Wednesday Wisdom (or Wit) from Heartland: Love and The Art of Convening

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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Love and The Art of Convening

by Cindy Wold

I started a graduate program this fall and am interested in carrying “love” as a scholarly topic of study and as a theme for my program. As I research this topic I am finding many others who are taking love as a serious phenomenon worthy of understanding for the sake of human wellbeing and effective relationships. The time seems right to dig deeper into this subject.

I find myself, still, passionately interested in studying the meaning and practice of love. I say “still” because this is not a new interest. It has its roots in many life experiences, in reading and study and, surprisingly, in the co-authoring of The Art of Convening!

Many years ago I read Erich Fromm’s classic book, The Art of Loving. In the book, Dr. Fromm posits that love is a not simply a sensation we may or may not be lucky enough to feel, but is indeed an art which one must study and practice to master. In the book he gave advice on how to both recognize and practice the art of loving.

When I collaborated with Craig and Patricia on writing The Art of Convening book, I began to think about one of the practices of loving that Fromm presented in his book: the quality of concentration.

According to Dr. Fromm this meant attending very deliberately to what one was doing in the moment, and multitasking as little as possible. He also took it to mean that we avoid, as much as possible, what he labeled “trivial conversation.”

Avoiding trivial conversation doesn't mean that everything we talk about has to be of grave or overarching importance. It means that what we talk about be genuinely of interest and meaningful to us and our conversation partner(s) and not just an exchange of pithy clichés or memorized talking points. In other words, we are urged to bring our conversations into the realm of truth, genuineness and recognition of the other.

I began to realize that The Art of Convening was a book that described a detailed method for bringing exactly this condition of concentration into our conversations. So, to me, as I have practiced the Art of Convening in my life and work, I consider that I am also practicing love. And I think that whether we intend it or not, we all bring a practice of love to our meetings, gatherings and conversations when we use the Art of Convening to create the quality of authentic engagement.

Do you have an experience of bringing the quality of love to your everyday work and life? Are there practices that you have discovered? Has the Art of Convening made a difference in the quality of your relationships? I'd love to hear from you and, if you're interested, would be happy to send links to some of my research.

Cynthia (Cindy) Wold is a Co-author of "The Art of Convening: Authentic Engagement in Meetings, Gatherings, and Conversations"

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Miracle of a Single Flower

Bedside-roses

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"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change."

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~ Buddha

via www.beautydialogues.com

From friend Amy Lenzo, Beauty Dialogues

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Wednesday Wisdom (or Wit) from Heartland

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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"Reading and writing poetry can exercise that capacity, improving one's ability to better conceptualize the world and communicate it — through presentations or writing — to others."

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HBR Blog Network
The Benefits of Poetry for Professionals
by John Coleman  | November 27, 2012

Wallace Stevens was one of America's greatest poets. The author of "The Emperor of Ice-Cream"and "The Idea of Order at Key West" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1955 and offered a prestigious faculty position at Harvard University. Stevens turned it down. He didn't want to give up his position as Vice President of the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company.

This lyrically inclined insurance executive was far from alone in occupying the intersect of business and poetry. 

Dana Gioia, a poet, Stanford Business School grad, and former General Foods executive, notes that T.S. Eliot spent a decade at Lloyd's Bank of London; and many other poets including James Dickey, A.R. Ammons, and Edmund Clarence Stedman navigated stints in business.

I've written in the past about how business leaders should be readers, but even those of us prone to read avidly often restrict ourselves to contemporary nonfiction or novels. By doing so, we overlook a genre that could be valuable to our personal and professional development: poetry. Here's why we shouldn't.

For one, poetry teaches us to wrestle with and simplify complexity. Harman Industries founder Sidney Harman once told The New York Times, "I used to tell my senior staff to get me poets as managers. Poets are our original systems thinkers. They look at our most complex environments and they reduce the complexity to something they begin to understand." Emily Dickinson, for example, masterfully simplified complex topics with poems like "Because I could not stop for Death," and many poets are similarly adept. Business leaders live in multifaceted, dynamic environments. Their challenge is to take that chaos and make it meaningful and understandable. Reading and writing poetry can exercise that capacity, improving one's ability to better conceptualize the world and communicate it — through presentations or writing — to others.

Poetry can also help users develop a more acute sense of empathy. In the poem "Celestial Music,"for example, Louise Glück explores her feelings on heaven and mortality by seeing the issue through the eyes of a friend, and many poets focus intensely on understanding the people around them. In January of 2006, the Poetry Foundation released a landmark study, "Poetry in America,"outlining trends in reading poetry and characteristics of poetry readers. The number one thematic benefit poetry users cited was "understanding" — of the world, the self, and others. They were even found to be more sociable than their non-poetry-using counterparts. And bevies of new research show that reading fiction and poetry more broadly develops empathy. Raymond Mar, for example, has conducted studies showing fiction reading is essential to developing empathy in young children (PDF) and empathy and theory of mind in adults (PDF). The program in Medical Humanities & Arts (PDF) even included poetry in their curriculum as a way of enhancing empathy and compassion in doctors, and the intense empathy developed by so many poets is a skill essential to those who occupy executive suites and regularly need to understand the feelings and motivations of board members, colleagues, customers, suppliers, community members, and employees.

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"As [I rose] in business ... I felt I had an enormous advantage over my colleagues because I had a background in imagination, in language and in literature."

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Reading and writing poetry also develops creativity. In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, the aforementioned Dana Gioia says, "As [I rose] in business ... I felt I had an enormous advantage over my colleagues because I had a background in imagination, in language and in literature." Noting that the Greek root for poetry means "maker," Dana emphasizes that senior executives need not just quantitative skills but "qualitative and creative" skills and "creative judgment," and feels reading and writing poetry is a route to developing those capabilities. Indeed, poetry may be an even better tool for developing creativity than conventional fiction. Clare Morgan, in her book What Poetry Brings to Business, cites a study showing that poems caused readers to generate nearly twice as many alternative meanings as "stories," and poetry readers further developed greater "self-monitoring" strategies that enhanced the efficacy of their thinking processes. These creative capabilities can help executives keep their organizations entrepreneurial, draw imaginative solutions, and navigate disruptive environments where data alone are insufficient to make progress.

Finally, poetry can teach us to infuse life with beauty and meaning. A challenge in modern management can be to keep ourselves and our colleagues invested with wonder and purpose. AsSimon Sinek and others have documented, the best companies and people never lose a sense of why they do what they do. Neither do poets. In her Nobel lecture "The Poet and the World," Wislawa Szymborska writes:

The world — whatever we might think when terrified by its vastness and our own impotence ... is astonishing ...

Granted, in daily speech, where we don't stop to consider every word, we all use phrases like "the ordinary world," "ordinary life," "the ordinary course of events" ... But in the language of poetry, where every word is weighed, nothing is usual or normal. Not a single stone and not a single cloud above it. Not a single day and not a single night after it. And above all, not a single existence, not anyone's existence in this world.

What if we professionals cultivated a similar outlook? We might find our colleagues more hopeful and purposeful and our work revitalized with more surprise, meaning, and beauty.

Poetry isn't a one-size-fits-all solution to every business problem. There are plenty of business leaders who've never read poetry and have been wholly successful. But to those open to it, reading and writing poetry can be a valuable component of leadership development.

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Wednesday Wisdom (or Wit) from Heartland

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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Innovation Anyone? 
The word innovation derives from the Latin word innovates, which is the noun form of innovare "to renew or change," stemming from in—"into" + novus—"new". 

Heartland programs are often considered an innovation or imagination super-boost. 

How are you allowing time for your imagination and innate innovation to emerge?

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.
Albert Einstein

Going forward, we are convinced, the world increasingly will be divided between high imagination-enabling countries, which encourage and enable the imagination and extras of their people, and low imagination-enabling countries, which suppress or simply fail to develop their people’s creative capacities and abilities to spark new ideas, start up new industries and nurture the own “extra.”  America has been the world’s leading high imagination-enabling country and now it needs to become hyper-high-imagination-enabling society.  
That Used to Be Us by Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum, 2011

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"US employers rate creativity/innovation among the top five skill that will increase in importance over."

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that next five years, and stimulating innovation/creativity and enabling entrepreneurship is among the top 10 challenges of U.S. CEO’s.
Ready to Innovate New York: Conference Board, 2008

Increasingly in the twenty-first century, what you know is far less important than what you can do with what you know.  The interest in and ability to create new knowledge to solve new problems is the single most important skill that all students must master today.  All successful innovators have mastered the ability to learn on their own “in the moment” and then apply that knowledge in new ways.
Creating Innovators by Tony Wagner, 2012

This is our generations Sputnik moment…We’ll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially in clean energy technology –an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people…In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives, it’s how we make a living.  We need to outinnovate, outeducate and outbuild the rest of the world.
2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama

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Martin Luther King

Photo credit: Jeronimo Bernot

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Lord, who can be trusted with power,

and who may act in your place?

Those with a passion for justice,

who speak the truth from their hearts;

who have let go of selfish interests

and grown beyond their own lives;

who see the wretched as their family

and the poor as their flesh and blood.

They alone are impartial

and worthy of the people's trust.

Their compassion lights up the whole earth,

and their kindness endures forever.

(A Book of Psalms, translations by Stephen Mitchell)

Thank you to Panhala

Web version: www.panhala.net/Archive <http://www.panhala.net/Archive/In_Memory_of_MLK.html>  

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Wednesday Wisdom (or Wit) from Heartland

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

A friend sent this link not long ago. It's a light touch to a serious subject.

Follow the Frog

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You don't have to go to the ends of the Earth to save the rainforest. Just Follow the Frog! The Rainforest Alliance is a nonprofit conservation organization that holds Charity Navigator's highest rating of Four Stars.

What's behind the green frog seal? Only farms that meet rigorous sustainability criteria earn the right to use the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal. These criteria address all of the three pillars of sustainability -- environmental protection, social equity and economic viability -- and farms are evaluated by independent, third-party auditors. Learn more about Rainforest Alliance Certificationand its impacts.

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The Art of Opening the Circle to be in Essential Conversation

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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Continuing the journey around the Convening Wheel, we find ourselves at the 7th Aspect, Essential Conversation, which allows for meaningful exchange in an atmosphere of trust and lays the groundwork for the 8th Aspect, Creation, to be possible.

We are now ready for something new to emerge from the authentic engagement of the group.

• Margaret Wheatley says, “Conversation is how humans think together.” "Opening the circle," by allowing for reflections and comments from anyone in the group who feels compelled to speak, we can process what we have heard and allow something that is more than the sum of the parts to emerge.  Conversation is most powerful when personal story telling and deep listening are present.  It is also about surfacing all that arises out of the listening and sharing process in a mindful and respectful way:

- We can sense the “questions that lie beneath the questions” to let emerge what is essential.

- We can become aligned with what is at the Heart of the Matter as a collectivegroup – expressing shared core values and vision. 

• In Opening the Circle we are continually evoking a WISDOM that comes through our collective consciousness.
• We are also in a practice of mirroring back what it is that has touched us deeply in what was shared.
• This is also a time for participants to feel heard, to learn how their words have “landed” for another and to have thoughts reflected back to them from a different perspective (or several different perspectives).
• It is also in this type of respectful conversation that the creative process blossoms and takes flight.  We build on each other’s word offerings and something magicalhappens.

Guidelines for Essential Conversation:

#1: When someone wishes to speak have them introduce themselves beginning with, “I am... (insert their name here)”

#2: When the person speaking is done speaking have them notify the group by saying, "I am complete" or "I have spoken."

#3: Interruptions are not allowed in this form.

#4: Ask for deep listening so the group can hold the space for differences. This is the primary function of this type of conversation.

#5: Be attentive to the pace of the conversation, allowing for silence and pauses between speakers. Silence can seem uncomfortable to many, but the absence of noise also has the potential to be an incredibly generative space for new ideas to take shape.

This structure reinforces our sense of safety, and gives us the freedom toexplore new ways of thinking and being together and ultimately allows for creation to occur.

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Wednesday Wisdom (or Wit) from Heartland

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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There are many ways to consider beginning a new year. The article below offers creative and generative ideas to consider.

5 Ways to Begin Designing Your Life in 2013

TIM BROWN, CEO at IDEO

Great designers don’t just do design, they live design. Like them, we can learn how to practice design thinking principles both at work and at home.

As you start designing your life in 2013, here are five ways to begin:

1. Be optimistic, collaborative, and generative.

There’s something wonderfully gratifying about creating something new, whether it’s an award-winning design or a home-cooked meal.

2. Think of life as a prototype.

Conduct experiments, make discoveries, change as needed. Any process can be re-examined and tweaked. Look for opportunities to turn a process into a project with a tangible outcome. 

3. Don't ask "what?" ask "why?"

Instead of accepting a given constraint, ask whether this is the right problem to be solving.

4. Demand divergent options.

Don’t settle for the first good idea that comes to mind or seize on the first promising solution presented to you. Explore divergent options—and then set a deadline so you know when to move on.

5. Once a day, deeply observe the ordinary.

Make it a rule that at least once a day you will stop and take a second look at some ordinary situation that you would normally look at only once (or not at all). Get out in the world and be inspired by people.

Happy designing!

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What is your committed step forward to serve?

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The Art of Convening is a vital study for anyone serious about developing their talents as a convener of meaningful conversations. Within my indigenous culture there is a prophecy that speaks to the survival and evolution of our society occurring when the committed step forward to serve as the facilitators of meaningful conversation.

The wisdom contained in The Art of Convening can surely aide these caring activists in serving our communities and organizations as the responsible leaders that our society needs. I extend my appreciation to the authors Craig and Patricia Neal for providing the “Convening Wheel” framework to guide gatherings that can give rise to meaningful and authentic conversations. My experience as a community organizer, meeting facilitator, and ceremony leader has only been enhanced by the wisdom they share in this powerful handbook. -- Dr. Roberto Vargas

What is your committed step forward to serve?

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Sale on the Art of Convening:

SAVE 15% on AoC trainings in 2013

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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Give yourself the gift of The Art of Convening this holiday season by enrolling in one of the 2013 Trainings.

Registrations by 12/15 will receive a special 15% discount.

The AoC Trainings benefits include:

• New skills for Convening and Facilitation

• New strategies and tools for applying convening in your work and life as a leader and catalyst for change and transformation.
• State of the art virtual and in-person participative learning practicum utilizing practices, tools, and principles for authentic engagement and leadership.

• Credentials as an AoC graduate. (certificate and certification)

• From 15 to 36 CCEUs from the International Coaches Federation.

• Listing on Heartland's AoC web site as a Convening Resource Provider.

Our new Practicum Trainings include:

2 NEW RESIDENTIAL CERTIFICATION TRAININGS: January 24 - 27 & April 29 - May 2

http://heartlandcircle.com/AOC/aoc-cert-main.htm

- AND -

2 NEW CORE TELETRAININGS: January 2013 -1/29 & 1/30

http://heartlandcircle.com/aoccore-main.htm

Bring your case study, project, next convening challenge to your Practicum Training Cohort.

A space and discounted rate can be held with a deposit.

When we, as Conveners, tap into the generosity inherent in people, the wealth of knowledge and wisdom in any gathering is revealed. That wisdom is felt as a connection to being whole, both individually and collectively. When we feel and experience wholeness, our connection to one another and the world around us becomes less hostile  and more inviting.

-- Craig Neal, Originator of The Art of Convening Trainings 

The Training illuminated the essence of adding action to intention in a way that has transformed and equipped me to serve and contribute convening in both professional and personal areas of my life. I have committed to convening as a way of life." -- Myron Lowe, Director, Office of Information Technology, University of Minnesota      

Questions?

- Call: 612.920.3039 - Email: info@heartlandcircle.com

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A Community of Pioneers creating a Global Renaissance

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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The AoC Grad community is a worldwide web of individuals and organizations actively creating a global renaissance of thought, heart and behavior.

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NEW Certification Training Program November 8-11 -- 3-1/2 Day Residential Training + Virtual Convening Training via Cohort Calls

This new Training is a direct result of years of conversations with AoC grads seeking an in-person practicum that brings together all the accumulated learnings from the 45 Core and Advanced Trainings. Craig will be assisted by 2 or more Advanced Grads. 10% discount for AoC Graduates

Guided by Craig Neal, originator of 'The Art of Convening'

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The Certification at a Glance

Thursday-Sunday 3-1/2 day Residential Training Program, Virtual Training Cohort Calls:

• Thursday 5:00 pm to Sunday 3:00 pm
• Pre-Training Orientation Call
• Two 1:1 Coaching Calls with Craig Neal
• Four 90-minute Maestro Conference calls
• Experience a highly interactive and dynamic learning environment in-person, andvirtually utilizing innovative MaestroConference technology
• Session Audio Recordings
• Pre- and Post- Assessments
• Private Online Learning Platform
• Eco e-learning workbook
• Certificate as an AoC Certified Convener
• Limited to 20 Participants
• All graduates will be listed on Heartland's website as resource providers and catalysts for transformation (if you choose)
• International Coaching Federation CCEUs (applied for)   
• Course Book:The Art of Convening: Authentic Engagement in Meetings, Gatherings, and Conversations, Craig and Patricia Neal, with Cynthia Wold (book included in cost of training)

Format & Benefits

• Be part of an intimate in-person and virtual learning Cohort format- limited to 20 participants.
• Thoroughly review and embody the theory, principles, and practices in the The Art of Convening book as the primary text for the Training.
• This is a Practicum with emphasis on sharing actual case studies from your life and work environment. Your progress will be supported personally and online.
• Maximize personal and professional relevance by advancing interpersonal skills.
• Learn direct application to your work and life via course readings, focused journaling and reflection time, case studies, and exposure to guest graduate Conveners.
• Receive sample Workshop Templates.
• Belong to an engaged and inspired graduate community of intentional leaders.
• Utilize the Convening Wheel, beginning At the Heart of the Matter, all the way to Commitment to Action: discover and learn each Aspect with relevant Convening Principles, while also collectively exploring the distinct Challenges of successfully applying the AoC in professional and personal situations.

Schedule & Cost: learn more here

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CERTIFICATION TRAINING:

Residential Training: November 8-11

Location: Riverwood Inn and Conference Center, Otsego, MN 

Virtual Training Cohort Calls:

•  Pre-Training Orientation        
•  Two 1:1 Coaching Calls with Craig   
•  Four 90-minute Cohort Calls via MaestroConference

10% discount for AoC Graduates of any course

Investment

Thursday: reception and dinner

Friday: 3 meals and break snacks

Saturday: 3 meals and break snacks

Sunday: brunch

all course materials, The Art of Convening book

 Rate:

•  $2495 double occupancy
•  $2695 single room   

A $750 deposit holds your place and rate

Payment plans and limited Scholarships available: contact registration@heartlandcircle.com

learn more here

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Art of Convening! New Horizons

The Art of Convening Book has been published in Denmark by Gyldendal ASA!

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Craig and Nils: The AoC Book Launch in Denmark

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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Mødekunst: Meeting Art

The Art of Convening book launch in Denmark

24-27 september

Trip agenda:

click here

Craig has arrived in Denmark and is staying with friends and colleagues Nils and Annelise Stahlschmidt.

Thank you to the Danish Pionerer Group and to Gyldendal ASA for making this happen!

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Operationalizing and internalizing for possibility

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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"The art of convening operationalizes the dialogue principles and practices." Daniel Pesut, Director, Densford Center for International Nursing Leadership, University of Minnesota School of Nursing

Craig and Patricia are engaged in co-creating an annual Retreat with a leadership group at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing. As we organize and plan around the 9 Aspects of the Convening Wheel, the value of the AoC book as a "roadmap" for authentic engagement emerges as we not only operationalizes, but internalize the practices and principles that inform convening.

"Convening was, and is, one of the most powerful, life-altering forces in the universe. The genesis of this book can be traced back to the art of convening to energize communities and stir us to survive and envision what might be possible." -Richard Leider, Foreword, The Art of Convening

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Sept: The AoC Book Launch in Denmark!

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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September 24-27 2012 | Copenhagen, Denmark   --The Art of Convening Book Launch, Programs, and Trainings   

via heartlandcircle.blogs.com

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Jim Carey introduces Ekhart Tolle

Photo credit: Craig Neal

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"Check out this video of Jim Carey introducing Tolle for his Ekhart Tolle TV on, AoC Grad, Amy Lenzo's blog.  I was intrigued by Jim Carey's ablility to be so funny and at the same time so sincere about the profundity of spiritual experience."

via www.beautydialogues.com

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Authentic online conversations- what I learned

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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Patricia and I were recently at our publisher's 20th anniversary event in San Francisco. There were several AoC Training grads here including Amy Lenzo, who set up online communications for the World Cafe' Global Community and Rose Singer, longtime AoC practitioner. Several of the authors have read AoC and are using the principles and practices in their consulting, coaching, and teaching.

What have I learned? It's all about relationships!! Everyone is yearning for, and seeking, authentic engagements. lots of talk about using social media and how to have sincere connection online. I'm currently in a workshop now lead by Amy on having authentic online conversations on social media like FaceBook, Twitter, Linkdin and on and on.....

What have you learned that you can share with other AoC Grads?

via heartlandcircle.blogs.com

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Listening and Understanding

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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"The more you listen, the more you will hear. The more you hear, the more and more deeply you will understand."

- Kyentse Rinpoche

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Mary Oliver- Morning Poem

Photo Credit: Craig Neal

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Morning Poem
 
Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange
 
sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again
 
and fasten themselves to the high branches ---
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands
 
of summer lilies.

If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails
 
for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it
 
the thorn
that is heavier than lead ---
if it's all you can do
to keep on trudging ---
 
there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted ---
 
each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,
 
whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.
 

~ Mary Oliver ~

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