The Book,
Gifts of Circle:
Connection, Courage, Compassionate Action.
The Cards,
Questions Cards
34 of them.
Get them here.
To grow what is simple and present.
To be grown by what is simple and present.
Circle Book, Circle Cards Here
Chris Jepson Joins The Human To Human Podcast
I’m loving many of the people I’m meeting these days. Chris Jepson is one of them. Recently he and I sat down for a Zoom conversation. Enjoy the listen here.
There is so much that I love in conversations with Chris Jepson. We are a new-ish connection. I love the beginnings of friendship and learning community with Chris. Chris represents something to me that I’m particularly appreciating. He’s a younger man (30s) that is asking such conscious questions about life, about meaning, about belonging, about purpose, about contribution. His way of being deepens mine.
Enjoy the listen to our conversation. And then find your stillness. Or find it in my Becoming & Belonging Series (online, Circle-based, hosted presence / learning).
About Chris:
Chris Jepson is a heart-centered leader who helps purpose-driven organizations bridge vision with effective coherent execution. He is a Canadian, a father of one, and a spiritual seeker. Chris has been following his emergent passions for the past 5+ years. This has led him on a journey from renewable energy to conscious entrepreneurship, and from Canada to Costa Rica and back again. Chris writes for joy, learns with endless curiosity, and shares honest reflections from the path less traveled — exploring consciousness, personal mastery, and the art of living from the heart.
Joy Matters; Joy Is Possible
I’ve been thinking a lot over the last week about a recent conversation I had with a UCC pastor. I was inspired to offer framing with him, to contrast efforts that focus on “what’s wrong” and invite efforts that focus on “what’s possible.” It’s a stuck point that many of us find our way to. It’s also a key release, a key action, to unstick with some focus on joy’s alchemizing ways.
And that got me to my journal, writing. Poetry, writing. Joy, seeking.
It matters
that some of us
seek
joy.
Even when
there is such prevalent
suffering.
Joy
isn’t
denial.
Joy is
fierce
insistance.
Joy guides.
Joy lifts.
Joy reminds.
Joy carries.
Joy opens.
Joy positions.
Joy doesn’t overlook
what is hard,
nor what is unjust.
It interrupts it,
claiming
matters.
Marge Piercy Speaks A Truth
This poem moves me. I first learned of it in my early Berkana days (thx Meg). And every now and then it cycles back to me. It comes knocking at the door of my consciousness, asking me to come out and play.
I love the digging in of this poem. I also love the invitation to dig in to what isn’t the norm. To do the work. But also to do the mystery.
Enjoy.
To Be Of Use
Marge Piercy
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
