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"See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls." -Mother Teresa
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photo: colors for you, FB the bright warm sun is welcome today... "See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls." -Mother Teresa
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I like book people! they are Change-the-World people! New book from my friend MeiMei Fox, NY Times Bestselling Author, about a remarkable and extraordinary life: Bend, Not Break: A Life in Two Worlds By Ping Fu, MeiMei Fox “Bamboo is flexible, bending with the wind but never breaking, capable of adapting to any circumstance. It suggests resilience, meaning that we have the ability to bounce back even from the most difficult times. . . . Your ability to thrive depends, in the end, on your attitude to your life circumstances. Take everything in stride with grace, putting forth energy when it is needed, yet always staying calm inwardly.” —Ping Fu’s “Shanghai Papa” Ping Fu knows what it’s like to be a child soldier, a factory worker, and a political prisoner. To be beaten and raped for the crime of being born into a well-educated family. To be deported with barely enough money for a plane ticket to a bewildering new land. To start all over, without family or friends, as a maid, waitress, and student. Ping Fu also knows what it’s like to be a pioneering software programmer, an innovator, a CEO, and Inc. magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year. To be a friend and mentor to some of the best-known names in technology. To build some of the coolest new products in the world. To give speeches that inspire huge crowds. To meet and advise the president of the United States. It sounds too unbelievable for fiction, but this is the true story of a life in two worlds. click on book image to order About MeiMei Fox MeiMei contributes a weekly column to the Huffington Post called “The Life Out Loud.” "Fan her" to get email updates of lastest blog posts! MeiMei has over 10 years of experience as a professional author, co-author, ghostwriter, and editor of numerous non-fiction books and blogs on health, spirituality and psychology including:
co-authoring the short films. All can be viewed at: www.alexandracousteau.org. Creativity Against the Odds by Sherry Cothran, guest blogger #innovation #creativity #spirit1/25/2013 I was recently asked to reflect upon my thoughts on the practice of creativity in the religious institution for a group of students at Vanderbilt Divinity…. My first thought as I collect these images below is that over the period of my life, it’s a practice that I just resolve to face down rather than run from. Probably I am motivated by the fear that I might die if I don’t let the beauty inside come to life. I don’t mean death in the literal sense, but a sort of death of soul, of spirit, of truthfulness. Calling into any kind of spiritual or contemplative life is a call to cultivate creativity in the world against the odds, to choose to live or die. It’s hard, that’s for sure. Mostly it’s hard to give myself permission to cultivate spirit when so many other things need to be done on a daily basis. So much needs saving around here; souls, lives, bellies, children, youth, homeless, did I say hungry children? The building needs attention, reports must be filed, plans must be made for our survival, we must advertise more, organize more, have stunning worship services that cut to the core of who we are, we must invite more, we must push everyone to attend everything because how else will we convince the world that we are a thriving church? These are the pressures that weigh on the habitat of the pastor, these are just one facet, however, there is also study, preaching, care, community presence and sometimes mopping the floor and cleaning up. Being creative in the church is paying attention to the fact that above all of this administration and often through this very administration, people need inspiration, people need to believe in something more than success. Cultivating creativity is an invitation for the holy to live and breathe anywhere. Being creative in the religious institution is sort of like being an animal who senses somehow that the boundaries of her habitat are closing in. We become aware of the delicate balance of the creative ecosystem, begin to emerge out of it to bring awareness to others and find ourselves crushed by either meeting with confusion or apathy or plain out contempt. Just beyond the familiar wild lives the harsh god of money who demands loyalty at any cost and we all march to that drumbeat, the cold and magnificent concrete jungles run by free enterprise where those gifted at greed and manipulation rule. Simply, the creative spirit is not free to live by the rules of creativity alone. It must travel back and forth between habitats and convince the world that there is something about it that is worth saving. It gestates and lays its eggs in the barrier between wild and prison, where wildflowers and pollution kiss, there in the weeds, in the thriving thrush, at the edge of the city where children play and dream. Creativity lives in those who will risk it. While I was a student at Vanderbilt Divinity, I got to interview Will Campbell, civil rights activist alongside Dr. Martin Luther King and author of many books, most notably, “Brother to a Dragonfly.” I was sitting in his cabin and I asked him a question along the lines of the existence of God in the religious institution. He plainly said he didn’t think God exists much in the institution, too much of the holy is sacrificed for empire. Those were not his exact words, his exact words were much more indelicate. Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox tells us that creativity is in fact, the Holy Spirit in us. Do you believe this? I think it is true, it’s also true that creativity lives in our very soul, the very part of us that remains connected to the Divine, whatever you call it, the good, the beautiful, the pure, the knowing, the peace that passes understanding. In that way, it is a sort of shield, the armor of God against all the ways that the giants of consumerism, of capitalism, of greed, of mass destruction will convince you that you need to sell it to them, your soul. If you are connected to your soul you will see that it is priceless. So, this is what it means to practice creativity in the institutional church or any institution or any world, it means the practice of compassion itself. The very words spoken on the cross were words of creative spirit, “forgive them, for they know not what they do.” They were words of invitation, words a criminal could believe, words that turn your life around. Creativity intervenes on behalf of compassion and says, “pay attention, slow down, breathe, live mindfully, love, do not kill, do not bear false witness.” To practice your art for the benefit of the soul’s presence, to restore soul to the body, to restore the presence of God to the church, to resonate with the being of God in the world, this is a work of love, this is a vocation, not a career, this is chaplaincy in a prison. The new church will be full of creativity and hope and acts of compassion, a habitat of wilderness expanding, reclaiming all those who belong to God. My friends, let us give birth at the edge. Try and stay connected to your soul though the situation of living here on this planet will surely endeavor to rip it from you. There is also ample opportunity to rediscover it, even in your very work. Sherry Cothran is the pastor of West Nashville United Methodist Church in Nashville, TN and a writer/recording artist. For more on Sherry's work, check out her website at www.sherrycothran.com or her blog at http://sherrycothran.wordpress.com The title of Sherry's latest album “Sunland,” is from a poem by Jewish poet and writer, Edmond Jabes, It begins, “A country where the billboards have claws, not just anyone can enter.” The women of the biblical text, the Old Testament as it were, whose stories are poeticized about in song, are all outsiders in this sort of religious country where the dominant religious culture sharpens its claws on those who dare to challenge it. Making Work Meaningful and Sustainable in the New Economy - The 7 keys to regaining control of your life, work, and destiny 1. Stay Connected… Get Connected Stay connected with important sphere of influence from one’s experience Become connected within new spheres of influence and affinity groups… People want to do business and experience life w others that they Know, Like, Trust… And it helps a lot… if you/and they are someone to be admired and modeled… 2. Innovate Social Media/New Media Utilize innovation and current technologies and the many new media options, And be innovative in finding new ways to do that… Utilize innovation to “get on the right trail” to “get to the right stream and current flow” That is moving in the right direction… to the big “blue ocean” of opportunity… Blue ocean strategy generally refers to the creation by a company of a new, uncontested market space that makes competitors irrelevant and that creates new consumer value often while decreasing costs and emphasizes innovation and initiative. As opposed to trying to compete in the “Red Ocean Strategy”, the conventional approach to business of beating competition derived from military strategy. Suggested reading: Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne of The Blue Ocean Strategy Institute What Color Is Your Parachute? 2012: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers by Richard N. Bolles 3. Give – Volunteer … Providing and giving of service will… make yourself available, experience what is meaningful, become and be valuable, discover new fellow associate volunteers - likeminded thinkers, identify what service(s) you can provide and to whom you will provide service. 4. Get a Job Find good work to do…Work hard at it… do good work. Be reliable, dependable… predictable in the sense that you can be counted on. 5. Build Your Own Boat… (and, not just a life raft) … but, a safe, reliable "escape vehicle"… Noah built the ark before it was raining… and the work was done on his own time and in addition to his “real job”. Create something new A new way to do something old… Do it better, do it differently, do it relevantly. 6. Sail Away on Your Boat Do the work and provide the service, solution, or product/productive contribution that you have always dreamed of… 7. Live Your Dream Story - The Mexican fisherman An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied, "Only a little while." The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?" The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life." The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise." The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?" To which the American replied, "15-20 years." "But what then?" The American laughed and said that's the best part. "When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions." "Millions… Then what?" The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos." Introduction: Making Work Meaningful and Sustainable in the New Economy quality success means the right things are actually right... "It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the production of the second." -John Steinbeck |
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