#2: Giving In to Receiving with Arlene Grullon
It's a good one.
Hi friends! Episode 2 is ready for your ears, and I’m delighted for you to meet Arlene. We first got to know each other over breakfast at a retreat hosted by Roxane Gay, Tressie McMillan Cottom, and Debbie Millman in North Carolina in July 2022. On that retreat I learned so many things, one of them being that eating with Arlene is the best. She does it right. Loads up the plate, tries everything, tells you what she thinks about each bite, and goes back for what she loves. We had such a fun, meaningful time that whole weekend.
Two months later, when I meditated for guidance on who I should reach out to for those early episodes, Arlene’s face came into my mind, and my heart lit up. As fate would have it, not only was she processing a major and fresh transition in her career and life, but she was also coming to town for a wedding during the exact window we wanted to record. Here we are moments before grabbing post-recording tacos:
And here’s a taste of a truly nourishing ep:
~4:22 - Act 1: Surrender: After being the director at an emergency shelter for ten years, Arlene is into her first week of a Radical Sabbatical. We talk about how her body let her know it was time to stop and the circumstances of her leaving.
~12:00 - Act 2: Integration: Arlene is treating herself the way she wants to be treated. How is that going? We get into:
coming from a long lineage of women who take care of everyone
the surprising, scary, painful, sad, and magical experience of discovering parts of yourself that are temporarily lost or forgotten
how we adopt/inherit all kinds of shit unconsciously
a whopper of a question from Erin about asking for support, and we hear about all of the people that have and are continuing to show up for Arlene
being a transformative leader that shares rather than hoards power in the workplace
existing without a plan and leaving a thing when you’re plain sad to
the good that can come when being proven wrong
a compliment circle. Yep, we did one. Highly recommend.
~36:52 - Act 3: Wisdom and Lessons: How would Arlene guide herself if she could go back in time? What kind of rituals does she use to communicate with herself?
~43:38 - Act 4: Rapid Fire Questions: We talk messages from the universe, the calling to write, Greenland by David Santos Donaldson, and, of course, tacos.
I’m also so happy to share that since recording this episode, Arlene’s creative life is blooming in Louisville. She’s been meeting monthly with a cohort of brilliant artists to dive deep into creative solutions to community issues and discover how their shared skills can unite to create a better world. Arlene has curated delicious, intentional, community-building experiences with her creative partner Anthony, together known as A.squared. That was another thing we learned from our retreat weekend! Choose creative business partnerships with those who make you better, who you trust, who you see a vision with for your collective future, and who you want to plan for success with (which, according to these women who know, is harder to plan for than failure!).
I, for one, will be crossing multiple state lines to eat, create and learn with these geniuses. I’ll keep you posted when the next one is happening and how to stay tuned for more!
Episode linked again here. Enjoy!
Love,
Patty