Notes from the creative deep...
You can listen to this post here.
It has been nearly a month since I pressed send on an email to my mailing list which nearly turned me inside out. Since then I think I have literally turned inside out, in the good kind of way.Let me explain.The email was a leap into the unknown and a simultaneously declaration of faith- in an idea.The leap was to finally and publicly fully commit to a hunch/ calling/ feeling that had been following me around.For a while the idea was a shadowy figure which tracked me like a fugitive. It followed me on walks, popping out from behind trees and from under the waves. It followed me into the shower, tugging at my heart as I was standing bare. It crept into my dreams and deposited it’s wrappers in signs and symbols which would later pop out from behind trees and from under the waves. Yes, it was one of those ideas which was more than an idea; it was a feeling. It was more than a feeling, it was a gut feeling, which is a demanding thing in that it comes from a place deeper than our heart and inhabits our whole self. You could call it a soul thing.When our ideas are our soul things, then not listen to them is to give part of ourselves over to a death. I knew that if I didn’t do something, even a small thing, about this calling then something in me would die. I also had a sense that the thing that would die would be intrinsic to my sense of self: hope in myself, or trust in myself, or even belief in myself, and when those things go, it’s a dark place to find oneself. I had been there before and I didn't want to go there again. So, you see, I really had no choice, but to write, but to press send, but to walk out to the edge of the cliff and say, ‘I am here, listening, take me’.It has taken me, this soul thing, and it has been a beautiful, and wild, and soft, and difficult and demanding and luscious thing. So, this idea: to write a book. Yes, that is it. Words and blank pages. Something that has been going on for years and years. Who knew it could be so revelatory! I had written before, so why was this to be so different.As I write, I am learning: it wasn’t the book, it was the stories to be placed in the book. My stories.You see, part of the calling was to gather my own stories, the dark and the light, and to bring them into constellation with each other as my own rite of passage, in time for my 40th birthday next year. The writing was to be my ritual, my honouring of my own cycles and a way to move into the next phase of my life with intention and with hope. My stories.(But who are you to have your own stories? Who do you think you are? Do you think you are special, or something? And what do you even have to say…) That critical inner voice was quick on the scene, pushing harsh words into my ear. I turned my head. It shouted in my other ear.Then, one evening, a friend, one of those soul friends, looked my in the eyes and said: these are the stories we all need to hear Clare. Write’.Sometimes we need soul friends to speak to the place below our hearts, so that we can really hear.So, I wrote and wrote and stayed up late, and wrote, and woke up early, and cried, and wrote, and I am writing, and I am listening, and I am crying and I am writing, and I am laughing and I am dancing, and I am writing, and boy is it a precious and beautiful process, this writing.I’m not done yet. The stories are coming in fragments. I am letting them fall, one by one, some with a thud, some that need coaxing. I have yet to weave them. That comes later. First, the falling.As they come, I am learning a few things about the way it is happening too, which I am working to capture, to remember, to share. So here are a few thoughts on this work in progress: the book, and me in evolution in between.1.It feels something like this:
This book is a tunnel. A dark one. But by virtue of it being a tunnel, I know that there is light at the end of it. This particular tunnel has a bend it in. I enter into the dark, not knowing when or where this bend is, but I trust that the light is around the other side.To enter, things need to squeeze a little. Some stories just don’t fit and will get left behind. Some things feel more intense. I take one step in front of the other. I enter.Right now, I’m somewhere in the bend, yet to come up for light. The dark has it’s secrets for me, and it’s silences. However it’s only now that that I am in there that I realise it is not the scary kind of dark after all (I have yet to meet bats, or even ghosts) but the womb-like dark- warm and fertile and feeling like a home I forgot I once belonged in. Step by step, word by word, story by story I make my way through, nudging the sides and making marks on the skin of pages. The black ink is my tunnel.2.Creativity and Wellbeing are wedded. 
There’s this myth: that to create is to loose your mind; to be a good artist is to give yourself over to the madness that is art.Some myths still linger because they feed a fear, and where there is fear, there is ground for exploitation. It’s in someone’s interest to keep the myth alive.I want to blast it with this: that deep creativity, the soul kind, may touch on dark places but doesn’t have to become it. To create is to be well. To be well means to be listening to intuition, to the body, to gut feelings, to the creative spirit which shows up in the shower and under the waves. It is not linear. It can not be measured in quantifiable, predictable patterns. It can not be sold in pills. Creativity is just intrinsic to our human-beingness. To create is to be fully alive. Creativity wedded to wellness is matrimonial bliss.3.
When stuck, dance.Still stuck? Paint.Still? Then stay… write the rubbish until the dirt has a chance to reveal its gold.I pinned this note up to keep me writing even when I didn’t know what I was writing.Which brings me to…4.
Our stories tend to settle like sediment. The ones we tend regularly (the stories we tell others about, or the stories in our heads with we use to define ourselves) are the ones we feed. Below them are many layers. Hidden stories. Forgotten stories. Silenced stories. We can pick the ones at the top, but to get to the bottom, we must be willing to write our way through the layers and layers until we hit the gold. Once we are there, the stories on the top tend to make more sense again. We are all many layers deep.5.
To be silent is to surrender to the possibilities of the silence.To enter the silence we must make some choices. Turn up. Turn off the phone. Tell the internet to go away for a while. Create a parking zone in ours head where all the negative voices can hang out while we get on with the work. It takes conscious commitment to give ourselves the gift of silence. When we do, we will discover that the silence is an expansive place, leading outwards, beyond the boundaries we have placed upon it and into the place that has no name. Our creativity can take us there, if we let it.6.
Your story = Your power.When I say yours, I mean it. When I say mine, I mean it too. These stories from the deep, I am realising, have the thread of humanity in them. What is hard for me, is hard for others too. What is challenging for me, others have faced also. What brings me joy is a bridge to another’s freedom. When we share from there, we have the power to weave a new story- for ourselves, for each other and for the world we want to live in. I write to figure out the stories I need to leave behind, the ones I need to heal and the gold ones to add to the cauldron of our emerging world.
More than ever I believe that our stories matter. Mine and yours.…
I’ll be adding to this list. Maybe changing it. Maybe not. It is all a work in progress.To keep in the loop with this process, be sure to sign up to my mailing list here.And if you are interested in supporting the writing process by becoming a patron, you can find out more and make a one off or monthly donation here.Thank you.Until soon,Onwards and with love…Clare. xx....
A day in the light...
A trip to an island, meandering the shoreline, noticing how the internal questions shift from large to small and back to large again, but carry on with deeper meaning and more perspective. There were the swims, of course, and a boat trip circumnavigating the island, and friendships kindled, and a love of the wild which swelled to new heights and set the heart a flame.A photo essay meditation, from Inishlacken, Connemara- to pause, to take in the light, to carry that light onwards.with love.
(This post is dedicated to my aunt, Annie Meehan, nee Mulvany, who passed away, aged 86, earlier this week. She was a bright spark, a woman of the flame, and I always remember her as being the last person on the dance floor. As I was taking these photos, she was being laid to rest; with the light beaming and the birds soaring. Our memories carry)
On tracking the trails of our callings
I’ve been going back over my journals, tracking the trails and the storylines which I have been navigating. I’ve been keeping journals since I was 11, and in those pages are the many layers of me where the iterations a life moves through are laid bare. Next year I am approaching a significant birthday, turning 40, and to move fully forward I am in a phase of looking back, narrating the threads and weaving them together so that I can use them to lay the next part of the track.The journals are in many ways a blessing. Here is evidence, here I can see entrenched or repeated patterns. It is bringing delight to reencounter the moments in my life when a person entered it, opening a whole new door, a new love, or a new trail.What strikes me is that the seeds of what I am doing now were laid a long time ago. The blank pages help give voice to the inkings of ideas, and slowly, with time and circumstance, the right seeds start germinate and take root.Below is an extract from a journal in 2012. Back then The Trailblazery was just emerging through my collaborations with Kathy Scott and Ciara Cavanagh, and, with hindsight, I can see that the impetus behind Thrive School was also making noise. It has been rumbling in iterations before, and here, I see it again.From my journal, in 2012
The birds make great sky-circles of their freedom. How do they learn it? They fall, and falling they’re given wings. Rumi.
As I read the above I also thought of a beautiful video called ‘Murmuration’ - which has been doing the internet rounds. It captures a flock of starling on Lough Derg, a place on the river Shannon I spent many a day during my teenage years. Every time I look at it, it takes my breath deeply away. It reminds me of the beautiful power of the natural systems and the importance of gathering. Making their ‘great sky circles’ together, the birds make their falling and their swooping into a game of dance. There has been a bit of falling and swooping for myself of late. When trying to put new and fresh things out into the world, and at the same time fulfil a social need, there are inevitably mistakes, and falls and stumbles as I negotiate the hurdles. Juggling lots of projects it is hard sometimes to keep track of all the balls, let alone not let any fall. Admittedly I feel I’ve let some fall recently. Just like the physical act of juggling, juggling projects is a skill- one which I’m ever trying to learn. It is project management, time management, energy management. With each project come the element you are familiar with and then the ones you are not. And sometimes you have to learn how to anticipate them. But with each new thing comes new falling, and new learning. Each time a ball falls, the learning is about picking it back up honestly, exploring why it fell and putting it back on track. And, as projects expand there is a growing realisation that one person can’t physically hold them all, or at least all at the same time. Which brings me back to the Rumi quote, and the footage. In a sense I am realising the wings we are given are the support networks we build around us- the people I can call upon to bounce ideas with, curl up with, share the highs as well as the lows. They help to take me though the rough and the tumble and they are there for the climb. At the top, they celebrate. But that support network doesn’t just miraculously happen- it takes time to build, nurture, coach, and support. It is about finding the right people at the right time. Creating that network and support is a core theme of my own work over the last few months… ..And so it evolved. 
The journals are offering me a gift- to see what was calling then, and reenter into those callings to see it they are still there, how they have transitioned and what they are calling for next. They help me to see that yes, I am on the right track, no matter the great swooping and fallings, for this is a game of dance, with the birds, and the flock, and the great circles in the sky.Time, I believe, is not linear, but circular. We are in a spiral of growth, introspection, extroversion, expansion, contraction and spin. There are times for inwards, and times for outwards. So, my friends, you may not have journals, but you do have memories. Maybe take a quick glance over your shoulder, stop at a particular place in time, and check in with yourself then. What was calling? What was emerging? And how is that showing up in your life now? Are their callings which want to been seen again, or given voice to?May the grace of the falling and swopping birds be with us, and all the expansive possibility of the sky.Clare xx
Summer Solstice and finding the wild within...
Arriving into Gougane Barra Hotel today a sign at the door seemed to read the language of my soul. ‘Not all who wander are lost’.I’m wandering today, but I don’t feel lost. It’s summer solstice. It’s a turning point in the year, when - in the northern hemisphere- the light is full and the days are at their longest. As a day to celebrate, it did not feel like a day to be sitting at the kitchen table, so I packed my bags and drove the hour or so up here, laptop included, swimming gear too.Gougane Barra is a special place. Surrounded by high mountains, it’s an ancient monastic site where St Finbarr said to have built a church in the 6th Century on a little island in the lake. The river lee- the main river running into Cork city has its source close by too. The water here is clear and today calm as glass. With summer is in its full, the foxgloves are necklacing the shore; wild daisy and buttercups too. And there is a quiet here that can only happen inland; a kind of quiet that was calling.I like to mark each solstice. Ancient as the rituals are, the solstices seems like a brilliant chances to place some pinpoints on maps: the map of where you are now and the map of where you want to get to. I find that wild places are the best facilitators of such conversations. It’s out in nature when I can think more clearly; tune into my deeper voice and shut out the noise.So, arriving here to Gougane Barra this afternoon there was only one thing for it; to jump into the lake and let her dark waters embrace me. Below the surface, there is a different quiet too; the one that feels so alive, so vital, so energising. Sometimes we have to dive deep to really find our way. It’s only after jumping in that I can write, set the intentions, do the work. It's through that wandering that I find my way.So today/ tonight, the invitation: To wander. To find a wild spot for yourself, and see you can find a wild spot in yourself too. To celebrate all that you are and all that you are becoming. To write some intentions. To feel your body move in the light. To inhabit more of yourself and therefore the world. And do whatever it is you need to do to feel enlivened. And may the long day is here to be your guide… your inner wildness too.(The photo above with from a recent Whale Watching trip… but more on that soon… I don't quite have the words yet)...
A reminder too that midnight tonight is the last chance to book the Summer Sessions package- 3 months to blast your projects with insight and momentum, and harness the energy of the season ahead. You can read more and book online here.
Transforming procrastination into progress...
Longer days, brighter times. There is a buzz which summer brings.Which got me thinking about harnessing this energy with my own creative projects and through my work. And so it is that The Summer Sessions are here.As the days are alive, why not utilise this time of year and bring your ideas to life too.So, maybe it is time to finally start that project you have put on hold for ages- a book? a film? an exhibition? a new business? Maybe you are already running a business but need some fresh direction and momentum? Maybe you are feeling stuck and long for some clarity on the next steps to take. Or maybe you are busting with ideas but struggling to put some form and structure to them.Yes- it is time to turn procrastination into progress, and I can help.Let’s use the summer to shine some big light on your creative power and potential.
3 sessions. 3 months. 1 season of momentum.
Find out more and book online here. Limited spaces available. Book by June 21st.Onwards we go... into the light.Clare. x
Two of the best teachers of all...
It has been just over a year now since I moved to West Cork. There was a draw here, certainly. I came in many ways in expectation that I would find my next teacher- a yoga teacher? a body worker? a meditation master?- somebody that would lead me deeper into my own practice and therefore into myself. I did find my next teacher, actually I have found two, but they are not what I expected. In fact, they don’t even need to speak, or at least not in a language that needs words.Teacher One: aloneness.There have been many hours spent in my own company. There have been long dark nights filled with questions and many hours walking the shoreline and the ridgelines, noticing the calligraphy of a falling leaf and the poetry of open skies. I have spent hours tracing the course of streams until they have become river beds or walking country lanes until they fade into fields. I’ve sat on beaches waiting for the stars to arrive. Storms have come in, and cracking winds, and sometimes the sun set the world aglow. All that time alone but it never felt right to say I was lonely.I suppose I have learned that aloneness has a richness, depth and a range of qualities to it, each offering their own teachings. At times the aloneness has felt comforting, even sensuous, and at times rigid and difficult. It has been a mirror to my joy and my challenges. It made me face myself like no other teacher could, and in doing so it has been taking me across a threshold into the understanding that all I really have is myself, and when I listen close enough, the boundaries start to melt away to a place where ’I’ becomes ‘each other’ and the breath that links us is but one joyous and lingering dance. The dance makes it’s way into the ebb and flow of the tides, or the current of my mood, offering a remembrance too that emotion has it’s own motion, never static and always available to change.
Teacher One has been generous. As I walked those mountain ridges they became an extension of an inner challenge, reaching into me to break open resistance and invite me to climb higher, or at least onwards. The meandering streams offered a sign that the journey to the open sea, the expanse, is never straight. I’m less afraid of the dark now too, for as you wait for dusk to turn to dark you sit in the knowing that the darkness is just one aspect of light’s full spectrum. And I am less afraid of taking the hidden path, or the wrong turn, or diving deeper, for it’s in those places where wildness and aliveness inhabit their fullness. I’m still not so keen on the cold atlantic waters though, so I know I have a way to go yet. And woodlice. Not so keen on them either.Of all the places the hours have taken me, it is the edge that I love the most- those places where the sea shifts into sand and then to shore. The place where rugged, hardened rock is putty to the wind or where a cliff suddenly falls to meadow and then back to cliff again. I love how the edge havens colonies of birds and harbours in its nooks and crannies even the most vulnerable of life. It is at the edge where I have felt most at home.
All along the clue was in the word. Aloneness : all/one/ness. Not separate, but part of. Not different, but extension. Not singular but syncopated.Before me, all around me, in the air that I breath and the land that I stand on, my second teacher was with me all along too. Nature has a way of revealing herself to us in gradual, medicinal doses. Her magic this time has been her intimacy and her disguises. Those little robins who visited me each day in winter showed up to tell me that lonely is but a fallacy I have been colluding with. And that song in the wind, that too had a story of belonging to tell. And, of course that four legged being who has been a shadow to me, with her unfailingly waggy tail and zest for life- espically when it involves walks and even better when it involves the sea- well, she is love, in all it’s finest and tenderest and most innocent of guises. In fact I think she has a special ‘teacher’ status too, but I’ll not tell her yet because the training books tell me that I am meant to let on that I am her master but I’m not so convinced of the order of things.
In a few days time I will be moving house again (still in west cork, but more town based… for a while…) There is a time for all things and the time of this particular phase is ending. The tide will go out, but a new tide will come in and carry me over. Thanks to Teacher One and Teacher Two, I trust this more now; this coming and going and the life on the edge of knowing and not knowing. For this, I will be forever grateful and so forever will I pledge to be a student to the best teachers of all.
Wondering if Thrive School is for you?
Tomorrow (Monday 6th March) is the final day to apply for the next Thrive School Dublin programme, and I want to share a few updates and offer a little nudge!
I’ve just finished up the West Cork Thrive School programme, and have really seen such brilliant results from the participants- who have all take huge strides in their ideas, confidence and skill set.Yesterday was pitch day, where the participants had a chance to pitch their new ideas, products and services while practice giving presentations. We had an artist who has got her website up and running and is launching her first public teaching workshops; a participant who decided to train as a celebrant and pitched her new business offerings; a designer who has developed a new service to help young people make sense of their career choices; a furniture maker who is now ready to launch an outdoor furniture rental business, and a yoga teacher who has transformed how she is structuring her classes (and is now booked out) and is planning new yoga products and educational videos.Needless to say we were all so so proud of each other. There were also a few tears, as for many yesterday represented a new marker in their lives. This is transformational learning.So maybe you are wondering if Thrive School is for you or you are sitting on the fence a little. I’ve made a new video to explain more about the 3 types of people who really benefit from the programme and answering some of the questions which are coming in.And if you have additional questions feel free to email me - clare@claremulvany.ieThe application deadline is tomorrow Monday 6th March at 9pm.Find out more and apply online over at:http://www.claremulvany.ie/thrive-school-core/Thanks allClare x
In hope I trust...
I am sitting here looking at a blank screen, cursor flashing. I’ve been sitting here for at least 30 minutes. I’ve written lines, and deleted them again. I’ve made two cups of tea. I’ve checked on the fire, numerous times. I’ve written some more words, and deleted them again. Ahead of me is a blank document. All that white space. It’s terrifying. It’s daunting. It’s confusing. It’s exhilarating.You see it seems like there have been so many words over these last few weeks, some of which have been sending the world into topspin. There have been unsavoury words which have led to unsavoury action. There have been words of spite, anger, shock, uncertainly and fear. But then, in consequence, written on the streets through the feet of millions and held up high on placards there have been words of hope, solidarity, compassion, justice, inspiration, power and beauty.Watching global events unfold it strikes me that we are facing a collective blank page. The cursor is flashing. Unfolding before us are two narratives- internally and externally: the narrative of fear and the narrative of hope. We get to write how the story continues. We are part of the unfolding. The ancients and our ancestors have been through this before, of course. 
The evil. The good. The fear. The hope. The one that wins is the one that feeds. Right now it can seem that hope is hungry and fear is full; but only if we choose for it to be so, and that choice, I think, requires connection.As we plug our own lives into the grand narrative of global affairs, our own individual actions can seem, well, insignificant. ‘But I’m only a _______’ . A blank. That maybe so, but whatever your ‘blank’, that blank has it’s own soul, energy, skill, talent, breath, movement, texture and form. That blank has power. Then, put lots of blanks together and you get a whole new tapestry of possibility.+_____________ +_____________
To keep the flame alive...
...
There she was, this young child, covered in a layer of dust, blood in her hair and a blank face. All around her, screams and chaos and the harrowing chills and howls of a tragic war. This little child, sitting on a trolly, whose face was broadcast on the news. And here I am, sitting in a beautiful home, warm, safe, well fed, crying. I actually reached on to the screen and tried to wipe the dust away, tried to hold her hand, tried to offer my comfort. I wanted to put my arms around her, hold her, protect her. But there are so many things in the way- the screen, the miles, the war, the politics, the bitter twisted broken policies of regimes, and the annals of an angry history. She seems so far away and yet her pain has reached into my heart and tears it apart. I can’t get her traumatised face out of my mind.There is her, of course, and then there are all the others, the thousands of others. There are the ones in the war zone, the ones on the boats, the ones waiting in camps, the ones who have gone missing, the ones who are seeking refuge, the ones who have not made it. Was she in fact the same little one I saw in Gaza? Or somewhere in Afghanistan? Or on another night, on another channel? It’s unbearable. I force myself not to look way as my tears risk blurring out the view. I wipe my tears.It doesn’t seem enough, to sit and cry. It doesn’t seem enough to offer my care, or broken heart, or what I deem humanity. It seems desperate sitting here, so far away, so privileged. And yet, here I am. But this I am sure of too: as there are many like her, there are also many like me. Maybe it’s you, sitting at home, feeling desperate with your heart breaking open. It’s tragic, I know.
So what do we do?Honestly, I don’t know. I wish I knew. I wish there was a step by step guide, but there isn’t. We can give money, yes- where it goes, and how effective, and how it gets mixed up in the politics of aid is complex. But we can give, knowing it’s not going to perfect. And we can write letters and show up at protests and voice our concern. Yes, we can do that, knowing that too is not perfect, but it is something. Yes, these are important.And then there something broader which I think we can offer, something critical, and it’s right at the core of us, deep within us, something which is vital and beating. It’s our hearts, no matter how broken. And aren’t our hearts the birthplace of our humanity? And isn’t our world so desperate for our humanity- so desperate right now. Yes, we can individually keep our hearts open and our humanity alive- can't we?As I am sitting writing this, I almost let the fire go out, literally. There were just a few remaining embers in the grate. And so, quick action was required- a balled up sheet of newspaper to catch the flame quickly, then another, a fire lighter and then the solid wood- the stuff that will last longer, and give out more heat. Now the fire is burning bright again and the room is warming. It gets me thinking about the nature of how things catch. In an emergency situation, sometimes short term, quick action is essential. Bring on the fire lighters. Get the thing going again, use what you have, add some spark and air. Then, build and tend, build and tend, stay focused, build and tend.What I saw tonight on the news is emergency. Something urgent and swift is required. That action needs quick fuel, support and air. Then there is the build and tend- the long haul fire tending work.Friends, as so many of us can sense and not deny, something is not boding well out there. 2016 was a pretty harrowing year; a year where fear has festered and the polarising of us and them has accelerated. As image after image of other little ones on trollies appear on our screens, and yet more images of the desperate and destitute arrive on our shores, it can be all to easy to block not only our borders but also our hearts. Keep the flame alive, then build and tend. I wonder, can we each allow our hearts to be harbours too- to the other- the other within us, and the other outside of us? Can we build a place for the ‘other' and tend to it as it it was our own?
I keep thinking too of this word ‘humanity’. HUMAN-ity. That little girl on the trolly? Well, she is you, and me too. The perpetrator and the victim? They are you and me. The one who pulls the trigger and the one who survives- all part of our human race. But is it our humanity which sets us apart from our humanness, and is our humanity our ability to rise above our differences and see each other as equal, as another being on this finite planet, each with our own struggle, story, pain and promise.That pain on the news today, I’ve seen the pain before. Or at least the remnants of the pain. I’ve sat with survivors of rape and torture and listened their stories. My camera has captured the faces of those stories from Bosnia to Cambodia, and caught glimpses of the lives and scars of hundreds of people in poverty- victims of a human plight. And yet when we sit down and face each other, eye to eye, heart to heart, story to story, our humanity faces each other too. We breathe, we touch, we love, we fear, we cry, we laugh, we are being human in all its frailties and beauty. We share this common bond call human, and in recognising that bond we have the beginnings of a shared humanity.And yes, it’s unbearable. And yes, it’s the most beautiful thing. Recognising humanity is not an intellectual endeavour. Its nativity is also its grace. You are you and I am I, but together we are on this one little planet that we have to find a way to share, and tend.So, what to do? Build and tend, I tell myself, build and tend. And what does that look like? Well, in simple terms, can it start when I meet a stranger on the street and see myself in them? When I met an ‘other’, can I also meet my friend? And even deeper still, when I meet the stranger within me- those parts of myself I’d rather deny or hide, can I embrace my own imperfections rather than fear them, and move on, together. It’s the fear we need to be careful of, you see, not the other.The little girl’s dusty face is still on my mind. I desperately want to reach out, wipe the dust from her face, and hold her close. I wish I could take her into my arms, care for her, give her a home as long as she needs one. But right now, from where I sit, all I can do is give her my heart, however broken it is. It’s not enough, I know, but she has broken it open further, bringing me closer my tender humanity which is searching for the work to build and tend, build and tend, and keep the flame alive. This heart knows more when ever that there is a fire to keep, alive.
One Wild Life + 10: Taddy Blecher
Ten years ago I set out on a journey across the globe to interview social entrepreneurs about their life stories. I travelled for 11 months, across 17 countries, interviewing nearly 200 people. I took hundreds of photos, travelled thousands of miles, laughed, cried and learned so much about the world, myself, and what it takes follow through on a dream- mine and theirs.That journey became ‘One Wild Life’, a book published by The Collins Press in 2009, which in turn, has travelled the globe. The stories of these change makers have reached school children, policy makers, presidents, educators and fellow entrepreneurs, among others, as the book made it’s way to people who themselves have a deep longing to make a difference. I still get emails from readers across the world who have been moved or touched by the stories in the book. This has to be one of the best feelings in the world!So ten years on, I am curious to revisit these stories- Where are these people now? What lessons have they learned? What has changed? And what advice or insights can they offer to us as we collectively embark on a new phase of history, challenge and opportunity.And so, I am in the process of tracking down as many of the interviewees as possible. This time it’s a little different though. I’ve sent them some questions, to which they are offering replies. Over the coming months I’ll be sharing the interviews weekly and at the end will be looking for patterns, themes and trends.Ten years seems like nothing and forever all in one. So much has happened, so much change, so much learning, and yet the lessons from that journey are still living in me, unfolding each day at a time. The past is never really past, just a work in progress.And so I hope you’ll join me in this current iteration of the investigation! (#onewildlife10)
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Dr. Taddy Blecher
Maharishi Institute, South Africa
First up in the interview series is Dr. Taddy Blecher in South Africa.It seems fitting that Taddy is first in this series, as it was reading about his work that was one of the sparks for the original journey. Back then Taddy was the CEO of CIDA City Campus, which was pioneering a new model of affordable, accessible third level business education in South Africa. Since then he has gone on to be one of the leading global voice on education reform.Soon after meeting Taddy he went on to launch a new educational institution, the Maharishi Institute, which has the aim of educating 100,000 leaders for the future of South Africa. Significantly the institute considers personal develop and work experience as central to its educational tenets. It's "Pay it Forward" philosophy helps to ensure that thousands of young people who would ordinarily not have access to third level opportunities are now getting a chance through an ingenious peer to peer support model, which in turn is pioneer new ways in which third level education is funded and sustained.Taddy is also co-founder of the Branson School of Entrepreneurship and is the recipient of numerous awards and honours including the Skoll Entrepreneur Award and the Global Leader of Tomorrow Award from the World Economic Forum.Reading Taddy’s update is a huge reminder to me in the power of a big vision and big numbers, and how that vision is accelerated when embodied and conscious-raising practices such as meditation are integrated into the root of education. It was a pleasure meeting Taddy in Johannesburg back in 2006, and it is an equal pleasure to hear of his amazing progress and commitment ten years on...And so, without further ado and with deep appreciate for his work and that of his team, over to Taddy.How has your path shifted and evolved since I interviewed you for One Wild Life? Where are you now and what are you working on?It is the same path but more evolved.Ten years ago, I was in the planning stages for the Maharishi Institute (MI) – in June 2017, MI will be 10 years old and what a journey of learning and growth it has been. MI was donated a huge building in downtown Joburg, which we have been renovating over the years, and it currently is home to over 650 young people who are completing their studies via distance education with the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, USA.As CEO, I have moved from day-to-day operational management, to working on the long-term sustainability of the institute, with the goal of making it the first self-sustaining educational institution in the world.Since we first started in year 2000, across all our programmes we have started, we have assisted 15,250 unemployed youth to access education and jobs. They earn close to R1 billion combined salaries per annum and we estimate they will earn R23 billion conservatively over their working careers.Our target is to educate and train 100,000 leaders for the future of Africa, who will ultimately earn one trillion Rand over their working careers. Funds that will transform the lives of poor communities and bring them into the middle class.
What are some of your highlights of the past 10 years?We have held three graduation ceremonies and shortly the fourth for the Maharishi Institute, and each one is an amazingly happy celebration of achievement, success despite the odds and incredibly proud moments when parents embrace the first graduate in their family. This makes all the hard work worthwhile.Over the past 10 years we have partnered with some incredible companies and people, and the relationships that have developed have been phenomenal. So many people truly believe in what we are doing and are willing to partner with us on the journey that it makes the trip very exciting.A recent highlight is we have passed the ‘tipping point’ threshold from a quantum physics point of view to make Johannesburg ‘Invincible’. This is a theoretical basis which requires a group of advanced TM (transcendental meditation) practitioners. So for the population of 4.5 million people in Johannesburg, we have seen it going from the ‘murder capital’ of the world 10-years ago, to not in the top ‘50 murder cities’ in the world.Also in development:
- We have an MOU with the Department of Basic Education to provide technical support to the initiative of introducing a project-based entrepreneurship curriculum into all schools in the country.
- The target over the next 15-years is to ultimately reach 12 million children per annum across 27,000 different schools. This has emerged from work I was asked to under the auspices of the former Deputy President to Chair a National Government Task Team in the Human Resources Development Council (HRDC) on Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship.
What have been some of the challenges of the past 10 years? What would you have done differently?Overall its been a total joy! Every challenge has turned out to be a blessing!There is ALWAYS a solution.Funding is always a challenge and is becoming less of a day to day concern as we approach and manage to achieve sustainability. Aiming towards becoming self-sustainable is incredibly hard-work but I know that it will be worth it when we achieve it.Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to yourself 10 years ago?Just keep going! You are so on the right track! ☺
What do you see as some of today’s global challenges and what opportunities do you see?With the increase in digital access, there are a lot of opportunities opening to impact people. At the same time, digital access can lose the high-touch human approach, which is one of the factors that makes MI work better than a public university.We need a more enlightened approach to education that facilitates human Evolution at a great speed, alongside the technological revolution taking place.Over the last 10 year the field of social entrepreneurship has evolved and got better known and supported. What would you say is the next stage of growth for the field and what are some of the main questions or challenges which it faces?It is true, and its largely thanks to the work of the Skoll Foundation and other great organisations like Ashoka, Echoing Green, Aspen and others also playing a great role.The next phase is for Social Entrepreneurs to support each other more, and I am a co-founder and on the global board of an initiative called Tendrel a global organisation for Social Entrepreneurs to support each other using YPO Forum methodology. Its one year old and we are in 9 cities in the world already with over 100 members. It will grow to thousands in over 50-cities.Also, the next phase is system change on two levels: 1) working with and transforming government policy and implementation practice; 2) Creating a tipping point in cities, states, countries, continents and globally in collective consciousnessSome research I’m interested in is how social entrepreneurs can actually be the best partners and supporters of each others’ work. SE’s can also work together enrolling key eco-system players to bring greater levels of systems change.Another trend is the big push towards ‘merged models’ which are more financially sustainable.
Why do you continue to do what you do? And how do you sustain yourself in the process?As an organisation we have a vision to create 100,000 future leaders for Southern Africa, so while we have reached more than 15,000 to date, we have a long way to go. Knowing that the future of these young people and their families are changed forever through employment, studies, and personal mastery, is a very strong motivating factor.What advice would you share with others setting out on their own entrepreneurial path?When you know what you really want to do with your life, then ‘jump off a cliff’. You have to just do it. Anything less is not worthy of who you are and what you were born to do.
Anything else you’d like to add?A bit more info about Maharishi Institute- to give you a better understandingWe offer University access opportunities to unemployed young people who either couldn't afford university, or 70% of whom don't have the school-leaving results to be allowed into UniversityWe provide: education, books and study materials, a daily meal, work experience, counselling, job placement on graduationThe Institute offers Consciousness-Based Education, a loving, holistic student-centred approach to learning that starts with developing the inner Consciousness of every student twice daily with Transcendental Meditation and the advanced TM Sidhis programme. Our cost of this Education package is one-quarter currently of public institutions"Learn and Earn" ensures that students work while studying to earn a stipend, and pay 'it forward' on their fees account; it also ensures that on graduation students have work experience making them highly marketable"Pay it forward" is an agreement between all students and MII whereby all students commit to funding another student once they have started working to ensure that someone else (the student can nominate a family member or anyone else) is able to have the same opportunity they did. In this way the funds are not lost and always keep re-cycling, so if you sponsor one student, in time that becomes two, then three, and so on.We are working to become the first self-funding University programmes in the world for historically disadvantaged youth, where the institution can sustain itself without any funding from government or from the students' tuition fees which is the traditional two income sources for a University
** All photos courtesy of The Maharishi Institute. Photographer credit unknown.
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Thank you so much Taddy- it is so brilliant to learn more about you work, impact, ideas and vision. And yes, there is always a solution, and yes to more enlightened approaches to education, as that feeds into all growth, change and development. Onwards.
Clare xx
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