Aug 08, 2009

Aug 08, 2009h in Cognition & Communications, Collaboration Strategies, Leading Change, Organization Development, Strategic Planning, Sustainability by

FiredUpImage - Group Learning Interview With Sibbet I was interviewed for Gordon Rudow’s web radio show “Fired UP” recently on the subject of Group Learning. Gordon began his own consulting business Bonfire Communications back in the 1990s and I was one of his mentors. If you can ignore the over-the-top intro music and rah rah framing from Webmaster Radio, it’s a great interview.

I’m increasingly impressed with how different speaking in the moment in direct response to other people is from composed writing or designed presentations. I always find myself saying things that surprise, and in this case, delight me.

Have a listen. I’d love to hear your reaction. You might also enjoy Gordon’s other interviews. The ones with Dawna Markova and Terry Pearce are excellent.

Jul 30, 2009

Jul 30, 2009h in Family, Personal Transformation by

HealnetConsole - Touching & Technology: A Fugal JulyI’ve spent the last two weeks in an intimate dance with modern technology and real life. Four streams went fugal in one week. My Palm Treo stopped working and I decided to convert to an iPhone. Two new client projects launched and one culminated. Susan and my youngest daughter Jerda had her first baby in Phoenix. And we found out Susan had uterine cancer. If there is a limit to what one psyche can deal with, we found it. I went into a kind of shock.

I am happy to say the crashing cymbals part of the piece is over. Everything seems to be going well. But I’m left with lots of questions about the kind of lives we are living.

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Jul 19, 2009

Jul 19, 2009h in Family, Personal Transformation, Sustainability by

Reilly'sLittleSmile - Rainbows For ReillyIt’s been a roller coaster week with two clients starting work and one moving toward closure on priorities and a quick trip to Phoenix in time for seeing little Reilly Herron Solonche come into our lives. It was hot in Seattle and even hotter in Phoenix, so my awareness is a fugue of themes including global warming, design, international cinema and forest restoration and renewal, and new life.

I’m filled with the experience of how completely Reilly has trumped all my other thoughts and feelings. She is the first daughter of Jerda Marie Solonche, Susan and my youngest.

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Jul 03, 2009

Jul 03, 2009h in Cognition & Communications, Community Building, Personal Development, Personal Transformation by

My heart is still singing from the four-day retreat I and 35 other colleagues spent in the redwood forests of Ben Lomond this summer solstice. We met at Sequoia Retreat Center, a truly sacred place. It was my eighth year participating. Each time the experience deepens.

The energy in this year’s gathering went up an octave—perhaps because of the crises in confidence the world now faces, perhaps because a core group of us has stepped across a threshold of withholding into true ceremony, perhaps because of forces we cannot explain. But these two weeks after returning have been filled with reflections about all that happened, and especially  the evening of Medicine Wheel dancing that is the turning point of the experience. I felt that our community reclaimed something deep and fundamental. We experienced true ceremony.

MedicineWheelJournal - Reclaiming Ceremony

During one of my reflective times I drew this pen and chalk drawing of the dance, without thought of sharing, just so I could relive the experience. The image has come alive for me. There is something about the energy of line and patterns that re-evokes some of the magic. I have no idea if it will do that for you, but I feel called to try and bring it alive a bit in words. Something happened this time that all of us need more of.
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