How nine months of tending the soil of a global movement taught me that the quietest work is often the most powerful
WHAT: The Invitation into the Unknown
Last Tuesday, October 27, we closed a circle.
Nine months prior, I had invited four of my associates—Myda, Juan, Joyce, and myself—to step into a grand experiment: volunteering for the Inner Development Goals (IDG) Transition Working Group. The task was massive and gloriously undefined: to help a globally centralized movement transition into a decentralized, distributed ecosystem.
We gave it about 1,152 person-hours of our lives.
When we started on January 22nd, I honestly did not know what we were building. As an Organization Development practitioner, I am used to a clear "From-To." I looked for strategy, structure, process, people and rewards. I found none. At least not in ways I was used to. Instead, I found a living ecosystem—chaotic, emergent, symbiotically connected and deeply human.
Last Tuesday, we gathered for a simple, quiet closure ceremony. We lit a candle, took a deep breath, and asked each other: How are you arriving at this threshold?
There was physical exhaustion, yes. But there was also a profound sense of awakening. I want to share the raw reflections of my TLC associates, because their learnings are a testament to what happens when we stop trying to over-engineer change and simply show up with heart-led intentions.
SO WHAT: The Mycelium and the Marginalized Voice
The Arrival: Awake, Reborn, and on the Edge
· Juan arrived with a beautiful duality. He felt both pikit (awake) and mulat (enlightened). After a year of learning and contributing, he learned that the true lesson was "existing with intention and acting on gut feelings." He is leaving behind the heavy burden of regretting missed opportunities.
· Joyce arrived with a sense of "rebirth." She came in with curiosity about what the future holds for our hubs and our work. In navigating the unstructured nature of our circles, she learned the power of being authentic and genuine. She is leaving behind the familiar Filipino habit of starting projects but not following through.
· Myda arrived "on the edge of her seat," yet completely comfortable. She learned to embrace the unknown and sit with the discomfort of not having all the answers. Most importantly, she is leaving behind her tendency to stay quiet when she has valuable insights to share. She learned to name the tension directly.
· And me? I arrived with a sense of deep physical fatigue, not yet fully recovered from Influenza-A but I accepted it exactly as it was. I learned the profound difference between over-engineering and co-designing with presence. I am leaving behind the illusion of control.
The PWD Experience: When Voice Fails, Presence Speaks
I have been reflecting deeply on what this experience has meant—not just as a 4C - consultant, coach, capacity creator and community connector but as a Person with Disability (PWD).
I live with Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia (ADSD) , a neurological voice disorder that makes my speech strained, tremulous, and sometimes difficult to understand. There were weeks during this transition when my voice was barely a whisper, or when I had to rely on text-to-speech technology just to participate in meetings. I felt the familiar ache of being the marginalized, voiceless person in the room—the one who has to work twice as hard to be heard, whose silence is read as absence rather than presence.
And yet, it was precisely this experience that gave me a profound gift.
Because I could not always speak, I learned to listen more deeply. I learned to pay attention to the signals and spaces between words, the energy in the room, the unspoken tensions. I learned that voice is not the only way to be heard.
This is the wisdom of the mycelium.
The mycelium is the vast, underground network that connects the trees in a forest. It is invisible. It never appears in photographs of the forest. Yet, without it, the forest could not survive. It is the mycelium that shares nutrients, sends warnings of danger, and holds the soil together so new life can take root.
We were the mycelium.
We were not a decision-making body. We did not write the grand strategy. We were the Relationship Stewards, the Transition Learning Stewards, the Narrative Integrity circle, the Prototype Circle and Community Connection circle. We held space for frustration. We translated complex emotions. We listened in the silence. We did the quiet, invisible work of tending the soil.
NOW WHAT: The Vow of Release
To close our ceremony, we did not sing a triumphant anthem. We listened to Heather Houston’s "Tending the Spark." We acknowledged those who were on the journey with us but not physically in the room. And then, we read a Vow of Release:
I release this circle.
I release these roles.
I release the need to know what comes next.
I carry only the love and the learning.
For anyone who has ever poured their heart into a project, a team, or a movement, you know that letting go is the hardest part. We are wired to hold on, to build monuments, to leave a visible mark.
But transformation—true, systemic, inner development—is rarely visible. It happens in the soil. It happens in the quiet moments between the meetings. It happens when we stop trying to force the outcome and start trusting the process.
And it happens in community.
I want to offer my deepest gratitude to the people who wove this mycelium with me:
· Mila Aliana, our Chief Weaver, whose courage, compassion, and steady presence inspired us all. You held the vision when we could not see it.
· Silviu, Carola, and Marcia of the Prototype Circle, who experimented boldly and learned with us.
· Kevin, with Joyce and Myda, of the Transition Learning Stewards, whose insights and presence were value-adding to the transition journey.
· Erno and Leigh of Online Community Stewards, whose dedication to the work was unwavering.
· Isabela, Aurelie, with Juan, of the Narrative Integrity Stewards, who held the core IDG essence as it evolves.
· To Myda, Juan, and Joyce: thank you for saying "yes" to an uncertain journey nine months ago. You are the heart of this mycelium.
To the entire IDG ecosystem: thank you for letting us hold the space.
The old containers have now evolved and are unfolding into new shapes and forms. The Relationship Circle is closed, a pod put to rest perhaps to come to life another day. We are the global IDG movement and we are excited to bring our Philippine IDG Hub to life, light fired up by love for people and planet! The mycelium is alive. And the forest is growing.
Your Reflection Question:
Where in your own life or work are you doing "invisible" work that holds the system together? How can you honor that work, even if no one sees it?
-Susan Grace Rivera
Posted on: November 01, 2026
