Today Daniel and I cancelled our satellite TV package. We noticed this fall that: When we’re tired after work, we often plop down onto the couch and mindlessly watch TV for no other reason than that it’s the easiest thing to do. Sometimes for hours. We don’t even like the programming on about 190 of the 200 channels, and we spend a ridiculous amount of time … [Read More]
I happened across another blogger yesterday who was publishing his top 5 blog posts from 2011. That seemed like an opportunity to reflect and learn, so I decided to do the same. As I did the research, I found five different top 5s that matter to me. So here they are. What a gift this year has been! Lori’s Top 5 These are my favorite. … [Read More]
Some days I imagine that I, as an individual, have courage. Other days, like today, I realize that I am utterly surrounded by courageous people, but what I myself have isn’t courage. What I have is a deep sense of wonder and an unshakable gratitude for the courageous people around me. A quick Google search reveals courage as: The ability to do something that frightens … [Read More]
This post is for my friend Ali who asks questions that keep me young at heart. Today Ali asked “Does familiarity decrease the generated happiness?” [within a group] I’d like to start by saying that I have zero interest in putting up barriers to human happiness. So if you disagree with what I say here, please be happy about it. I will be. An easy … [Read More]
Most of the groups I study are physically local to me— in my city, my neighborhood, my region, and my home. We’re huge fans of all things local here in Seattle. Fortunately, in the land of human connection and ideas, there’s another kind of local: emotionally local. This is a conversation I’ve been having with one of my emotionally local self-organizing groups this week. Six months ago, … [Read More]
These monsters are beautiful inside and out! Happy Halloween from Seattle and my flash mob family! Seattle friends, my monster mobbing family will be out prowling again tonight in the Capital Hill neighborhood.
Here are a few self-organizing groups I’m learning with/from this week… 1. A touching and cute self-organizing group (love the response of all the different adults in the video): 2. A brave self-organizing group within my neighborhood: The Mitchells trying to save their already paid-off home from foreclosure the end of October 3. A very visible collection of self-organizing groups right now. There are tons of … [Read More]
So my dear friend Diane just got the job of her dreams. Literally. She’s been having vivid dreams about it since the day she realized she might actually have a shot at getting it. I’m thrilled for her. It fills me with joy that she’s moving in the direction of her passion and her heart and her truest self—to the point that tears of joy … [Read More]
My self-organizing groups help me practice moving through and letting go of fear, and my self-organizing community pulls and pushes me through fears to get an even broader and deeper perspective on them. As we pass through these fears together, the fears that don’t matter cease to exist and the fears that do matter have become valuable teachers and tools.
You asked me “Also, have you seen “evil” self-organizing groups?” From my perspective, evil is a word that belongs in the hands of someone far, far wiser than me. I’m not qualified to use it to describe living beings. No living being I personally know fits that description. Self-org groups have taught me that it’s pointless to negatively judge distant others, because I’ll never have the full story. Today, for me, evil self-organizing groups don’t exist, because for me self-organizing groups are self-aware groups of people surprised and delighted by what they become and do together. For me, these groups are an “us” that we’re only just beginning to recognize.
stay connected