Celebrating the movers, the shakers, and the ripple-makers
Recently, I was a guest on Craig Constantine's podcast, Movers Mindset: Ideas for Movement Enthusiasts. His profile description says, "Hello, I'm Craig Constantine. In this podcast I talk with movement enthusiasts to learn who they are, what they do, and why they do it. This podcast is part of the Movers Mindset project, which I started so I could explore movement's underlying motivations, and movement's fundamental place in society. Interested?"
Honestly, I had not really heard of the Movers Mindset podcast before except in passing while chatting with a local artist, Melissa Way, at one of the events that I co-chaired this summer for the Emmaus Arts Commission. I was standing at the "P.S. I Miss You" mailbox and greeting card set up at the Emmaus Farmers Market one warm and sunny Sunday morning, as usual for my summer Sundays. Melissa came to check out the event as she had generously donated her time and artistic talents to create one of our mailboxes that would be sold to raise money for the EAC. As a non-profit sector of the Borough of Emmaus, we raise all of the funds that we use to host events, give art scholarships, and enhance art awareness in the community in a number of artistic and expressive ways. She was telling me about somethings she was working on and I, as per my usual connector self, was telling her about a few things I thought she may be interested in, some things I was working on, and ideas I had that coincided with her current endeavors. We found out we had a lot more in common than we originally had thought and made some nice connections. We ended up exchanging contact information and said our "good-byes."
Fast forward to September, I was contacted to see if I would like to be a guest on a podcast about Movers Mindset. Hmm. I hadn't been actively reaching out to talk about my ideas, or had I? Recently, I had been studying the concept of the law of attraction and traits of freely giving positivity to the universe. On my journey of education, food security, responsible land use, art, expression, creativity, gardening, farming, wellness, and community outreach—I had been throwing [skipping, leaving, placing] stones in ponds, lakes, and streams and creating ripples. I had been giving back in various ways through the EAC, volunteering with local organic farms, creating artwork throughout my town in the forms of fire hydrants and community murals, and giving time, talents, and efforts in any form I could. Was I exemplifying a Movers Mindset? I guess it was just happening. "I want to meet other people who do things just because they want to make a difference!" I'd shout out in the wild in my dreams. "I am living a life I can be proud of, showing gratitude by giving back, modeling a life for my children where they can see kindness, generosity, and growth." I would write in my day planner and tell myself every morning and every night, it had become my new mantra. I want to continue to move forward while also showing gratitude for what I have right now. Is that contradictory? No, there are ebbs and flows, there are good and bad days, or in actuality— static and dynamic days. But overall, I guess I underestimate how much I do move. Moving gears, moving hearts, moving minds, moving hands, moving outward. Moving forward—planting seeds.
I agreed to be a guest on the podcast. What were we going to talk about? Should I prepare some things or topics? Maybe find a few witty quotes I could casually throw in there? How much of myself do I feel like sharing? The vulnerability of freely and honestly sharing opinions, ideas, philosophies is a little bit scary. What if people don't like what I have to say? Maybe I should start by looking at this podcast and reading up on some of the previous guests. I started searching and reading the captions and line-ups—artists, yoga instructors, parkour athletes, musicians, educators, collaborators, investigators and more. The titles had words like motivation, passion, grit, exploration, obsession, integrity, and longevity. I felt slightly intimidated at first but after thinking about it was very excited because those are some characteristics that I look for in collaborators, those are identifying markers I suss out in friendships, had I accidentally fallen upon a community of shakers, movers, and ripple-makers? I've been looking for you, I whispered to myself. There are more people out there who are forming connections, building bridges, planting seeds of hope, and holding hands on a journey of healing and they seemed to be identified by Craig Constantine.
What did I expect? I don't know, I honestly prepared a few "blurbs" or topics to talk about but really felt it was best to just sit down and chat. Just freely go with the flow. I am inherently connected to a deep love of stories—the pictures you can paint with words, the feelings you can illicit, the memories and smells that come along with phrases and intonation. Melissa and Craig were so warm, so inviting, so authentic. I instantly felt at ease and just let go of all inhibition. "Let's do this." In a whirlwind of about an hour, we chatted and laughed, smirked, shook our heads, sighed, and discussed. Being a guest on a podcast in which you have no idea what direction can be taken turned out to be exhilarating. I had just written a somewhat contemplative blog post before recording the podcast, so I was in a different frame of mind than usual, overall, I was really happy with how it turned out. After all, I had just spent almost 2 years caring for multiple children, farming, working outdoors alone, volunteering every weekend over the summer, combatting the exhaustive lifestyle changes of a global pandemic with multiple small humans in my house, and this was really the first time [in a long time] I had a serious, free, authentic, no-holds-bar, adult conversation about things that I was interested in. How refreshing.
One thing that I took away from this experience was the feeling of connection. There are so many people working: spiraling around topics of self-sufficiency, sustainability, regeneration, and food security, investigating human connection, searching for ways to come home or create the village that they need, exploring avenues for growth and healing through food, wellness, education, and art. They are moving mountains to unshackle themselves from a life of static, cultural energy and settle into the peace and quiet of mindfulness. Inside this spiral, this hurricane of knowledge, tools, talents, time, effort—inside of there is the eye, a calm to the storm where things make sense. Freedom exists because one has recognized how to free one's mind of judgment, guilt, shame, anxiety—and living occurs. There is a place where we can plant seeds of hope, creativity, love, generosity, seeds of flowers, and seeds of food. So I will continue to plant seeds until one day my seeds grow, the flowers bloom, the food blossoms, and the much more wonderful world in which we know exists is showing its magnitude and grandeur so brightly I realize, its been there all along, growing in front of me slowly. I just had to look at it in the right perspective.
If you are interested in hearing the stories of some movers, shakers, and ripple-makers, head over to Craig's podcast Movers Mindset: Ideas for Movement Enthusiasts. It can be found on his own website, as well as all of the avenues for listening to podcasts. Follow the link below to listen to my episode entitled, "Lindsey Kleinberg: Experiencing Nature, creating connection, and healing." It launched on November 15, 2021. If you know anyone that would be a great fit as a guest on Craig's podcast reach out to him. He also has a Patreon site to help fund further exploration of the movers in the world, as he does not limit himself to only people in our town, state, or region. He has been traveling the world since 2015 to find and make connections with people that need to share a story.
Thank you for joining me. Today was a reflection post. As the year has recently ended, I am utilizing my time to reflect, digest, and process everything I have learned and experienced this year. What do my connections and relationships mean? There has been a lot of growth, a lot of challenge, many sudden deaths, and doors opening while other doors close. Chapters have ended, and chapters are being written. I am going to take some time to consider my purpose and path. I hope to re-introduce my "Thirsty for Good Vibes Thursday" interview series. This new year has many adventures awaiting me. In order to fully experience the new opportunities in the future, I will set a goal to write bi-weekly for the 2022 calendar year. If you would like to collaborate, let me know. Live, learn, grow, and make some ripples as you go.