June 3, 2008 Intention

Hard to distinguish intention from vision, goal, mission,…  All of these words have a role in propelling us to the future…and sometimes I think the difference is in my mood.  What it looks like today is that my intention is motivating me to stop this and start that, to get on with it.

My intention is to focus on my income potential… so this looks like indulgence – It’s taken a while to babysit with Camron, cook and eat breakfast and break away from today’s book.  So I’m behind.  Have to pass over my email and get going.  Money distracts me and I have to undistract.  Always helps to restate my commitments-bringing joy and satisfaction to people’s lives – in harmony with Earth; environmental sustainability, social justice and spiritual fulfillment to all.

May 29, 2008 One More Time

Our youngest, Ariel, gave birth yesterday shortly after 4AM to a lovely boy, un-named as of this writing…a natural childbirth.  She will be home tomorrow.  She had to fill out all sorts of forms because she won’t allow any vaccinations.

He is my 8th, and likely last grandchild.  I’ve been very laid back about him, but as I write various friends I realize how excited I really am.  There’s something in that – how sharing with others reveals you to yourself.

So in this year so far, our youngest daughter Ariel has given birth, Sunny, our oldest - because of Aliya’s love – is moving to a house of her own.  I tell you, her yard is the yard of a million dollar home and the home is in Hamilton, near an excellent school.  And my now next older grandson is almost 8 months old – He talks with me all the time.

When you have family like that, nothing else matter.  We are blessed One More Time.  I am secure in my commitments – to a sustainable planet, to social justice and to spiritual fulfillment.

May 22, 2008 New Ideas

Group Coaching is an interesting phenomenon,,, a lot like a jazz combo – one riff comes after another and flies above it.  The rhythym of the group creates a certain tension that facilitates the solos.  Sounds strange, I know, but the things that are said are often unpredictable.

Last night we dealt with each person’s goals.  I saw that the way we normally treat a goal is similar to the way we usually deal with a project – in some sense like a straight line.  Here’s the starting point – then this step, that step, and on until this milestone is reached, then that and so on.  That’s not even what happens with project plans.  We lose sight of “Man plans, God laughs.”  When plans are fixed, we often scramble to deal with frequent emergencies, shifts in outside factors, oversights, etc.  They often seem to rely on one or two people who somehow deal with the breakdowns and move forward regardless.

Goals rarely start with a well-defined plan; the plan -if any – is usually incomplete or non-existent.  There’s often floundering around, searching for a useful direction.  I use the prairie dog metaphor — constantly sicking your head out and scanning the horizon to see what’s next.  Course correction is constant; ‘next’ is often more valuable than ‘forward.’  Too many people are discouraged by an apparent blunder.  Blunders teach.

Anyhow – ’nuff said.  I’ve begun to listen … Our hierarchy is often urgent – important and, if we’re good – commitments.  The trouble is we confuse contexts.  Commitments are paradigmical; urgent – even important are in a different domain.  When I coach, I put that in the domain of my commitments.  For me it’s all interconnected with a sustainable world, spiritual fulfillment and social justice.  And it’s all in the domain of living a joyous and satisfying life, in harmony with earth

May 21, 2008 Getting There

I haven’t been up to getting moving – It’s 3PM and I’m starting.  email takes too effing long; even just deleting…

I am working at separation — separating the work I do for tomorrow and the work I do for today.  It’s difficult because in my mind tomorrow always has precedence.  But today is earning a living.  Today has the virtue of immediacy, the call of urgency.  Tomorrow has the virtue of pleasure, the call of importance.

It seems we are all caught by the pull of urgency and the call of importance.

And between Scylla and Charybidis is commitment… my commitment to a sustainable tomorrow – without it there ain’t me, us or it… the commitment to spiritual fulfillment that makes it all worthwhile, that gives it meaning beyond facts….the commitment to social justice becayuse it’s not just you and me and never has been… and we forget that.

May 19, 2008 Starting Over

I’m back for real.  Making all those decisions that starting over requires – Forgetting vacation is not hard; the vacation disappears –But recreating myself is hard; a week without myself is strange.  Because nothing else stops when I do and I don’t have externally provided routine to get me going.

So I’m back.  My daughter’s moving; another is having my 8th grandchild (a son) – And most important, I’m renewing my commitments.  Vacation is over.  I will no longer drive over 55 MPH.  I am committed to minimizing plastic.  I’m committed to listening to the people I trust to coach Me.  No more fucking with my diet.

I stand for environmental sustainability, social justice and spiritual fulfillment.  I promise  you to provide joy and satisfaction in harmony with Earth.  I am grateful that I can take this stand and make this promise.

May 8,2008 Dancing and Praying

Things work out.  But you can’t know that until they do.  So you have to put in every effort — dance like there’s always music — pray because you know you’re not alone.  And have gratitude for the ending.  Because they do work out.

You don’t need to hear stories; you have yours.

Stay true to your commitments, your vision, your purpose, your mission.  You’ll define yours for yourself.  When therre’s too much going on, relax – that’s the way you want it, even though it’s messy.

Mine is simple – to empower people to have joy and satisfaction, to live fulfilled lives in harmony with earth… to make real a sustainable environment, spiritual fulfillment and social justice.

May 1, 2008 More Learning

I tried an experiment last night.  Me to We coaching is based on these premises – 1)  that people who make a contribution are more open to be contributed to 2) that when one person sees something, the sharing will register with other people.3)that anything is an opportunity for fruitful coaching.

Last night I ran a session with a total of eight of us, really to test the validity of these premises.  And the premises are valid; an excellent session

What do you think about being a fly on the wall for one of those coaching sessions?

To me, this is just one of the ways that I work to fulfill my saying that I bring  Joy and Satisfaction — Environmental Sustainability, Spiritual Fulfillment and Social Justice to  People’s Lives 

April 29, 2008 Gratitude

Sunday is World Laughter Day…never new that.  We need more laughter. Be grateful for the human comedy.

I take specific time every day to be grateful – though spontaneously, not scheduled.  Certainly, whenever I have down feelings, I remind myself of the wonders of life – simple sunlight, a spring rain, the miracles of my family, the blessings of having friends.  Gratitude is a very high state of being – sends out great vibrations.  And, I’m sure, attracts great vibrations.

I am convinced of the validity of Me to We coaching.  In fact the path to a winning future is creating a Me to We world.  Gratitude can lead the way, replacing resentment.  With resentment you forget what to be grateful for.  With gratitude you can enviion a sustainqble environment, spiritual fulfillment and social justice.

April 28, 2008 Quanta

Another week starts.  We see things as discreet.  They’re not.  Seeing them as discrete entities erases their historie, their extensions, their interconnectedness. 

I notice that when I wake up, I am thrown to seeing a new day.  It’s not, not really.  It is the current stop-start in a continuity of thousands of days.  As I look back over these, I see how prone I am to individualizing my writing and the days I write.   Of course this isn’t so.  I suspect that there is some sort of story unfolding and unfolded.

This is one of the things we all do.  As I age I have some small sense of history – some of my own and some of the times I’ve lived in.  Now I focus on a sustainable environment on spiritual fulfillment and on social justice.  Pieces of this have marked my life – sometimes not at all – sometimes constantly.

Keep learning and keep seeing more of it.

April 27, 2008 My Greening

Yesterday I co-facilitated a Symposium (Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream)… It is more powerful than ever, always evolving.  It grows as it goes, because so do we. 

I’ve bveen asking myself, along with Nancy — “What’s next?”..There are some things we can do that we’re not ready to do:  replacing all our windows and getting a new furnace.  And there are some things we can’t figfure out how to do:  getting rid of all plastic (we can’t figure out how to eliminate all plastic wrapping on food products, but we’re coming close.  But we can’t possibly commit to not getting more eyeglasses, never buying computer, car, cell phone, etc.) so we’re putting that on hold.

But what we can do is increase our talking to people.  I started a new blog today:  MYGreening.  And I’ll start speaking about what we can do without scr ewing ourselves up….There’s nobody but us.