Corporate Small Group Book Study

I'd like to share with you the advantages of, and the process of implementing a small group culture shift from my company, Inspiring Connection. This applies to authors of corporate improvement books, trainers, developers, and the companies they serve.

Working with Inspiring Connection would be a powerful tool for your company to create a truly comprehensive culture shift at all levels of the company in addition to a company's prime movers that consultants lead and train in company strategy.

Programs created by Inspiring Connection address the entire company when integrating new information and corporate culture by including all employees in small group discussions that are not curriculum based. This augments the original training for top executives conducted by the consultant.

All too frequently, attempts at culture shift falls to the wayside when there is resistance from the employees who were not initially engaged in the discussion and training. If they are not invested, they are less likely to act. This could result in minimal impact on the client company in the long run, and the culture shift is sometimes abandoned. Inspiring Connection can engage all levels of a company to empower and embrace the program, resulting in;

• 90% reduction in the time required for company wide buy in
• 80% to 95% cost savings over traditional training and development methods (for mid-level and front line staff)
• Develop peer respect and inter-departmental trust
• 100% accuracy of information dissemination (nothing is lost in the translation from top down)
• 100% active participation and engagement for all relevant employees in concepts and practices
• Create a common knowledge base for all employees

I am happy to work with companies and consultants to customize a program for their needs. The initial contact would include:

• An evaluation of the company's goals and implementation needs
• A description of how I would address their needs
• Exploration of how best to customize the program as necessary

After a contract is agreed to, a licensing agreement and contract is signed.
Materials and manual are delivered in digital format.
Continued consulting to assist with implementation (up to 2 hours) will be included.
Exit evaluation surveys for participants will be compiled and reported to the company.

This will assist any consultant by compressing the timeline of impact.

I am very passionate about the programs that I create and the impact they have on a community. I believe in the power and wisdom that people find in speaking, and the connection and respect they develop hearing their colleagues.

He's Baa-aack

It's amazing how long since I made an entry! October 7. Wow.

Most of October was spent in preparation for my trip to Florida and the South East Unity Regional Conference. I felt very successful at the conference with the contacts that I was able to make and the clients that I met. In addition, the conference coordinator asked if I would like to conduct a workshop at next year's conference in Naples, FL. I'm very excited at the prospect. Looking forward to it.

I also spent a few days on the beach at Siesta Key, FL. Considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, there is also speculation about it being an energy vortex. I felt a sense of that upon my arrival, just standing on the beach as the sun was going down. I found myself a bit overwhelmed by it, and seeking a vibrational harmony with this energy. My intention was to allow the energy to set the tone for my energy.

I felt like I had assimilated "island time" rather quickly, and my goal was to sit in the sun, sit in the water, float on the ocean all day. Enjoy the sunset each night. Repeat as necessary. Next year it will be a full 10 days, and I am already looking forward to it.

But more importantly, I bring that attitude home with me, and I look for opportunities to observe and appreciate this world and this life that I lead. With just a look in my memory banks, I feel that calm energy that flows from the sea and the sun, a breeze softening every moment.

A Fall respite

Today I met with Dan at Sonrise to talk about how Small Group Ministry works - and doesn't. It was so much fun to work with someone who is excited about it, too. I found myself repeatedly getting passionate about a result or a process or a book, and realizing that I might stop and breath for a minute.

After the meeting, I had lunch at a family owned Mexican Restaurant, which was VERy good. It was some personal affirmations that finally got me to turn into the parking lot, and I was able to ignore those old thoughts of unworthiness.

Upon arriving at home, I was ready to start right into work, but I realized that I needed to take a lesson from my own book (see below). So I let my dog Rudy out, sat on the porch swing, and soaked in the sunshine. The clouds. The blue sky. The trees turning. The air getting crisp. The mind resting, for just a moment. Practicing presence, releasing thoughts, softening feelings with observation.

Work was much easier to address after that.

60 Minutes a Day

There were adults and children gleefully running across the field , and the banner snuck up behind them, screaming "PLAY 60 Minutes A Day!" This was a TV PSA from the NFL whose purpose was to get the kids off the couch and out with some exercise for a little bit. (Back in My Day, we played outside for hours, till darkness wrapped its cloak closer and closer, damp with evening dew).

But it occurred to me that this could be a very apt admonishment for adults. After all, the aim is for the demographic to live longer and healthier, isn't it? Who needs more of that than the adults in this world?

How much do you play?

Back at the beginning of the industrial revolution, with technology creating time saving and effortless accessories to free up so much free time, there was speculation that it would be a challenge to find enough things to do that would entertain us for hours each day.

How much do you play?

What if you committed to playing an hour a day? What would you do in that time? Computer time doesn't usually count, it's just a video game. Not the same.

Music. Toys. Sports. Hobbies. Creative outlets. Interactive board games.

Whatever disconnects you from the race and the chase. Whatever frees your mind from the schedule and the to-do list. Whatever gets you out of the past or future and into the present moment. The only place that you truly are.

PLAY 60 Minutes a Day. Can you imagine???

I woke on a Sunday with my mind in a whirlwind, jumping from task to task, admonishments heavy in their trail, a certain dread at all the commitments and deadlines that I had lined up.

I began to see it as my life, as the substance of my day. And it begged the question: Am I living my life, or is my life living me? And in that moment, I knew that it was only a shift of thought and perspective that would allow me to be a participant instead of a tool in the unfolding of each day.

I found a renewed sense of commitment to being present and observing; observing my life, as well as observing my immersion in it. To fully participate in the little things that make up my day. Maybe most importantly, I will find the vision of joy that will lead me to my greatest moments.

What is my vision of my life? What is it that I want to create? When I observe and cherish that vision, I act in concert with that vision, and I act in concert with the Universe that is happy as hell to give it to me.

On Sundays I sometimes grab Wayne Muller's Sabbath, and open it randomly. I read an essay to get me into the mood of the day. And today the essay was "Beginner's Mind". To accept that I don't know what will happen, to accept that I don't know how to get there. And to let go of what has come before and start fresh. To begin the week embracing the unknown.

Perhaps the mist is removed from where I am right now, just a bit. Perhaps I am not my work. Perhaps I am open to each and every soul that comes into my life today. Perhaps my vision is focused less on what is mine to do, and more focused on where I am right now. For a little while.

What a great night of Kirtan chanting tonight! I am feeling energized, vibrating with power. Tonight was led by Dave Stringer and Mike Cohen and Joni Allen and our own Karen Johns! There were two amazing percussionists as well, and I loved the energy they added to the chanting. Totally awesome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtan for more info about the origin of Kirtans.

The energy in the room with dozens of people was exhilerating. It's really futile to describe it, it is something that needs to be experienced to understand it.

The result as I'm driving home was not only a high energy level in my body and mind, but a strong sense of potential. I felt myself having greater empowerment and ability to make things happen in my life. It seemed as if some parts of a wall had been knocked down and I was free to move about the cabin. I could stretch my arms out in freedom and strength, I could feel my legs metaphorically stepping out in great strides up the mountain. I could feel my lungs take deep sharp breaths, building a rhythm of energy that would drive those legs.

As I'm feeling this energy, I'm also thinking that I want to nourish this feeling, this knowing that could propel me forward into my future with great energy and confidence.

To some, this might sound New Age woowoo. That's OK. I'm not really talking to them. I know that's becoming a smaller minority. The majority of you get it.

Space & Mystery: paths to the Zen

In A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle gives us some tools for moving into our present moment, into Presence. One of the tools is the contemplation of space. This is actually the contemplation of nothing, the unnameable. As soon as we start putting labels on things we move out of the present and into comparison with thought and time.

As I was finishing my Tai Chi form, I rested and looked at the moon through the leaves and branches of the red bud tree next to my patio, and I felt a moment of mystery, the mystery of the tree itself.

The other day I was walking along and began to contemplate the mystery of gravity, the way we are drawn physically to this ball of rock and water. I thought about the fact that I am being pulled toward this mass, the wonder and awe at the balance of our universe. It amazed me that the gravitational pull comes from all the atoms in the Earth; the ones close to the surface in the soil, the crust of the planet, the magma center. The gravity that I feel is determined by the entire planet, and creates this balance of me walking on the surface. This gravity of every atom of this planet is holding me down by the attraction it has on every atom of my body.

That wonder and awe at the mystery of this principle that has created our physical universe is the space that I can fall into, the entry to Presence.

As I looked at the tree, and the moon glowing through its branches, I dwelt on the mystery of the tree, its growth, the fractals that produce wood and leaves, the amazing evolution of this species. I felt the world slip away and become massively present, all at once.

When he had asked where he would find the Zen, the Buddhist student was told by the teacher to listen for the small stream in the distance, and through the effort of listening to what underlies the sounds that are present, the student was able to step out of his thoughts and into the moment. As he was struck by the awe of Presence, he said, "Yes, now I hear it," the teacher said, "Enter the Zen from here."