A Spell for Realizing Progress

Listen: our overnight-success-obsessed culture has a warped sense of progress, and it keeps us from seeing the truth of - and finding comfort in - the cycles of creation.

I love a good metaphor, so in this episode, we’ll use an agricultural analogy to rethink progress as cyclical rather than linear, slow and co-creative rather than fast and dominating, and sustainable rather than explosive.

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Make Magic:

Use this metaphor to get new perspective on where you find yourself right now, re: progress.

If your endeavor were a field, which stage is it in?

For what developments do you need to give yourself credit?

Transcript: A Spell for Realizing Progress

Welcome to Mind Witchery. I’m your host, Natalie Miller, and I’m so glad you’re here. 

Hello, my lovely listener. I have news from the get-go, which is that Mind Witchery now has transcripts. So, if you are a person who prefers to read rather than listen, or if you know someone that you think would benefit from or enjoy the podcast but they’re not listeners, they’re more readers, please send them to my web page. It’s on nataliekmiller.com. There’s a little podcast section. And from here on out—starting last week, actually—the episodes have transcripts. And I’m really proud of this. I’m excited for this. 

Sara Baum, a friend—old, old friend—who has a company called Sharp Copy Transcription, she is taking care of those for me. And I’m so grateful to a couple of listeners, who said, “Hey, just so you know, like [laugh], it’s hard for me to listen. I hang in there, and I do it because I love the content. But it’s hard for me to listen.” So, thank you to all of the people who are co-creating this broader cast of Mind Witchery into the world with me.

OK. So, today’s spell is a spell for realizing progress. And, really, it’s going to be me talking about a different way of thinking about progress, a different way of defining it, maybe, or of visualizing it. And it’s going to lean heavily just like—word to the wise [laugh]—it’s going to lean heavily on an agriculture metaphor. But I’ve been finding this really helpful, both for myself, and in talking to my incredible clients, who are all in kind of varying places in the cycle of progress, and I’m hoping it will be helpful for you too. 

So, let’s start with sort of this redefinition or a reconfiguring of what exactly progress is. As I’ve no doubt said before, and I will certainly say again, our culture—western, patriarchal, white, dominant culture—is obsessed with linearity [laugh], right, with lines. And, as such, I think what happens is we imagine progress as a line moving up. 

I want you to imagine from your algebra days the X, Y axis, and then you see that diagonal line climbing from zero, climbing up from the lower left-hand corner of the graph to the upper right-hand corner of the graph. And then maybe sometimes, we might think that progress isn’t—it’s not like a straight line, but it’s like a staircase, right? So, I go up, and then I plateau. I go up, and I plateau. I go up, and I plateau, right? But, basically, the idea is progress means moving on up. Progress means more—bigger, better, faster, more. 

And that idea does a lot of harm. That idea is why it is 97 degrees again here in Washington, D.C., on August whatever today is. It’s contributing to climate change. It contributes to corporations that grow in ways that aren’t sustainable and aren’t humane. That idea of the climb—progress equals climbing—does a lot of harm. And especially, my friends, it does a lot of harm in our psyches because it is unrealistic. It’s unrealistic. That’s not really what progress looks like, in my experience.

Progress is not bigger, better, faster, more. In fact, many times, bigger, better, faster, more also creates more stress, more strain, more exploitation of resources. So, today, I would like to offer you—and me both—a different way of thinking about progress, a way that is more attuned to our material reality, that is more honoring, I hope, of the cyclical nature of being that says that progress is not this straight line or staircase. Progress is a cycle that is more and more balanced, a cycle that is more and more sustainable, that is more and more healthful.

So, I’d love to do this via a metaphor, if that’s OK with you. [laugh] I love to use analogies to illustrate these kinds of concepts. So, I’d like you to bring to mind someplace in your life that you are intent on making progress, of realizing progress, making progress real. So, think about maybe it’s in your health. Maybe it’s in your business or your work. Maybe it’s in your home or your family. Maybe it’s in your mental health, your self-care on a more psycho-emotional level.

So, wherever it is—wherever it is—this place where you are intent on realizing progress. And you might say, “Um, all of the above,” [laugh] which I totally get. But choose the one that’s most—that most is on your mind lately, that’s calling your attention and energy the most. And as you imagine this as a field of some kind—a field of some kind—OK? So, I just want to take you through my admittedly unscientific, colloquial understanding of what it would be like to cultivate progress in a field. OK.

So, let’s say I’ve got this stretch of land, and maybe there is a lot in it that is not conducive to growth in the beginning. Perhaps the soil is really clumpy and dense—not good for sowing seeds. Maybe there are some rocks or trash, some debris in the field. Maybe the field is growing weeds, or maybe invasive species have invaded this field. And, in any case, I’m sort of starting with a place that is not hospitable to intentional cultivation, to intentional growth.

And, so, the first thing I’ll do, of course, is to begin to clear the field. I’ll begin to get help hauling away those rocks, to spend time pulling up those weeds. [laugh] I don’t know about you but when I go to pull a weed, at least a quarter of the time, the top of the weed comes out, but the root of the weed is still in there. So, maybe [laugh] weeding actually isn’t something that’s one and done. Maybe weeding is something that I really have to return, to go down and to dig down and get into the roots, to really remove what’s not working, what’s not conducive to what I want to grow here, what I want to cultivate here.

So, that’s sort of the first phase. I’m going to need to clear the field. I’m going to need to aerate the soil. And probably, I’ll also need to supplement the soil. I’ll need to add some manure or some compost. I’m going to need to help this soil to be more fertile so that it will be easier to grow whatever it is that I want to grow. Right? 

So, I begin with this kind of trashy, cluttered field, and then I clear it out, and what I have now is better soil. But nothing’s really growing here yet. Nothing’s really growing here yet. So, I might then decide what kind of seeds I want to plant. And, hopefully, I will take into account the conditions around me. What else am I growing around here? What’s the light like? What’s the climate like? What’s the water like? What will grow well here?

And if I want to grow something that isn’t usually grown in this place, then what do I need to supplement? What will I—will I need greenhouses? Will I need some special fertilizers to make the soil a different pH? Like, what will I need if I want to grow something unusual? So, there’s this period of like, OK, I’m going to choose these seeds that I’d like to grow. But I’m also—I’m being careful and intentional about it. 

OK. So, let’s imagine then that we plant these seeds. We plant these seeds. And for a while, it looks like nothing’s happening, right? For a while, we go out to the field, and we visit it, and we walk the rows. And maybe we’re watering it. We’re pulling an errant weed here and there, but not much is happening. We’re not seeing much. But, of course, under the surface, all of the magic is happening. Under the surface, a seed is sprouting, growing roots, growing into the earth so that it can emerge as a plant, right?

So, growth is happening [laugh] in this field, but we can’t really see it. And in those moments, we might feel like, OK, I’m doing all the things. Where’s my plants? But when we honor that, you know what, things take time actually—things take time—this takes time, then maybe we can relax a bit. 

OK. So, let’s say now that the seeds start to sprout. They start to come up. Again, not a farmer, not even really a gardener, but I do know this. When the seeds sprout up, often what you need to do is to thin the sprouts, that is, we planted all kinds of seeds, and some of them are viable, some of them are healthy as they come up, and some of them are kind of puny. Some of them aren’t going to do as well.

Sometimes, you’ll get a clump of plants, and you’ll realize, OK, the—somebody’s going to need more space here. So, I’m going to need to remove and transplant, or remove and discard, some of this excessive growth so that I’m able to actually have a sustainable crop here. Right?

So, when the seeds start to come up—and I see [laugh] this happen so often in my life and in my clients’ life—all of a sudden, it’s like, OK, I’ve been waiting, waiting, waiting, and now it’s here, and, whoa, it’s way too much. But I’ve been waiting for so long, I’m afraid to let any of these little seedlings go. But that’s actually what we have to do. 

We have to say, OK, now it’s happening, now the growth is happening, so let me choose what’s most viable. Let me choose to let go of all of it, all of everything that’s come up. I don’t have to say yes to everything that’s sprouting up. I can remove what’s not maybe necessary, or what’s starting to crowd this land.

OK. So, I’m going to pause here because I hope that as I’m doing this description, you’re thinking about how this shows up in your situation, how this shows up in your—the place where you are trying to realize some progress. You know, sometimes the weeds that we pull up are old stories or limiting beliefs. Sometimes, those big rocks that we move are real obstacles that are in our way. Right? 

So many people I know are in a place where they’re like, “OK, I really want to grow my own business. I want to cultivate my own business, but there’s this big-ass full-time job right in the middle of the field [laugh], and I can’t plant—I can plant around it, I guess. But really what I want to do is move this thing out of the way.”

And sometimes what they’ll—they’ll be so scared to move the rock. But it’s like, no, the rock has to go first. And then, yeah, there’s not going to be anything there, or there’s going to be [laugh] all the little insects that were living underneath it, which you’ll have to kind of clear away. But, no, there’s not going to be a lot of plant growth there. Now, you’ve got to work that soil now that it’s free.

But removing the giant rock is progress. Removing the old stories is progress, it’s essential to cultivating whatever it is that you’re growing next. Similarly in that seeds place, right, we start to do the things, and we start to go to the gym three times a week to lift weights. We start to go for our morning walks. We start to take our supplements. We start to drink more water. And then it’s like, you know, we start that on Monday, and then we look at our watch on Thursday, and we’re like, “Where’s my health?” [laugh] You know? 

It’s so funny. I just—this is a sidebar. But just last night, I found a supplement that I wanted to take, on Amazon. And I added it to my cart, and it said I was going to get it overnight. I was going to have overnight delivery of this vitamin, which I was just like, oh, my gosh. Like, it’s gone from wait two days, to wait one day, to you don’t even have to wait a day. Just go to sleep, and it’ll be here in the morning. 

And then, you know, when I was looking at the supplement, and kind of the description of it, the advertising for it, it’s like, “You’ll notice the effects right away within 48 hours.” And it’s just like, wow, we are in such a hurry here in linear progress land [laugh], right? 

OK. So, all to say, as I’m planting the seeds, I’m going to have to wait. I’m going to have to trust. I can’t stop watering them. I can’t stop visiting that field. I can’t just let the weeds take back over, the limiting beliefs. I’ve got to trust. I’ve got to nurture all of these little seeds of intention that I’m planting. I’ve got to keep going. I’ve got to take care of those new habits. 

And then, eventually, we get to the place where we have that massive growth. And in that place where we get the massive growth, we’ve got to see, OK, what’s working, and what’s not working? What’s growing here, and what’s sustainable? What do I really want, and what can I say no to in the name of sustainability, in the name of high-quality work over quantity? I want high quality when I am in a place of humane, sustainable progress, right? 

Ok. So, hopefully, you’re doing this translation in your head. Eventually, especially, actually, if I have thinned my crops, when they bear fruit, they will bear better fruit. When I’ve said no, when I’ve gone for quality over quantity, when I get the fruit, when I get like—[laugh] when I get to the flowers on the rosebush or the fruits on the tree, I get higher quality product because that’s what I’ve privileged. That’s what I’ve decided is important. 

So, I get the harvest—beautiful, exciting time—and then what? And then it’s time to actually let some things decay. Let them die down and back. Then it’s time to make sure that the cycle that we are running includes rest—includes rest. We have in western culture figured out how to force land to keep producing, to push and to push and to push, and to go for linear growth, exponential growth. But this is not sustainable, and it is at the detriment of other systems, the water table, the plants themselves.

Yes, we get higher quantity but we get much lower quality. A more sustainable approach is to let the soil rest, or to plant something different—a different crop that uses different nutrients in the soil that behaves differently that can help to replenish the soil. So, this is—this actually just—it won’t work in that linear progress model because in the linear progress model, it’s bigger, better, faster, more. It’s [laugh]—do you remember that song? [sings] “No pare! Sigue, sigue!” Don’t stop. Keep going. “No pare! Sigue, sigue! No pare! Sigue, sigue!” That’s what I always hear when I get the linear progress bug in my ear. 

So, integrating rest or integrating variety, integrating something else, you know, I’m not actually going to repeat this same crop, this same work project, this same program, this same workout. I’m not just going to repeat it again and again and again and again. I’m going to take moments where I rest or moments where I do something complementary—complementary—something that will complement, something that will help me work in a different way.

I was talking to Emily, my trainer, the other day about how every summer, I like to get into the pool, and swim. And when I swim, no matter what I’m doing—I might be practicing yoga at the time, I might be lifting weights, I might be running, I might be doing aerobics—no matter what I’m doing, nothing is quite like swimming. It doesn’t use my body like swimming does. [laugh] And, so, inevitably, I’ll do, you know, one lap in the pool, and then I come out of the water, and I’m out of breath, and my whole body is like, you know, alive with tiredness. [laugh] 

And that happens because, yes, my muscles are strong but they’re not strong in that way. Yes, my lungs are strong but they’re unpracticed in very regimented breathing, right? So, when I swim, I get to encourage a different kind of health, a different kind of strength in my body. I integrate that variety. 

So, in your life, you may find you’re in a place where you’re like, OK, like, this business has been so successful, or this program has been so successful. Maybe you’re like, oh, you know, this marriage has been so successful, but it’s not really bearing fruit anymore. And, so, maybe the thing to do is to rest or to do something different, or someone different. [laugh] 

So, when we think about progress in this more cyclical way, that it’s not about a steady climb, and, right, a steady climb yielding instant results all of the time, when we abandon that, when we reject that idea of progress, and we come into this cyclical version where we’re thinking about the whole ecosystem, where are you right now? That place in your life where you are wanting to realize progress, what does that field look like for you, and where are you in the cycle?

When you let yourself think about it in this metaphorical way, I hope that will open for you an understanding of what’s important right now. It might be important to just keep clearing the field. It might be important to celebrate the harvest that you’ve made, and plan for a break or a change. 

It may be that you’re in the place where you are watching and waiting and trusting. Or it may be in the place where there’s just so much growth that it’s overwhelming, that you almost have to trust in the opposite direction. It’s going to be OK if I say no, if I thin this out, and if I focus only on what’s really most promising to me, what feels best, what works best in this ecosystem.

Wherever you are in the cycle, I want to remind you it’s a cycle. So, progress is not a straight line. Progress hopefully is a way of higher and higher and higher quality cultivation with plenty of time for rest with well-nurtured soil, respected soil. And for me in this metaphor, by the way [laugh]—I’ll make it explicit—the soil is you and your body and your everyday life. Your everyday, your body, that is what everything is growing up from. And, so, if that is crowded with big rocks you don’t want in there, or invasive species that are sucking all of the nutrients out of it, then that’s the number one priority, to take care of that.

So, when we think of progress in this cyclical way, there are certain mindsets that help a lot. And I just want to kind of review them because I mentioned them here and there, but I want to review. So, one of them is trust—trust. OK. I trust that when I move this rock, I’m going to be able to grow something underneath it. OK. I trust that these seeds I’ve planted, some of them are coming up, and it’s like magic, but I’m going to trust that that’s going to happen. 

I’m going to trust that when I let go of the less viable sprouts, I’ll be able to give better attention and more resources to the ones that are most promising. I’m going to trust that even though I’ve had a great harvest on this land [laugh] with this crop, I can rest or I can change, and it’ll actually—it’ll work. Right? So, enormous amounts of trust, enormous amounts of patience.

And that’s not to say that sometimes things don’t very quickly. I know that my zinnias outside in my garden, they seemed to grow up and bloom overnight. So, sometimes things will move quickly. And, at the same time, being patient, that is, being present with what is, being comfortable, being present with what is, trusting like this is progress right here—no, I don’t find myself on a staircase, I don’t find myself—you know, I just got this vision of being on a roller coaster where you’re leaned way back because the roller coaster is click, click, click, clicking up, right? Progress doesn’t always feel like that. 

We’re saying progress isn’t necessarily the climb. Progress is the tending. It comes through tending. It comes through being present. Oh, there’s a weed. I’m going to pull that. Huh, you know, this row is doing really well, but this row isn’t doing as well. Let me pay attention, and let me see if I can figure out, like, why am I thriving here, and here I’m struggling? Right? 

There’s a great deal of present-focused awareness that comes with this cyclical nature of progress. And then, finally, with this cyclical notion of progress, we prioritize quality over quantity, and we prioritize sustainability over productivity. Quality over quantity. Sustainability over productivity. I really think that this is so important for us in our culture of overwork and overwhelm. This is so important for our planet. 

OK. So, the spell for realizing progress—and I did mean realizing in both senses of the word. Realizing as in making real, and also realizing as in giving ourselves credit, noticing—noticing, oh, nothing’s sprouted yet, but this field looks a hell of a lot different today than it did six months ago. Right? The spell for realizing progress is really just thinking of progress as cyclical, progress as a cultivation of ever more fruitful, sustainable, balanced, vivacious cycles. 

I hope that this helps you conjure up a different way of thinking about where you find yourself right now in whatever it is that you are cultivating, whatever it is that you are growing, because in order to realize progress, as in to make it real, we have to realize progress as in to see it, to notice it. That’s what fuels the trust, the patience, the present-focused awareness that grows everything. All right, my dear, make some magic with that one. Take care, and bye for now. 

Thank you for listening to this episode of Mind Witchery. To catch all the magic I’m offering, please subscribe to the show, or if you want a little bit of weekly witchiness in your inbox, sign up for my Sunday Letter at mindwitchery.com. If today’s episode made you think of a friend or loved one, your sister, your neighbor, please tell them about it. We need more magic-makers in this troubled world. 

Like all good things, this podcast is co-created by stellar people. Our music is by fabulous DJ, artist, and producer, Shammy Dee. Our gorgeous art is by the sorcerers at New Moon Creative. Mind Witchery is produced in conjunction with Particulate Media, K.O. Myers, executive producer. And I am Natalie Miller. Till next time.