186: Apokalypsis, Improvisation, and Light with Dr. MJC

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What's next? This is a question we're all having to ask and answer more frequently. I'm Jenny Blake, your host of the Pivot Podcast and author of Pivot. The only move that matters is your next one.

For show notes from this episode, visit pivotmethod.com podcast if Change is the only constant, then let's get better at it. Here we go.

Hello everybody. Welcome back to the Pivot Podcast and our Pivoting Around a Pandemic podcast series. I am back with my pandemic co host, Dr. Michael J. Consuelos. We are recording this today on Saturday, April 11, which is not typical for us, but Michael's generator went out on Friday. So we have pivoted this conversation to Saturday and we wanted to keep our streak going because and isn't it a perfect coincidence this happens to be our month versary of doing this series, if you can believe it. It definitely feels like a year has passed in one month alone. Michael, welcome back to the show.

Thanks Jenny. Happy one month anniversary. We've survived the one month and we're going to be looking forward from now on, right?

That is so true. We have survived. We have also noticed peak pandemic news out there. So Michael and I were talking before we hit record that we want to continue to zoom out a little bit and give you that calm, comforting and hopefully fun or interesting or a shift in perspective through our conversation as well. This is the first time in nearly two decades that all three of the major April holidays overlap. Easter, Passover and Ramadan. There was this great New York Times article to people of many religions, crisis has signs of apocalypse. Of course, I'll put it in the show notes and it says the original word in Greek, apocalypsis means an unveiling, a revelation with that epic tone. Michael, I'd like to turn it over to you. What do you think this time is unveiling? What kind of revelation has been emerging for you over this last month?

That's a great question and you can tell folks we weren't preparing for anything. So we're Just going to roll right in.

This morning I got up early because our power was out. Then our generator was down because the battery that starts the generator, which I understand you need, was out. So I had to replace that. And then the Internet was also not working, so I basically had complete loss of a day. I was going to do some writing. So I got up early this morning, like I wanted some writing. And where I started was thinking about how businesses, things that I'm doing, how can we evolve and be first to market on the other end of this? And I sort of got tired of writing about that. So I've shifted. I've pivoted to, like, what I really want to write about this morning. And I said, I'll mention that. So I kind of. And it goes with your question, is what I've learned over the past month. I sort of thought, oh, wow, this has been going on for a month. And almost basically a month ago I went out to get my daughter from college, so we've now been with her for about a month. And. And my son and his girlfriend been staying with us for a couple of weeks now. So it's been like a look back for me and what have I learned? And where I ended up was the power of yes. And, you know, so that's the classic comedy improv, right? You take something that someone hands to you, Jenny, and you say, yes, and. And. Right. So you listen. You have to listen to what the question was, which I listened to your question. And then you have to accept it without judgment, which I really tried. And then you run with it, right? And so what I reflect on is just going with things and things. Like, yesterday was just a total disaster, was a mess of a day. And I sort of said to myself, yeah, my generator's out. Yeah, the Internet is out. And instead of saying, but I can't do this, I was like, and I can do these other things now because I don't usually have time to do. So that's what I was doing. So I try to use that lens over the past month and try to see where I had opportunities maybe to maybe not push back on what was happening, but where they just accept it to know that we're in this improvisational time, if that's. That's word, probably. So we're improvising everything as we go along. And emails just say, yep, and I'm going to do this. So that's where my brain has been for the past couple days. Jenny, how about yours?

That's such a cool perspective. I love I have yet to hear this called an improvisational time. Everybody's focused on crisis, apocalypse, all these doomsday terminology and how serious it is, and people. People are dying. And yet I just love. And that's all true. And it is serious, and it is important to understand that. But I love what you're saying about this improvisational time and even applying. Yes. And I wrote about that in Pivot, in fact, about creative brainstorming. Even Dori and I had such a funny dynamic on the recent LinkedIn Live that I know you attended, where I would say something and she'd go, I'm going to. Yes. And that JB and I love how explicitly called out. Yeah.

With a big smile.

And that's what Dory and I, we love to do. We love to kind of push and pull against each other. Not against, but just our different perspectives. And I love how clearly she would say, I'm going to. Yes. And that. Yes, I hear what you said. And. And as you were saying that before you even mentioned the phrase improvisational time, I was thinking to myself, this is such a time of acceptance. And I love how you're applying. Yes. And to aid in that process of accepting what's happening. Yes. That this is happening. And that's where the shift and the possibility and opportunity come from. And it also reminds me here in New York City, every night at 7pm people start banging their pots and pans, celebrating everybody on the front lines. And I know that's been happening around the world. And New York even took inspiration from Spain and Italy. There was this great article, I'll link to this, too, today in the New York Times, about how it's like this ragtag improv session because everyone has these odd kitchen tools and it's making this very funny noise. And yet it's such a moment of collective joy and celebration. And even though it's meant to celebrate people on the front lines, so many New Yorkers are experiencing humanity and camaraderie and comfort and catharsis. What the article said. Catharsis around this improvisational nature of just looking out your window and actually seeing who lives in all these various units across the street, who's next door. The other night, I was walking home with Ryder at 7. So I was out, and there were people pouring champagne, having a social distancing birthday party on the block. And I took a moment to celebrate everyone else. And then I took a moment to imagine it was for me, like, good job, Jenny. You got out of the house. You walked the dog. You know, I Just like. Because I was a little down and I just needed that. So just a. On the improv of how it's playing out, even in a social sense, I.

Think it's awesome that even though in our isolation, we can still participate en masse. Right. So we have this opportunity at least once or twice a day that's scheduled for folks in different ways to improvise what pans or pots or how they're gonna yell or how they're gonna celebrate during that time. And even in the fact that we're all socially from each other, we can still have this human gathered experience, which makes me remember which podcast it was. I think it made our first original podcast. Again, happy monthiversary. That we talked about the loss of theater and sporting events and that loss of connection and rooting for your team and that large experience that you can have with other people and be taken away by music or sport or some other kind of entertainment. And we somehow found it. I mean, again, to celebrate, celebrate the people on the front lines, but it's still this chance to be together. And so I think that's. That's. That's great. And I. Unfortunately, I live out middle of nowhere, so we, you know, I wonder if we should do that tonight. Makes me should write this down. You should. You should do it because you have.

Enough family at your compound. You have enough people there, even with your neighbors. Maybe you could hear it.

That's true. I mean, you know, it's the Bushes, the Kennedys and the Consuelos, as we all have compounds. So.

That'S how we keep it safe. No, yeah, no, that's. Maybe you should do that.

I want to read you an excerpt from the intro to the article that I mentioned. It's called In Praise of Quarantine. Clapping and it will go in the show notes. Amanda Hess wrote this. She says, every night at 7, my Brooklyn neighborhood comes to life with the calculated whimsy of a cuckoo clock. It starts with a single neighbor clapping. Soon dozens more join in throwing open their front doors or hanging from their windows to put their hands together and say Woohoo. Perhaps 20 seconds into the proceedings, a man emerges from the garden apartment across from me, banging a pot with a spoon. And a woman appears on the stoop of the house next door, her spaniel barking helpfully at her side. Often there is a special guest on a recent evening, a guy motored by on a delivery bike, a whistle blaring from between his lips. It's all over within five minutes and.

Not any one Night is probably the same, you know, your work and my work as facilitators or coaches. The yes and tool is to allow greater lateral movement amongst thinking and running with people's ideas. But I don't know if I've lived it day in, day out, as like I am trying to do now. It's, it's. It's always been a tool, a lever, something to use. And now I'm wondering if because we're in this improvisational state of reacting or at least responding to the coronavirus and what's happening around us, it becomes a little more like a mantra.

There's also another part of the article related to what you said right at the beginning. She writes, the more the ritual is repeated, the more it feels as if it's for the rest of us, too. We used to go out to concerts or movies or plays and clap for the performances. Now the clapping is the performance. And she calls it the clapping with a capital C. When I heard it for the first time, it almost made me cry. I mean, I really did have tears in my eyes. It was so beautiful. It was so moving. It's also a collective expression of gratitude for the frontline workers, for each other, for our neighbors, and that we've talked about gratitude before. And so we started this talking about acceptance. We then move on to talking about improvisation. And for me, this element of communal gratitude for each other and to celebrate so publicly, it's gratitude out loud. And we also talked about the meaning of the word in Greek, apocalypsis, an unveiling, a revelation. The revelation to me is how much good is out there and how much people care. And that story does get told in certain highlights and certain profiles. But to see in New York, it's so visual as well. It's people high and low. It's people in brownstones and big buildings. It's anybody who has a window they can open and stick their head out of. And as you said, it's different every night. Sometimes. Sometimes Michael and I go to the window and we bang the. We took a dog food bowl, and at other times we're just sitting inside.

But we're still appreciating, is unveiling some of our true selves. And there's this chance or opportunity to realize the demands of what's happening around our different industries, the economics around it, the sort of bringing up, unveiling our impermanence on this little blue marble. And it kind of. I think it starts unveiling some things about yourself that maybe we're sometimes Too busy to think about because we're trying to reach for the sky and the goals and mark our time through. And I'm hoping that there's some unveiling of enjoying things, the simple things, I guess, maybe unveiling just the fact that you can get on your porch or on your front of your house and bang on pots, and it still could be fun. And if you're three years old, that probably has a lot of fun. But because you're 30 or 60 or 90 years old, maybe you've sort of given that up a little bit, and maybe unveiling that for people will be helpful also. I'm a very visual person, so as I think of all the masks and all the coverings that we have, and it's sort of like everybody's got this shield over them.

And it's weird. I don't recognize my neighbors sometimes because I only see their eyes. And from far away, it's even harder. And they'll see us because they'll see Ryder and they'll go, is that Ryder and I look. And it takes me a minute to actually even see who it is. And we talked about that in the recent Pivot Insider conversation with Penny about, we are literally wearing masks right now. And how is that a metaphor for the masks that we wear the rest of the time? And in the conversation with Dori, I asked in my recent Pivotless newsletter, what is this time giving us permission to say no to that we are actually excited and happy about? So when you talk about unveiling, I love that theme and that concept. I also think of it as unveiling our heart's desire and unveiling ourselves. So you are right. Right now, the masks are going on and we're going into our homes and. And there's going to come an emergence, and we're going to emerge differently. That's the whole theme here, of apocalypses, reinvention, reemergence, whether it's in the summer. And I do have a sense that we'll be back indoors in the fall. I'm just going to say it. I'm happy to be wrong. But this unveiling of what do I really want? What is most important? How can I appreciate and honor and have reverence for the smaller things? I will also say that we. We always let the dogs play with other dogs. It's the best way to get their energy out, like really wearing the humans out. And the other day, this. This other couple that they have a German shepherd puppy one month younger than Ryder. Ryder Six months now. And then one of their family members also has a shepherd puppy. So they invited me and Michael to go to Central park to have wine, properly, socially distanced and let the dogs play. Don't tell the park rangers that we'll have wine because this hasn't happened yet. As I was going to say, grape juice, people.

She said grape juice.

Exactly, exactly.

Grape juice.

As I was going to say yes. I was like, what is this joy bubbling in my chest? I'm like, oh, yeah. I have not had a social plan in a month and I know you've done very creative things with your friends and neighbors, but we have not had anybody invite us somewhere and we actually left the house to go to something that was for us, not just the dogs. Even though this is combined in over a month. And there was something so soothing about that. No matter how simple the premise, that's.

Not simple at all, actually. That's my. When you're saying to me that is such a complex sort of collision of emotions for me, like when this happens for us to be a chance to be with some people and do our social distancing walks or hikes or standing out middle of the driveway kind of thing, it starts welling, the emotions start welling up going, wow, just a simple piece of. This is such a complex emotion that's blowing up in my head because I'm thinking about other people's families and myself. And one of the things that you said around meeting those, those folks, I'm wondering if you would have met them in the same way had it been any other regular pre pandemic time.

I don't think so. Because even the dog park closing this last week, we had to get even more creative. So a lot of us, because we liked, we're the type, we like to let our dogs off the leash and run around and it's not always ideal, but it's so important to me that he gets to play and be free and not just walk on a six foot leash by my side. And once the dog park closed, it really shut that down. And now there's police circling the park, making sure people aren't gathering there. So now we're forced to get even more creative about how we get together. So we're starting to arrange play dates and meet on this one specific part of the grass. And then I think by nature of life being so stripped down and not being able to go to any venues because probably they would have their friends and we would have ours and there wouldn't be a reason to Go any further.

Yeah, those structures are already there. Right? So those. So the unveiling here. Let's go. Keep on back. The unveiling and improvisation of meeting people who maybe the walls had been up before to meet them or didn't have time or whatever else now allows for those things to happen. Kind of hoping it stay. It sticks. Because one of my concerns after all this, all this cool stuff that we've been doing, all this innovative improv stuff to keep us going, is just going to flitter away maybe.

No, it could. I think some of us. It's so funny. It's like, are you a social introvert or social extrovert? Okay, now, are you a digital introvert or digital extrovert? Some people are loving all day Zoom and all the new connection that's forming. I do think we're. For me, I noticed such a big surge that I want to pull back on some of that. It's not that I don't love it. At the same time, we taught my grandma and my dad how to get on Zoom. This is a miracle. They know now they actually know how to be on video and join a call. I've never seen my whole family on. I can say categorically my whole family has never been on a phone call, even all at once, a conference call, let alone on video, Brady Bunch style. Laughing, seeing each other, the kids, the pets. What delight. And to see my grandma be able to join us and figure that out. And not only that, that we taught her. My mom. I ended up doing a dry run with my dad and my mom did that with my grandma. To even be able to teach my grandma, she's someone I admire and respect so much. She is just so sharp and interesting and engaged and has so much energy and life force. But the fact that. But technology is not her thing. Let's also say that she wasn't sure how to log onto the computer. And the fact that my mom got her to have the patience to kind of learn and figure it out remotely to me is a miracle. And that we're not going to go backward. We may have fewer calls. We may not do it every week, what we're doing now, but she knows the light of knowledge has been turned on. And that is so empowering because we can go back to it more quickly in the future. And I think we're going to see that for a lot of things. There's a big collective tech education happening right now that I do think all the skills we're all building right now are going to they're going to stick and we're going to have so many more options moving forward.

Absolutely. And for a future podcast, I could talk about the impact of that happening in medicine, but not today because we're keeping it light. It's Saturday, It's a holiday, so we're not.

And it's our monthiversary.

It's our monthiversaries. We're not good. But just I didn't put a note to myself, I need to talk about that because that's great conversation. But also for me, what triggered in my head when you were talking about that is that we're really kind of bringing meaning to all of this by being together in this different way because we could stay kind of in this low level, negative kind of frequency. Kind of. Maybe that's not the right Penny Pearson kind of thing.

Good Penny word. And I love that you said your dog, Atticus, his, his frequency is a muddy frequency.

Yeah. Let me explain that. Let me think. Maybe PA.

Yeah. So Jenny. Very grateful to Jenny to put together lots of great programming over the past month. Really, I mean, before that, but really this month has been really important and really anchoring my thinking around what I'm doing for my business. And just the other day, and I think you turned into a podcast and you asked permission to make sure that we're recording it, that we're all going to put this on this podcast for a Q and A with her. And literally, as your. Your email came to me, my dog, who is a very light colored lab, decided to play in the mud. I mean, not just play in the mud, I mean get covered in it. And so I was taking my many. My Penny sort of frequency was that his frequency is clearly being muddy. His natural home frequency is where he needs to be there.

So good use of home frequency.

I know, I know. Thank you. So I was like, okay. And you know what? I sort of just accept him. Like, you know what? He had fun. I showed pictures. At some point, maybe I'll show the little movie clip. I mean, it was kind of funny, kind of scolding him in a kind of a funny way. And he was so cute. But anyway, yeah, so the bringing meaning to me, bringing meaning through this is also important. And I'm thinking that some of the conversations we're having now are conversations. Yes, it's a very painful part of our lives. There's this tragic loss of life and people's jobs and those things. But to look at this in this sort of. Because it is that part of that Depending on your religion, there's sort of a sense of renewal, you know, over this weekend and change that you have to bring some meaning to that, that, that suffering. And for me, these new connections are rekindling those connections. And these points of light in the darkness to me is just helping me stay grounded, stay positive and to look for. And I'm looking for them, Jenny. I look for them. And maybe when I was so busy and caught up in my own stuff, I wouldn't look for the little points of light. I don't know. That's where my brain just went when you were discussing your family. It just, to me, it just. You've just got this sort of different meaning. And for me too, when I have these meetings, my family or friends, there's those little, just highlights of my day that bring meaning and a change that otherwise, for other reasons would never have occurred. And I'm grateful for that, that gratitude. Back to your gratitude. Grateful for that to happen.

You mentioned seeing light in the dark, the points of light, you know, using this word many times. It's so funny because just this morning Michael was reading one of his books and he saw the word pellucid. So we looked it up because I kind of thought I knew what it meant. Listen to this beautiful definition. Pellucid, allowing the maximum passage of light as glass, translucent. So it can also mean clear in meaning, expression or style, as in a pellucid way of writing. But how epic. Pellucid as in allowing the maximum passage of light with so much darkness. Can you imagine if we took that perspective? How do we create that pellucidity in ourselves? And this builds on the conversation with Penny. And I'm so proud of you mjc, because you're a doctor and self described left brain thinker. And I love that you're willing to just go here with me on this.

Yeah, no, as I mentioned to her, she thinks so differently. And I think you and I think very differently. But that's awesome that there's people I get to have conversations with who think differently and kind of expand my brain into spaces where my left brain goes, oh wait, wait, the science. And then this, and.

Just this notion of what does it look like to be pellucid to allow for the maximum light even during a time like this. And Penny talks about being in your home frequency, choosing your preferred state. So not attaching to the suffering. There's something that some people might kind of get a little, little hooked on the suffering. In a way it's the comfort zone and. And everything you're saying. And this is something I noticed, too. And thank you, by the way, for the kind words about the content of the last month, everything that's been going on.

Oh, you've been working hard. I mean, you should. I mean, folks, this person has been. I mean, I see it from my angle. It can't be easy, so. Yeah, so.

Oh, well, thank you.

I feel this is a mutual admiration club, by the way, folks. I'm sorry.

Well, what I will say is that I feel that it's so important that I give the full spectrum and that I share honestly about the ups and the downs. And this week on several podcasts, I mentioned the downs and feeling sad and frustrated and unsure. And I also feel it's equally important to come show up with joy. And as I said to you, the opposite before we hit record, I was like, you know what? I'm getting kind of burnt out on pandemic news. Even myself. And I do feel that you and I, me being in New York, you being in the medical profession, we are a little ahead of the curve of what's going on. And so if I'm getting burnt out on the news like everyone else is going to be any day now, if not already. So I even said to you, just shift the conversation for this one. Let's have it be more random, less planned, and more improvisational to go back to your original point.

Yeah. And I said, yes. And yes, let's do it. Let's do it. Because I can't say no. No. I can't say no. Yeah. So, you know, folks, the just. I'm going to speak to our audience for a second here. The conversation we're having today that you're hearing in the next couple days, as you're. As you're. These voices are in your brain, I just, please, if you like either one of us, just a modicum, convert yourself to just a day of just the yes and improv game and see how it sticks. Because, I don't know, I always have to feel like I have to leave a message online. So maybe I'm scratching that itch maybe a little bit, maybe being a little serious, but really.

It will make a difference. And looking for those points of light that we've been kind of discussing and those connections and gratitude. I know we haven't been talking about the pandemic itself. We've been sort of skirting it, but because it's there, we're having a conversation that is so different. Had for some reason, Jenny and I decided to do a podcast together about some other topic.

Well, you know the metaphor. I don't even think we're skirting it. As soon as you said that, I thought of an elephant, and skirting it would be not talking about the elephant in the room. I feel like we've looked at the elephant. We have talked about the elephant. We have explored different elements of the elephant. Today we're just riding it. Like, we don't need to talk about the elephant. We're just jumping on. We're like, where's this elephant taking us? What is this all about? How can we have some fun while we're up here? Oh, wow. It's such a bumpy ride. I collect elephants, by the way, so I'm happy that that spirit animal just popped into my mind, because I love what you're saying, Michael, and I do love to leave people with a piece of homework. I would say the next time your mind jumps to something you think is bad or unwanted that you really don't want, that's the real opportunity to apply the yes and reflect. How is this time going back to Apocalypsis? How is this an unveiling? Where is the revelation for you personally during this time?

I couldn't have said it better myself. You know, back to the bumpy stuff. Well, I'll. I'll do some other. We'll do some other kind of revealing here as you start revealing. So Jenny and I actually, a couple days ago, tried to. To do this podcast, and it was technically just not this. This cup podcast, but we had a podcast planned, and we met and the technology just failed us. And it was like, okay, let's just stop here. Let's reschedule. You know, we weren't going to sit there and cry in our beer and, you know, wring our hands and gnash our teeth. It's sort of like, okay, we could have tried to, like, I guess, you know, I listened to it. Yeah, there was lots of little problems because of this, the technology piece. But I jokingly said to her, let's keep it anyway. We don't need to publish it, and we'll be part of, like, the Lost Chronicles at some later point. And to remind her of, we soldiered through. We tried to figure out how to make it work. It didn't work. We kept it and we moved on. We didn't sit there and just woe is me. We spent that hour, and it didn't produce anything. I got a whole hour with Jenny Blake. First of all, folks, you know, that's so funny. High value. High value.

This month. Iversary does not have to be pumping my ego, you know?

I know, but that's fine.

I also feel it's always perfect. So if there's tech problems, I had this little intuitive whisper that was like, just skip it. Just skip this one. Maybe it's not the content people need. And the tech problems are a harbinger of that. The tech problems actually say, hey, hold on. This one. Yes, the universe. And then we were supposed to record the next day or two day, couple days later, and your generator went out. So. Okay, that must not be the day. So I always assume a higher intelligence, and I figure that by the time we're on the phone, I want to call it, but we're on Zoom. It must be the perfect day and the perfect time and the perfect messages for that day will come through.

I like your explanation. That makes me so. Okay. So the tech problems on Thursday, the crashing Internet was just the universe saying, you guys are on the wrong path, baby. Take some time. Yes. And talk about something else. Maybe. Maybe your brain just. You've been dwelling on this.

Live it. Let this unfold. Trust that when you do connect next, new ideas will have happened, new sparks will have occurred in our rhizomic web that we're weaving with that I will say, listeners. Yes. I mean you. No one has submitted a question yet for Michael and I.

What?

I can't believe that we got one from Andre for Penny, but I encourage you, let us know what's on your mind. Pivotmethod.com ask. We want to hear from you. Yes. You.

Yes. And if you don't like this, still ask us a question. In fact, if you don't like this.

Question, give us something to push off of.

Exactly.

Exactly.

All right. We didn't practice that at all. We didn't practice at all. That's really funny, Michael.

Thank you so much for being here. Once again, despite all our scheduling challenges this week, I do indeed feel this was the perfect day and the perfect time. So thank you so much for being back and happy Pivot around a pandemic monthiversary.

Yes. Big smile on my face, folks. Take care and be well.

Stay safe and sane, everybody.

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Pivot podcast. Make sure you don't miss an episode or my insider tips and templates by signing up for PivotList, a curated twice monthly newsletter where I share the inside scoop on what I'm reading, watching, listening to and the latest tools I'm geeking out on sign up@pivotmethod.com pivotlist get show notes from this episode@pivotmethod.com podcast and connect with me on Twitter ennyblake.

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