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June 20, 2011

Love, Community, Ritual

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Samantha Tan and I got married this weekend!  What an incredibly joyful time!  I can’t begin to do justice to the wellspring of emotion that seems to be bursting from within me, but I do want to offer a brief and relevant reflection for our readers.

Marriage is between two people, and it is rooted in their love from one another – it is a link, a commitment, a connection but it itself exists within the web of connection.  Our wedding brought together a rich network of loving relationships from all aspects of our lives.  Family, colleagues, long time friends and new friends, comrades, artists, children and elders – a well-woven web of love all connected to our own node of love.  It was community, and it was love made visible. Read More

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June 16, 2011

A Breakthrough Moment

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breakthrough

|Image by MiRo740|http://www.flickr.com/photos/11558475@N04/2080024629|

The storming had begun.  For the first few meetings, the team had engaged in “feel good” conversations, getting to know one another, breaking bread together, laughing, and bonding around their shared desire to build a stronger local food system to ensure community food security.  They had agreed to a set of values and a vision to guide their work.  Now they were diving into more of the specifics.  What would the scope of the work be and what wouldn’t it include? Read More

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June 10, 2011

Life, the Universe, and Awe

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“Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely that good consists in maintaining, assisting, and enhancing life . . . “

Albert Schweitzer

The Known Universe from AMNH on Vimeo.

One year ago I blogged about my experience in the GeoDome, “a portable immersive environment” that allows participants to experience interactive simulations derived from scientific data provided by the likes of NASA and NOAA.  Think of it as a traveling planetarium that provides tours of our planet, solar system, and/or the universe through the lens of different observable phenomena – electromagnetic radiation, population growth, plane travel, etc. The purpose of the  GeoDome is to provide visceral ways for people to experience shifts of perspective that might support their efforts in embracing and promoting more sustainable behaviors.

Given this anniversary, it is quite appropriate that the video above come to my attention.  Read More

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June 8, 2011

Positivity and Expanding Truth

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“Know that joy is rarer, more difficult, and more beautiful than sadness. Once you make this all-important discovery, you must embrace joy as a moral obligation.”

André Gide


I’ve spent a few blog posts over the last year or so looking at how the research around positive emotions and outlooks connects with more effective collaboration and change work (see “Accentuate the Positivity”: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). Just a couple of weeks ago, inspired by Erik Gregory’s LeaderLens presentation, I considered the connection between positive leadership and sustainability, looking at the way in which the creation of positive environments might lead to greater adaptive capacity.  Having recently explored more of the research of psychologist Barbara Frederickson, I see a greater case to be made for maintaining positive outlooks, individually and collectively, as they increase our ability to engage in creatively adaptive and regenerative work at deeper systemic levels. Read More

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June 7, 2011

Power and Priorities

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“You don’t understand, the United States will not be making cars.”  The film Climate Refugees quotes President Roosevelt speaking to auto executives at the outset of World War II.  Most of us know about the mobilization of American industry to build a war machine capable of defeating the Axis Powers.  Fewer of us understand what it took. Read More

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