Seven years ago, I asked myself a question

Hello friends,

In 2019, I sent the note below.

I had just turned 48 and was entering the final year of my seventh seven-year cycle. Something in me was waking up to the idea of paying closer attention to the next seven years of my life.

I didn’t know what was coming. I didn’t know the next seven years would include a global pandemic, a move to midcoast Maine, partnering up with Thaddeus, buying and renovating a home together, reconfiguring my work, growing gardens, watching the sea, welcoming a kitty and becoming more myself than I had ever been.

And as wonderful as the outer changes have been, the most meaningful shifts have happened inside me.

I know myself in ways I didn’t know myself then. I trust myself in ways I didn’t trust myself then. And that knowing and trusting has created a level of inner steadiness and peace I had never felt before.

For me, that is the real gift of paying attention.

Now here I am, nearly seven years later, turning 55 years old next month and standing at another threshold.

This time, I’m beginning with 13 questions.

I’m embarking on a summer-long practice of listening. A way of looking back, looking around, and listening forward. A way of asking what these almost seven years have taught me, what attention has made possible, and what is asking for my attention next.This week, I’m beginning with the first question:

What has attention made possible?

I’ve been carrying this question with me as I pull weeds in the garden, go on walks around my neighborhood and put my thoughts on blank white paper. And already I am realizing so many things:

Now I’m asking:

What did attention make possible?

This summer, I’ll be bringing 13 questions into my writing and into our Thursday calls. Each week, I’ll bring one simple, deep and alive question and we’ll use it as a doorway into noticing ourselves, our lives, our relationships, our longings, our patterns, and what may be ready to emerge.

You don’t need to attend every week. You don’t need to catch up. You can enter anywhere. Each question will stand on its own, and together they’ll create a summer-long inquiry into what is true now and what might be asking to unfold next.

For today, I wanted to share the email that started this whole thread seven years ago.

It feels like a little time capsule. And maybe an invitation.

Before you read it, perhaps take a breath and ask yourself:

Who were you seven years ago?
What has your attention made possible?
What wants to be noticed now?

Date: October 2, 2019
Subject: Can you even imagine?

This past July I had a birthday. It’s not a birthday that typically gets celebrated with a lot of fanfare in American culture, as one might when turning 16 or 21 or 40 or 50. But for me, it felt quite significant. You see, it represented the start of the last year of my seventh seven-year cycle. Basically, I’m in the process of closing up the past seven years and opening up the next seven years.

Why does this seem important? From a human development perspective, there’s lots to be said about seven-year cycles. Throughout a variety of religious traditions, metaphysics and astrology, seven-year cycles are significant and symbolic. And, in the book, The Presence Process, author Michael Brown talks about how every seven years we cycle through the emotional signatures of our first seven years. But more on that later.

The idea that I’m completing a seven-year cycle thrills me to no end and opens up many deep and rich new questions. It makes me wonder,

If all of THAT happened in the past seven years, what could happen if I pay a little more attention to the NEXT seven years of my life?

What if I became spaciously more intentional about how I spend my time,
how I relate with others,
how I live what I know
and how I learn more about what I don’t know yet?

What if I put a frame around the next seven years and treat it as an opportunity for exploring what’s most important to me --

My relationship with myself,

my relationships with others,

and my relationship with life?

What would happen? Who would I become? What would I create?

This is what has my heart, mind, body and soul on fire these days! I’m obsessed with the idea of creating a seven-year project to explore these questions.

As this fall unfolds, I’ll share more about where I’m heading. I hope you feel inspired to join me!

For now, consider this…

Who were you seven years ago?
What have you created in the past seven years?
Where do you want to be in the next seven years?

And most importantly, how do you want to be feeling?

Can you even imagine?
Let’s go explore.

With pure delight,
Carrie

Seven years later, I’m still asking.
And I’m more convinced than ever that attention changes things.
Slowly. Quietly. Completely.

So this summer, I’m beginning again with 13 questions, an open heart, and a willingness to see what wants to be seen.

With love,
Carrie