On dragons, ancestors, and the team that walks with you

There is a particular loneliness modern people carry, and it is not the loneliness of bad relationships. It is the loneliness of believing we are unaccompanied.

We are not. We never were.

Whatever name you use — ancestors, guides, dragons, the field, God, the dead — there is a team that walks with you. They have been walking with you since before you were named.

When I work with someone, I am not the only one in the room. The room is full. Their grandmother is there. The grandfather none of us met. The dragon that has been standing behind their left shoulder since they were eight. Sometimes a child not yet born, leaning in.

This is not metaphor. It is the most ordinary thing.

What I do, mostly, is help people remember that the room is full. Once you know that, you carry it differently. You don't have to do everything alone, because you weren't doing it alone in the first place.

Until next time, stay authentic.