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Seeker & Sage - a philosophy, a brand,
and the woman behind it
I'm Gena McLean...
A self-confessed student of life with a voracious appetite for discovering truth and making meaning. I want to see, to know, to grow, to understand and learn from whatever comes my way.
I love to read – anything self-helpish or steeped in wisdom from the sages of the past and present that helps us open our hearts and minds so that we can live a rich and purposeful life.
And I love to write – exploring and processing the human condition has been a fundamental part of my journey. I have for years turned to the page and pen in search of solace, scribbling my way through tough times to make sense of my struggles.
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In 2014 I followed the urge to start sharing my small pieces of memoir-like prose that described my very human struggles and the insights I gained by working with them to seek meaning, integration and growth.
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I needed a title to publish under and was led to a short story I wrote for a TAFE course back in 2012. One phrase sent me into full goosebumps and I knew I had found the name for my on-line home.
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And it has stuck! I realised a little while later that the name SEEKER & SAGE represented me - someone who seeks to learn from life and along the way discovers personal and universal truths that lead to personal fulfillment, love and freedom...wisdom that is worth sharing.
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Why the name
Seeker & Sage?
The philosophy - it's personal and universal
I believe we are each the seeker and the sage - the student and the teacher - simultaneously throughout our life, regardless of the roles we play and job we do.
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The seeker is the part of us wants to know and grow and live a life rich with connection and meaning.
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The sage is that wise part of us that speaks through our intuition and helps us make meaningful connections and have those much-needed aha moments that propel us forward on the journey.
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This is not just some lofty ideal - it is my orientation to life - a way of being that enables me to navigate life's challenges consciously and compassionately so that I can live the most fulfilling life possible.
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I also believe this can be true for you.
From blog to brand
In 2018 I had a visit from breast cancer and gave me the shove I needed to get on with fulfilling my dream to set up shop in 2019 in the city centre of Bendigo. I wanted to offer guidance and wisdom to women, supporting them through their challenges in a nurturing and soulful way, both individually and in groups.
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I did, until one year on Covid hit and I was forced to pack up, head home and re-think my next chapter. I decided it was a great time to write the book I'd been wishing for - a collection of timeless reminders borne from my journey of chronic gut issues and more recently, the cancer, and the many other challenges we face as humans that would help us all grow from and through our struggles.
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That book is called Find Your Way which I self-published under my business name SEEKER & SAGE in 2021. Since then I have continued to post messages of support and that same journey-inspired clarity and wisdom via social media and Substack.
The practice behind it all
Through it all, journaling has been my companion and my comfort - the one place I can always return to and rely on for solace, understanding, compassion, guidance and love.
It's a powerful practice and process that allows me to be fully me - one that I couldn't live without! I believe so much in it's magic and mystery to transform us that I have been teaching workshops and sharing resources for the past four years and am excited to say that I am now pouring all that great practical experience and knowledge into my next book.
And I am also very excited to announce that the journey to publishing my own journals is about to begin!
Most days you'll find me here
This is the sanctuary of SEEKER & SAGE and the place I get to call home in a little valley on the edge of Bendigo in Victoria, where I am blessed to live with my husband, Spoodle Harvey, three precious sheep, four chickens and countless native birds.
Reading, journaling, writing, napping and wandering our beautiful property and surrounding bushland are what my days revolve around, as I sip English Breakfast tea and contemplate this being human and the nature of this journey we call life.
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And when I'm not here you might see me (or hear me) taking a drive with the top down in my vintage MG - my other great love - circa 1971 ; )
The quote that has always brought light to my dark times:
“You will not grow if you sit in a beautiful flower garden but you will grow if you are sick, if you are in pain, if you experience losses and if you do not put your head in the sand, but take the pain as a gift to you with a very very specific purpose.”
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ELISABETH KUBLER-ROSS
The quote that reminds me that no matter what I am enough:
"Wholehearted living is about engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness.
It means cultivating the courage, compassion and connection to wake up in the morning and think no matter what gets done, and how much is left undone, I am enough."
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BRENE BROWN
The quote that always opens my mind and heart to change:
“How strange that the nature of life is change, yet the nature of human beings is to resist change. And how ironic that the difficult times we fear might ruin us are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be.”
ELIZABETH LESSER