Alpine Loop Hike

Yesterday I drove with a friend up Provo Canyon, past Sundance, along the Alpine Loop. It’s a road that is only open in summer. It twists and turns. It is mean to be enjoyed slowly, 10 mph.

At the peek, near 8,000 feet. We left car behind to hike. Through Aspen forests, to meadows. All of it back-dropped by Wasatch Mountains that still have patches of significant snow, though the daytime temperatures now press 100 degrees fahrenheit.

Days like this change me. They change how I orient to all of it.

as

In Front of Me

What is in front of me,
holds enough,
to make sense,
of it all.

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I hiked with a friend.

Landslide

Rock icon Stevie Nicks of the band Fleetwood Mac wrote this song, Landslide, in 1975. I was 13. A boy in junior high school. I remember the song, liking the sound of it. I remember the band. I remember the album cover.
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As it is with many of us aging, the music of our younger days takes on added meaning later in life. Sometimes as comfort. Sometimes as, “Oh, now I get it.” Sometimes as just plain fun.
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Landslide is one of those songs for me. Now I listen to the digital music downloaded to my phone.
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I love the lines, “Can the child within my heart rise above? Can I sail through he changin’ ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life. Mmm, I don’t know.”
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Whatever the changes any of us face, there is often association to wonder of our individual and collective capability. And the becoming aware of how the moments of our stories, our lives, weave to broader arc.
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It’s human to reflect. And to make sense. And to change. With and without others.
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Glad for this bit of music now making more meaning.
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Landslide.
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I took my love, I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
‘Til the landslide brought me down
Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changin’ ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
Mmm, I don’t know.
Oh, I don’t know.
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Well, I’ve been ‘fraid of changin’
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m gettin’ older, too
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Well, I’ve been ‘fraid of changin’
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m gettin’ older, too
I’m gettin’ older, too.
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Ah, take my love, take it down
Oh, climb a mountain and turn around
And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down
And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down
Oh, the landslide will bring it down

People Who Ponder

I’m grateful for this photo taken by Betsy Sobiech at QT Cincinnati. I didn’t know she was taking it. It was last weekend, which feels like eons ago now. That’s what missing fantastic quality does. That’s me on the left. That’s Chris Smyth on the right. What’s funny is that as we walked, slowly, Chris commented about the contemplative posture. We laughed in that moment.

I think it really matters these days to have times of ponder. And people to ponder with. I’m glad for this with good humans. I’m uniquely glad for this with men. It is, simply, one of the things we lost when we lost initiatory practices. I’m grateful to be in a body of work that holds contemplativeness as central. That’s sense making. That’s witnessing. That’s sharing story. That’s leaning into rather than away from mystery. That’s leaning into rather than way from grief. All of that is code for something I think we humans are naturally oriented to do — to seek and contribute to an energetic of connection and learning. So that we can do a pile of good in our varied vocations and walks of life.

Quanita Roberson and I will host / do more of this in the near future in a 16 month learning cohort model. Fire and Water: A Leadership Journey and Rite of Passage begins virtually in August and face-to-face in October (registration remains open). It’s where we will, I hope, further instill in each other the deep ponder in community that leads to creating courage to face the troubles of our times. In the inner, and outer. In the now, and the long arc. In the individual, and the communal.

Yes, please join us. For the ponder. For the eons.

 

 

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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