January 24, 2008 Sufficiency

I’ve spent a lot of time seeking abundance – and I no longer do that… Funny, it just came up for me in a completely different context – not environmental sufficiency, not financial sufficiency –

I belong to two Mastermind groups.  In one of them there are 7 members; in the other there are 4.  Now the four of us love each other.  And what came up for me today is this – I got that — But are we sufficient? 

Because we hiccoughed over the New Year and so far we have eached missed at least one of our weekly meetings – for reasons ranging from work to vacation to carelessness.  And 2 or 3 turns out to be insufficient.  And that’s the ‘problem’ with sufficiency… Because there’s no slop when anything happens.

The advantage of abundance is that it allows for tithing– Because it may not be possible for all to be sufficient in all ways.  My commitment in life is a world of spirirual fulfillment (abundance of that is certainly possible), social justice  and environmental sustainability.  And those last require that the abundant few provide for the insuficient many.

january 20, 2008 Sad Celebration

Today is the Memorial Service for Les Traband who died last week.  I think of Les as a good friend and I wonder what that means.  Normal definition would say that you become a good friendthis way:  For a period of time you spent significant time together at which time a bond is formed that continues to connect.

By that thinking, I have some – but not many –  good friends.  I did not spend significant time with Les – Even the time we did spend was fragmented; dinners with other people; events with other people, short conversations here and there, now and again.  It’s absurd that I think of him as a good friend.  And I do.

But there is this other way of thinking about a good friend.  One who you feel you could talk to abut anything and ask for anything.  Les was that to me.  In fact, by this way of thinking I have many, many good friends – And so do they, with me.

I really won’t ‘not see’ Les and I will miss him.

Part of my commitment to spiritual fulfillment, social justice and environmental sustainability.  He and his extraordinary wife and partner, Lee , helped me in forming and solidifying that commitment.

January 12, 2008 What Love Is

I’ve had many animals in my life — an endless stream – dogs, cats, even a pony – I’ve written poems, essays, short stories.  And they’ve always been pets – There’s always been a separation, a self-protection.

We got Sadie when she was maybe 2.  She had been returned to the shelter several times – and we’re sure she was abused.  She hid from me for the first few months we had her.  And I remember making the conscious decision that I would allow myself to love her absolutely – knowing that, like all the rest, she would die.  That was almost 16 years ago.

A year ago she had a seizure – scared the hell out of us = turns out that what we did ( put Rescue remedy behind her  ears- Bach Flower Remedy -) It calmed her down and the next day she remembered she was a teen ager – There were no signs and no after effects.  But we watched her closely, of course.  She’s family.

Sadie weighs 23 pounds – Of course she doesn’t know that and will let anyone – person or dog know that she’s Alpha.  My daughter’s 100+ pound Cane Corso bit her – this about 6 weeks ago.  And that apparently precipitated recurrence of her seizures.  And they’ve happened more frequently.  And finally with after effects.  She stopped barking.  And she has been the noisiest dog I ever knew, as all our neighbors and every car that uses our street knew.  She stopped.  And she has become essentially incontinent.

The more she inconvenienced our life, the more she has taught us what love is.  My best friend Sherman’s wife has Alzheimers – and it’s a ludicrous comparison, but I have seen him love her more and more as this progresses.  And I finally have some sense of how he has grown as she has diminished.

Sadie will not recover; she walks into walls and gets stuck there, not knowing how to back out.  And she wails horribly as she paces and gets stuck.  We finally got that she is in pain.  So in a few hours we will say our final goodbyes. And she has enriched our lives and brought deep love to us.  We celebrate her life, with deep sadness and deeper gratitude.

November 20, 2007 Chartreuse Monday

Just to contrast with Black Friday.  I wonder how many people know it’s called that because so many retail stores go from red to black on the year’s biggest shopping day.

Has nothing to do with my day.  Since I wrote about politics yesterday, the kind of emails I’ve gotten has changed.  That’s the Law of Attraction – receiving what you’re vibrating (not necessarily what you’re requesting.)  Hey!  I’m still recovering from football – really another addiction I’ve been trying to get quit of for years.

Truth is, I intend to blog for Annie Loyd – I write prolifically – might as well focus on something I truly support – Doesn’t matter that she’s from Arizona – Once she’s in Congress, she’s part of the political stew that we all have to swallow and digest– And she is totally edible.  This is a terrible metaphor – She will make a difference.  Her blog is on wordpress (http://annieloyd.wordpress.com)

Statistics are misleading.  Almost no one understands the difference between the average and the mean.  The average is “add and divide by the total.  The average of 1, 1 and 100 is 34.  The mean is something like 2. 

So if Bill Gates walked into a room you’re in, the average income is close to a billion.  So — on the average — this country is doing fine, but you can’t make that argument with most of us who buy less expensive food, drive less when we can, see fewer movies and buy fewer presents… And we laugh at the holiday season’s ads for diamonds

November 17, 2007 Birthdays

This starts my family’s birthday season.  Today is Diamonds 7th – Last year on her birthday, her dog (a Cane Corso–an Italian mastiff) had a litter, from which she kept Goldie.  So it’s Goldie’s birthday.  Sunny’s youngest, Aiden, has his 4th birthday on the 26th, so we celebrate today.  Then Ariel’s daughter, Shayla, is 5 on December 2nd.   We pause then and I won’t chronicle.

I never paid much attention to birthdays per se.  I mean there’s the present part, years of getting, now giving (except with Nancy.)  But Nancy said something today that has really shifted the notion of birthdays.  She said, they’re really Acknowledgment Days.  I like that a lot.

September 10th, 2007 Continuity of Freedom

I’m operating in a new paradigm – that fits me–It’s the paradigm of the Giftconomy.  Give valuable things away for free.  I don’t think of customers (I never did.)  I think of clients.  And I think of the lifetime value of a client.

On October 1st I’m starting the next iteration of The Success Principles, a free 6-session teleseminar from 7:30 – 8:30EDT Monday evenings.  eMail to register (michael@michaellipp.com

Now I’ll be redesigning my website to reflect this.  Check it out www.michaellipp.com