You may wish for things to get back to normal, whatever that new normal may be now.

I hear lots of “if onlys” in my own brain, and among friends.

And we know that the world is forever changed.

Thank god.

2020 Wasn’t an Out and Back Year

Over the holidays, I spent 8 glorious days outside of my domicile with my daughters. We hiked the canyons and snowshoed the mountains of southern Utah, liberated in the backcountry wilderness and away from the many distractions of our current saga.

My experience watching the Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the Utah desert was other-worldly. The majesty of the vast open spaces of the desert while connected to the great movements of the cosmos was beyond any experience I’ve had to date.

Though I surely felt transported by the seeming lack of space and time, we left the scene before the nearby van playing eerie music out into the ethers called in the aliens. I wasn’t sure I was ready to be that transported just yet.

And while we masked-up every time we encountered other humans, there was little semblance of our current normalcy in being that liberated in the wilds of nature. Unencumbered by the bounds of our current existence.

Me at my age adventuring with my two young adult daughters was no easy feat, however, they being several decades younger and more nimble. Each time we’d reach the end of our designated trail, I’d find myself delighted to have made it and glad for the return trip, whether it was back to the car or back to the yurt.

I’m NOT too old to do this, and loved every minute that I placed my foot on another rock or expanse of snow.

Yet I still sought refuge in the knowing that there was some ease on the other side of the adventure.

And now, back in the world of work and commitments, I realize that we cannot find our way back to the original trailhead, no matter how much we wish it into existence.

The Old Trail is Gone

And what of you- have you fully had that realization yet- that we’re not going back on the same trail we came?

Or are you expecting that somehow we’ll find our way back to some version of what we had? Maybe counting on the vaccine, or a more sane political scenario, or evolving social movements, or…

None of those things will be the answer, because there is no solution that will take us back to where we were.

We’ve been pushed across the threshold of a new way for us as humans.

We couldn’t bargain our way out of a global pandemic and its devastating yet evolutionary consequences. No amount of denial, foot-stomping or pleas could prevent us from relinquishing our old self-absorbed patterns in the cauldron of isolation.

Just as Mother Nature is refusing to bend to our current sleep-walking shenanigans of extraction and consumption of the planet’s resources.

We had reached the outer limits of our old way, and mostly refused to alter the habits that got us there. And thus, the organic unfolding of evolution created the optimal conditions for a new way.

We’re Bushwacking Now

Bushwacking is when you travel in wild or uncultivated territory.

I remember being frustrated with an ex when he insisted that we go rogue on a hike to see a vista that was unspoiled (and off-trail.) It was one of my first bushwacking adventures and I pleaded for a machete to hack my way through the dense brush that clawed at my skin, roots that tripped me up and vegetation that kept me from seeing ahead more than a few feet.

I wasn’t happy with the intense effort, but the high mountain lake and panoramic view was definitely worth the rogue rambling.

For most of my life, I believed that bushwhacking required heavy-duty boots and stamina. Even then, it was almost always worth it because I’d end up some place more glorious than I could’ve imagined because it was undiscovered.

Unfettered.

And I always felt I was getting the side benefit of becoming stronger and more resilient.

However, in my wiser (and slower) years I’ve discovered that bushwhacking doesn’t just require a slightly undaunted attitude and careful foot placement.

Traveling of this type- in unknown or undeveloped territory- also requires discernment, faith and companionship.

Discernment

Listening to the cues- internal and external- about how “things are going” becomes paramount when touring the unknown or uncertain. Normal indicators of what works or doesn’t won’t be available.

We have completely new metrics.

This is why “failing” is no longer an apropos concept. When it’s never been done before, every step is a success.

Discernment requires:

• A spacious presence,
• Deep listening skills,
• Attunement to your inner GPS of purpose, and
• Courage to take small bold steps no matter the outcome.

The kinds of solutions we now need, personally and collectively, require that we attend to what’s emerging with new more discriminatory faculties. We need to learn to listen with every cell of our physical, psychic, emotional and energetic being.

Discernment

Listening to the cues- internal and external- about how “things are going” becomes paramount when touring the unknown or uncertain. Normal indicators of what works or doesn’t won’t be available.

We have completely new metrics.

This is why “failing” is no longer an apropos concept. When it’s never been done before, every step is a success.

Discernment requires:

• A spacious presence,
• Deep listening skills,
• Attunement to your inner GPS of purpose, and
• Courage to take small bold steps no matter the outcome.

The kinds of solutions we now need, personally and collectively, require that we attend to what’s emerging with new more discriminatory faculties. We need to learn to listen with every cell of our physical, psychic, emotional and energetic being.

Faith

Having a deep abiding faith that there are larger forces beyond you- whether that’s the laws of nature or god or the quantum field or all of the above- will facilitate your unerring commitment to moving forward. No matter how rough the road.

Faith provides:

• Constancy of motivation, knowing that it will always work out all right,
• Presence to the present, as it doesn’t make sense to worry about the past or future, and
• Commitment to emerge organically, assuming that your next stage is in the highest good for all.

Companionship

Bushwhacking can be a lonely endeavor without like-souled companions who are willing to “live as if” their purposeful life matters and figure out how to live into that more evolved version of themselves.
With companionship, you can more easily:

• Gain new capacities through the synergy of shared learning,
• Expand your vision and stretch your comfort zone with the nurturance of compatriots, and
• Take inspired action that might scare you if you were traveling alone.

What Is Next for You?

If you’re ready for a different world, where you’re part of a global team of adventurers who are ready and willing to birth the new world, join us to gain the discernment, faith, companionship and other foundational aspects for finding our way into the emergent future.

We are the bridge-builders. The transitional team. The bushwackers.

We are the inspired creators of the next stage. In the Purpose Creators Collective, you’ll find companionship to inspire and support you and us to emerge into our next purposeful expression. To make a difference on the planet and for our own inspirited, abundant and impactful lives.

And to create a place of belonging in which you can be all of who you’re meant to be.

The month of January we’re focus on Connecting with What Matters, your Purpose, using some of my work from The Golden Thread . Join us and you can gain some fundamental insights or deepen the ones you already have to live into your soul purpose.

Because of some personal bushwacking for my own next stage, I’m keeping the doors open to join as a Founding Member before 1/31/21 and get this no-risk entry-level Founder’s membership for life.

Be a co-creator in the future of humanity.
Come bushwack with us. No machete required. Virtual hugs and kind souls abound.

About The Author

Dr. Holly Woods is the Author of the #1 Bestseller, The Golden Thread: Where to Find Purpose in the Stages of Your Life. Read it, you’ll never again think your life doesn’t matter.

Holly is a purpose activator. She believes that touching the spark of your soul lights you up so much that you alter the world just by being in it.

Learn about Holly’s work at Emergence Institute. You can schedule a 30 minute Strategy session with Holly.

Better yet, join the Purpose Creators Collective, a home for you to grow your purposeful life, work and business with mentoring, courses and the company of aligned peers. It will be a laboratory, incubator, sacred container and support network for those of us emerging into our next expression.

Holly’s spent nearly 4 decades helping visionaries build products and businesses that change the world, as a coach, mentor, consultant and entrepreneur. She’s younger than she’s ever been because her purpose inspires her to keep making a difference. That’s what she wants for you, too. Holly helps her clients uncover their nuanced purpose, gain capacities and mindset to attain their unreasonable goals, and align decisions, products, strategies and systems around what matters most.

Get a free copy of the tried-and-true Purpose to Impact Roadmap she uses to create that alignment and amplification in the world.

Holly earned a PhD in Human & Organizational Development, is certified as an Integral Master Coach®, Purpose Guide®, Professional Mediator and Facilitator, Master Energy Practitioner, and is a Stages of Consciousness developmental practitioner.