In this brand-spanking-new millennium, coaching appears to have replaced mentoring. There are life coaches, team coaches, success coaches, executive coaches. Name your profession, there’s a coach. Fundraising even has it’s fair share of mentors for hire. And when it comes to raising money for a good cause, maybe this is the model for change-management that we’ve all been looking for. Read about our fundraising coach right here.
You know what time is it, right? Time for the burning bowl. Time to let go of what needs loosening, what’s used up, what’s outlasted its usefullness. Time to embrace the new, be aspirational, make a date with the Divine Wow. If you need some help getting started, maybe you can begin with this vid. So long 2014, it was an amazing year!
Most of us have fallen in love with Jamie and Clare. In her own words, Diana Gabaldon talks about her process. It’s priceless. Enjoy . . .and let us know what you think!
Some books are slightly disturbing and others are downright chilling. Here’s a book to take to bed with you when you’re sure you’re not being watched.
Sherman Alexie is one of the great literary voices of our generation. How lucky are we?
Once, I belonged to an amazing clutch of writers who met every week to explore writing through timed exercises. It was one of the best writing experiences I ever had, and it did more to develop my skills as a writer than almost anything I’ve done since. Twenty years later, I still miss meeting with that group of women. We shared a very important time, you might even say a sacred time, two hours each week, supporting one another and learning to develop our writing voices. Few things were allowed to interfere with our commitment to meet. We gathered faithfully each Friday at an outdoor table at the Bear Street Cafe in Orange County, California, and parked our individual cares at the door in order to be fully present and nakedly honest during our joumaling session. We wrote furiously, read aloud with quaking voices, listened respectfully, and grew as writers.
Now that I live in Northern California, I maintain virtual relationships with several of these fabulous women, and we see each other when we can. But the thing that remains one of the greatest gifts of my life is that even though whatwe mainly have in common is our passion for writing –no matter what, we support each other. We celebrate each others’ successes, and provide insightful comments to help make each other’s work the best it can be. Writing groups are an excellent way to develop as a writer -you can find or form a group by taking classes, getting to know other writers, and then meeting outside of the classroom setting to give yourself more honest writing time.
Back in the day when we met at Bear Street, we maintained a strict routine that went something like this:
One by one, the words were selected from the cup, and we wrote timed exercises based on them. After the time was up, we went around the table and read our work. This wasn’t easy at first, but our group was a safe place to put it out there. One unbreakable rule was that under no circumstances, could we comment on what we wrote -neither the writer not the listeners were allowed to comment. But let me tell you something: our writing got stronger and better and more deeply creative by just listening to each other. I think we secretly tried to out-compose each other, but the result was that we pushed each other to spiraling heights of creativity without so much as one well-intended criticism. It was amazing and illuminating, and a huge lesson in the art of paying attention.
So, dear writer, waht are you paying precious attention to? Where lies your genius? Leave a comment with a single word. What is it you find to write about — in a completly original way? Ooh. Do tell.
Living green can be an intensely personal decision. . .or it can gain such momentum socially that it actually moves into legislation. The state of California is considering oulawing plastic bags. It’s become a status symbol to be seen toting your own canvas or other upcycled bag into the store, and why not? As consumers we have the choice to affect not just our own small corner of the world, but the entire planet. Is that hubris? It is what it is.
Have you ever noticed how meetings run your life? Sometimes it seems that meetings have a life of their own and libraries of books have been written on the subject. But what if you had a crystal ball? Would that change how you show up at your meetings?
When the world you know spins out of control and you’re the adult in the house and therefore supposed to know what to do and nothing makes sense anymore and by the way love is never easy; then the wife you so love dies before the marriage counseling ends? Yeah, she might have wanted to opt out. But other than that? It’s your ordinary midlife crisis. Dearest literary friend you will want to read this one.
No, really. Climate change is showing up in amazing ways. Hawaii gets slammed with not one but two hurricanes. Permafrost is melting, glaciers are vanishing, craters are appearing across the formerly frozen tundra. If weird science doesn’t frighten you, and evolution is your friend, you will want to read what Scientific American has to say about all this crazy business.
Get ready for an adventure, people!
persephone's step-sisters 