It’s been a year and a few days since I publicly declared my experiment of Savoring & Serving, an experiment of exploring how to marry what I love about being alive with addressing something of the world’s great needs.
What have I learned? What results has this experiment served up?
Certainly not what I thought.
I thought:: oh all kinds of silly things about what Savor & Serve might look like. Noble. Big. Bold. Me in khaki hanging with Bono (okay not really) but certainly me doing something different.
I assumed:: that it had to be different than what I had been doing to matter. (ouch)
I found:: I had been dismissing how I had been serving in my life so far. When people would say “Thank you for all you do” I would cock my head. Excuse me? When a health intuitive said to me, “My guides say if you never served again in this lifetime, there would be no karmic cost,” I thought, “Weird-o. And she obviously has me confused with someone else.”
I learned:: that while I said savoring was important, really I believed it was all about serving.
I also learned:: Savoring is self-care on steroids. It moves you out of isolation and into the heart of the world. It feeds devotion.
I very quickly discovered:: many women are tapped out, both from serving and from feeling like what they are doing isn’t enough, and the combo is toxic and beyond draining.
I witnessed:: again and again:: that most of us aren’t savoring & serving because we think that which is calling to us is not possible, not big enough, or too much fun to count. I see the faces of Char, Ann, Sherry, Michele, Bethann… so many conversations with the refrain “Really, that’s serving? Are you sure? Really, I can serve that way?”
I also witnessed:: especially in myself:: we don’t want to give up our comfort. We don’t want to consider that flying is bad for global warming, that what we buy and from whom and made by whom matters, that we could really give a whole lot more money away.
I adore myself for setting this up as an experiment so I had to stay with it. I had to stay with what matters to me moment by moment, what do I savor? How do I serve? It quickly became a mantra, something I’m living and being shaped by daily.
Biggest takeaway? Savoring & serving is about living what is real for you now. Because when you are belly-to-belly with what is real and truthful for you, you can’t help but be the change.
Can I allow myself to live what is real for me? I must.
Can I allow myself to serve by following what I care about, through playing and lightness, by sharing and writing stories? God willing and the creek don’t rise.
Can I continue to let myself care so deeply and savor this life so tenderly? Oh YES, oh YES I can. And I will.
And thus, my dear reader, the experiment continues. I hope you will come along with me for what unfolds next.
