Author: Tenneson Woolf

This morning I spoke with my Aunt in Edmonton. She turned 80 yesterday. She is an immigrant from Austria, 60 years ago. She is one of the people that, without my knowing it, taught me a lot about simplicity that I now live.

I had intended to wish her a happy birthday, a happy new year, and to thank her and her husband for a holiday gift. What a surprise 10 minutes it turned out to be. Filled with simple gems of wisdom backed up by 80 years of living. I recognized the uniqueness — hearing an elder pour out great stuff — and immediately reached for pen and paper. I enjoyed her modest, light-hearted touch. “That must be someone else that is 80; I’m not that old.”

Simple, powerful gifts to start this day. And simple, powerful practices for life in wellness.

• “Enjoy every day. The rest you can’t control.”
• “Stay healthy. The rest falls into place.”
• “We don’t need fancy clothes or fancy food. Just being together is priceless.” (Referencing a party that will happen tomorrow to honor her birthday, as well as my Grandmother who turned 89 on the same day).
• “People emphasize too much the things in their lives and forget real living.”

I smiled as we ended with our welcome to see each other again this year — “make sure you look after yourself. Don’t skip your vegetables and fruits.”

I love this poem by English Poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson, sent to me yesterday by friend and colleague Kathy Lung. Offered as Tennyson for Tenneson. It is a verse of a much longer piece, In Memoriam, written as a tribute to Tennyson’s friend and future brother in-law that died suddenly in the 1800s. It also feels like a nice passage for transition into this new year and decade.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

I love the moments of sweet and simple clarity. Simplicity on the other side of complexity.

While the Copenhagen Climate Talks are on, dialogues are talking place around the world. People young and old. People in all countries. People who care. What a thing to live in such a time when the deadly serious can be addressed and accessed by so many, when local action can emerge.

Below is one example, from colleagues and friends including Toke Moeller in Denmark. A dialogue hosted by young people that included brainstorming practices that would immediately help clear the inner climate. An 18 minute ClimateTV video is here. The full post on Toke’s site, including some other inspiring links, is here. I love the section on beingness an doingness spoken by a lovely monk from the Hindu tradition — “every doing has such a limited framework…there is always someone who will undo you doing.” The gems are below. Thanks Toke, all.

1) There is enough if we share. Share it.
2)We all have a choice. Choose on behalf of the planet.
3)We are nature. Find your natural rhythm.

Breathe. Move. Laugh. Rest.

Just completed a half day appetizer on participative leadership, co-hosted with my colleague and friend, Kathy Lung. Sponsored by the Salt Lake Center for Engaging Community and The Berkana Institute, it was well attended. Forty people — business professionals, clergy leaders, community activists, caring citizens.

It was a helpful progression from conversations on purpose of participative leadership, to a model for understanding, to a cafe on important questions for the Salt Lake Valley. I loved feeling the sense of possibility. I loved feeling the hunger in people and in myself. The yearning for tools, for community, and I believe, a next level of understanding of participative and creative consciousness. Some of us beginning projects. Many of us who are in projects and want to work them at the next level and in support with others in the area.

Looking forward to the next appetizer in January. A chance to build further this local community, these local teams and organizations in a next level of practice of participative leadership in the Salt Lake Valley. And then to move into our monthly Leadership Development Series and September Art of Hosting deep-dive training.

A few of the harvests are below.

Invitation — Context of the day.

Why does participative leadership matter to you? — Gems from triad conversations shared to the whole group.

Questions (Harvested by participant Jennifer Johnson) — What is your question to host?

Photos, Flipcharts, Cafe Notes

Resources — Websites, Blogs, Books, Contact Information for Next SL Valley Gathering