Dear One,

As the next Cycle of the BLOOM Intensive approaches, you might be wondering "where do I want to focus my attention." The intention of this post is to help us to each identify our next level of challenge, becoming and accomplishment as our B.I.G.s expand.

It is an exploration of the five stages of engagement with a BIG IMPOSSIBLE GOAL.

Let me know what rings true for you.

Olubode

____________

A B.I.G. evolves through 5 stages that mirror the evolution of the human mind. 

What level are you one? You might me in a few places at this time? 

Where are you finding yourself? What is your next level?

LEVEL I:  MINERAL ~ THE RATIONAL MIND

ALIGN

This first mind that aligns us with purpose has to be honored.  At this stage one uses the rational mind to figure things out, to piece together an understanding of why, when, who, what and where one is.  For us at BLOOM The FINDING YOUR B.I.G. Journey is the first step. It is a honoring of the rational...

  As we approach the winter solstice —the longest night and a time when the new Light begins to enter the world—I am reminded I too am being renewed.

A human life is a soulful dilemma.  It invites the ego’s undoing at the crossroads of grief, celebration and renewal.

These are spaces fraught with the dilemma of being human, and the choices we make.

These are the spaces of soulful transformations. 

This past year I have journeyed through such spaces. The following are my reflections on each space and the choices I have made. 

Perhaps you might recognize yourself in them. 

SPACE 1 - MINERAL

I am constantly forgetting. Yesterday’s knowledge is never complete. 

In each moment I am  being taken apart and re-membered — put back together and reminded of why, when, who, what and where I am. 

A question is answered. 

A page is turned. 

I feel confused.  

A new mystery unfolds.

I  begin...

This is the third in a series of posts intended to support members who have come out as B.I.G. PEOPLE by declaring a B.I.G. 

These posts are at Level 2 practices and above. 

_________

In my last post I invited you to think of PLANNING as PLAYY. You were invited to do so regularly and consistently – employing your ability to remember, to be curious, to imagine, to take new perspectives and exercise your intuition.  

In this post, I will deepen this invitation by sharing with you a tool that helps you to MAP your B.I.G. or any project as it unfolds. It's a tool that you can use to increase your awareness of where things with your project stand now. 

It’s a simple checklist that you might use to answer the question, “How is your B.I.G. coming along.”

This can easily be done by asking yourself a series of questions.

Imagine that what we call a project is not really a moving projection. That  we are like a projector or a camera, that...

 If anyone needs to see what a BIG IM’POSSIBLE GOAL is, RUN and go see Beyoncé’s movie “Renaissance.”

She is the Muhammad Ali of our time. 

Yet she is all of us.

Beyoncé is a study in authentic POWER owned in Black skin. Throughout this movie she tells us clearly: “MY POWER YOU WILL  NEVER TAKE.”

Power is a word that we have a poor relationship with. Because much of what we call power is not authentic power. It is the ego trying to survive. 

True POWER cannot be given, taken or destroyed. And Beyoncé knows this. This is the kind of POWER that the Queen has stepped into, not just for herself but for us all.

To hear her tell it, it has been a journey. And in this movie she has opened HER bible and read the script out loud in a way that only a few artists, business people, and leaders have done. 

Here are some of my take-aways.

REINVENTION

Her talk  about her reinventing herself, touched me...

PLANNING AS PLAY ~ The Practice of Presence

This is the second in a series of posts intended to support members who have come out as B.I.G. PEOPLE by declaring a B.I.G. 

These posts are at Level 2 practices and above. 

_________

THE DILEMMA

Now that you have a B.I.G. is it necessary to have a plan? Isn't a B.I.G. a “self-fulfilling goal,” so why do I have to make a plan? Furthermore, to what extent do I need a plan, if things never go according to plan?

These are some of the questions I have asked myself as I have engaged my B.I.G.

Perhaps you have too?

Here are some observations I have made…

YOUR B.I.G. IS PROJECT THAT’S HAPPENING NOW

Essentially your B.I.G. is a project. Imagine that it is a PROJECTION – that is coming through you NOW. 

A B.I.G. is born of the desire to experience the essences our goals symbolize NOW, not just tomorrow.  Essences like JOY, SUFFICIENCY ORDER, FLOW, VITALITY, ALIVENESS… It...

   This is the first in a series of posts intended to support members who have come out as B.I.G., by declaring a B.I.G. These posts are at Level 2 and above.

THE DIGNITY OF ASPIRATIONS

First I want you to know that it is okay to aspire. One dictionary defines aspires as “…to direct one’s hope and ambitions to achieving (experiencing) something.”

Too often we are shamed by others out of our aspirations. You aspirations can be threatening to others, who see you as they see themselves—with self-imposed limits. 

I have come to see that to aspire is to be human, and it is also very divine. 

So when we pause to align our human aspirations with our memory of who we really are as unique expressions of ONE Spiritual being, the result is what we at BLOOM call at B.I.G. 

In the realm of our human experience B.I.G. can be thought to mean: “Big Impossible Goal”—a goal that breaches or threatens our human...

How have you been organizing your day? 

This week I have been organizing myself around three focusing questions that capture my imagination. I am noticing that as I attempt to answer them, they help me to organize my day and get to things on my “to do list” with less effort. 

Each thing I do is crafted as an answer to the question that’s on my mind. My answers come in the form of content — a blog post or IG reel, as an action that organizes a project, as a communication with a collaborator. 

It seems we are fueled by questions.

Here is what two thinkers have said about questions:

“The power to question is the basis of all human progress.” 

~ Indira Gandhi.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

~ Albert Einstein,

What questions are you curious about? 

What do you want to remember or know? 

What naturally causes you to dream? 

What...

In this blog post, BLOOM founder Olubode introduces five questions we can ask each other that are meant to inspire awareness of our natural powers-- to center, inspire and celebrate them.

_______________________

Recently, in a group that I am part of, one of the members asked, “How do we hold each other lovingly accountable?” I have seldom heard the questions asked so purely. Accountability is something that we tend to approach with horror – a sense that somehow we will be embarrassed and shamed in the process. But this question was asked in a small group of men who really love each other, so it sat differently, and took me into a space of wondering.

This is my thoughtful response.

There is already known ways to help to hold each other accountable for the goals and intentions that we have spoken. 

They include:

— Reminding each other of what we said, 

— Asking how the progress is going? 

— Inquiring into what has been...

We’ve all watched really good dancers,  from breakers to ballerinas, morph into fluid, awe-inspiring silhouettes that delight and amaze us. We’ve also marveled as dancers, immersed in the moment, suddenly pivot— changing direction on the spot.  

In the dance of life we are often called on to pivot. Stagnation, boredom and mind-numbing sameness can cause us to change direction and move toward who we really are—toward our passions, toward creating something new and valuable, toward feeling more refreshed and grounded.

Life is unrelenting in its invitation for us to pivot. We dance to rhythms that are ever changing – an unexpected illness,  the loss of a job or a broken relationship. All these life events serve as invitations to pivot toward what is big and bold within us. 

Pivoting is an art— an art that takes a lifetime to master. Pivoting is the art of reinvention. 

At BLOOM, we believe there is a foolproof...

Dear Friends,

Based on the world view of the Dagara of Northern Ghana and Burkina who see each year as influenced by one of the five elements of creation, 2023 is a NATURE year. 

(This was taught this world-view by my teacher Dr Malidoma Some, now an ancestor. He was an initiated elder of the Dagara from the village of Dano in Burkina Faso. To Malidoma and his people, I owe an eternal debt of gratitude. Their elemental world view has been the foundation of much of my work and writing.)

Other years are influenced by FIRE, WATER, EARTH and MINERAL. This year, 2022 was a FIRE YEAR. It has been a year when a lot of things got burned up and burned out— things exploded and imploded, and yet a new Light was found, as many of us decided to step out of our shadows and into our own Light.

What does it mean that 2023 is a “NATURE” year?

In 2023 you can expect to journey through even deeper change and transformation. This year is an opportunity to embrace your limitless...