knowabundance.com

Happy Monday!

Do you ever doubt yourself? Do you discount the certainty within because of social norms or inner scripts and outer expectations?

I know I do. I have been taught to mistrust myself. Taught to always reason my way to an answer. Taught that there always has to be an answer.

And the answer, “I don’t know this is true…but I know” is just not acceptable because it’s not logical. It doesn’t make sense.

We have created the word “intuition” to label that which is beyond thought. That elusive something that we know but just can’t quite put into words.

Or some people say, “Follow your gut.”

What did you know before the thoughts flooded in? Before the question and answer game began in your mind?

Trust that.

Substitute, “What’s the answer?” with “I don’t know…but I know.”

There is an inner knowing deeper than thought.

Happy Monday!

Giving advice is always easier than living it for our selves.

We can clearly see what other people need to do to solve their problems but often act shortsightedly when it comes to our own lives.

I’m feeling quiet this week, reflective and in need of time outdoors, away from the computer.

So I’m following my own advice to Take A Break.

Have a good week. Don’t forget to take some breaks. See you next Monday.

Substitute, “Here’s what I think you should do” with “Here’s what I am going to do.”

“Grazing
my fishing line –
the summer moon.”

- Chiyo-ni (1703-1775) from Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women, Edited by Jane Hirshfield.

Happy Monday!

It’s so easy to create enemies:

the driver who cuts us off on the freeway, a co-worker who says something we don’t like, the politician who makes a decision we strongly disagree with, the boss who lays us off.

“I can’t believe they did that to me!” is a common refrain. We automatically see the world in terms of “me” – how does this affect me and my life.

Our brain runs everything through our belief system. Thoughts, emotions, what we observe and experience, input from others – all this gets factored into the calculations which determine our response.

“How could this happen to me?”

And then we get busy defending ourselves.

I had the opportunity to create an enemy this past week – a vendor who didn’t deliver the product that was promised in time for an important deadline. And who kept lying, telling me that things were done when actually the job hadn’t even been started.

I was more surprised than I was angry because this is someone I’ve worked with before, someone I like and respect. But I found myself getting irritated as the missed deadlines and contradictory excuses kept piling up.

So I started writing an email with an annoyed tone detailing everything that had happened (from my perspective.) But then I stopped. I could see how my mind was creating something that wasn’t true.

My focus on “what happened to me” was turning a living breathing complex human being into an opponent, into a “bad” person who did “me” wrong.

My focus on “what happened to me” was justification for a litany of harsh words and angry thoughts.

This person is not some horrible ogre and I honestly have no idea what was going on “behind the scenes” in this situation. Is it necessary for me to detail everything that happened to defend myself and my position? Not really. What is important to me? The product or treating someone respectfully, with love and compassion?

I am still going to write an email because we need to wrap up the job and decide on payment  – but I am not going to communicate from a mindset of this person as my enemy.

We see threats everywhere  – some real, most imagined.

A photographer friend told me a few days ago about showing up for a pro bono photo shoot she was doing for a local non-profit organization. The group helps feed the homeless out of vans. She went to one of the sites where they were serving food and was met with hostility.

Because of the color of her skin, the clothes she was wearing, and maybe her gender – they immediately saw her as a narc. She was not to be trusted, a spy sent from “the institution.”

How do we distort reality because we automatically see “enemy” before we see “friend”?

We always have a list of reasons why we need to defend ourselves. We often jump to defend before a defense is even necessary. We are responding to perceived threat.

We choose our response.

What do we want to create? How do we want to move and live and breathe in this world?

In your game of “me” what enemies are you creating?

Substitute, “I can’t believe this happened to me.” with “This happened.”

“…a soft effort born of the understanding that there is no enemy.”

Ezra Bayda (from Being Zen, pg. 84)

Happy Tuesday!

I was driving on the freeway last week and noticed a couple of “Free Leonard Peltier” signs hanging in trees off the side of the road.

I was surprised. Isn’t he free already?

I guess not. And there are still people who care.

When do you give up?

Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. Or 46 if the total years of apartheid in South Africa are counted.

After ten or twenty or fifty years how do we continue to inspire passion for the change we seek?

Especially today. We have short attention spans and a daily influx of new information, new causes and new crises to focus on.

How do we raise money for issues that people think are over or unwinnable?

• First – we have to know (not just believe) that change is possible.
• Second – we need to make it personal for people and answer the “Why should I care?” question.
• Third – we need to stay focused on our goals even as public attention waxes and wanes.
• Fourth – we need to be current and link our cause with others.
• Fifth – we need to have patience.

There are many problems and issues that seem unbeatable. And structures and systems that appear monolithic.

When you are living the effects of injustice, discrimination, hatred and indifference, even yesterday can seem like too long to wait.

But take the long view. Don’t give up. Stay focused. Strategize. Communicate. Connect. Have Patience. The elusive “tipping point” could be just around the corner.

p.s. Want to make use of past research and articles? Check out this helpful guest post on Katya’s non-profit marketing blog.

Substitute, “It’s human nature” with “Patterns of thinking and behavior can change.”

“It seems impossible until it’s done.”

- Nelson Mandela (who became the President of South Africa after 46 years of apartheid imprisonment.)

Happy Monday!

We act as if only what we can count matters.

How many (Facebook) friends or (Twitter) followers do we have?

How many donors? How many opens and clicks on our email campaigns? How many views on our YouTube videos?

How much money in our bank account?

We sometimes forget that our computers and our spreadsheets only capture a portion of our work and a fraction of our lives.

Not everything can be tracked and counted.

I told five or more (I lost count) people I know the past few weeks about a 50% off special that PsPrint was having on business cards for the month of May. These were phone, face-to-face, or personal email conversations. Nothing that can be tracked “on-line” by PsPrint via clicks or Twitter messages.

PsPrint didn’t ask me to join a Facebook Fan page or suggest that I forward a message about this great price break. (Which I wouldn’t have done. I’m not big on spamming my friends or declaring love for a corporate entity.)

Mentioning PsPrint in conversation happened naturally because their services related to a real time need. They had a good deal and because I’ve used their on-line printing with success I felt confident recommending them.

Also in the past few weeks, three people told me about “The Story of Stuff” and Annie Leonard. Two of these were “off-line” face-to-face conversations, one was an email forward of the Global Greengrants e-newsletter from a friend.

The first time I heard about “The Story of Stuff” and Annie Leonard I forgot her name and the name of the video. The second time I said, “Oh yeah, I heard about that but forgot the name of it.” The third time gave me the link to the video and more information.

I still haven’t watched the “Story of Stuff” but now I remember Annie’s name and the title of the video.

These are just two examples of the vast world of “off-the-record” conversations and activity that spread information – and (we hope) create change.

Will Annie ever know the true impact of her video and message? How many people will take the “Story of Stuff” lessons and actually implement a change in their lives? And will this change be because of the video or because of a unique-for-each-person combination of things? (Like the work of other organizations and individuals worldwide on similar issues, system wide changes, media reports, monetary incentives, peer pressure and numerous other factors.)

Who knows?

Not everything can be tracked and counted.

Do your thing. Sure, you can pay attention to the numbers but don’t get lost in thinking that “how many” of anything is what ultimately matters.

——————

p.s.

I was standing in the grocery line one day when a mom and her son, about 7 years old, came up behind me. He was touching all the candy and other treats by the checkout counter and asked his mom the price of something. After she replied with a price, he despondently said, “oh, EVERYTHING costs money.”

I smiled at him and said, “Not everything. Friendship and love don’t cost money.” And his mom said, “That’s right. All of the important things are free.”

Substitute, “Only what we can count matters” with “Intangibles create the world.”

Economist Steven Levitt and (Malcom) Gladwell have a running dispute about whether the fall in New York’s crime rate can be attributed to the actions of the police department (as claimed in The Tipping Point). In his book Freakonomics, Levitt attributes the decrease in crime to a decrease in the number of unwanted children because of Roe v. Wade.^[18]

- Wikipedia on “The Tipping Point”