As I wrote last week, there are many definitions of consciousness, depending on the viewpoint of the person creating the definition. Each definition is based on limited information, and the interpretations are all true…but partial.
Worst day ever? It all depends on how you look at it.
The poem below was written by Brooklyn teenager, Chani Gorkin, for a school assignment. A semi-finalist in a 2014 poetry contest, it was published on Poetry Nation.
As you read this poem, pay attention to the emotions and the energy field it creates. If you can, read it aloud—that will make the effect more palpable. Continue reading
Like the bears in the wintery climate where I live, I’m hibernating.
For fun facts about what happens in the den, check out the Bearsmart Blog to learn six interesting things bears do in the den. Can’t say any of them represent how I expect my next few months to go, so I guess one can stretch an analogy only so far!
For me, my energy will be directed to my inner world…and so you won’t be hearing from me for a while. I need to stop for a reset because I’m swimming in ideas and information, having had an intensive few weeks of engaging in several conferences—online of course—with two more to come.
If you’re curious, they are the Conscious Evolution Summit, The Embodiment Conference, A Magnificent New Normal, Beyond the Veil Summit, Globe Sound Healing Conference, and Carolyn Myss teaching How Your Soul Takes Flight.
Now I need some mental space to metabolize, integrate and synthesize all of it to shape where my life will go from here. In the meantime, here are some favourite posts you might like to revisit or enjoy for the first time.
Video You can Hibernate with Me by Benjamin Scheuer.
Of course, since we are still under distancing rules, this is a metaphorical invitation. See you in the spring!
Right before our eyes, the world has become a wonky place. Unpredictable and unthinkable events have occured. Things we thought were firm and stable aren’t.
Living in uncertainty is hard. It requires us to be flexible, lest we snap under the pressure. Yet the systems of Western culture do nothing to cultivate our inherent flexibility and resilience. Indeed, materialism, competition, and our cultural notion of success all reward a rigid approach to living. And we’ve become so used to living this way that we often don’t realize it’s a cultural meme and not an immutable fact of life.
In uncertain times, we can cling tighter and push harder in hopes of getting things back to the way they were. Or we can change our mindset about how things are meant to work, what is possible, and what’s to be expected in the new circumstances in which we find ourselves through no choice of our own.
As my Tasmanian friend Gill so aptly put it, we have to wobble with the world. She should know. Gill has lived through plenty of wobbles including a broken neck and open heart surgery. Yet she is still here, after 84 years, with an inspiring curiosity and zest for learning and growing. I think it’s fair to say that Gill’s mindset is what made it possible for her to wobble with her world while it lurched along through her share of adverse events.
Nonsense takes us beyond the limitations of logic, into the quantum world where all is possible. It activates a part of us that is not always respected in our modern-day left-brain culture. Oftentimes, this disparagement of the nonsensical is to our detriment.
This is my concluding post on empathy. It’s a subject that has been on my mind a lot as I keep seeing how desperately we need more empathy in this world—and as I’ve become aware that there is room for increasing it in myself.
Last week we heard Simon Sinek speak about empathy in the workplace, and how empathetic leadership is essential for workers to thrive.
Empathy is also related to business in another way—through the output of business, the products and services we buy. The satisfaction we derive from these products and services is greater when the designers put themselves in our shoes before production begins.
That is a common definition of empathy—walking in someone else’s shoes, seeing through their eyes—more formally referred to as perspective-taking.
Industrial design is an example of empathy at work. Continue reading
Experiencing a pandemic has got many of us reflecting on what is working in our world and what isn’t. In essence, it has shone a spotlight on our dysfunctions.
Much of what is wrong (or right) with our systems starts with our collective mindset.
A mindset is a set of assumptions, methods, or notions held by a person or group. It’s a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how we interpret and respond to situations individually and collectively. We become so used to our mindsets that we don’t see that our thinking is fixed in this particular way. To us it’s normal.
If you observe behaviours of yourself and others around you, it’s not difficult to identify mindsets. Here are a few examples of what you might discover…
Empathy is also a mindset, and the subject for today. Continue reading
September!
Back to school. A different proposition in this first year of pandemic adjustments. Wearing masks. Different protocols for routines such as recess and lunch. Or maybe learning at home instead.
However it happens, there is general agreement that education is important. And most of us accept that the way we do education is the way it should be done. But not everyone agrees. Sir Ken Robinson, for one.
