How Transformation Happens

Below is our introductory post shared on Substack - for more, subscribe there.

Welcome to the How Transformation Happens Podcast 

We’re living in a time where the word transformation is everywhere. For some, life and the world’s direction feel aligned and fulfilling. For others, there’s a deep longing for change on some or all levels. Wherever you find yourself on this spectrum, transformation is always part of the journey, whether it’s intentional and conscious, or unintentional and unconscious, or a blend of both. It moves through us and the world, whether we notice it or not.

This podcast explores ways that transformation takes place - personally and professionally, and in life, business, society and systems - to help us recognise its markers, find our resonant maps, and support us to better navigate our own unique experiences, and more.

Our purpose

Having experienced the power of this process under the guidance of a great teacher of mine, our purpose is to be a space for reflection, sensing and meaning making, to open pathways for:

• Developing deeper insights, clarity and empathy for our own individual processes of change and transformation, and the evolving arc of our lives;

• Witnessing the experience of others, and seeing ourselves in them, enhancing our range, empathy, acceptance and sense of interconnectedness; and,

• Building upon these foundations to develop a greater sense and appreciation for where we are and what we need to cultivate to move towards our desired direction, as individuals, families, teams, businesses, and communities.

For those like me who dream of co-creating a more harmonious world, this exploration is especially for us - this is the North Star of our work here.

How do we define ‘transformation’?

Transformation is the highest form of change, in the innovation and alchemical sense, that we can aspire to. While it can technically be in all directions, in our context it implies moving towards a perceived ‘better’ way, whether that be a ‘better’ operating system, ‘better’ practices, or a healthier mindset, for example. For us, transformation is the catalytic process we go through that is enabling a better, greater or more aligned version than where we were before.

While the process might lead to an outcome, the outcome of transformation is not a static destination: it’s a cyclical process that builds upon the cycle before it, spiralling upon each other to create our evolutionary arc, and defining the direction of our overall evolution. For us to evolve in a direction we desire, we must be open to change and transformation, to align ourselves with the path of that which we long for. 

The abundant cyclical nature of our existence, and of transformation 

All of life lives in cycles. Like one of my great teachers, Jane Hardwicke Collings, says, just honouring the cyclical nature of life is a revolutionary act. This is where this podcast lives: grounding back into the wisdom of nature, understanding our non-linear rhythms within our linear-demanding systems, and re-membering this, to help us re-define our lives in the present, and prepare for the thresholds of the future.

The cycle of transformation can be described in many ways but ultimately it follows the same cycle of all of life: conception or initiation, birth, growth, full bloom, harvest, decay, death and initiation once more, leading to rebirth. It doesn’t occur in isolation or start from nothing; it builds upon the foundations that have already grown, and may, more often than not, require shedding or composting of elements accumulated in order to complete its next cycle. It’s a cycle intentionally trying to bring with it what is supportive of the new state, and leave behind what isn’t, all while moving at the pace of readiness of the one - or the collective - for which it is happening.

The process of transformation, like many other elements of cultures past and present, has been the subject of many rich and layered scriptures, myths, poets, philosophers, sages, psychologists and therapists, scientists, modern day scholars, and innovators. Their unique lens’ have described this process in many beautiful ways, all of which speak to each of us differently, and resonate more or less with our own particular journey.

Guest stories, but with a difference

From self to business, and society to systems, we’ll hear from people who have experienced or chronicled transformation in all of these facets of life.

What is different about this podcast is: in the spirit of cyclicality and reciprocity, every guest of this podcast will be invited to reflect on their own journey and identify which map, framework, process or myth best describes the transformational process they’d like to share. Their story will then be shared through that frame, identifying the thresholds, inflection points, and the meaningful moments along the way. I’m sure many of our guests have considered this before, and we’re so grateful for all that they will bring to this weaving of stories and wisdom.

What might this be like in practice? Imagine a business leader’s story told through the Heroine’s Journey, or a sage sharing their story via Bill Sharpe’s Three Horizons Framework. We’ll be connecting previously disparate worlds together, and weaving the emergent wisdom live (and more on the purpose of this another time). 

Going deeper than your average podcast

These maps and reflection processes won’t just be limited to our guests - they are also, so sacredly, for you. We’ll share these progressively, along with guides and prompts, for you to reflect on your own experience, in your own time and space.

Further, we know that transformation for the most part does not just happen on command and overnight. Today it often happens with time and practice, as we explore our relationship with ourselves, in relationship to others and the world.

When you join the How Transformation Happens community, you’ll have the opportunity to not just listen to the podcasts and use the tools to reflect on your own journey, but to also have time with our guests, for special post-podcast sessions. These sessions will offer a deeper level of sharing, and the opportunity for direct Q&A for the curious. 

Our foundational maps of transformation - for you and our guests

Today, we’re introducing our foundational maps of transformation: from myths, to frameworks, and psychological processes. 

Before I share these, I’d love to touch on the intention behind the way these will be shared. Each myth, process, framework, and journey is being shared with the intention to deeply respect its origins and creators, and I hope that we do this justice. Additionally, some of the processes that we share, now or in the future, may have religious contexts. I, and the podcast, are agnostic - I deeply respect that we all have our own beliefs and faiths that serve us, and I personally am someone who loves to learn and respectfully interact with all religions, faiths, and spiritual texts. It’s one of the reasons why we have a menu of maps, not only one map and one way. Lastly, it is unlikely that the way we share here will truly honour the process and do the method in question the ultimate justice, purely because of our intention to achieve this process with efficiency and being respectful of time. What could be a book will try to be condensed to one page, and we hope we can show each process due reverence in this unfolding.

Our first series will start with:

• The alchemical process of individuation: developed by psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Carl Jung; 

• The Hero’s Journey: one we might know well, described as the ‘monomyth’ developed by writer and Professor of Literature, Joseph Campbell; 

• The Heroine’s Journey: one we might know less well, developed by Maureen Murdock in response to the Hero’s Journey;

• Three Horizons Framework: developed by Bill Sharpe, to help individuals and organizations understand and manage transitions between the present and their future visions, using the voices of different horizons;

• Four Modern Paradigms Framework: by Carol Sanford, used throughout her work to describe levels of consciousness and action that build upon each other, and which also aren’t dissimilar to the value lenses of impact investing.

We’re excited to share more about these maps and our first guests with you soon. We hope you can join us, and to hear when the first episode drops, subscribe on Substack.

If you have a story to share and would like to be a guest, we’d love to hear from you.

Till then,

Ashleigh