One of my favourite cards in the Group Works Pattern Deck is Reflection Action Cycle – both for working with groups as well as my own personal practice. Each New Year I pause to look back at the previous year to reflect and learn, and then dream about the coming year. This year I used a combination […]
Category: personal reflections
Heather Plett invited me to list ten books that have stayed with me in some way. The instructions: Don’t take more than a few minutes and do not think too hard. They do not have to be the “right” books or great works of literature, just ones that have affected you in some way. […]
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A Path to Connection
My circle friend and colleague Heather Plett has put together a beautiful free ebook: A Path to Connection. I was one of the fortunate thirty three people who contributed to this ebook – honoured to be included amongst such wise and thoughtful souls. The journey to connection has four paths – self, sacred, others, and […]
Last week I finished reading Mark Nepo’s Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What Is Sacred. A gorgeous book. His The Exquisite Risk: Daring to Live an Authentic Life was one of my favourite books in 2013. Reading for me is about growth. It stretches my mind. It makes new connections or strengthens […]
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Listening to Mind or Heart?
This is one of my favourite posts from Humans of New York. The caption reads “When I was younger, I thought listening was just about learning the contents of someone’s mind. I’d always try to finish their thoughts, just to show them that I knew what they were thinking. As I got older, I learned […]
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The Practice
I believe in practice. That life is a practice, our work is a practice, our relationships are a practice. It isn’t about arriving, the ‘ta-da’, and then coasting. It is the difference between Carol Dweck’s concepts of the fixed mindset and the growth mindset: Mindset is a simple idea discovered by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist […]
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The Cult of Productivity
Presence is far more intricate and rewarding an art than productivity. Ours is a culture that measures our worth as human beings by our efficiency, our earnings, our ability to perform this or that. The cult of productivity has its place, but worshipping at its altar daily robs us of the very capacity for joy […]
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Looking Back…
I love this time of the year. The season of looking back, looking ahead. My theme for 2013 was “more art and heart”. Here are some celebrations and memories from my year… Doing my work… I officially launched myself as a solopreneur, growing my work as a circle-based participatory process designer and facilitator. I’m so […]
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Long Walk to Freedom
I read Nelson Mandela’s autobiography Long Walk to Freedom last year. It was one of my favourite books of the year. Here are a few excerpts: I had been reading my speech, and at this point I placed my papers on the defense table, and turned to face the judge. The courtroom became extremely quiet. […]
I adore this website – I laugh, almost-cry, gasp, and awe (ahhh!) at humanity. It captures our craziness, our thoughtfulness, our capacity to endure; a little bit of storycatching happening on the interwebs. Each post has a picture and a little write up that goes along with each photo. Sometimes profound. Sometimes silly. Check it out […]