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Some days it was a sunrise so bold and golden it didn't seem real.
Another, it was a bottle of champagne a young mom handed me near the edge of
crater Lake.
The next discovering a cooler someone had left out near the edge of lava fields in
Southern Oregon.
Filled with the makings of repair floats.
These were moments I experienced as a backpacker, on the Pacific Crest Trail,
and moments that I quickly learned hikers dubbed trail magic.
These were moments that connected me to natural beauty and
to the new friends that I was working with.
Moments that brought me into the present and sparked a grateful deep breath.
Yes, I have hundreds of brutal miles ahead of me.
For right now, I'm thankful for this moment.
When I came off the trail and returned to my laptop, I wondered,
can I find the same feeling surrounded by responsibilities and the daily grind?
Could this feeling be scaled across spaces, communities and careers?
Figuring this out is important because a lot of us here are trying to solve hard
problems.
For me, that's solving climate change.
But whether we're solving a structural problem or
just taking on the challenges of life, it can be an emotional,
exhausting slog that requires a touch of this magic to get through.
Today I want to share with you first, the elements that make up trail magic and
the positive psychology behind this feeling.
Second, why trail magic isn't just for hikers, and
third, how we create more of this for ourselves and for others.
This curious phenomenon has its roots in America's oldest backpacking communities.
Every year since the 1950s, hundreds of backpackers have tracked
2600 miles from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail, the PCT.
For four months they hike 30 miles a day across snowpacks deserts and towns.
My sister was crazy enough to do this and I was crazy enough to follow her for
a month.
For us this adventure meant long days and endless blisters,
it meant eating cold mashed potatoes and tuna on repeat.
It meant weathering injuries and hitchhiking into towns.
But I quickly noticed that I missed these challenging lows,
hikers made the most of the highs.
They received any beautiful moment in nature or unexpected act of kindness,
with a heightened sense of wonder and gratitude, trail magic.
One moment while I was hiking captured the essence of this,
it was somewhere in the Timberline wilderness and we were up at four and
hiking by 5am with head headlamps and a plan to hike 27 miles that day.
But around 1pm we stumbled upon a middle aged couple grilling by the trail.
Instead of powering on we spent hours in the present eating burgers and
hearing about their retirement plans.
This experience had the four hallmarks of trail magic.
It connected me to other, shifted my perspective into the present,
sparked gratitude, and surprised me.
Connection, perspective, gratitude and surprise.
This magic may sound ephemeral, but it's actually neurological.
True magic is built on gratitude, which researchers from UCLA and u Penn,
have proven increases serotonin, dopamine and pro-social behavior.
In short, the appreciation of channel magic makes us happy.
It sparks a jolt of neurotransmitters which increase our well being and
our empathy.
Surprisingly, trail magic also changes our perception of time.
How many of you have felt like your time is precious or in short supply?
I see some nods and same, and we're not alone.
According to a recent Gallup poll of 1000, Americans, almost half
felt that they didn't lack or that they lacked enough time in daily life.
The good news is that researchers have found that experiencing all changes our
perception of time.
Both are and trail magic are characterized by a wonder and
gratitude that brings perspective.
As we shift into the present, psychologically time stretches,
it makes us feel like we have more time available.
Some of you are saying I love the outdoors.
I'll look for this next time I'm there, but
I bet a few of you are thinking I am the opposite of outdoors.
No magic for me, but I disagree.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency,
the average American spends 93% of her time indoors or in a car.
But we can find true magic during our time outside and during all of this time,
inside.
When I finished my 500th mile, my dad picked me up on the side of the highway.
The dirt had bled permanently into the white trim of my black running shorts.
Muscles I didn't know I had were sore, but I was radiant.
I felt strong having completed a section of the PCT and
privileged to have that opportunity.
I felt more connected than ever to the Oregon landscape and
to the crazier hikers with crazier names that I had met along the way.
Fancy Mac, MacGyver, Coconut, Basting Oldies and Flying Down High Five.
I saw the bars grow on the edge of my phone as we came back into service range.
As I went to call my partner Alex, I text came through, can we talk?
And I knew, the car at 70 miles per hour stood still and
my heart froze as my mind spun into a kaleidoscope of the pain and a hospital
appointments coming for the person I love the most, his cancer was back.
The levity and perspective I'd felt earlier that very morning,
seemed as distant as the Oregon cascades in our rearview mirror to magic
felt ephemeral and rapidly evaporating.
But over the next year, I was surprised to find it again in
the friendship that we built with our nurse Dina.
In the time the hospital snacks spontaneously upgraded to graham crackers.
In saving our favorite show to watch every week during Alex's treatment.
Being open to these small moments of magic and holding on tight.
Give us a mini umbrella in the rain and the energy to take on the next year.
What I'm saying is I found true magic off the trail and it was powerful,
a temporary antidote to worrying about the future,
a pause in relentless productivity, a celebration in miniature, is what matters.
I remember when I was a kid and Disney was gospel and
embraced magic like my best friend.
Someone told me you have the power to fly just jump and I did, but
actually my sister told me that if I jumped out of a tree with an umbrella,
I could float just like Jiminy Cricket, so I jumped and the ground came fast.
As I grew up, I learned scepticism and injustice.
Believing in magic felt indulgent next to, so many adult worries and
systems to dismantle and as a productive professional, I didn't have time for it.
But I miss that self that found wonder in everything and
delight in the small things.
I'm asking us to be open once again to that feeling of magic,
specifically the connection, perspective, gratitude and surprise of trail magic.
Surprising ourselves is tricky, but I'll give a few tactical ideas for
how we can discover this phenomenon more often for ourselves.
First, celebrate those small moments, the unexpected burgers or the hospital snacks.
Second, take a risk and initiate a new connection.
May be it's on a zoom chat or an Uber or the checkout line at the grocery store.
I have to say that after a few years in consultancy, I've forgotten some of this.
I used to fly every week for work and I remember using every second on
the plane to frivolously make slides, the panicle of efficiency.
But one Monday mid-flight my laptop battery died, and I looked up,
I started chatting with my seatmate, a Hawaiian volcanologist.
Two hours later, I had learned basic volcanic geology and
the names of her kids, Jennifer and Sam.
So the secret to finding true magic more often for yourself,
celebrate the small moments and channel your six year old point of view.
At this point, a few of the entrepreneurs in the audience might be
asking themselves so can this idea scale?
And the answer is absolutely an exponentially.
We can amplify trail magic by creating it for others.
I already see this happening in our community and
I would love to see it happen more.
One friend vendor me money for a drink while I was on vacation just
because another wrote holiday notes or a favorite baristas.
True magic doesn't have to be complicated or expensive,
just unexpected and compassionate.
The possibilities are endless but I'll share a few of my favorites.
If a friend mentions an important date that's coming up,
put a reminder on your calendar to reach out,
then treat the person behind you in line at Koopa to coffee.
Professionally unprompted, think of two people on your network with shared
interests that you think would hit it off.
Let's make this common practice starting today.
Think of a gesture, have a root beer float.
Sometimes grab your umbrella and your six year old point of view.
The world will be a bit more magical because you did.
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