A Moment: when the lines blur
A Line I Heard
"How much do I play me vs. my Earth Archetype?"
Journey Framing:
I've been doing first calls with the How on Earth? LIVE! DC cast.
One question keeps coming up all the way back to the first episode a year ago.
Let's move through it together.
Start with "Notice"...
NOTICE
What happens when you read this question?
Maybe you feel a flicker of genuine curiosity: “Which one AM I, actually?” Maybe you start mentally sorting yourself.
Maybe you rail against any type of box and want the freedom to move across the spectrum.
Maybe you’ve already taken the quiz and still wonder if you got it right.
Whatever's showing up, just notice it's there.
CONNECT
Here’s what makes this question tricky: it assumes the Earth Archetypes are something separate from you. A costume. A role you step in and out of. Rather than a relationship.
As the director of How on Earth? LIVE!, my answer is always: lean into the part of you that is the fullest version of the archetype.
In the premiere show, a polymath who could have been cast as four different archetypes ended up as Metaphor. When she talked about invasive species, she didn’t lecture about ecology. She talked about making art with them. What transformation might look like if you changed the context instead of the plant.
She just illustrated how Metaphor sees.
TRY
This week, try this:
Think of something you care about and keep thinking about. Now ask: which archetype lens can I lean into?
Not which one you think you should be. Which one gives you a lens to explore.
REST
You don't have to figure out the whole role before you step into it.
The archetype reveals itself in the process.
& REPEAT
Watch for this pattern elsewhere.
Notice when you’re trying to figure out what role to play.
The Earth Archetypes are lenses for us to explore. All are necessary even if we tend to respond as a specific one or several.
Stories and characters help us play with these possibilities.
In Community,
Amber Peoples
Creator of Earth Archetypes