Transience turns everything to air. You look behind and see no signs even of a yesterday that was so intense. Yet in truth, nothing ever disappears, nothing is lost. Everything that happens to us in the world passes into us. It all becomes part of the inner temple of the soul and it can never be lost.* John O’Donohue
The last time we took an action on an idea, extended ourselves for a friend, and perhaps encouraged ourselves for a new project – these happened because the story worked.** Seth Godin
We are more substantial than we know, Our lives filled with so much that will make us stronger, more imaginative, creative, generous.
The thing that makes the difference between so much being lost to us, and so to each other, And instead to be accessed and engaged with, is our story.
I want to unfold. I don’t want to stay folded anymore, because where I am folded, I am a lie.^
While the knowing of the mind is limited by frontiers, the soul has no frontiers.* John O’Donohue
Whatever powers we have in the world, in our work, in our powers of leadership, in our imaginations, they are the gifts of a much larger world than one when have made for ourselves. They are only part of deeper, inescapable, ancestral imaginings which we join and which inform our ever day and to which, every next day, we introduce our own children. More truthfully, perhaps, we let our children go out into the world and find if for themselves, and report it back to us as if new … .** David Whyte
There is an ordinary world – Sport, politics, shopping, comedy shows, food, jobs … – And there is a special world – Meaning, myths, inexplicable things, presence, alchemy, connection … .
Dot dot dot … .
Both lists are wonderfully long – passing through my life.**
More than ever, I know, I would not want to live in one without the other.
We don’t have to.
The child takes in the world as if it were food. And his world nourishes or starves him. Nothing escapes his thirst; secrets are impossible. He identifies with his surroundings, and they live within him unconsciously.^
Other people may live in pain but deny it. The comic mind, on the other hand, lives in pain, but has the courage to express it. The comic mind has the moral strength to see life as it is, and use their art to wake us up to what is right and sane. The comic mind tells the truth.* Robert McKee
Artists help us to understand ourselves and our time through pictures, parables and actions.** Keith Haring
I read recently how the line dividing good and evil runs through the centre of each one of us.
Our best art, performance, stories, myths, poems, and comedy help us to see and understand and embrace this truth, So that we might daily, wrestle with it for all our sakes.
And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.^
[T]he genius of an individual lies in the inhabitation of their peculiar and particular spirit in conversation with the world. Genius is something in itself and no other thing.* David Whyte
The shape of each soul is different. An individual is a carefully fashioned, unique world. The shape of the flaw that each person carries is also different. The flaw is the special shape of personal limitation; angled at a unique awkwardness to the world, it makes our difficulty and challenge in the world different from that of others.** John O’Donohue
Embrace your awkwardness, Understand and grow it, Express and edge it, But do not lose it: Of course, once you sand off the edges, it’s hard to get traction.^
Your flaw will lead you into your flow.
When you trust yourself enough to integrate your strangeness, you bestow a gift on yourself.**
Sankofa is a term in Twi, a dialect of the Akan language in Ghana. It means “go back and get it.” …
“I’m not sure what it is yet, let’s interact and see” opens the door to forward motion and wonder, instead of pushing hard for things to get back to normal.* Seth Godin
The best present is a mixture of the best past and the best future – We can be deep-time people, If we want to be.
When you discover something new about yourself, you become more grounded and free. It is delightful when you find out more of your hidden light, when the radiance inside you glimmers through in new unexpected colours.* John O’Donohue
Touching people’s lives in a positive way is as close as I can get to an idea of religion. Belief in one’s self is only a mirror of belief in other people and every person.** Keith Haring
More delightful than discovering what lies within ourselves is discovering what exists within the lives of others.
Edward Chip Anderson handed out a stack of reading glasses to the group at the close of the day exploring our strengths, Making the simple request that for the next week we spend a few moments wearing our glasses as a prompt for reflection: Half of the time to be spent on our own abilities, The other half imagining those of the people around us.
I have never forgotten Chip’s request; In many ways it has shaped my work, And perhaps here, in seeing each other in a deeper way, There lies the hope of the world.
Find the nerds, the motivated, and the overlooked, and figure out what they need to thrive. That exploration will reveal what others have needed as well but didn’t care enough to speak about it.* Seth Godin
It is interesting to ask: what are the limits you have set for your life? Where are the lines of those limits? Why do you think you cannot go beyond them? How real are they? Did you construct the limits out of fear and anxiety? … The awakening of the beauty of your creativity can totally change the way you view limits.** John O’Donohue
Everyone has a special world beyond the limits of the ordinary, Where abilities and joys and actions come into sharper definition and take on greater significance within a larger story that will bring the change we need: When you see the list not as a continuing barrier but as a threshold, You are already beyond.**
The human imagination can not be programmed by a computer. Our imagination is our greatest hope for survival.* Keith Haring
The earth is your customer, and many people will be aligned as you serve it.** Seth Godin
The important word in the title is “we.”
The human imagination is incomparable, And what occurs when Imaginations get together is nothing short of exponential; We’re discovering more about human community and about ourselves: The who-ness of someone can never be finally named, know, claimed, controlled or predicted.^
It’s a cause of relief. You get to give up on something that was always impossible – the quest to become the optimised, infinitely capable, emotionally invincible, fully independent person you’re officially supposed to be. Then you get to roll up your sleeves and start work on what’s gloriously possible instead.* Oliver Burkeman
The awakening of individuality is a continual unfolding of our presence.** John O’Donohue
Getting ready for the day – Wash, dress, breakfast, help others, Gather everything you need to take with you – Ready?, Or forgotten something?
How do you prime yourself for the best day today can be?
Intention gives us the power to describe and name possible futures. And possible futures help us claim the path we’re willing to work for.^
Priming enables us to more than reactive, To respond, or better still, To protect: Freedom comes from not being the direct reaction of your environment.^^
We speak of being our best self, but better than this is to be our true self, And a little time at the beginning of the day set in the most natural way for us – Perhaps quietness, journaling, reading, walking, Listening to inspiring music or a thoughtful podcast – Prepares us to be our strongest self and to make our contribution.
If you are using one of these ways or another, You already know the benefit: If not, Why not give one or other a test run for a week, or two?
Maybe we struggle to justify something like this to others or to ourselves, but as Seth Godin reminds us: Mortals must do what they are here to do or they will become cranky.*^ And no-one wants your cranky or mine: They want us to do that beautiful thing we are here to do.
Imagine a team member with all the traditional vocation skills: productive, skilled, experienced. A resumé that can prove it. A fine baseline. Now add to it. Perceptive, charismatic, driven, focused, goal-setting, inspiring ad motivated. Generous, empathetic, and consistent. A deep listener, with patience.*
But if we’re seeking a liminal state, the significance of getting from here to there, then we’re in a mode of discovery, not driving a train on a single set of tracks.* Seth Godin
To young children, of course, nature is full of doors – is nothing bt doors really – and they swing open at every step.** Robert Macfarlane
Fossicking is rummaging, searching, prospecting.
The dreamwhispering I get up to is about foraging through the hidden and/or unexplored parts of our lives, Delving beneath the surface of the obvious and familiar to the unnoticed or undervalued, Out of which emerges a richer story.
By the time we come to the end of a journey of conversations, there’s an agglomeration of thoughts, feelings, expressions, and possibilities to be sifted through; Every one can lead to somehere, to something, to someone – Smorgasboardian possibilities.
THIN|SILENCE 
You must be logged in to post a comment.