Pointing at the moon is not the moon.

I need to write a new bio.

I’ve been invited to be a guest expert on amplifying creativity through spiritual practice. These are not my words; these are the interviewer’s words (which is why they are so apt and so beautiful). When I read the invitation, I had two immediate thoughts, in rapid succession: “Oh, hell yes, that’s perfect,” and “wow, I can’t believe she saw that” (because my work feels undefined and non-directional to me right now).

It’s so interesting and ironic what others see in us so perfectly that we cannot articulate ourselves. And that is the very problem. My existing bio doesn’t capture It, and I am nearly paralyzed in an attempt to capture It.

Logically, my work is (and Ompreneur would offer) this: {intersection of skills, training and passion} + {results}.

Logically, even strategically, I would describe it that way—and I have. It was powerful, and it prompted no response.

The truth is that is not the whole of my work. My (and your) work is something more. There is a character, an essence in it that rests deeper than what I could ever describe.

Pointing at the moon is not the moon. The name of the thing is not the thing. (Except in Sanskrit, it is. That’s a whole other wildly cool thing.)

How do we point at the moon in a way that transmits the essence of the moon? How do we name a thing such that we experience the thing?

How do we write about our work so that it transmits the experience of our work, so that it is itself an experience of it?

I am a transmissional teacher—which means that words and presence are an energetic actuality that creates change. When I write, when I talk, that is the work, as much as the content is.

So, one answer, is to approach a bio—or any other piece of writing about our work—like we do the work itself, and see what comes. What does that create? Does it collapse the distance between the pointer and the moon, the name and the thing? Does it simply ring more true?

I invite you to try it out with me. I’d love to hear from you about your experience.