Collective feedback: how to disclose what everyone is talking about

With regards to the way in which the ABCD is used or not supposed to be used....or how the FSSD is not the SSD framework, or that there is not an SSD package? Or that SSD is more general and what we have learned is a framework? Questions, conversations arise- and there is some miscommunication and feelings of animosity towards the way information feels cryptic or slightly secretive- or not wholly sure of itself? How do we go out into the world and share what has been learned without being fearful of misrepresentation? And with uncertainties flowing throughout- how might one leave the program feeling confident, feeling like a contribution has come from the growing pains of the program? How many will recommend the program now? Is this somehow related to the confusion over these issues?

What is the best way to disclose information that everyone seems to be talking about? How can top management best receive this information to be able to consider its importance and faciliate participation from those who are feeling violated, uneasy, fearful, or angry? What if feedback came from one representative, and the thoughts of the collective were distilled in a clear way to be shared... Is this not practicing transparency? Or is this self-organization? Are the givers of the feedback then disconnected- at which point they turn responsibility over to one? Is it better that each individual share? Is this cumbersome- does each individual need support of his/her fellows to feel that their opinion is valid? What is the vision of success for the group? Why do they want to be heard? Is it that they want to be understood or are they looking to prevent the same from happening to others... or to themselves in the future? What is the delay involved? And how many assumptions are underlying each persons thoughts and opinions? How is it framed in a way that is not blame?

10 Dimensions to wrap your mind around

Armadillo medicine and thoughts become things

Drawing from the wisdom of elders from ancients tradions, like that of the Mayan, Yaqui, Aztec, and the native peoples of the Cherokee, Lakota, Seneca, Chotaw, and Cheyanne tribes, David Carsona and Jamie Sams, shamans and healers, have devised a deck of cards that seeks to share the lessons of the animal kingdom and reconect us with the natural world. They accompany a book entitled Medicine Cards
In better understanding what thousands of years of ancient peoples have learnt from all of their relations- the four-legged, the winged ones, the finned ones- we can open the doorway to a more connected awareness and oneness with all life. The medicine cards help guide us on the path- towards realizing our true selves. Like the Tarot tradition, the cards may be drawn and spread as a map of challenges and opportunities. Likewise, any way one wishes to make use of the teachings is equally valuable. Sometimes, I draw a card in the morning, to spark my connection with the universal oneness and guide the day's journey in a conscious and learningful way. Today, the shuffle unveiled the Armadillo card.
Armadillo gives us the power to set boundaries for ourselves, like the protective hard shell it wears on its back. This is not to be taken in a paranoid, distrustful way, rather with Armadillo medicine you can prevent others from invading your sacred space and allowing others to cloud your core purpose or values. This is helpful for letting misguided words- that appear as insults to roll right off you. Likewise, the boundaries allow you to be true to yourself inorder to best express your unique gifts. The medicine suggests drawing a circle - and inside the circle, writing what you wish you life to be, what you want, what you enjoy, what you connect with, what you are striving for. I might add- what you are grateful for. Another way might be to take a stick and draw a big one in the sand- and dance inside, all the while- focused on your unique vision. This is especially powerful in the the shifting paradigm of the quantum world and fostering the Power of Attraction where thoughts become things (Mike Dooley). Margaret Wheatley, author of Leadership and the New Science, also speaks of the Great attractor and the creative tension that exists when a vision of succcess in set forth and life is lived in tow of the vision.
Something to learn from in the social organization of the armadillo clan- especially as interdependence is better understood, especially from a subsitence level, and and natural resources must be shared for the benefit of all. Armadillos build dens uderground to sleep in. They will often share their dens with other armadillos as well as with other animals, such as skunks, rabbits, and oppossums. Here is an overview list of what each animal represents in the broad sense, although, like much of our language, there is much meaning behind each word and its ability to connect us to the world.
Eagle Spirit), Hawk (Messenger), Elk (Stamina), Deer (Gentleness),
Bear (Introspection), Snake (Transmutation), Skunk (Reputation),
Otter (Woman Medicine), Butterfly (Transformation),
Turtle (Mother Earth), Moose (Self-Esteem), Porcupine (Innocence),
Coyote (Trickster), Dog (Loyalty), Wolf (Teacher), Raven (Magic),
Mountain Lion (Leadership), Lynx (Secrets), Buffalo (Prayer & Abundance),Mouse (Scrutiny), Owl (Deception), Beaver (Builder), Opossum, (Diversion) Crow (Law), Fox (Camouflage), Squirrel (Gathering), Dragonfly, (Illusion) Armadillo (Boundaries), Badger (Aggressiveness), Rabbit (Fear), Turkey (Give-Away), Ant (Patience), Weasel (Stealth), Grouse (Sacred Spiral), Horse (Power), Lizard (Dreaming), Antelope (Action), Frog (Cleansing), Swan (Grace), Dolphin (Manna),Whale (Record Keeper), Bat (Rebirth), Spider (Weaving), Hummingbird (Joy),Blue Heron (Self-Reflection), Raccoon (Generous Protector),Prairie Dog (Retreat), Wild Boar (Confrontation),Salmon (Wisdom/Inner Knowing), Alligator (Integration),Jaguar (Integrity/Impeccability), Black Panther (Embracing the Unknown)

Osho Dynamic Meditation

Week 2 of Osho. The journey continues. We did a five day session two weeks ago and return again this week. Some phrases that describe the last journey: spiritual-emotional-physical release, clenching, pounding, shaking, mental-phyiscal challenge, euphoria, anger, fear, pain is sensation, clarity, exhaustion, flow, imagination, butterfly being, laughter, energetic vibration spewing from forearms and hands, unearthing the shadow self, accepting and letting go, playing.

Osho Dynamic Meditation
Dynamic Meditation lasts one hour and is in five stages. It can be done alone, and will be even more powerful if it is done with others. It is an individual experience so you should remain oblivious of others around you and keep your eyes closed throughout, preferably using a blindfold. It is best to have an empty stomach and wear loose, comfortable clothing. The music in each section carries the section and serves as a guide for the experience.

“This is a meditation in which you have to be continuously alert, conscious, aware, whatsoever you do. Remain a witness. Don’t get lost. While you are breathing you can forget. You can become one with the breathing so much that you can forget the witness. But then you miss the point.

“Breathe as fast as possible, as deep as possible; bring your total energy to it but still remain a witness. Observe what is happening as if you are just a spectator, as if the whole thing is happening to somebody else, as if the whole thing is happening in the body and the consciousness is just centered and looking.

“This witnessing has to be carried in all the three steps. And when everything stops, and in the fourth step you have become completely inactive, frozen, then this alertness will come to its

First Stage: 10 minutes

Breathe chaotically through the nose, concentrating always on exhalation. The body will take care of the inhalation. The breath should move deeply into the lungs. Be as fast as you can in your breathing, making sure the breathing stays deep. Do this as fast and as hard as you possibly can – and then a little harder, until you literally become the breathing. Use your natural body movements to help you to build up your energy. Feel it building up, but don’t let go during the first stage.

Second Stage: 10 minutes

Explode! Express everything that needs to be thrown out. Go totally mad. Scream, shout, cry, jump, shake, dance, sing, laugh; throw yourself around. Hold nothing back; keep your whole body moving. A little acting often helps to get you started. Never allow your mind to interfere with what is happening. Be total, be whole hearted.

Third Stage: 10 minutes
With raised arms, jump up and down shouting the mantra, “Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!” as deeply as possible. Each time you land, on the flats of your feet, let the sound hammer deep into the sex center. Give all you have; exhaust yourself totally.

Fourth Stage

Stop! Freeze wherever you are, in whatever position you find yourself. Don’t arrange the body in any way. A cough, a movement – anything will dissipate the energy flow and the effort will be lost. Be a witness to everything that is happening to you.

Fifth Stage: 15 minutes

Celebrate through dance, expressing your gratitude towards the whole. Carry your happiness with you throughout the day.

Climate Change Movie

Strategies for Motivating Transformation

I've checked into Alan Atkisson some more. Haven't yet read his book, although Sean has...here's a review
"Believing Cassandra is really interesting, clarifying and inspiring. Read it and you'll not only know how to think sustainability and do sustainability—you'll know how to dance, sing and laugh it as well. At the same time, the ideas are dead serious—and I mean dead. If we don't get it right, this sustainability thing, much will die in our clumsy human hands. Alan AtKisson gives us tools to understand where we are, where we're headed and how to change. What could be better—an important book that's a great read."
—Vicki Robin, co-author of Your Money or Your Life

In Believing Cassandra, titled after Cassandra, the beautiful daughter of Priam, the last king of Troy, Apollo gifted her the ability to see the future. When she refused his special favors, he cursed her gift, so no one would believe her prophecies. The Greek myth mirrors what environmentalists have been sadly up against since at least 1972, with Donella Meadow's book Beyond Limits, and the 30-year updated version Limits to Growth in which the authors poignantly explain, with a special equation, that its not feasibly possible to survive at this pace of consumption and we cannot continue using resources at the current rates. The premise, here, is believe Cassandra!
Well, now that we believe Cassandra-come on with The Great Global Warming Swindle people- Bleak, maybe. Choice, maybe not- might as well be on the party boat if you catch my drift. Get out there, and be a feverish force of change and positivity.

3 Strategies for motivating transformation
Promote the new, critique the old, and facilitate the switch
1. Promote the new: Brainstorm the percieved value of the new way. Explicitly. Blog it, mindmap it, list it, write a song, draw it. whatever you're into. Perceived here means what is meaningful to you, not what you're supposed to feel or supposed to appreciate. It may look like a systems map where the effects ripple throughout other parts of your life. Another lens to run the new idea, or change you want to make through is Max-Neef's 9 Basic Needs. They are protection, subsistence, identity, affection, understanding, participation, idleness, creativity, and freedom per Max Neef. How well does is satisfy these? My friend Georges Dyer expliains it a bit more here- 9 Universal Needs.
2. critique the old: Then you do the same for the 'perceived' value of the old way.
3. perceived cost of the change: List, mindmap - dig down and pull out what makes us squirm, emotionally, financially...At what espense is it to you to change?
4. Substract the value of the old way from the value of the new way and hopefully its greater than the perceived cost of change. Its not so much about hard numbers, rather if you believe in the benefit.
5. facilitate the switch and make it easy to change the behavior, so you lower the perceived cost to zero and if you're crafty the costs removed- free up space for other satisfiers, clean out the closets so to speak. Open up to opportunity.

Five filters to run the idea or innovation through:
1. Relative advantage- How do the benefits weigh agaist the costs?
2. Complexity- How difficult is the concept to understand
3. Trialabiliy- Can it be tried, scrutinized, and then returned, or droppped?
4. Observability- Are the results observable? Is there appropriate feedback? or lots of delay?
5. Compatibility-is it compatible with your values and your vision of a successful future?

This method can apply to something small, like shifting to organics- something personal, like wanting to run more, or to a big innovation or decision, like changing a job...any level. I'll let you know how it goes.

Shashuka Dinner

Sunday Dinner at Dan Hendry's Mihal and Yali shared a a traditional Israeli dish, eggs, peppers, onions, garlic, homemade pita, tahini & eggplant dip

In Lund for Yali's art opening 'Neglect'

Yali presented his photogrpahic work entitled Neglect in Lund. The pictures were taken in Israel, Yali's homeland, and were representative of the spirit that endures in neglect.

Vegan Chocolate Cake will make you happy fast

The digits: 5 minutes to prepare, 25 to bake. 375F. Now go. like the wind.
Buy organic, fairtrade and local if possible...and run over to the neighbors house for whatever you're missing. Good cake makes good neighbors. This is a Moosewood Restaurant recipe.
1-1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar (raw or sucanet preferred)
1/2 cup vegetable oil*
1 cup cold water or brewed coffee
2 tsps pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp vinegar (Yes, vinegar)
Be creative: subsitute honey for sugar, baking poweder for soda, butter for oil...whatever
1. Sift together the dry goods right in the pan (non-greased) you'll bake in. less dishes.
2. In a bowl, add the water (or coffee), and vanilla. Slowly now, pour the liquid ingredients into the baking pan and mix the batter
3. When the batter is smooth, add the vinegar and stir quickly. There will be pale swirls (and some bubbling) in the batter where the baking soda and vinegar are reacting. Stir just until the vinegar is evenly distributed throughout the batter (the color becomes more consistent throughout). Get 'er in the oven now. Check in 20 minues. knife test. it. Add frosting. I sprinked cinnamon and sugar on some yogurt.

The NEWS

World Changing: Another world is here
This is my goto site at the moment.
Grist
Grist feels more mainstream and throws in the satire

Alan Atkisson: change agent

Alan Atkisson's sustainability service, from what I can gather thus far, incorporates SSD, some of what The Natural Step promotes..and focuses on process and organizational learning. He seems to provide lots of good process tools, found in the Accelerator toolkit. My housemate, Sean met him last week at a conference in Spain on sustainability and just finished his book, Believing Cassandra: An Optimist Looks at a Pessimist's World. I'm interested to explore his methods more.

Facilitating Emergence

Chris Corrigan
This is a link to his website.

Back in the beginning of the year we practiced open space technology and I blogged it. Chris Corrigan is a dialogue/ co-creation facilatator. He practices the art of rock balancing and there's 40 ways to mediatate on his blog. He got Thoreau in there too and all these links about unschooling. good stuff. These are seeds for my present and future...

Chris says..
"I am a facilitator of conversation in the service of emergence. My business is supporting invitation: the invitation to collaborate, to organize, to find one another and make a difference in our communities, organizations and lives. In a changing and complex world, there are no answers, there is no certainty. Leadership and questions are everywhere. We are called to be in active engagement with the world around us, to make sense of things we are seeing and to act on our visions and ideas for the good and benefit of all."

How to Disappear and get your community off the radar

Pass this around. Its good ol' fashioned pen and ink.

by Pete Leki
HOW TO DISAPPEAR

Especially fun for Walmart neysayers
and you cats that have faith in a sustainable future

Being Sticky

Three thoughts:
1.Meet people where they are at and make the knowledge you hold about climate change tangible, concrete and relevant

2. Seek to REGENERATE.

3. We are not at WAR with Climate Change. We have been invited to heal and to envision a harmonic future. This is an honor.
best stated... "The true joy of life is being used for a purpose you consider a mighty one-the being a force of nature rather than a feverish, selfish cold of ailments and greivances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy." uknown


When we utter the big scary words, CLIMATE CHANGE...duhn dhuh dhone... it invokes this bigger than thou feeling. It's too big for little 'ol me to deal with. "I mean, I would really love to help, but where would I start?" There are some tricks to the trade as they say, heuristics, rules of thumb for dancing with this one. When the conversation bubbles to the big CC. You may be encountered with feelings of despair, or apathy, or plain and honest. "I can't wrap my head around this. I don't know what to do".

If you've spent years distilling the nuances of the environmental movement, from Rachel Carson to Biosphere II to Gore and the big unveiling of "oh man are we f-cked", we must be mindful of what and how we share our understanding. You will ultimately effect the motivation and well-being of the people involved. If we are to help them see the world with a new set of eyes, we cannot give them the full unabridged manual, the sombering truths, the hard facts, the species count and say. Here you go. Get to it. This will not work.

1. We need to begin with an understanding of where the other is at.

What are they passionate about?
What do they understand about CC, about sustainability?
How does it make them feel?

Because CC and sustainability effects everything, you can find a way to connect. This is a challenge.. and asks you to be creative and find ways to have meaningful conversations about a topic that otherwise may be most diligently avoided at all costs.

2. Conversations need to be simple. It is not about winning. It is about honoring the other.

You need to phrase things in a way that does not seek to put your conversation partner into the depths of scientific darkness. Do not try to dazzle them with the "I know everything attitude" and "You subsequently know nothing". In fact is is you that has everything to gain from understanding this other person's perspective. You undermine your ability to be effective if you believe and materialize an air about you that you know it all. This, then is a blunder for your own development. Remember you seek to regenerate yourself as much as the other. The superiority, inferiority game. Save it. This won't work for either you or them. period. Your value is not won, it is shown through your ability to understand the other persons level of knowledge and match them there. Your value is in honoring the diversity and value in the other, acknowledging it and empowering them to share their love, their talent with others in a meaningful way in a journey towards restoration.

-Use concrete examples that speak to local areas.
-Don't just speak with big global statistics, yes there is a time for this, when we are assessing a high level systems perspective, and leave it there.
-Speak to people in a manner that is tangible, relevant, and concrete.
-Share a story, and at that, share a success.

3. Envisioning where we want to be. Adapt your mindset.
Our new way of seeing the world does not dwell on past failures or drill so deeply into one idea that all other parts of the system are ignored. Instead, we dwell with passionate fervor on what we want to create, of what we want to heal or restore. We dwell on the vision of success of sorting out this... CLIMATE CHANGE thing with a new mindset. It is not a beast that we fear. And if we see it this way, we will continue the war-like behavior that perpetuates. The war of Drugs, The War on Terror, The War on Iraq.

Be not mistaken. THis is not A WAR on CLIMATE CHANGE. This is a partnership with earth to try harder at peace. Earth has spoken. We have heard her cries. Now that we hear, now that we know, we can take her hand and heal.

Costa Rica Aims to Become First "Carbon Neutral" Country

Costa Rica Aims to Become First "Carbon Neutral" Country
WorldChanging Team
March 14, 2007 11:51 AM


The Costa Rican government is developing plans to begin offsetting all of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions, the news service La Nación reported on February 21. Environment and Energy Minister Roberto Dobles said Costa Rica aims to reach this goal using budgeting, laws, and incentives, including measures to promote biofuels, hybrid vehicles, and clean energy. Another key component of the national strategy will be a “C-Neutral” label to certify that tourism and certain industrial practices mitigate all of the carbon dioxide they emit.

Under the new certification system, tourists and businesses will be charged a voluntary “tax” to offset their carbon emissions, with one ton of carbon valued at $10, according to La Nación. The money will be used to fund conservation, reforestation, and research in protected areas. To augment the development of C-Neutral, the country is cultivating a carbon certificate market that aims to not only boost carbon capture and storage in the nation’s forests, but also help maintain their scenic beauty.

In 2002, Costa Rica’s carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels totaled 5.8 million metric tons, according to the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, ranking it 108th in the world. Delegates at a recent United Nations meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, noted that they were watching Costa Rica’s initiative and hope to replicate it in other regions.