In my call with a friend / colleague yesterday, as check-in we asked this question of each other — What is one thing you are enjoying in your life? What is one thing you are enjoying in your leadership?
First, it’s good to have friends and colleagues that will pick up such a question. This time it’s Glen, with whom I create a six month leadership cohort. Glen and I have been at some level of continuous friendship making, learning, guiding since 2009. Fun.
Second, it’s deliberate to ask the question about joy (so as to lift joy). It’s also deliberate to ask “one thing,” to create a little boundary, a container as my friend Chris likes to reference. It’s not every joyful thing. It’s not a request for a curated list of joy. Lastly, it’s also deliberate to specify “in life, in leadership.” Permission to be a bit more open.
It’s rich to meet each other with invitation. It’s rich to meet each other with commitment to some expression of whole life.
Enjoying in life — I shared these tomatoes. They are a patch near our back alley. Dreamed and realized this year. Dana and I have picked and tasted a few yellow pear tomatoes. Here’s to a couple of months more of that in our climate.
And then, slightly dorky, I shared with Glen a wee story of how these tomatoes grow better when their roots are given room to spread. Each of the last two years, our tomatoes have been in pots. They did OK. Nothing great. This year, in the ground they are doing great(er). They needed room to grow their roots.
You guessed it. Yes, people too. We need our roots. We need room to grow. And, well, like this wee patch, we benefit from a good spot in the sun, some water, some reliable shade, some fertilizer, and some tilled soil.
Roots, yes.
Roots that emphasize joy, yes.
Stories and learning with friends, yes.
we are having a chilly summer—well yesterday was 80+—but mostly. and we hve to grow tomatoes in pots up against the west side of the house because their roots get too cold at night. they are leggy, still blooming, tiny green pearls appearing on the stems. We’ll be eating them all September—but not much before. Lesson: learning to care for the roots of things in adaptable ways. love.
True, Christina.
Adaptable ways. Caring ways.
In Utah, we find that our tomatoes growing in some shade, some relief from our sun — these are growing the most.
🙂