Information Age Update

Annular Eclipse over Hawaii

Since the beginning of 2012, I have had one "opportunity" after another to update electronic equipment.

 First, the lap top screen went blank - able to replace lap top with a larger screen, more gigs, etc. The printer just plain died, so I got one very cheaply that takes 1/2 the ink, scans, and copies, too.

Then my Kindle screen went blank. I opted for Kindle Fire since my touch-screen ipad clone apps were more than a new Kindle Fire.

Then the flip-top cell phone became increasingly more difficult to stay in a hot spot - probably due to the fact I have an obsolete plan. So, I threw caution to the wind and opted for a smart phone - which will cost three times as much a month - but at least I can complete a phone call without having to call back a couple of times - plus keep up with facebook, email, do voice commands, access a GPS, etc. eetc. etc.

I have a really fine camera with telescopic lenses, but it's cumbersome and takes +1nb pix. My  Easyshare decided it doesn't want to record pix to the card any longer, so I now have a new Sony which takes really high quality shots and video recordings and is like 2"x3" x 1/2".

The electric toothbrush wants to hum on its own and the water pick has one attachment left, so I'm opting soon for an updated water pic.

Coffee pot went kafluey, so we pulled out an old one that didn't used to work but does now.

The TVs and the ipod wouldn't dare act up, given that they now know how easily they can be replaced.

Not electronic, but even the glare proof coating on my glasses began to pearlize, occasioning a change in the limited perspective they were allowing!! Getting new lenses only took one hour, instead of the week long wait of past years. A by-product of that change is just that now I can really see again.

All of these occurrences have made me painfully aware of my acquired dependence on electronics and high technology.

  As long as I can see, they all add a richness to communication with the rest of the world. I am grateful for my ability to acquire these gifts of technology.

I can say I can live without them. I can. But, for the time being, why would I do that?

What is your relationship to the gifts of this technological information age we've been experiencing?

Leadership and Me

Jena Guenther and I seriously planning for the 2013 Conference. She was the inspiration for and was the first cochair of the organization  of which I am the current cochair.

A dialogue on different perspectives on the same reality is healthy if there is to be a synthesis of the many disciplines.  The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs (14 lessons), in April 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review by Walter Isaacson lists Steve Jobs' take on what it takes to be a leader. 

Steve Jobs' asserts that a good leader will...

1) Focus,

 2) Simplify, 

3) Take Responsibility End-to-End,

 4) When Behind, Leapfrog,

 5) Put Products Before Profits,

 6) Don't Be a Slave to Focus Groups,

 7) Bend Reality,

 8) Impute,

 9) Push for Perfection,

 10) Tolerate Only "A" Players,

 11) Engage Face-to-Face, 

12) Know Both the Big Picture and Details,

 13) Combine the Humanities with the Sciences,

 14) Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.

Steve Jobs was determined to become very rich while also getting a breakthrough innovation out to the world. This list clearly shows that he loved what he was doing, knowing it was good for the world.

I would have preferred to not be the leader of an organization which is about what the world needs most- or for any other reason. Yet, I find myself in that position and doing a good job at it as well - for the moment anyway.

Learning Steve Jobs take on leadership, occasioned a reflection for me on what I believe it takes to be a good leader. This is my take on effective leadership today:

1). Facilitates the creation of, holds, and protects the consensus,

2) Operates as if a Higher Self is in charge of the community's growth,

3) Inspires participation, celebrating effort and accomplishment,

4) Takes responsibility  in consideration of the whole picture and what is needed really needed, and

5) Focuses on prioritizing goals into a timeline, monitoring and supporting implementation.

I have also learned quickly that in order to be sustained as a leader, it is necessary to say "Yes" to the unique contribution of others, expecting that each of us is intending our highest good, and that we all are regularly falling short of our own performance expectations.  This I would suggest is the most important leadership lesson of all.

If that isn't the final lesson, then the final lesson is that laughter released in abundance is what keeps us all going strong - that with some hearty singing and entering the round dance of life!

What's your take on good leadership today?

Sign post at Songaia Community in Bothell, WA

Aging and Looking Ahead

I am not certain that focusing on "living in the moment" is where it's at for me right now.  I find it rather comfortable to be present in the here and now and do so even when I am not spending time being mindfully aware of this reality.

I have recently become aware of birthdays of people in their 90's who are physically fit, alert, and leading purposeful lives.

A friend of mine, one I have known since I was a child, just turned 80. She is among those healthy, engaged people. She has some age related deterioration physically and mentally, broke her hip recently, and maintains a strict diet to keep her digestive system from interfering with her active life style.

I have been telling myself the story that I will probably not be around much longer, so it would be in my best interests to live in the moment, fully and with great fun.

However, what if I am going to maintain my present health and get to live, given some limitations, for a long time.

Perhaps it behooves me to consider creating a plan for the next 20 years and live each day with that plan in mind.

The big question, then, becomes, "What is worth taking twenty years to move toward at this time of life?"

Reflecting on the Gathering of the Clan

Since our great gathering of the clan in Seattle in December, and a meeting of grandson with grandfather later in the month, there has been a great pause in communication. I suppose this is a natural phenomenon as all stakeholders need time to relish the memory and process this surreal event in which we all participated.

I am accustomed to being around people who are expressive. I am expressive in writing, but in person, I am very guarded. The reason for this, I have decided is that when I have been expressive, it is rarely shared, unless with people who know me well.

There were moments during the gathering of our clan when I wanted to burst with joy and other times when I wanted to have a conversation. I sensed everyone was experiencing joy, but conversation remained superficial

 On one of our evenings together, I was just beginning to relax with this group. One remark did me in with its exclusionary tone.

But, that was my problem. We were all finding our ways into and around this drama of bonding. My problem was in not being able to other than take it personally at the time.

I am experiencing a sense that everyone present has returned to some semblance of a normal life and is getting on with our lives, remembering our gathering as significant, yet no longer overwhelming.

All of us have grown up in a world where feelings are supposed to be discounted, with no place in inter-relationships. This is a world in which the mark of a mature adult is one who doesn't show or maybe even feel feelings.

Fortunately the world is changing. Emotions are being acknowledged, expressed, processed, shared.

When I was young, I lost my temper when I was angry. I soon learned that it changed nothing and I didn't like who I was as a result. So, I adapted a "habit" of ignoring that which angered me. My favorite saying was from Aunt Bea who sat on my interior council ever reminding me that "God meant something good to come out of everything.".

This may be true of course, but there are times when it is good to get angry - good because anger is the feeling being experienced.   Why stuff it down?

For too many years - a half of a century in fact - I stuffed it down along with deep regret. Ignoring real feelings, repressing them, leaving them lie dormant, effected and affected every decision I made. I only share this much because it is relevant as I reflect on the gathering of this clan.

I came close to almost ignoring my feelings as they came up during the gathering, falling into the old pattern. I see myself almost as a zombie during that time. When the  tears of anger welled up, I could no longer hold them back.  Tears gushed all through the night. In the morning, I was finished. What I had been experiencing through the night was over and I was ready to feel good.

Nothing much had changed in the group dynamics, but I was feeling good, and I was authentically feeling. I am assuming that the process was as it was and that journey to being able to feel no matter what the response, was an almost fifty year breakthrough for me.

I don't have to stuff anything down anymore. Doors are opened wide. Connections have been made. Everyone knows each other and where to find each other now.

I have a feeling of being alone, but that is because I am alone really -not to be confused with the opposite of Oneness which I am also feeling.

I also have a feeling of completion because what I wanted most came to pass and is now a new take on the past.

I affirm the totality of  events and their accompanying feelings of this past two years: the reunion with my daughter, Caroline; meeting her children, Paige and Justin; attending the wedding of my first granddaughter, Kathleen, whose life I was not aware of before this;  meeting Caroline's parents, Paula and James; spending time with both Paige and Justin; Justin spending time with my sons, Rob, Russ, and Randy and grandson. Wilder; shopping and talking on the phone and pix on facebook and in emails; and the gathering of the clan in Seattle where Caroline met her natural father, Kurt, and his son. Raoul, and son's wife, Jenn; to learn of Kurt's daughter and passing of his wife.

 It is wonderful to learn what they are doing from time to time since then and to hear of possible connecting in the future.

In my heart, there is still a longing to be together, but this habitual pattern will fade away as the fullness of these past years slowly replaces that with a peaceful dance.