Four Energies for Navigating Life

So excited to offer a first glimpse of the archetypal navigation styles I’ve been working on for so long – thanks to the beautiful artwork of Jinty Smith!

I absolutely love them – not only Jinty’s beautiful renderings, but the characters themselves and how they resonate both as parts of me, and as familiar strategies and energies I’ve noticed in the often difficult journeys we make as human beings.

Where did they come from? As a lover of the ocean, I’ve undergone many voyages in my life, both outer and inner. And in recent years, coaching clients through everything from procrastination to burnout, relationship breakdown to business start-ups, stagnation to identity crisis, I’ve been scanning for some kind of shared map for navigating change.

These are the four archetypal energies and strategies I’ve noticed showing up again and again – each with its shadows and its superpowers, and a capacity to either help or hinder us.

Ideally they work together as a kind of inner crew: each complements and needs the others in quite surprising ways. And each also brings specific strengths for particular moments in any project or life-journey.

It’s taken protracted negotiations with my own inner mutineer to bring them all into the daylight, and I’ve set aside all kinds of detailed blogs and explanations to enjoy this simple, vulnerable moment.

I’m looking forward to sharing the nuances and deep origin story of each one as I roll out various resources and workshops in coming months.

Meantime, I’m curious to know what resonances or reactions each arouses in this simplest form. Which draws you, which repels you, which do you recognise?