BeautyDialogues

Tuning

The other day I was having another mind-blowing conversation with Michael Jones where we were discussing being in tune with your audience. As a pianist, there is a quite literal aspect to Michael's ability to 'tune in' to his audience, but even though the required skill is indeed musical in a very real sense, the instrument I'm interested in learning how to play is less visible. It's more like another octave of my own body & psyche - scales I can reach and sound through my heart and mind and voice.

Challenge

I just started a class in digital photography out at DVC (a local college which has a GREAT multi-media department) with a brilliant teacher/artist-photographer, Jessamyn Lovell.

I'd been blissfully clicking away using my fancy SLR's semi-automatic mode, but this week after only two classes Jessie cut us off from such simple pleasures, cold-turkey. She said it's time to "take the training wheels off" and banned us from using anything but manual mode from now on.

Social Media Club

Last night I had the pleasure of being part of the first San Francisco Social Media Club, which was produced by Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells and is part of a wave taking place in cities all over the world. Chris had asked the World Café to partner with him in creating an atmosphere of collaborative dialogue, and the result was subtly different than any other techie-oriented event I've ever attended.

Spark to the Fire

We just finished another amazing Thought Leader Gathering on Friday, produced by the west coast Restoring Wholeness team of Heartland Circle, Resonance and myself - this one was held in San Francisco, in the Golden Gate Officer's Club at the Presidio.

Our conversation starter (so called because rather than a keynote speaker or presenter, their words are truly a spark to fire the group conversation) was Eamonn Kelly, CEO of the Global Business Network.

MacWorld

The fun for me at MacWorld this year wasn't really the cool new tools - although there were some pretty cool new tools being shown, notably the new iPhone, Leopard and Adobe's Creative Suite3 (none of which are being shipped for months, which I'm afraid kind of takes the edge off the excitement factor for me. Also, the new iPhone is only 8G - what are they THINKING?!!!).

Trees

I've been appreciating trees - our 'ent' brethren - a lot lately. Perhaps it's because of my recent time on the north shore of Lake Superior, where I met quite a few of them, or their part in the seasonal tableau of pagan beauty, but I'm very aware of their presence right now. Their grace and solidity; their sober vitality - I'm comforted by them.

Maybe that's why I am so jarred when I see the abandoned Christmas trees start to show up on the side of the road & in empty lots. I shouldn't be surprised - it's the time of the year & no doubt there'll be more of them. But I can't help but see them as carelessly discarded bodies, homeless corpses ignobly thrown on the heap. I'd rather they were given a proper burial in the recycling chippie and sent back to the soil with a little dignity... if only in gratitude for their having blessed our homes with the smell of the wild.

Restoring Wholeness in Lake Superior

This week I'm in a ceremonial retreat in a cottage on the shores of Lake Superior with some dear friends and colleagues. We are engaged in an emergent endeavor that has brought us together several times over the last year to contemplate the sacred task of restoring wholeness in the world.

The first part of this task is of course to restore wholeness in ourselves, and spending these days and nights cradled in the rhythm of nature feels like a crucial step in that process for me. I'm reminded that waking each morning to the sunrise is an amazing restorative, completely free and available to all...