A few days ago I engaged in a new Akimbo workshop: The Story Skills Workshop.

One of the wonderful aspects of these workshops is how the learning we do is connected with other participants. Working on lessons is based on sharing our reaction to the lesson as much as contributing to the work others shared. Along the way, it establishes a connection among participants and nowadays also across workshops as the Akimbo world has evolved into a portfolio of workshops.

In our first lesson, we were invited to describe the story we want to tell as well as the challenges we expect while seeking to tell it. Typing is one of the key elements in this process. Typing is challenging as it requires to put words on ideas. Moving past this resistance becomes easier along the way. And yet, that typing is what helps clarity to arise, continues to come as a surprise.

One of the reasons is, that it still takes time and feedback to get access to this deeper clarity. That’s due to the fact, that seeing ourselves is only possible with a mirror. Our inner life adds so much confusion to who we are that we benefit from the mirror others can hold up to show what they see.

It’s a simplified version of ourselves. It’s the one we make accessible to others.

It might not be the truer self than the one we see looking inside. But truth is maybe less important than what we actively use to connect with others. It’s a shared reality.