🌿 Reconnecting with Nature: Unlocking Alignment and Joy in Business — with Megan Leatherman

Giada Centofanti [00:00:04]:
Hey there. Welcome to Inner Impact, a podcast about taking aligned action. I’m your host, Giada Gentovanti, coach and founder of Care to Impact. On this show, you will get tools, inspiration, and space to take online action and create a business that brings joy and positive change to your lives and the world. Hey there. Welcome to Inner Impact. In today’s episode, we are going to explore how reconnecting with nature is key to building aligned, joyful, and impactful businesses. And we’re going to do it together with a fantastic guest, Megan Leatherman. Megan is an anti capitalist teacher, writer, vocational guide, and naturalist. She is the host of a podcast called A Wild New Work and the author of a seasonal book and two journals. All of her work is rooted in the idea that living in alignment with the Earth’s rhythms is an essential way for us to come back to our inner gifts and natural wisdom in the midst of capitalist culture. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her spouse and two young children. Welcome, Megan. I’m so grateful to have you here on the podcast.

Megan Leatherman [00:01:25]:
Oh, thank you. I’m really glad to be here and chat with you.

Giada Centofanti [00:01:28]:
Yeah. I’m excited. So I want to dive right into the topic because there’s a lot to talk about and I have a bunch of notes, but, you know, let’s start with, my first question and see where it gets us. So I would love to start by talking about needs, alignment, and plans. So in one of your podcast episode, it is about how plans meet their needs. You know? And you talk about five specific teachings we can’t distill from plan’s wisdom. And I want to quote one of them that resonated deeply with me. So you say, being who we are is how we will meet our needs, and we are living, most of us, in ways that are not in alignment with who we are. And so as a result, our needs are not met. So could you expand a bit on this point and also how not meeting our needs impacts also our businesses when we are solo or small business owners.

Megan Leatherman [00:02:36]:
Yeah. Yeah. I think in that podcast series, I was talking about or trying to sort of redefine what we think of as needs and sort of root them into the natural world. So I think I’ll chat about that for a little bit and then maybe add to it today for our conversation. So in that episode and in that series, I was talking about our sort of core human needs, which are so difficult to meet inside of this cultural and economic context. So I was talking about things like, you know, access to clean water and food and shelter that you don’t have to, you know, pay out the nose for, and that’s the need we have for freedom and meaningful connection with humans and also the rest of the natural world. So our needs as people are, I think, actually quite simple and beautiful and also very difficult to fully meet inside of capitalism. And so as a business owner, that makes life hard because you’re working in your business to pay money to meet your basic needs, and that requires a lot of energetic output and, you know, all of the things that we know as business owners trying to survive and thrive right now. The other piece about needs and plants that I don’t remember if I touched on in that series explicitly, but that’s really present for me now is that we also have this need to give of ourselves and our gifts in the work that we do. And that if we’re doing work that doesn’t feel like it’s from a deep place in us and it’s a a gift, it’s an act of service, we’re finding resonance, you know, just like a flower would bloom or a cherry tree makes cherries. Those plants have to give of themselves. That’s how they live. That’s part of meeting their needs. And the same is true for us if there’s this sort of meaning vacuum or spiritual emptiness. We can be working very hard in the business to meet our basic needs, but also there’s this, you know, thirst for something a lot richer and more meaningful. And that can, I think, really take a toll and sort of like we we don’t bloom or or make fruit in the ways that we need to and to the fullest extent that we could? And that that takes its own that comes at its own cost too.

Giada Centofanti [00:05:18]:
Mhmm. Yeah. While you were talking, I was thinking as we tend to frame as basic needs, the ones we need to survive, you know, shelter, water, food. But when we don’t thrive, we are just surviving. So probably also the other set of psychological needs are basic in a way. Right?

Megan Leatherman [00:05:44]:
Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. Do you mean, like, the need for meaning or connection? Exactly.

Giada Centofanti [00:05:52]:
Yeah. Exactly. And, you kinda, you know, touched upon what I wanted to ask as a follow-up question. So, we are in some communal spaces together. Right? And we often think talk about how there’s a tension between trying to survive and thrive. So trying to do meaningful work as small business owners and being, you know and making it financially sustainable. So is there anything that nature can teach us here? Mhmm.

Megan Leatherman [00:06:32]:
It’s kind of tricky because there aren’t any other places in nature that I have found, like what we’re living in, where an organism has to work for a little meaningless token like money and then use that token to meet their basic needs. Like, you don’t see crabs collecting shells, and then they give all the shells to the head crab, and then the crab grants them a piece of meat or whatever. Like, it’s absurd when you look at it anywhere else. So that’s tricky because I can’t point to another organism that’s doing capitalism and say, like, look. This is how you do it because capitalism is unnatural. So what I think we can look to and, I mean, that’s a relief. Like, then we can look to the whole rest of the wild world and see a whole different way of living that is, you know, ancient and original for us too. So we see organisms I mean, you can kind of find anything you desire in capitalism or in nature. If there’s a lesson that you’re looking for, some encouragement, you can just sort of look around, and you will find a teacher that you need. But in terms of surviving and thriving, I would say some of the lessons that I see the most would be, one, really trusting the ecological niche that you’re in, trusting that you might actually be in exactly the right place where you’re meant to be and where your gifts are needed. Even if there are thousands of other people doing what you’re doing, you know, in a meadow, there can be thousands of different plants, and there should be. Diversity is just how life is. That’s how it should be. But each of those little plants, even if there are hundred others right around them, is doing something important for the soil that they’re in or for the birds that are coming and eating those seeds. So we can get out of our minds a little bit and just trust that we are rooted where we are for a reason, and we’re meant to serve right there with the resources we have. You know? Plants are so incredible because they can teach us how to do well with what you have. They don’t get up and move, you know, not like we do, to go get food or sunlight or water. They do what they can with what is there, and I think a lot of us are trying to learn that lesson again right now when resources often do feel so scarce. So how can I be creative and adaptive with what I have while also following what feels natural to me and really remembering how to trust your nature and the gifts and the natural way that you want to be in the world? That’s the best way that you can serve and fulfill your unique kind of calling in your little ecological niche that you’re in. The other thing that I learned from nature a lot is around this topic of reciprocity and generosity, and it’s something that I’m trying to experiment more with in my own business. What does it look like to just do the work that I feel called to and do it to the best of my ability and then trust that what I need is going to confine me in some way and trying to be really open to that and giving a lot of different avenues for money or nourishment or encouragement to flow in, but not being so stuck on, like, if I do this, you know, trying to get out of, like, this transactional model where, like, I do this and you give me this, and then it’s done. What does it mean to just do the work and those who resonate will find it, and the money I need is gonna find me. And it’s it feels a lot messier, but more natural. So, yeah, I just I always hold in my heart, you know, these, like, fruiting plants, especially, like, you know, the raspberries not charging me money to pick their berries and eat them. You know? They benefit when I eat them and help spread their seeds. And so what does that mean for us as business owners? Can we just give what we have and be clear about what we need? You know, I’m not saying let’s pretend like we don’t have bills to pay, but can we make it a little less, like, linear? Like, I need this. You give me this. We’re done. What does it mean to just do the work? I make the raspberries. I hope you love them, and, you know, I’ll be blessed by your eating of them, essentially.

Giada Centofanti [00:11:22]:
Yeah. And so I have a few observation and then a question. So my first observation would be that, of course, we are we have been cut from nature by capitalism. And this means we are not used anymore to think in a nonlinear way as nature does. And, also, one thing that kept on popping up when you were talking was about your ecological niche, your ecosystem, reminding us that we are we are with other beings. We are in community. So plants thrive and survive and thrive in community because they have relationships with their, you know, with other beings from their species and also other species. And I think it also it is also key for our ourselves when we are, you know, values driven small business owners and also, of course, as persons. But I wanted to ask you, you know, you mentioned I am experimenting where reciprocity and generosity, and I, you mentioned trust. I am trying to trust that what I need will will come to me. So I was wondering if you’re open to sharing how you worked to rebuild this kind of trust, which I think didn’t come as easily, you know, being cut from nature.

Megan Leatherman [00:13:10]:
Yeah. It’s, I think, an inner process, and also we it’s true that we’re living in a really restrictive time where all of our ancestors, if they were hungry, they would have just gone out to the land and gotten something to eat for free. You know? And it’s not, that way anymore. So there’s this this intermediary called money, you know, that we have to earn to then meet our needs. So it’s true that the trust has been severed and things get wonky and weird. And and then there’s this whole, like, you know, manifestation thread of, like, these spiritual people telling us that you just need to sort of think and believe your way into abundance. And I I don’t think it’s that simple. But again, I’m a student of nature, and there’s a lot of trust in the natural world. So I think a lot of it has come honestly from just spending time outside with these beings and not just going on a hike and, like, walking quickly through the woods and just getting what I want, but really sitting with them and, you know, having a conversation and just observing for hours at a time sometimes just who’s doing what and how do they do it. And, yeah, you will see that there’s no questioning of you know, other organisms just don’t question themselves nearly as much as we do. Again, if there’s enough sunlight and water and nutrients in the soil, the plant is just going to grow and give away what it has. You know? And the animals or the fish are just going to grow and die and become food for someone else. There’s not this, like, you know, the salmon and the river aren’t panicking. Like, what if I get too big and someone catches me? Or what if I can’t make it upstream and lay these eggs? I better just give up now and go back to the ocean. They’re driven by their instincts and their gifts and their just nature. And so that gives me a lot of that helps me really trust because I can see that there’s something, again, timeless in this approach. Capitalism is really only, you know, 500 or so years old. It’s a new system. It it does not have the longevity or the sustainability that the rest of the natural world has. So it’s a it’s sort of a spiritual and material process for me, this rebuilding trust. It comes into my daily meditation and prayer practice, you know, asking my helpers, you know, to help me trust and please help bring in the money that we need and the opportunities that I need. And then also trying to live it in experimental ways, you know, like offering, you know, a trade instead of a class fee or trying to meet people where they’re at, or, you know, there’s a lot of pressure right now to kind of put all of our work behind a paywall, which I totally understand. But what does it mean to just keep it open and free and, and also ask for, you know, donations or memberships if people resonate with it? So I hope that answered your question, but those are some things that come to mind in terms of rebuilding trust.

Giada Centofanti [00:16:46]:
Yeah. It totally does. And, also something else popped up where you were talking, which is the word enough. You mentioned, you know, there’s enough water, enough sun. You know, plants will grow and will do their things. So I think for us, it’s also a matter of enough and how it feels we never have enough. Because we were raised in a society that tells us we don’t have enough because we need to buy stuff, we need to consume stuff, and it also somehow reverberates inside and we think we are not enough. Mhmm. So this mess makes me think that if we, you know, experimented and try to be more attuned to nature nature’s principles and cycles, we would find a new sense of enoughness, and also we would be able to make more aligned decisions, and we would be more aligned to our core selves. So you mentioned a few things that you do to be more in tune with nature. Do you have any kind of ideas of, you know, practices that a newbie would be could try to, you know, be more open and more attuned to nature. But maybe it’s the first time to try, and so they need some ideas too.

Megan Leatherman [00:18:17]:
Mhmm. Mhmm. I would say that a good place to start is to find a little corner, a little spot that you really love and that feels safe and sweet to you. It could be in a yard or at a park or just a tree, a certain tree that feels nice, and you just start to build a relationship. And so you might think of it like you’re just starting a friendship. So what would you do when you’re meeting a new friend? You would probably go and introduce yourselves, you know, which can feel really weird if you’ve never, like, talked to a tree or a lake. And you can do it just silently too, of course, but you can go and introduce yourself and you can say what you’re doing there. You know, I’d I’d like to get to know you better. I’d like to build a relationship. I’d like to learn from you because I’m feeling really lost or stuck in an unnatural cycle. And then, you know, if you went to a new friend’s house, you might bring, like, a bar of chocolate or some flowers. So you could bring something nice to this little patch of land that you’re getting to know, and you just wanna bring something that’s nice for the earth. So, you know, some water if it’s been dry or some ash if it’s been wet or the soil is kind of depleted or you could bring a song or anything that’s just easy for the earth to digest. And then you might just have a conversation. Again, if you’re meeting a friend, you might tell them what’s going on for you. You might ask them what’s going on for them, and then you’re quiet and you listen. And, again, this feels really weird at first, but it’s actually I think quite quickly people notice it also just feels very natural and normal. Mhmm. And so you can just do that over and over again and visit this friend, this place, you know, once a week or once a month or as you have time as you can, and you will learn a lot. I believe that everything on the planet is alive and a sentient being and that communication happens, you know, not just with words, but, many much communication happens under the surface from our hearts or energetically, and that’s true for connecting with living beings as well that aren’t human. So that’s where I would begin. That’s where I find the most nourishment is literally just spending time with and building that relationship.

Giada Centofanti [00:21:09]:
Mhmm. And I I love how it I mean, it all comes back to building a relationship. Right? So being in a relationship with someone else or some other being and having you know, making time to nurture this kind of relationship, which is also, I think, it ties back also into what you were saying about reciprocity and generosity and what we were saying about, realizing and acknowledging we are part of a bigger community.

Megan Leatherman [00:21:49]:
Mhmm. Yeah. I think that’s really important. I think a lot of people are feeling pretty isolated and lonely these days, and it’s really nice to know that, actually, you have if you want to if you want them, you have, you know, friends and relatives and beings who care all around you that you can build relationships with. They’re not, of course, they’re not there just to serve us, but I think they benefit too from being in relationship with humans who care about them, their well-being. So it’s really it opens up such a different world of, or just a different way of moving through the world for sure.

Giada Centofanti [00:22:32]:
Mhmm. Yeah. And this makes me think about, how we tend to you know, when we think about creating a relationship with with someone, we think about other people mainly. We don’t take into account the other beings, And we also have, a tendency to mechanize things and concepts. So we started this, in your composting capitalism course while we were start studying Silvia Federici’s work about how at some point, we started view we started viewing our bodies as a mechanic entity. And at some point last year, right after we were we talked about this, I joined a workshop hosted by a business adviser. She her name is Kate Smalley, and she mentioned that at some point, she was talking about building a relationship again with your business. And she said something along the lines of business is not a machine, but it’s, it is a living being. So it makes all these all of this, conversation makes me think about, you know, building a relationship can be done even with our business, which is intangible, but it it it is an actual entity and deserves some kind of conversation. Right? So, and I think that, viewing it as a living ecosystem too can help us, approach this relationship differently. What is your experience with it? Do you do you have some kind of active relationship with your business? Do you think about that in these terms?

Megan Leatherman [00:24:35]:
Yeah. I really like that approach. I think I worked with that a lot a couple years ago and not as much now, but I absolutely think it’s valuable, and we’re definitely in a relationship with our businesses and work lives, however they take shape. So, yeah, you know, we can be in extractive transactional relationship with our business that feel very taxing and overwhelming and manipulative. Or we can be in relationships like, you know, the fungi nourish the tree roots or, you know, symbiotic relationships that we see in nature where two beings help one another and make something better out of it. So we kind of get to choose what sort of relationship we wanna have with our business. I think the things that are helping me in that regard right now or what I’ve seen come as a result of being really mindful of our businesses as ecosystems and living entities is that it’s helped me to more intentionally map my business onto the seasons. And so trying really, again, to be intentional about the way I work and my energetic output lining up with what’s happening in the landscape around me. And I’ve done this, I don’t know, maybe seven going on seven years now, and it changes every year because the seasons change. And I hope I’m refining that practice, but that has helped me a ton because I can see that me as a person, I go through seasons. The land is going through seasons, and my business is going through seasons too in my work. So I’m really busy in the spring and the fall and really not very busy in the winter and the summer. And there’s all you know, there’s seasons within seasons and there’s, you know, transition periods. And so it’s a very, like, dynamic process, and it can make things a little tricky because, you know, when you’re building a business, sometimes being really consistent is important and, like, doing the same thing. And that can be hard when you’re trying to live in a more rhythmic way, but it’s an experiment, and it’s been really, really life giving to me. I have found that it’s helped me to trust natural timing a lot more. When I know that, you know, there’s a winter every year and there’s a spring every year, I can trust that I’m gonna be able to grow and do the exciting things that I wanna do, you know, in the spring after I’ve had a meaningful rest and integration period. It’s helped me to create a lot more beauty and possibility than I could have just on my own because, you know, again, like you said, we’ve been taught to work in a very linear industrial way. But when we’re sort of relearning a more rhythmic way and trusting the rhythms of our bodies and the seasons, there’s so much more that’s possible. Like, if you think about the what a machine looks and feels like to you versus what, you know, a meadow in blossom looks and feels to you, like Mhmm. The the meadow is so much more beautiful on every level, and we couldn’t have created that. You know, humans cannot create that out of nothing. So when we trust our own natural timing and the way that our gifts want to unfold in the world in alignment with the seasons, I just think there’s a lot more possibility created than what I could do with my mind. You know, if I’m just, like, planning my year ahead, here’s what I here’s the goals I think I should have. And and if that works for people, that’s great. It’s just never worked for me. So I can go season by season. It’s like, this is what is feeling alive. This is what I know needs to go. What’s the land doing, and how can I mirror that in my work? And in that way, the business is absolutely alive because it’s following the trajectory of the seasons here. So that’s what I’d say about that piece.

Giada Centofanti [00:28:52]:
Mhmm. Yeah. And I love how it’s, again, it’s about trust. You can trust cycles to happen, and you can learn and map, you you know, from nature. Do you have any kind maybe I’m thinking about our listeners. Right? So I’m wondering if they want to learn more about how you went about to attune to natural cycles in your business. Mhmm.

Megan Leatherman [00:29:25]:
I think I just so I worked in human resources before I started working for myself and then kind of began very slowly this entrepreneurial journey. And as part of that was you know, I started a blog, and I was just thinking and writing about the workplace and HR. And I’ve also just always felt a really strong connection to the natural world. So the more time I had to think about these things and observe, the more I noticed the stark difference between how the natural world works and how humans are working in organizations and in self employment even. And so when you start to see the contrast, you know, then I think there’s a desire to bring in some integration or help it make sense. You know, I felt very overwhelmed and taxed by that traditional way of working. It just it didn’t it was very, very difficult for me as a living being to work inside of a workplace and really feel for people who are still in that day to day. It’s very challenging. And so I think it was just part of my own sort of creative process just thinking and writing about the seasons. You know, I follow the seasons in my spiritual life, so observing, you know, the summer solstice and the autumn equinox, and what does it feel like, and what is the land doing. And in an effort to just be in integrity with myself, just felt more and more like that needed to be how I lived and worked. So, again, it’s been over the last couple of years of just noticing, you know, like in January, there’s at least here in The US, there’s a lot of energy around, like, planning your year ahead and making transitions and getting things going. But in especially early January, it is still very dark and cold. And I just if I really attuned to my cell like, my body, what I wanna do, there was not the energy to plan and come up with all these new initiatives and ideas. And so it’s listening to that and having enough self knowledge and ways to be introspective, to be aware of that, and then acting from that place and deciding, okay, I’m just not gonna be planning right now. But even now, a couple weeks into January, the light is shifting. I can tell, you know, we’re getting close to February 1, which is a Celtic holiday called Imbolc, and we’re getting close to, like, the very early stirrings of spring. So now I’m like, oh, you know, I maybe I do wanna plan and, like, dream into what could be possible. So I think it’s just about knowing yourself well enough and noticing what you wanna do. And you don’t have to, like, there’s no you don’t need to get a degree in the seasons.

Giada Centofanti [00:32:27]:
Mhmm.

Megan Leatherman [00:32:28]:
You all everyone knows how to do this because it’s in your DNA. It’s literally how you evolved. The seasons are different depending on where you live, but your body is already attuned to them. Your body already wants to sleep more in the fall and the winter and wants to be more active in the spring and summer. So you just you can just follow what you want to do, which is so antithetical to how we’re taught, you know, from a young age. We’re taught not to do what you want to do, that your natural inclinations, the way you wanna move or how you wanna spend your time is wrong or, you know, lazy or whatever it is. But, actually, as adults, now we get the chance, especially when you run your own business, to relearn and decide, like, maybe what I want to do is actually the best thing and the most natural thing that it’s okay to not want to plan or be ambitious in early January if that’s not what my body is feeling. And over time, you will begin to see and build that trust in those cycles because you’ll see how much different your springs and summers are when you took the time you needed. They’re, again, so, in my experience, so much more fruitful than if I had been going, you know, at the same pace all year.

Giada Centofanti [00:33:52]:
Yeah, totally. Totally. And I think it ties well. It fits well in one of my core tenets, which is to have a conversation, To have a conversation with yourself, with your body, and how, you know, even with what’s outside yourself, so the season. Because winter can be very different where I live and from where you live, for example. So even the the degree of light throughout the day and the temperature, but I think it’s, it’s a matter of taking the time to stop. And it is exactly you know, stopping to think and reflect and get insight, it is exactly what the system doesn’t want us to do.

Megan Leatherman [00:34:43]:
Yeah. Absolutely. Capitalism works much better if everyone is just on the assembly line, you know, not thinking about it, just putting the things in the boxes and sending them off. And I something you said earlier reminded me of this paradox in capitalism, and capitalism’s full of paradoxes, but around this theme of enoughness. On one hand, inside of the system, we totally have enough and too much. Like, most of us have way more clothes than we need or shoes. We have a lot of choice. You know, we could eat all kinds of different foods. Like, there’s a lot of choice and more than enough in some areas. But most of what we really actually need to live well and to feel strong and connected and sturdy, We don’t have enough of that. You know, the real things we need, like, again, like access to clean water and healthy local food, meaningful community rituals and gatherings, the space and time to actually sleep as much as you need and to actually reflect on what just happened and where am I going. And so we don’t have enough of the things that we really need inside of this system. So it’s really difficult to navigate that paradox, but just knowing that it’s there helps me to divest more from the sort of way that we are doing life and business and capitalist culture and put more energy into wanting to have enough of the things that actually make a really rich life. And it’s difficult sometimes to let go of those ambitions that we grew up with, you know, making a lot of money or being traditionally successful or all of the things that we feel pressured to do. But I think as you age, you sort of become more aware of what actually makes a life worth living, and the natural world offers that up to us constantly. You know? Here’s a beautiful sunrise. Would you like to enjoy it? Here’s a really ripe, you know, apple. What does it taste like? Like, there’s so much joy and simple beauty available at all times, but we’re stuck inside of these jobs and these ways of earning a living that keep us from that. So it’s kind of a radical act to choose instead to go sit and talk to a tree for thirty minutes or to come just enjoy yourself, you know, swimming in a natural body of water or just sitting in the sun. That’s I think those are beautiful acts of reclamation and, possibility right now. Mhmm.

Giada Centofanti [00:37:41]:
Yeah. Yeah. Totally. And, well, I was thinking that, capitalism is so ingrained in ourselves and how we were taught to think about life and success as you mentioned, you know, make a lot making a lot of money or such things that sometimes we we can get misaligned without even noticing. So, of course, you already mentioned being in conversation with nature, meditation, and prayer, but I was wondering if you have any kind of specific or favorite practice that you do when you feel the need to recenter. Mhmm.

Megan Leatherman [00:38:30]:
I think it’s kind of different for everyone, and I hope I’ll say something, and I hope it’s not too complicated or not helpful. But something I’m learning a lot the last year or so is this the five elements through Daoism, which are just, you know, water, fire, nature, mineral, and the earth. So all things that you see in any landscape that we live on and these elements make up our natural world. And there’s this idea that each of us has sort of a primary element or, like, a primary way that we move through the world and meet our needs. And so I’m learning about mine, which is water. So when I when I need to recenter, it’s been really helpful to do that in a watery way, and water recenters just by coming in on itself and collecting itself. The direction of water is inward. So usually, all I need to feel recentered is alone time. I just need quiet and alone time where I’m not taking care of anyone else. I don’t have anyone’s needs on my mind, and I just even if I’m not doing anything, quote, unquote, in that time, that’s enough for me to just kind of come back into myself so my body and, like, the water kind of pools, and I’m here again. But if you were someone whose primary element is, you know, mineral or nature, there will be other ways. You know, maybe it’s outward connection or letting go of something that’s not true for you right now. Mhmm. Other ways for you to find your center. So I think that’s why just getting to know yourself more and more, not in a way that is self centered constantly, but knowing yourself helps you know how to be of service, you know, and know how. And now I know what I need to recenter so that I don’t, you know, get really grumpy or overwhelmed on my kids or my spouse. So when we nurture our self knowledge and introspection, then we can be, you know, in better relationship and service to others. So I just offer that as an example of, you know, these different cosmologies or traditions

Giada Centofanti [00:40:51]:
that you can

Megan Leatherman [00:40:52]:
pull from help us make sense of how to navigate these really wild times.

Giada Centofanti [00:40:59]:
Yeah. I feel like, it’s, I mean, I super I’m super intrigued about that since when I read about it in your winter journal. And, it’s like, you know, an ancestral way to, define some kind of archetypes. So the archetypes and whatever follows, at some point, it was an Enneagram and then it was human design. But it’s a way to we can be open to those kind of interpretations as a way and tool to get in on ourselves and, you know, having a conversation with ourselves Mhmm. To find true alignment. Mhmm.

Megan Leatherman [00:41:47]:
Yeah. Yeah. I think for me, I’ve had to just remember again and again, that it’s so unique to every person that we sort of create on constellation of meaning and one thing will work for someone else and another works for someone else and just the permission to find the tools and perspectives that really feel true in our bodies from at this time, you know, and trusting that I grew up in a really rigid Christian home. So the idea that you could just kinda pick and choose what you believe was really wrong, but I think that’s absolutely how it is. Again, like, nature just takes what’s useful and uses it. It doesn’t care where it comes from. You know? So I think the same could be true for us.

Giada Centofanti [00:42:38]:
Yeah. And, it’s another way to, break freer and freer from the system, which tell us how to do things even though they don’t work for us. Mhmm. Almost for any of us, I guess. Mhmm. So yeah. And, I mean, I think it ties good, well to my next question because we’re coming to a close, and I wanted to ask you since this podcast is about internal alignment, but above all, taking action from a place of internal alignment, what is the next aligned action you are planning to take?

Megan Leatherman [00:43:23]:
Do you mean, like, today or in my business? Or

Giada Centofanti [00:43:26]:
Whatever you prefer.

Megan Leatherman [00:43:33]:
I think I might go on a brisk morning walk next. That sounds nice. And then, yeah, right now it’s feeling very day to day, like the business kind of planning. I’m noticing you know, it used to be that I would try to sort of plan the whole year, which felt really good on a level,

Giada Centofanti [00:43:57]:
but

Megan Leatherman [00:43:57]:
then it never really turned out like I thought it would. And then it’s been, like, just planning, you know, six months out, and then it was like, well, it really just feels right to plan for the next season. And it’s the timeline is getting, like, shorter and shorter. Like, now it’s just what is here today? You know, what’s the literally just the small next step today. So not that I don’t do any planning, but I’m just noticing that that’s happening for me, and I’ve heard from other people that they’re feeling that as well, that there’s I don’t know. Yeah. I don’t know if it’s just the way the world is right now or more people kind of accepting that there’s so little that we can control and sort of just humming into what is in our purview now. But the the next right step is happening on a very small scale for me these days. It’s just like day by day.

Giada Centofanti [00:44:55]:
Yeah. And I also, want to mention that, I love I love how this the first step you you mentioned is, you know, go for a brisk walk because my last, podcast guest, Amanda Laird, replied to me, answered my question by saying, I’m gonna go outside to sit in the sun.

Megan Leatherman [00:45:21]:
Oh, there’s a theme.

Giada Centofanti [00:45:23]:
Yes. I can sense this theme in a pattern.

Megan Leatherman [00:45:28]:
It’s really nice after you do like cognitive or focused work like this. It’s so it makes it much more sustainable for me to then, like, go reset outside and just get a little change in my nervous system and then come back and do another chunk of work that I really like. So building that rhythm into the day has been super helpful for me too.

Giada Centofanti [00:45:52]:
Yeah. Okay. So speaking of next steps, how can our, you know, listeners connect with you? What’s the best way?

Megan Leatherman [00:46:03]:
Yeah. You can find me at awildnewwork.com. And like you said, I host a podcast called A Wild New Work. So I welcome people to tune into Jada’s podcast and then come tune into mine if they’d like to. Those are two really easy ways to find me.

Giada Centofanti [00:46:23]:
Okay. Perfect. So thank you so much for being here. This was a great conversation. I think I’m gonna listen back to it and take notes. You said so many inspiring things, and thank you again.

Megan Leatherman [00:46:39]:
Thank you very much.

Giada Centofanti [00:46:41]:
Okay. So before we part ways, I want to invite you listeners to reflect on two questions. So what are your main takeaways and insights from this conversation? And, of course, how can you apply them to take aligned action this week? Okay. That’s it for today. You can find the show notes, the prompts, of course, Megan’s links, and the transcript at caretoimpact.com/podcast. And while you’re there, don’t forget to sign up for the next free inner impact session. So thanks for listening. Bye for now, and keep sparking your inner impact.