Unpacking the Meaning of Humility, Some Surprises
This is the first blog I have written since my month off. First, I must note that shortly before I wrote my last blog there were two mass shootings in Texas. Sadly, shortly before I wrote this blog there was another mass shooting in Texas. Three mass shootings in one state within 30 days. When will this be addressed? What more is there to say? Now, focusing on my blog for today, I recently heard someone talk about the meaning of humility. For me, the word humility means being humble, and it has an aura of quaintness and evokes earlier, simpler times. There is also a quality of ‘churchiness’ about the word. However, the talk gave me some new significant meanings for this word. I thank the speaker for some of these ideas. The origin of the word is illuminating. It comes from Latin, meaning low and ground. I found…
Going Fallow and Fed Up!
I was going to write this blog on being ‘fallow’ for a few weeks. Briefly, that means I will be off until September 2!st. I chose the word fallow because this farming term means unplanted land allowed to recover its fertility. The land is in rest and recovery mode. I’m going to be fallow, resting, taking a breath, and replenishing my creative juices. But enough on that. In the meantime, this country has endured two mass shootings within hours on Saturday, August 3rd. My light-hearted blog topic noted above seemed like so much inconsequential fluff. I can’t find better words than have already been expressed by people more eloquent than I am. So, I convey my pain, distress, and plea through Bob Dylan’s timeless lyrics. “How many roads must a man walk down Before you call him a man? How many seas must a white dove sail Before she sleeps…
Leading with the heart, not the head
During the past week I heard two statements that caught my attention. They both touched on the same topic. “Listen to your heart before you listen to your mind for your heart points the way!”, Wald Wassermann. And, paraphrased, “When you start something new, the first lessons are the heart lessons on generosity and sharing, then use the head to pass on the experience.”, Four Arrows aka Don Jacobs. These declarations were answers to a question that I have been struggling to answer. That question is, how do we as a culture begin to see our relationship and dependence on the natural world, then respond with respect, and cherish that natural world and all life? I imagine that if this happened, every aspect of how we live our lives, what we eat, how we build our homes, how we conduct business, how we travel, everything would transform. Maybe that is…
Independence and Interdependence, Separate Ideas or Interconnected?
Yesterday I heard a talk on independence and interdependence. The speaker noted that the two concepts are actually connected and interdependent ideas themselves. This intrigued me, spurring me to delve into these ideas and their place in our culture. The last blog I wrote was about the importance of collaboration in both the human and the natural world even though competition is emphasized by our culture. In this blog I will continue to explore that same thread by looking at the intersections between independence and interdependence. Beginning with definitions, here are two of ‘Independence.’ The definition given at https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/independence reads, “freedom from being governed or ruled by another,the ability to live your life without being helped or influenced by other people.” Here is another from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/independence that reads “freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others.” Good and positive stuff. No one wants or chooses to be controlled by another or ruled by any societal structure. Here are two definitions of interdependence. From https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/interdependence the definition reads, “the fact of depending on each other: our interdependence as…
Cooperation or Competition?
“Cooperation is as important an aspect of life on earth as competition.” I don’t remember when or where I found this statement. To me, it is an important and timely affirmation although it only moves us in the right direction. The statement sounds rather bland, but when you unpack it, it has some punch. Today, by far the larger emphasis in our culture is on the competition side of the equation, being best, winning, and so on and on. Acknowledged, competition has always been a significant and understandable aspect of many life experiences, athletic competitions, scholastic endeavors, political office contests, and among businesses vying for the same market. I remember hearing, “nature is red in tooth and claw,” “it’s a dog eat dog world,” “eat or be eaten,” “it’s a jungle out there,” or, “only the strongest survive.” There is no lack of statements such as these, all emphasizing competition.…
A Liberating Wake-Up Call
Recently I had a powerful wake-up call. Here’s the background of my experience. For several years I had desired to and tried to let go and forgive someone I felt had betrayed and intentionally hurt me. I would think that I had achieved this only to stumble on another layer of anger, hurt and blame. This went on for years. I believe in forgiveness and letting go of past hurts and insults, if only for my own health. Here, from the Mayo Clinic are the benefits of forgiveness, Forgiveness can lead to: Healthier relationships. Improved mental health. Less anxiety, stress and hostility. Lower blood pressure. Fewer symptoms of depression. A stronger immune system. Improved heart health. Improved self-esteem. Up until this experience I have been successful in accomplishing forgiveness, even if working at it over time. But in this instance, it seemed I could not find a way to achieve it. Last week…
Seeing and Quitting Our Glass Boxes
What glass boxes are you in? While recently chatting with a friend, a healthcare issue came up. It was nothing serious. My friend smiled and said that her physician had told her, ‘it’s happening because you’re getting older.” In other words, just accept it; there’s nothing you can do about it. Perhaps in this case this is true, but I am now wary of this way of thinking, or not thinking. Here are some variations of this same, just-accept-it attitude, ‘It’s just the way things are,’ ‘this is how it is,’ ‘we’ve always done it that way,’ ‘It happened that way before, it will happen that way again,’ and so on. There are many of these expressions that essentially mean nothing will change and there is no reason to expect anything else. I call these beliefs or attitudes glass boxes because it’s hard to see that we are in containers…
The marvelous and fruitful metaphor of “Cathedral Thinking”
At my United Church of Christ annual meeting I learned a new-to-me metaphor. Perhaps you have heard it before. Our keynote speaker, Rob Voyle introduced ‘cathedral thinking’ to us in his presentation on change and transformation. He explained that it means creating a foundation for something even when you don’t know the final outcome. Visiting a medieval cathedral is a memorable event. The grandeur of the soaring vaults and stunningly beautiful stained-glass windows create an unforgettable impact whether you are religiously inclined or not. Simply marveling at the vision, craftsmanship and beauty of the structure is inspiring and a powerful reminder of the possible. Most cathedrals, like Notre Dame in Paris which recently partially burned, were the result of both the faith and the creative energies of medieval European culture. According to the website https://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/architecture/cathedral/construction the building of cathedrals often took decades or centuries to complete. Of course, this means…
Reflecting on the Temporal and Timeless Qualities of Experience
This past weekend I attended the state-wide annual meeting of my church denomination. Several of the ideas presented by the keynote speaker, Rob Voyle, (www.clergyleadership.com) were particularly powerful for me. And don’t be put off by the fact that this was a ‘church’ function. What I learned could be applied to many areas of life. Here, I unpack one of those ideas. The speaker said that much of what we are trying to do in organizations today is not working. I can think of a variety of groups and organizations that are having difficulty finding members and maintaining activities and vitality. This is happening in volunteer fire departments, social clubs, and churches. Many non-profit boards struggle to find members and volunteers. Paraphrasing Rev. Voyle, many of the ways we have done things, or how we have done things, don’t work anymore in our present circumstances. That is not news, but…
Connections between awareness and judging?
“Our level of awareness is directly related to our lack of judging.” I have written before about foundation principles from my coaching program. This is one of them. When I first read it, I had to stop and read it again and then ponder its meaning. For me, it did not easily reveal itself. There are three key words in this statement, levels, awareness, and judging. Each requires some scrutiny to ferret out the full import of the statement. First, levels denote that they can be higher or lower, like different water levels in a lake or a river. Further checking on meanings of the term ‘level’, the Cambridge Dictionary, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/level, offers that level means “a particular position, degree, or amount of something, esp. compared with other possible positions, degrees or amounts.” This is useful, because the principle implies that having a higher level (or higher degree) of awareness is…