A look at how I’ve used Applied Serendipity in my own life lately:

CARE: Excited to be on campus at Carnegie Mellon next week to meet the new cohort of students in the Chief Data and Analytics Program.

PREPARE: Working on upcoming articles and podcasts on financial inclusion, reinventing the Chief Data Officer role, and establishing a data culture.

SHARE: Greg and I will be hosting an Earth Day event in our forest as a fundraiser for he Buffalo Gardens. We’ll be visiting the beehives, tasting some forest-inspired bites, hiking, and gathering with old friends and new friends.

AWARE: A good friend and nature lover introduced me to a word I had not heard before—psithurism—the sound of trees rustling in the forest. As I take my walks in the woods, I’m more aware of hearing the forest for the trees.

DARE: Daring to take more hikes in new places. This week Greg and I went to the Erie County Forest and took a peaceful hike on the Scarbuck Trail. After hiking through lots of mud, it felt at times like A Bridge Too Far. The Erie County Forest was established in 1927 when several thousand acres of forest and non-forest lands were acquired—mostly abandoned farmland subsequently planted with coniferous trees by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. The CCC had a major impact on New York State parks that we benefit from today. Do we dare re-establish a new Civilian Conservation Corps?