Harvest — Salt Lake February Practitioner Group

Some harvest below from friend and host of our recent Practitioners Circle, Carla Moquin. Carla’s story is inspiring to me. As is her commitment. As I have met and spoken with her, I’m encouraged by her work to change the cultural narrative about connection and wellness, through the form of early parenting and collaboration as community.

Her website and writings can be accessed here. Some of her gratitudes and appreciations, in her words, are below. From an evening of circle.

1.  Huge discoveries can come from very small groups, when you have a complementary group of motivated and interested people.
2.  Never assume a discussion is necessarily going in a particular direction; instead, be open to the many different ways it can go at any point in time and don’t attempt to artificially control it.
3.  Sometimes understanding what is hindering you is more useful than knowing for certain which way to go from here.
4.  An idea that you dismissed due to impracticability years ago may turn out to be exactly what you need right now; never permanently eliminate reasonable options from consideration.
5.  Obtaining the perspective of other motivated individuals can radically transform your own view; be open to this so that you can obtain the help you need.

Tweets of the Week

  • From Nancy White, a graphic illustrator friend: “Be obvious. Accept offers. Fail cheerfully.” Love this.
  • Vern Woolf on the wave shape of consciousness: “It is not the eye that sees. It only gives form to light.”
  • Dig this. More on Tim DeChristopher’s upcoming trial. Civil disobedience and democracy in Utah to protect wild lands. http://bit.ly/gQdxwA
  • From IONS on “worldview literacy.” Reflections from younger people on beliefs, worldviews, more (thanks Jon Gilburg). http://bit.ly/flP7en
  • Great CBC documentary from Canada: The Anatomy of a Revolution, Part 1 (14 min) http://bit.ly/ftRfX4 and Part 2 (7 min) http://bit.ly/eAKtoJ
  • Adventure begins. Driving 8 hours to Arizona for a 9-day intensive on holodynamics, energy, quantum reality. #holo
  • Enjoying the expansiveness of fields of sage that give way to hills of cedar. Near Panguitch, Utah.
  • David Hawkins on calibration: there are many things the mind can’t know. Yet we’ve placed almost all of our bet on mind-knowing.
  • The perceived value of empiricism comes from a world view that is itself subjective

What Could Real Also Be?

What could real also be?

I have carried this question with me the last four years. Vocally that is. Yet, I think it has lived with me, mostly unknown to me, for the last 30 years.

Four years ago at a weekend dialogue on evolution in groups, with 20 practitioners we began the event by having each of us name an important question or quest for our time together. I hadn’t planned on asking the question I did. I was looking for the simple.

Poof. What could real also be?

From years of germination, life beneath the ground, new life was bursting forth, reaching for the light of day. What could real also be? Yes, that was it.

It was the question I felt a bit scared to ask. A bit embarrassed to ask. Yet, the question that I was well supported to explore. And the one that felt at the core of so many other questions I wanted to explore.

These days I am further committed to this question. It feels like a new chapter is opening. I am finding very good company as I further explore what real could also be. I am learning much.

One of those points of company I find in the writings of Vern Woolf, my father’s brother. From one of his books, The Dance of Life, I read this morning:

“In the dimension from which matter is holographic projection, consciousness has shape and choice is universal. Reality is dynamic, fluid, and responsive. In this dimension of reality, choice is far more subtle and important than meets the normal eye. With the twist of a thought, our reference can shift; holodynes [information systems found in individual and cultural beliefs] take over; sensory screens change; and quicker than thought, our menu of options transforms. A single holodyne can shift our entire field of consciousness. Our field of consciousness is os dynamic it can explode upon us like fireworks, or it can lay dormant in a state of hibernation for years, or generations, as though life itself as stopped.”

What could real also be? I continue to sense it is a whole lot more than most of us learn. A journey I’m committed to.

Tweets of the Week

  • Some learnings on resiliency and courage through #AoHBoston: http://bit.ly/fNQnSQ
  • Spark (OS list): I use OS because It Moves That Mountain while other human-facilitated approaches don’t work that magic with such simplicity
  • Poet, John O’Donohue (sent to me from Jerry Nagel): I would love to live, like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.
  • Video harvest of the 3rd Sustainability Summit in Salt Lake City Utah, hosted by colleagues Ben Mates and others: http://bit.ly/fUh2yb
  • From Holodynamics what become possible if: What is known to the part is known to the whole. What is known to the whole is known to the part.
  • A helpful read from Fr Brian Bainbridge on shifting the culture in a parish, using Open Space as an operating system: http://bit.ly/hY0WqT
  • Friend Sarah at NPS OD team on emergence in groups: “Bringing out what we didn’t know we needed, but now can’t live without.”
  • RT @dfrieze: “It is in the nature of living systems to be radically indeterminate, to continually construct th… (cont) http://deck.ly/~CRtAy
  • 1 of 7 videos on civil disobedience in Utah: Tim DeChristopher’s trial for bidding at illegal BLM auction. http://bit.ly/hqzDBC
  • Deborah Frieze on change: small local efforts move through a network of relationships to emerge as large scale change: http://bit.ly/fLFKQO.
  • What if… Frequency is core dimension of reality. Tuning to frequency means being able to communicate with the whole. Not just words.
  • RT @drz0: RT @sharifkouddous I bump into my cousin Ismail Naguib on Kasr El Nile bridge.He says “the new weapon of choice is the broom”
  • RT @drz0: They’re trying to block FB and twitter in Algeria. Dictators pass stupidity to each other, people pass revolution. (@AhmedFatah)
  • RT @chriscorrigan: 18 days for Egyptian people to do what has taken USA 8 years to do in Iraq: create democracy. Only people can do that.

Gifts of Circle - Question Cardsasd
Gifts of Circle is 30 short essays divided into 4 sections: 1) Circle's Bigger Purpose, 2) Circle's Practice, 3) Circle's First Requirements, and 4) Circle's Possibility for Men. From the Introduction: "Circle is what I turn to in the most comprehensive stories I know -- the stories of human beings trying to be kind and aware together, trying to make a difference in varied causes for which we need to go well together. Circle is also what I turn to in the most immediate needs that live right in front of me and in front of most of us -- sharing dreams and difficulties, exploring conflicts and coherences. Circle is what I turn to. Circle is what turns us to each other."

Question Cards is an accompanying tool to Gifts of Circle. Each card (34) offers a quote from the corresponding chapter in the book, followed by sample questions to grow your Circle hosting skills and to create connection, courage, and compassionate action among groups you host in Circle.

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In My Nature
is a collection of 10 poems. From A Note of Beginning: "This collection of poems arises from the many conversations I've been having about nature. Nature as guide. Nature as wild. Nature as organized. I remain a human being that so appreciates a curious nature in people. That so appreciates questions that pick fruit from inner being, that gather insights and intuitions to a basket, and then brings the to table to be enjoyed and shared over the next week."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in In My Nature. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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Most Mornings is a collection of 37 poems. I loved writing them. From the introduction: "This collection of poems comes from some of my sense-making that so often happens in the morning, nurtured by overnight sleep. The poems sample practices. They sample learnings. They sample insights and discoveries. They sample dilemmas and concerns."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in Most Mornings. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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