wine nerd, I also remember what was paired with each meal, sometimes each dish. Anthony Bourdain made all of us aware of this magical elixir and how it transcends cultures. I had to have a pasty and scone with jam and clotted cream. If you are Cornish, you put the jam on first. If you are from Devon, you put the jam on last. We did both. I am with the Cornish side.
DO WALES 2024
I will be revisiting this experience many more times in forthcoming newsletters. It was transformational on so many levels. But, for me, living my word of the year - DO - at this gathering was beyond what I expected.
I went in without a plan. I just wanted to let it unfold. When asked to try and explain what DO Wales was about, we agreed that it was a gathering. Not an event. Not a festival. Not a TED. Not a Burning Man. But a bit of all of that. Yet, its own unique experience.
Expertly curated, with power hours, speakers, workshops, performers, meals, wine bars, gin bars, espresso bars and many open spaces to converse with people you just met for the first time. The audience was global. The topics and overall theme of the gathering was about DO’ers and people who DO amazing things. From the volunteers, to the alums who come back to the newbies (like me) to the speakers it was magical. It was about human connection.
As the Welsh say, we were at the end of the earth. A small village next to the sea in South Wales on a farm that David and Clare Hieatt manifested into something truly special. A personalized Woodstock that melds nature with humans, music, and vistas that make you brush your teeth forever so you can take it all in.
There are several lingering quotes and notes that stuck deep for me. Each of these could (and will) be a post onto themselves:
“Is this it?” - a moment shared by a successful street musician who went to the top of the mountain and gave it all up.
“Don’t Fuck it Up vs. How do we make it special?” - the life of a film producer/documentarian who tells visual stories for a living.
“Be Humbitious” - from a hurricane of a female entrepreneur whose nickname is Holly Hurricane. And she was a force to be reckoned with!
A 24-year-old local who did something that we “don’t do here” (Cardigan, Wales). She created a $6.5M business selling hair care products on TikTok. She was a voice from the future generation.
Another force of nature who created “mental health care” for the Frontline workers in London during COVID, went global with her game-changing work. Her biggest heroic moment was telling the Prime Minister she couldn’t make a meeting with several EU Prime Ministers because she had an important event with her son at school.
And, that was just day one.
Doing things you wouldn’t normally do. Like attending a poetry workshop turned into an exercise that I am going to incorporate into my facilitation work. Making a poem, line by line with someone you just met was such a powerful experience.
Seven cohorts of two all started with the same one line and each produced a completely different outcome, with unique textures and through lines. An amazing observation of diverse thinking in action.
Perhaps the most memorable memory of the entire gathering was learning the Lou Reed song Perfect Day and singing it together as 100 people. A mixture of chorus and lead singers brought together skillfully over the course of 3 days, climaxed into a “We are the World-like” performance. A joyous moment of accomplishment and celebration.
I also want to leave you with an amazing duet from Ireland that sang on our opening night. It was just another magical moment of discovering two amazing artists and being drawn into their sound. They are called The Breath.
NOW (How you are realizing this today)
When you are stuck, how do you incorporate wandering into your day?
Do you make time to wander?
Put on The Breath and go for a walk in nature.
NEW (How you will realize this tomorrow)
Plan a wandering trip for Q3. Make it into an annual self discovery holiday.
Go meet people you don’t know and start a conversation. Shampoo. Rinse. Repeat. 10x a month for the remainder of the year.
Start a gathering series with 6 people you don’t know. Theme the night. Create a poem together. Alternating lines until you feel a sense of completion. And then read them aloud to each other.
NEXT (I see a world in which)
I see a world in which intentional gatherings will become the way we glue society back together.
THE PAYOFF
“The way we gather matters. Because how we gather is how we live.”
~ Priya Parker, The Art of Gathering.
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