Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Lessons Learned with Komal is a place to explore life's greatest lessons. The ones we've learned, and those we are still in the process of learning. Episodes are a mix of interviews and personal reflections from Komal. Lessons Learned is a space for you to chew on life's lessons, big and small, and hear from the people we admire most in the world.
welcome to the latest episode of the Lessons Learned podcast
I am excited to be filming this in my backyard
if you're watching on video
you will see Mitch roaming in the background
and my gazebo that I sometimes write in and share stories in
right in the background
and I'm actually sitting beneath the crab apple tree
that I wrote about last week
and we have been having to clean up so many crab apples
and see so many drunk wasps and bugs
because
the apples are fermenting so quickly
you'll also see me swatting a lot of mosquitoes and perhaps
saying some curse words at them
biting me
but without further ado let's dive into this week's audio essay
surrender to what's actually working
writing isn't the most consistent thing I've done on Substack
it's actually hosting plus what Gloria Steinem taught me about dreams
this substack has existed for a few years now
but my paid tier is only a year old
I promised weekly essays at the top of this journey
and that didn't happen
but what did happen was something that's actually my real superpower
hosting
once a month
I host planning salons for our paid members at $15 a month
we get together I curate the vibe
and the opening prompts to help us shake off our days
and sometimes the stickiness of our lives
the stickiness of our lives
and then we work through the same four planning prompts every month
to feel more in control of the weeks to come
what's beautiful about this space is the consistency with which
not just I show up
but the consistency with which the community shows up
month after month
we are learning more about one another and our goals and habits
we are witnessing the growth challenge
transformation and sometimes setbacks that come with a life well lived
even though we are all thousands of miles away from each other
we are connected by questions and presents session after session
somehow this space also brings us closer to ourselves
I started these planning sessions
after picking up a daily habit that also brought me closer to myself
journaling
for the past 18 months I've journaled by hand almost every single day
I finished my latest journal a few days ago
at the pace of my daily journaling
I finish a journal about every eight to nine weeks
as I wrote my final entry
I felt a wave of deep appreciation come over me
I began thanking the version of me that every single day
took the time and made the effort to walk towards the me I am today
nine weeks ago I longed to work out three to four days a week
now I'm lifting heavier than I have in years
nine weeks ago I longed to feel like I had the best summer of my life
today I can happily say I did
nine weeks ago I wished for peace and calm
and a deeper knowing of who I am and what I wanted
after a prolonged period of pain and trauma
a prolonged period of pain and trauma
now I feel more rooted
though my window of tolerance continues to grow again after narrowing
after this spring I trust that I will have greater capacity soon
but before rushing to that increased capacity
I'm sitting with myself long enough to know what actually deserves it
once it returns
we often think the transformations we seek come from some grand
life shaking massive decision and action
yet the most sustainable meaningful changes I've experienced
actually take hold through the daily
intentional and deliberate choices and actions
I lovingly make for myself and my work
it's not brute force anymore
I'm too tired for that it's consistently loving myself well
and seeing the slow unfolding
of the changes that come from those small
consistent actions of love
planning is self love
and with the right people and facilitation
it's transformative
if you'd like to start planning together every month
upgrade to paid and lock into the community
environment
and facilitator that will help you find your way to the future
you that's calling you forward
consistent
monthly planning is work we often overlook and minimize the impact of
but it's actually the work that gives us the clarity we're longing for
upgrade to paid and I'll see you tomorrow live
for this month's planning salon
I've added a section this week that I used to write uh
earlier in my substack days called Writing Through Time
where I profile individuals throughout history who journal or write
and who I admire and this week's is Gloria Steinem
quote
for me
writing is the only thing that passes the three tests of a metier
one when I'm doing it
I don't feel that I should be doing something else instead
2 it produces a sense of accomplishment and once in a while pride
and three it's frightening
Gloria Steinem in Harper's 1965
I felt a deep sense of loss with the news of Gloria Steinem's passing
I don't think I realized the privilege we have had of being alive
alongside historic feminist figures
there's a sense of having taken for granted her and the many women who
over my lifetime and before
enacted such significant change that my life benefits from
that I'll never know the true value of her
being alive somehow meant that I could be okay with doing less
her passing has left me feeling called to do more
I'm sitting with this feeling
and as I explore it I've reached for her books
I'm starting to read life on the road again
Life on the Road again
it sat on my bookshelf in my living room
which I fashioned after her historic one in Manhattan
the big
red couch I bought when I was anxious and overwhelmed in Brooklyn
and made its way back to our countryside home in Ottawa
sits beside the shelf
this book happened to be the first one chosen for the book club I
started in my Brooklyn living room
a 40 minute commute from her brownstone
it feels right to start with her pages
she's informed the planning salons I host every month
bringing together women to speak and write our dreams into plans
is a tool I've witnessed the power of
for the last decade of my career
I moved to New York in 2016 to produce and distribute the documentary
Dream, Girl
we premiered it at the Obama White House
and for our NYC premiere
we shut down a city block across from the Plaza Hotel
at the historic Paris Theater
when my co founder met Gloria
she saw the name of the film
and our use of the comma between dream and girl
and said 'with that comma
you took us from object to subject'
how precise
we used her words in the opening of our documentary
'without leaps of imagination or dreaming
we lose the excitement of possibilities
dreaming after all is a form of planning'
so let's get to planning shall we
upgrade to paid to join me for tomorrow's planning salon
and let's make sense of our dreams together
if you're watching this on YouTube
or listening to this on whatever podcast app you uh choose
I found a dead mosquito on my forehead
you can head over to my substack called Lessons Learned
to upgrade and join for the monthly journaling salons
I promise you
this is a space that
will support you in transforming your life
this year
will help you go from ideation to reality by writing down your goals
each and every month and articulating your dreams
and the opening prompts that I select
are always rooted in something that I am chewing on in my life
that needs reflection and unpacking
and tends to actually resonate quite deeply with the attendees
quite deeply with the attendees
I am so happy you joined me for this week's podcast and audio essay
I think you might have heard the woodpecker
actually pecking away at the crabapple tree
behind me I wanna see if I can show you it on video
there she is and now
I will see you next week for the next audio essay
I appreciate you all being here
I appreciate these mosquitoes for sucking all of the blood out of me
it's hard enough being a woman already
now I need to go take my iron pill
thank you very much I'll see you next week bye