Category: General Learning

This one has been with me these last few days. Thx John O’Donohue, Irish poet that died in 2008. Beloved.

May you have the grace and wisdom
To act kindly, learning
To distinguish between what is
Personal and what is not.

May you be hospitable to criticism.

May you never put yourself at the center of things.

May you act not from arrogance but out of service.

May you work on yourself,
Building up and refining the ways of your mind.

May those who work for you know
You see and respect them.

May you learn to cultivate the art of presence
In order to engage with those who meet you.

When someone fails or disappoints you,
May the graciousness with which you engage
Be their stairway to renewal and refinement.

May you treasure the fits of the mind
Through reading and creative thinking
So that you continue as a servant of the frontier
Where the new will draw ts enrichment from the old,
And you never become a functionary.

May you know the wisdom of deep listening,
The healing of wholesome words,
The encouragement of the appreciative gaze,
The decorum of old dignity,
The springtimes edge of the bleak question.

May you have a mind that loves frontiers
So that you can evoke the bright fields
That lie beyond the view of the regular eye.

May you have good friends
To mirror your blind spots.

May leadership be for you
A true adventure of growth.

One, I just like this picture.

Dana and I walked last night. Close to sunset. In the warm, dry evening of an Utah summer. There are a few ponds where we walk. I loved seeing this mamma duck with three ducklings in setting sun.

Joy.

Earlier in the day, I’d been reflecting on joy. On the importance of noticing joy — micro doses. Because they exist with the other micro and macros doses of sorrow and struggle. It’s grown-assed humaning to not forget that.

I’ve been learning — joy is an intention, a good one. Joy is an objective, a potent one. Joy is a deliverable, a fruitful one.

I asked it reflectively with a team yesterday — “As you think back on our weekend hosting together, what is one thing that brought you joy?”

I just like the picture. Yes. And I just like the enlivening that is joy.

Working this at a few layers. Glad for it. And for learning with others.

Glad to have been with the 50 participants last Friday and Saturday. One of the participants named some core purpose during our World Cafe — “I love being a healer.” It came out of a conversation about what patients really want, and what’s possible?

Sometimes the shape is Circle. In a hotel ballroom. It’s hearth. to hold us. This particular hearth grew to include hard copy pictures of people that “inspire us to offer our best.”

Sometimes the shape is small tables. For cafe and other small group work. As I shared with the group, it’s a large group conversation held at small tables.

When I host and co-host groups like this, I so often relearn the core narrative and purpose. I relearn it because I witness it. I see it unfold in front of me.

The basics go something like this:

• People want to learn.
• People want to contribute.

So…,

• Create a pile of connection.
• What grows naturally out of that is a pile of courage.

And that brings us back to fulfillment

• of a desire to learn
• of a desire to contribute
• of a desire to grow in craft
• of a desire to grow as a community in craft

Pretty cool.

This is a week of touching a few last minute preparations. I’ll be hosting two days with a group of medical providers seeking to transform their business models. It’s away from insurance-based tightly defined protocol. It’s toward what I think of as added liberation and artistry in care. It’s good to be amongst the yearning that is participants sharing a few stories in advance. And it’s good to with with the local hosting team that is learning its way to formats of participation and engagement together rather than keynote deliveries.

So, I, and we the team, are tweaking last details. Questions for a cafe. Materials for a new teach on “connection is the business model.” Formats that deepen traditional panels and presentations to more animated group learning. Process for harvesting tool-kits, both at the layer of next step, and at the layer of guiding insight. In our case, all in support of empowered practice, empowered people. Clarity. Liberation. Artistry.

Yup. The prep is in the details. Know the plan. Integrate it well for a two-day format. And the prep is in the guiding spirit, doing the work under the work. To meet these people where they are in mind and heart. To invite them to go just a bit further.