Chris Corrigan's powerful and poetic re-visioning for group facilitation of Joseph Goldstein's "four reflections" mindfulness practice:
 
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1. Be aware of possibility. What is possible right now? What is the gift of the present moment? If we were to think about what we could do right now, what would be the most valuable thing we could do?

2. Everything changes. What we are experiencing right now will pass. We cannot know what will come, so we must prepare to be agile rather than prepare to be stable. Can we be as flexible as the changing nature of the world around us? If no, we risk being locked in an old operating system.

3. Action brings results. And in a complex system, cause and effect cannot be isolated. Therefore what matters is awareness, and consciousness about what we are doing in every given moment. What are the things we do habitually that get us into trouble? If I intervene in a group now, what effect might that have over the long term? Be aware of motivations and try to stop acting habitually.

4. We keep ourselves locked in repeating patterns. What are the patterns and behaviours we need to let go of to free us up for creativity, innovation or real change? What are the things we are doing now that limit us from doing anything differently?
 
"Green Creek" 08/01/2009
 
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To get right down to Yellow Flower River
I often follow the waters of Green Creek.
They wind around the mountains endlessly—
A path straight there would run a few score miles.

There are sounds of water crashing on tumbled stones;
Scenes of silence deep within the pines.
Water chestnut and water fringe float on the ripples;
Still limpid waters mirror the reeds.

My mind is unencumbered, at its ease now.
Clear and tranquil, as the river is.
Come, stay a while, rest here upon this stone—
Cast out a fishing line and let things be.
—Wang Wei
 
 
A quote from Euan Semple:
 
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I am less interested in coercing people into moving towards a new way of doing things so much as stripping some of the crap away to let what has always been there thrive and survive.
 
 
Some 13 years ago my world was filled with a wide variety of characters, many of whom I considered progressive thinkers, inspirational and ageless, with what seemed to me to be a shared vision for a common future.

Since that time, my life experience has, of course, deepened, and so too my exposure to the hopes, dreams, fears, and strongly-held convictions of many more people from many more places—those typically "identified" as "Boomers", "Gen Xers", "Gen Yers / Millennials"—while I, concurrently, have sought to better understand myself and how I have changed, and will continue to change, with time.

And while I may still wince at broad categorizations of any kind—particularly if such divisions are created or imposed by an entity other than the individuals themselves—I can no longer fail to notice frequent differences in attitudes and opinions between generations.

Am I embracing a stereotype?

No. But a recent post by Umair Haque gave me pause for thought. Here is an excerpt:
 
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Dear Old People Who Run The World,

My generation would like to break up with you.

Everyday, I see a widening gap in how you and we understand the world—and what we want from it. I think we have irreconcilable differences.

You wanted big, fat, lazy "business". We want small, responsive, micro-scale commerce.

You turned politics into a dirty word. We want authentic, deep democracy—everywhere.

You wanted financial fundamentalism. We want an economics that makes sense for people—not just banks.

You wanted shareholder value—built by tough-guy CEOs. We want real value, built by people with character, dignity, and courage.

You wanted an invisible hand—it became a digital hand. Today's markets are those where the majority of trades are done literally robotically. We want a visible handshake: to trust and to be trusted.

You wanted growth—faster. We want to slow down—so we can become better.

You didn't care which communities were capsized, or which lives were sunk. We want a rising tide that lifts all boats.

You wanted to biggie size life: McMansions, Hummers, and McFood. We want to humanize life.

You wanted exurbs, sprawl, and gated anti-communities. We want a society built on authentic community.

You wanted more money, credit and leverage—to consume ravenously. We want to be great at doing stuff that matters.

You sacrificed the meaningful for the material: you sold out the very things that made us great for trivial gewgaws, trinkets, and gadgets. We're not for sale: we're learning once again [to] do what is meaningful.
My first reaction on reading this was a sad nod of agreement.

On reflection, however, these differences of opinion need not be generational. While the philosophies portrayed in the first half of each couplet may, arguably, be more prevalent in my parents' generation, I still feel we have a long way to go before a more significant shift occurs to move us away from such attitudes in my own generation or in those some 20 years younger.

And that, I believe, is Haque's point—to provocatively remind us to not doom ourselves to repeat these mistakes, but to create new role models, both for ourselves and those who follow.

To better identify, connect, and collaborate with those individuals who share a more sustainable vision for our future, regardless of generation or however else society chooses to classify people.

To understand divisions and differences and transcend them through our words but ultimately, and most importantly, through our actions.
 
 
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Spent most of the morning at the Devon Middle School vegetable garden, weeding and building trellises for the rapidly growing beans. Some reflections:

• There is much joy to be found in wood, jute, and dirt.

• It's refreshing to be reminded of the microcosm of life that exists at our feet and at a different scale from ourselves, and upon whose activities we utterly rely.

• Having an earthworm break the surface of the soil and emerge vertically is enough to make a heart miss a beat while weeding on a quiet Sunday morning.

• Jesu makes for excellent garden music (who knew?) and "Medicine" is a glorious track.

• I continue to appreciate the polarity between the two main areas of the outdoor classroom at Devon: the structure and order of the vegetable garden and the frequent maintenance required to sustain it in this state, versus the untouched wildness of the wetland. Lots to learn here, and many lessons yet to be revealed.
 
Happy New Year! 01/01/2009
 

Best wishes to everyone for a safe and joyful 2009. May our—and others'—food, shelter, and nesting needs be met!

[Photo: Local neighbourhood trail, College Hill, Port Moody, British Columbia]

 
Yes. 11/04/2008
 
 
 

In 1969, Jerry Levitan — then a 14-year-old Beatles fan — found his way into John Lennon's hotel room and persuaded him to do an interview. Jerry's reel-to-reel recording has since been augmented with animation by director John Raskin and the resulting work was nominated for "Best Animated Short" in the 2008 Academy Awards.

Thanks to Colin Beavan for the link.
 

 
 

Finally an audience member asked Van how he sustains his vision. He replied that when he started out with this new way of seeing the world there was no one around him who got it. So he created a Board of Directors for himself. He invited Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Bob Marley and others to be on his Board. He consulted the imaginary Board on a regular basis when he needed advice, imagining what they would say, the points they would argue with one another and taking inspiration from their writings and speeches. I turned to my friends and said that this is the kind of thing you do until you find real people that will spar with you and make you better. Very cool idea.

—Chris Corrigan

Read Chris' complete post here.

 
 

Thanks to Chris Corrigan for the link.
 

When you give people too much information, they instantly resort to pattern recognition, in other words, to structure the experience. I think this is part of the artist’s world. The artist, when he encounters the present […] is always seeking new patterns, new pattern recognition, which is his task. The absolute indispensability of the artist is that he alone in the present can give the pattern recognition. He alone has the sensory awareness necessary to tell us what our world is made of. He is more important than the scientist. The scientists are going to wake up to this shortly and will resort en mass to the artist’s studio in order to discover the forms and the matter they are dealing with.

—Marshall McLuhan