Only ducks love this kind of weather.
It’s hard to complain about rain in the desert but another morning and the sound of rain on the metal roof set my spirits low. The monsoon was early and strong in the summer of 2007 and I was starting to go a little stir crazy without the motivation to go for hike or run in the rain.
In our small mountain town in Colorado, I’d heard about people finding delectable Porcini mushrooms up in the mountains near our house. The promise of harvesting some was all the motivation I needed to explore something new and get out of the house.
I was a total novice—an “absolute beginner” as David Bowie might say—frightened about making a mistake and eating something that could kill me or someone I loved.
On my hikes, I saw lots of mushrooms. I started reading books and asking people who knew about mycological stuff how to identify and not misidentify my finds. There were plenty of nope’s, nah’s and definitely don’t eat those. Finding Porcinis totally eluded me.
And after many miles up and down and all around the mountain, I finally found one and it was confirmed as a YES!
I cooked it, served it to my wife and a friend, and even feeling a tinge of anxiety it was absolutely delicious.
Wild mushroom growth is a complex and unpredictable system with many variables needing to come together to bear fruit. Since that first summer, I made it a habit to venture out for Porcini after the monsoons came. Sometimes I’d find them, sometimes I wouldn’t. For me there was no rhyme or reason.
At some point I intentionally changed my approach; from just wearing my boots down and doing the work to being curious, slowing down and observing more. I’d been exploring Taoistic approaches to harmonizing Yin and Yang in my spiritual practices and I think it rubbed off on my outdoor forays. Perhaps I was just getting older and slowing down.
When I was more receptive to seeing the entire ecosystem I saw patterns in elevation, exposure, timing and the trees and other mushrooms that indicated that I was getting warmer in my quest. My mushroom bag was more consistently filled—more easily.
My attitude shifted, I became enlivened about the exploration and learning more about the system, in addition to aiming for dinner. Both productivity and satisfaction went way up.
As leaders, navigating complexity and uncertainty is our job. And while conversations about slowing down and receptivity really wake up a deeper place inside ourselves—a place that does change how the game feels and actually goes—Yin itself may or may not get the job done. We might need to do some things regardless of how relaxed or receptive we are.
What is exciting to explore, in nature and work, is how to integrate a desire for an outcome with an attitude of curiosity and receptivity.
Like me, you might find more of what you’re looking for more often—with more fun.
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