Category: General Learning

I saw a report recently that describes how Canada is removing visitor fees at its National Parks for the 2017 calendar year. In addition, they are giving new citizens a free year pass. They are also giving people under 18 free passes.

In this video (2 minutes), the woman interviewed says, “It’s such a Canadian thing to do.”

As I watched the video, I have to say first, I got really excited. I’ve been to some of those parks. They are impressive. I also found myself curious about the economic impact. The report says $60 million revenue loss.

So, why are they doing it? Here’s a few thoughts:

1. It’s a grand celebration. 2017 marks the 150 year anniversary of national parks in Canada. It’s the sunk cost of a good party.
2. There is economic partnership with some of the businesses in and near the park entrances. I don’t know if this is true, but I suspect that with increased visitors there will also be increased economic benefit.
3. It’s a leader. A teaser. Draw people in with a freebie. Trust that they will get hooked and want to come back.
4. It’s a massively good commitment to public health. There’s plenty of data to claim that people as a whole are healthy when they experience nature (or remember that they are nature). Gutsy call right.

My favorite explanation is the one on public health. I suspect all of them are true at some level. But I’ll stick with #4.

Watch the video. Then go to a park — whether it’s national (in Canada or not), or the flower box at the end of your street.

• @chriscorrigan Working with your tie off: apprenticeship and reality http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/working-with-your-tie-off-apprenticeship-and-reality/ …
•  What helps us ask good questions? My guess is a practice of curiosity and a premise that it ain’t all known. #startthere
•  Interrupt patterns for collective healing. #NewYearsResolutionIn5Words (w/ thanks to convos w/ @tennesonwoolf @TPosakony & @medicineWords)
• ‏@AmandaFenton  The fire for circle has shifted from http://peerspirit.com  to http://thecircleway.net . Update any links to the new site and resources!
•  “We do not think ourselves into new ways of living. We live ourselves into new ways of thinking.” Thx Richard Rohr via Dan Burner.
•  Check @timmerry: http://www.timmerry.com/blog/immigration-in-large-numbers-to-rural-nova-scotia … Helpful reflections on immigration, history, and belonging.

• “In the end, fiction captures reality more than explanations about it….” Thanks Diana Durham, http://www.dianadurham.net .

  @drz0  Heartfelt, thought-provoking 1st day @AoH_live hosted by @TPosakony & @tennesonwoolf w/ a dozen or so new friends & fellow travelers. Grazie

  @chriscorrigan The core imperative: training in practice #facilitation #artofhosting #aohbtb #leadership #dialogicod #dialogue http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/the-core-imperative-training-in-practice/ …

• Tenneson Woolf Retweeted Franciscan Sisters: I know sister Linda. Genuine as they come. And, courageous too. And playful. Glad to see this short piece on her. Tenneson Woolf added, @FSPAtweetsWomen deciding later in life to enter religious life: http://globalsistersreport.org/news/trends/women-are-deciding-later-life-enter-religious-life-28646#.VcPB-tIEt6A.twitter … Like Sister Linda https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyM04DpHUV0 … #nuns

• GOP debate format is challenging. Set up to win and to get noticed. Here’s a different tone. Obama on Iran: https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/foreign-policy/iran-

Throughout most of my life, I’ve been a person quite oriented to causes — like many, I’ve wanted to make a difference. For me, that difference-making has often been in support of big things but through small steps. For example, I remember as a teen in the late 70s that I took US President Jimmy Carter seriously when he called for citizens to turn down their thermostats because of the energy crisis. I drove my Mom nuts with that one — we lived in Canada, not Georgia!

I’m on the board for Calling the Circle, a non-profit that is in full support of The Circle Way. It is one of the causes that means much to me.

The Circle Way is simultaneously four things, including a global movement of practitioners that are calling people back to better listening and better operating systems for who they are and what they can offer in the world. I’m proud to be a part of that. As a board member for the last three years, but also as a practitioner for the last 15+ years.

One of the things that is remarkable about The Circle Way is that it is now in transition from being led by founders Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea to being led by a network of practitioners. This transition has actually been happening over the last three years, very thoughtfully I might add. And, I’m aware that changes like this take multiple years and making it through both tenuous and terrific times. We have some important years coming.

As you might imagine, there is an important release that is happening, a letting go. There is an important picking up, by a next generation of Circle carriers. It takes really clean intentions for that to happen.

The shift from founder-lead to network-lead is a grand experiment. It takes some resources to support some minimal structure. A part-time community weaver position, a website with helpful materials, a few stewards meeting periodically to pay attention to the integrity of it, and periodic communications to further invitation.

Please join me in contributing. Yes, of course, at one level it is about simple support. Thank you. And, please join me in imagining a future in which astounding listening is the norm — to each other, to team, to self, and to the subtle. Please join me in supporting that, over the years. It’s a movement that, if I let myself, I can feel in my gut and in quiet whispers that proclaim, this could really make a difference.

Peace on earth, yes. Circle helps with that.

Thank you friends.

In a conversation I had last week with a good colleague, he shared, “I’m an artist. I just live that artistry out through the arenas that are my job, my family, and my community.”

I immediately related to the comment. I also feel that I’m an artist living out that artistry through the arenas of family, my hosting work, my coaching, my writing, my hobbies, and more. There was something freeing in it. Something attractive in it. Something independent in it. Something centered in it. Less of being driven by seemingly unending external circumstances. Less leaf being blown by the wind. More of a core that emanates from within.

That part of our conversation lead to a shared observation in our respective work with groups and teams. We both work with leadership, dialogue, and change. When that work is going well — when people gush with gratitude and the desire to do more of it — it is usually because people have just had the experience of being able to be themselves with one another. Even for a moment.

It is a beautiful “aha” to watch — “Wait a minute; I can be me here!”

I know that the fear of such freedom in many working contexts is distraction and lack of focus. Surely, if we create conditions where people can be themselves it will lead to less productivity, right?

I want so suggest that this distraction may be true some of the time — conversations do on occasion run away with themselves — but it is not true all of the time. Further, that losing that momentary feeling of “ok to be me” is like cutting off the fundamental artistry that is most needed in most professional settings. It cuts, chokes the core that is then expressed through the arena of a project, a role, a team commitment.

Yes, this last statement is rather utilitarian. Fair enough. I’ll all for getting things done in a good way together. But, maybe it is enough on some occasions to do it simply because it creates energy and life. Creating energy and life is, after all, an artistry, no?