Posts tagged as:

transformative practice

My First Four Hour Sleuthing To “Hunt” Bone Fish

July 6, 2010

After my quick casting lesson we were off. Off quietly walking in calf to knee deep water watching for the glint of bone fish fins. The surroundings were spectacular. Large rock outcroppings into the water. Little cul-de-sacs where water would slowly and gently wash in and out. Gorgeous crystal clear water, through which the brilliant sun beamed to the sand floor.

The setting was incredible, the experience? Well….

We hadn’t been walking, well sleuthing quietly is more like what we were doing, for no more than 15 minutes when Clint held his hand up. You know a kind of military navy seals, “stop, silence, enemy ahead, prepare yourself.” Quietly he turned to me and semi-whispered, “do you see those fins over there, those thin silvery fins just above the water line reflecting the sun?” Squinting, like it would help me see better, I began scanning the water line about the area Clint was pointing. “uhhhh….” before I could say yes or no Clint said, “right over there…see them…right there!” Well what apparently wasn’t obvious to Clint was that I WAS NOT seeing these fish fins. He cast got a nibble but nothing more.

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The Tree Doesn’t Come from the Seed

May 12, 2010

David Bohm the great quantum physicist, said “the tree doesn’t come from the seed. The seed is an aperture that organizes the processes of growth through which the tree finally emerges.”

When people come together whether that is in real time and space or cyberspace, there is an invisible architecture and shape in those relationships. That invisible architecture is called the social field, and it is comprised of visible and external “what we say and do with each” as well as the invisible and internal origins of those actions. How we act and interact, learn and unlearn, see and reveal, grow and transform is determined by how that social field is sourced by our interior life and the content of the conversation. The social field is formed by some aperture that organizes how those interactions occur.

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Acceptance, Surrender and Synchronicity

January 18, 2010

Acceptance of the grace and mystery of life means that because of our practice of letting go the core posture of our soul and pattern of our life is letting go….letting go of the need to make every thing fit, cohere. We just need to surrender to what arises and allow the mystery and grace of life to come to us uncensored and unedited

When I say surrender what do I mean?

In fact coming from the old Covey school of thought concerning goal setting, 5 year personal planning, life goal achievement the idea of surrender might seem oxymoronic.

This is a move from planning to preparedness.

Surrender is radical acceptance of our lives just as they are, it is the active turning of the mind from willfulness (resisting or trying to change what is) to willingness, (meeting what is or accepting life on life’s terms)

THIS DOESN’T imply becoming passive or condoning an unacceptable situation; instead radical acceptance is an active engagement with whatever is happening in the moment.

Radical acceptance is precisely what decreases pain. Our ability to receive and accept instead of fight and resist is what decreases pain and discomfort.

I not only read about this a lot in the larger wisdom traditions but have experienced this first hand.

When I try to control or fight circumstances in relationships or in certain church setting I work that very resistance is precisely what heightens pain and angst.

Furthermore it is in the mystery the parts that don’t initially makes sense that often God is up to something that we couldn’t see before, hadn’t planned or didn’t anticipate.

SYNCHRONICITY may be one of the greatest by products of accepting what is arising. One of the most important leadership books I have read of the several hundred on my shelf and the one I go back to over and over again is Synchronicity by Joe Jaworski. First used by Carl Jung, Synchronicity is serendipity with the “universe behind it.” In Christian language…God is involved in what might look like a coincidence.

What if we remained just as connected to the adventure of mystery and the questions of life as we did the answer seeking we are so driven by and end up in the process with these incredibly synchronicity moments?

My guess is this too is a function at some level of years and maturity.

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Mystery, Unknown and Unpredictable.

January 14, 2010

Every once in a while a quick summary….for those that have been following skip to the “NEW MATERIAL” header half way down

transformation means a change in how you see the world and a shift in how you see yourself. Not just a shift in your point of view but a whole different perception what of what is possible.

DEFINITION- ongoing and integrated shifts in the way we see and make meaning of ourselves God others and the world.

Portals to Transformation

1 DEEP PERSONAL PAIN
jars us out of autopilot and causes us to ask deep questions and question the way things are supposed to be

2. Noetic Experiences…

3. The Right Resources, teacher, situations come on the scene

Choices that Cultivate Possible Transformative Moments – the gardeners metaphor we developed

1. Gardeners accommodate new experiences and resist assimilating them.
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Practice Time…

December 16, 2009

The last post we gave you the opportunity to review attention and intention posts and just briefly mentioned repetition. These three key legs are what support a good practice.

Some people balk at this work practice but let me tell you why we use it. Jesus as an example had a practice of pulling away from the crowds and heading to the mountains, desert or water. This practice was for apparently a number of things… but what is important is that the Gospels make clear this rhythm of “awayness” funded him being in a different way. In other words awayness changed his withness. Practice patterns fund life patterns. Practice enables us to do through training what we simply can’t accomplish through trying.
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Changing the Self Conversation

November 30, 2009

There are any number of ways to train our awareness which is why we are so big on centering prayer and the sources that can fund that practice like John Cassian’s Conferences, The Cloud of Unknowing, St Bonaventure’s Soul’s Journey to God, Thomas Keating’s work, Cynthia Borgeault, and Murchadh O’Madagain (Bourgeault’s Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening and O’Madagain’s Centering Prayer and the Healing of the Unconcious are the two best places to start if you are new to the practice.)
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Gratefulness…Pulling the Past into the Present Moment

November 26, 2009

One of the most powerful spiritual mentoring times I have experienced was when I got to spend a week retreat where David Steindl-Rast was present. I only had a couple hour long sessions with him for spiritual direction, but his input has been indelible.

His simple message is that gratefulness as a pattern and practice is life transforming. That is it. Nothing deeper, nothing more insightful.DSR

His coaching to me… “Ron gratefulness is always a reflection on something, someone, some event, and usually something transformative. The way we keep that memory transformative and those events potent is for gratefulness to bring them into the present. This is the big loss in our times. We don’t keep bringing important moments from the past forward.”

Today is a day designed for just this… pull the past into the present. Practice gratefulness. For some more help from Father David take a look here.

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If it isn’t information “in”…then what is it?

November 19, 2009

Transformation – a shift in the way we see and make meaning of ourselves, others and the world. I keep saying this but will again, this is different than a changed point of view or of being open to others opinions.

intelligence

This definition requires us to include meaning making as part of our formational definition. The way a 7 year old makes sense of the world is different than a 15 year olds which is different still at 21 years old. We consider these shift crucial to health and well being. If a 15 or 21 year old still thought there were boogey monsters under their bed like they did at 5 we would consider something wrong. [read more...]

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