The Byron Fellowship claims to be a transformative experience. I struggle with that description. Transformation cannot be encapsulated in a single experience. Yet, somehow, Byron was impactful and transformative for me at the same time.
As time has passed since Byron, I’ve realized it wasn’t because of the time to get away and reflect. It wasn’t because I got a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Byron was impactful because of the intentional, purposeful, and guided daily reflections driving toward a destination. It was all of these pieces of the reflections that made them so powerful and often were missing or absent when I’ve tried to reflect previously.
Signing up for the Byron Fellowship, I felt that what we would be doing was ambiguous and didn’t know what to expect. It was. Intentionally so.
The pre-work we did independently and with a partner, then our first day together as a group all worked to help me define the destination I wanted for myself – the what and where I was headed during Byron. The mentors’ guidance throughout the week was essential to keep me moving towards that destination, centering it continuously.
Doing this reflection alongside others was crucial too. It showed me I am not on this journey alone. It is a shared journey. Seeing others on their own journeys, having mentors who have walked and continue to walk their journeys, encouraged me to keep going on my own journey.
As I returned to the realities of life after Byron, I didn’t want the journey to stop. I wanted to bring Byron into my daily life. I craved a way to continue this shared journey of intentional, purposeful, and guided daily reflections driving me toward compassionate awareness in my life. I wanted Byron to be more than just an experience. I wanted Byron to become praxis. I wanted it to transform me.
The Byron Fellowship is an experience, but it can be so much more. It is the start of a transformation that continues, if you choose, in the praxis of living your vision into existence.
Written by Noah Marsh, 2023 Byron Fellow