Struggle doesn’t equate to misery. A hard thing can be euphoric and enlivening, even if arduous and painful—which is why we undertake daunting pursuits by choice as well as necessity. We strain and risk and suffer. Ascend what is avoidable and attempt what is unreasonable. The mountain need not be climbed. The moonshot need not …
Hard Things—Intro
Author Archives: Leanne Kaiser Carlson
Hard Things—Know Your Powers
There are things you are uniquely able to do. To another, the risk or requirement is so formidable as to be utterly unthinkable. It’s nowhere in range. But for you, it’s manageable—not necessarily easy, but comprehendible and potentially feasible. You are wired, placed, connected, or otherwise equipped for such an attempt. You may even experience …
Hard Things—Understand the Demand
Some pursuits require raw endurance and strength, perfect execution with hundreds of possible single points of failure, or a way around a limitation. Others require you to think differently, spot an errant belief, tackle underground interests, take a costly political stance, or do something unfamiliar. There may or may not be recognition, and others may …
Incubating: Make Space
Spaciousness is a primary ingredient in incubation. If there is no empty place, nothing can emerge and take root. Spaciousness may look luxurious or even like something we don’t deserve. It seems extra—what we do after everything is done. We equate empty intervals with waste or reward. So when pressed, they’re the first thing …
The Alchemist as Nonconformist
As you grow, what becomes real to you will be invisible to others. And what absorbs them may not matter at all to you. You become unlike everyone else—even unlike what you were just a short time ago. Yesterday a thing made sense and seemed worth it. Today it does not. This is how …
Why Things Fall Apart—or Together—Over and Over
The element connecting at first glance appears rather mundane and basic. We almost imagine it as putting little blocks or pieces together. Our blocks may be organizations or departments or people of one kind or another. It seems all we need to do is build the channel or dotted lines so information and resources flow …
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Plentitude and Awe in the Web of Being
When we embody the element connecting, we experience more of what is around us as part of us. Less feels separate or different. In the worst offender, we feel suffering and seeking, distortion and disconnection not unlike we’ve felt in our self. In the most brilliant being or cosmic intelligence, we feel resonances and bonds. …
The Alchemist’s World View
Things have more range, more capacity to morph and transform, than we usually realize. This is the most essential idea in alchemy. How something shows up doesn’t mean a great deal. It might look like lead. It may seem dull, invaluable, difficult, or distorted. But it has the potential to become an array of other …