A Meaningful Network of Networks
Post 430
“Regen Places Network means a lot to me because it allows me to discover and create meaning with other people” -Michael the Genius
It took me two hours last night to figure out these simple words while I was wet vacuuming the apartment getting ready to ship out to the West Coast today for six months of activating Regen Perth
It started off as a day dream, then it went to me picturing myself siting in front of investors to raise money for the ecosystem, which reminded me to stop day dreaming and really start getting ready for these conversations in the coming weeks
In my head though I started with all the rhetoric about Regen that I/we/maybe even you have said 1000 times, but with my back broken from the move, and my head fried along with it, I had little patience for my own bullshit
“What the F&ck are you actually trying to say Mate” I rudely interrupted myself
It’s the opportunity to live a life of meaning with others who want to live a life of meaning that grabs me… it doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that
A fair next question we might share could be “What do you mean by Meaning”, and I can answer this with a beautifully simple example
We have a fellow traveller in Norway that is well known in the sector for his contribution to the field Tijn Tjoelker, who although has a great relationship with Willow knows nothing about me personally, we’ve just messaged a few times
With his massive profile he chose to add my name to a global network of legends that he didn’t have to, to talk about our collective work and goals
He then also recommended my blog through his blog The Mycelium and I started getting a raft of people coming over and subscribing with the reference from his site in the notification link
This small act of kindness from him probably didn’t even register in his mind, he just shared for the common good of everyone in the network, but for me it meant more than I can explain as little things are big things and big things are little things
What he has done without realising it is open up a pocket of my mind with his name on the door, and inside this room is a desk and a Mac and his very own fractal of Michael The Program which is designing something special and of value to him that can be shared back to support Tijn on his journey
That’s how powerful the small acts of kindness are, they reshape people, they open doors and minds, they collapse geographical and digital divides to build bridges of connection through the ether
This is what a global mycelium network of meaning looks like, and what has obviously driven the calibre of Willow, and Tjin, and Joel Hooper, and Jenny Andersson, and everyone else around the world I haven’t yet properly had the chance of meeting in person
I have some skills, my team a lot more, and you no doubt many… imagine what we could create together
How many people like us are out in the world toiling away at solving problems when the only problem we might need to solve is the missing middle of our own connection?
How do we bring networks of meaning together to create larger meaningful networks?
I think it was Tyler who questioned in our last RPN meeting after I told them all this “How do we connect with these other networks without being extractive, while honouring their own unique essence and contribution”
Willow said that she would reach out to them as she already had the relationships that I think she has built up over a few years
Leah said she would start supporting their work from our media side
I told them I had already met up with them in person on the Scotland trip earlier in the year but missed Tijn as he was in the Netherlands at the time but will cycle back, and there are many others I missed on the trip I was hoping to see like Nuno and Robert on the way there and Laurent on the way back
I think it was maybe the Jedi Council analogy from a previous post that got me imaging this council of network leaders with Willow and Tyler representing this corner of the world and picturing the other teams all seated in a circle having the opportunity to represent and explain the uniqueness of their own network and how they show up in their place to activate the world
This is a good image
I like the thought that these leaders are out there talking to and supporting each other in service to the rest of us
Have the chat leaders
For any TRP’s… My Core Process: Developing Complexifier…
What is yours? Can I help you find it like we’ve done with our team?
And for those that haven’t seen the first of many clips coming from our side of this great ball of love, here is RPN’s beginning of its next journey into the capturing of stories in place, with Willow, Tyler, and Leah supported by the genius of Peter Dowson and Alicia Wheatley
