It’s rare that this writer is so overloaded that even writing seems like it’s just too much. Yet that’s how it felt to be at Conversation Among Masters (CAM) for the better part of the last week. It is a coaching conference like no other in that it’s about, as the name suggests, conversation and connection. And when I say I was overloaded, I mean it in the best possible way.
My connections with friends made last year deepened significantly and that alone was priceless. The chance to have headshots done and a video made (I won that one in a raffle!) was much appreciated and I maximized both. The speakers brought in to start our conversations were each thoughtful and engaging and I am still reeling from all that came out of those dialogues.
I also visited the Butterfly Palace in Branson when we had a break in the action and two friends decided to come along. It was a transformational experience, but not in the way I had anticipated. I think I was drawn to it because I am in a butterfly phase in life and I had a vision of letting these beautiful little creatures land on me (and I, of course, would revel in that).
But it didn’t happen that way. I observed and appreciated their beauty and was sort of enjoying the ones that alight gently, but I was ultimately frightened by the ones that dive bomb like kamikazes. That’s hard for me to admit, but true. I have witnesses.
However, I have come to realize in the last 48 hours that they were a metaphor. It hasn’t quite crystallized yet, but it is about outward beauty, camouflage, being comfortable in one’s skin and the synergy of a soft approach.
I’m sitting with it for now.
And I’m sure there is much more to come from CAM. It just needs to percolate a bit and I’m going to be smart enough to let it.
