February 2018 – Caitlin White

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As the youngest person on the Crave advisory board, I look a lot more like a Crave Leader than your traditional “board member.” Good news: this is no traditional board! The team of advisors and mentors that help to guide the vision of Crave is as alive with innovation, spiritual curiosity, and entrepreneurship as any I’ve experienced, so it was a natural choice to include many young leaders on the team that would shape this incubator for other Millenials.

Crave is rooted in the knowledge that age never defines wisdom, just like religious affiliation never defines true spiritual connection. From founder Michele Van Son to our advisors, from Crave’s current Leaders to community partners, everyone at Crave is on a journey of self-development, listening, and spiritual awakening.

As a young, female pastor who likes to stay on the leading edge of spiritual innovation, I got involved with Crave because it breaks the old mold and the established rules. Conventionally, churches and religious groups “support the local community” by offering a service they can control or by giving resources to efforts they can approve of (and eventually colonize). Often this results in a bait and switch: the church gives to the community in hopes of connecting with new people, evangelizing them, and teaching them about spirituality. Crave does the opposite. We believe that something good, life-giving, and inherently spiritual is already at work when people do meaningful work, meet needs in their community, and gather people around common purpose. So we say, “Look at that inspiring thing you are doing. Please come evangelize us to your way of thinking. Teach us something new. Help us to meet the needs of the people around us like you do.”

For people who are used to the old paradigm, this takes a huge leap of faith and a ton of courage. I learned one of my most important lessons in business and leadership when I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail: the difference between scary and dangerous.

Jim Koch, founder of Sam Adams Brewery, gives the example that rappelling of a cliff is incredibly scary but totally safe. Whereas, skiing across a melting snow field on a sunny day in May is not scary but incredibly dangerous – that’s a recipe for an avalanche, fellow Floridians!

Many of the great entrepreneurs of our time have a background in outdoor recreation and endurance athletics. These pursuits teach lessons that are particularly useful to innovators. I suspect this is because social and business entrepreneurship, just like outdoor recreation, is about risk management, not risk elimination. You can’t control everything. If you did, you’d never be inspired.

The success of innovators, whether in business, community organizing, community building or religion, will hinge on our ability to discern the difference between scary and dangerous — and to guide others through that discernment. Crave puts people in relationships where we explore that line together. Molli Miller, whom I mentor, also mentors me right back. She keeps me connected to fierce bravery by stepping out of her teaching career to start a surf school, to inspiring others through therapeutic athletic experiences and experiential learning, and to transformative vision as she builds a business that is more about giving back to people’s lives than realizing profit.

We need all need community where we can have courageous conversations and relationships with co-conspirators for the journey, and that is the exchange at the heart of Crave.

Caitlin White
Advisory Board Member, Mentor
Crave, Inc.

October 2017 – Molli Miller

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http://cravefla.org/october-2017-molli-miller/

What an adventure Crave has been over the last month! The initial group interview was the perfect ice breaker. We were asked simple, humorous questions like, “Dog or cat?” which led into deeper inquiries such as, “If you were stranded on a deserted island, would you make it, and if so, how long?” We also identified our ‘word’ after a little prayer, meditation and learning about the book One Word That Will Change Your Life. The overnight retreat followed with a group brainstorming session where ideas flooded the room defining Crave’s mission. The Enneagram workshop (AMAZING) and dinner followed. At dinner, we broke bread with the board members and met our mentors. We each received a copy the book One Word That Will Change Your Life and a beautiful wooden plaque with our words inscribed on the front. The next morning we did an activity that explored our dreams/visions and identified where each was coming from; the heart, the head, the gut, etc. We also received our copies of The Wayfinder Journal for Journeying and our first assignment. The next meeting took place at the quaint Little Red House. Here we did an activity focusing on what we are most proud of from our past and what we intend to do with our future. This was a powerful experience because it uncovered the delicate balance between self love and loving others. It also allowed us to take our personal assets and combine them to describe what we want Crave to become. We did some weeding out in the garden and meditated on what areas of our personal lives needs pruning. Most recently, we met at the Edyth Bush Institute to discuss funding and networking.  We met experts in the field such as Margaret Linnane, Karen Revels and Ashley Vann. We learned a great deal about telling our stories, giving our case for support and how to network when it comes to nonprofit and philanthropic funding.

The Crave journey over the past month has touched both my personal and work life in remarkable ways! The word I chose, ‘Surrender’, has been moving me ever since I chose it. I have been experiencing moments of sinking into situations and letting the story unfold without getting in the way. The Enneagram workshop facilitated another way of looking at myself and how I tick. It began the process of thinking outside the box as I began to see how my greatest weaknesses could be seen as my greatest strengths and vice versa. Reading One Word That Will Change Your Life showed how setting an intention and meditating on it daily really works! Picking just one word and keeping it simple is so helpful. I personally have a habit of setting the bar too high and putting too many things on my to-do list, which often sets me up to fail or feel overwhelmed. Having one word as an overlying theme for them is a great form meditation which I have transferred over to my surf school. I have the students focus on one thing they really want to work on for that lesson or that week. The “Why Section” of The Wayfinders Journal has really allowed me to dig deep into who I am and where I am heading. The quote at the beginning of The Wayfinders Journal says it all: “Be your compass. Make a map. Trust your feet to find your path. There’s only one person who can show you the way.” This book has really realigned me with trusting my inner guidance and encouraging my students to do the same. Meeting with Margaret, Karen, and Ashley at the Edyth Bush Institute really motivated me work on my case for support and think about how I will tell my story. I am not a nonprofit yet, just a former surfer and classroom teacher who now runs a surf school that facilitates learning environment for children at the beach. I want to make the world a better place one wave at a time. Meeting with the leaders in networking and fundraising at the Edyth Bush Institute inspired and motivated me. It broadened my scope and I have a bigger vision now. I want to help more children with less opportunities to get to the water. I want to facilitate more therapeutic, learning environments for more children though surfing. I hope this has given you a peek into what October has held for Crave and how it is actively shaping me and my business.

Molli Miller
Owner/Operator
M&M Surf School