Keeping the Flame Alive

 Deep within each of us is the flame of our own uniqueness, what Renaissance neoplatonists saw as a spark of the eternal flame, the divine light of inspiration. It inspires us to make our own creative contribution to the world—writing poetry, books, and articles; composing music; creating visual arts; making scientific discoveries; coming up with new insights, new solutions to life’s daily dilemmas and challenges, large and small.

As we’ve seen in previous posts, too much clutter in our lives snuffs out the flame, as do the incessant demands of “drama queens,” and conformity, which smothers our spirit. Sadly, today too many companies treat their employees like replaceable parts, valuing profit over persons. Obsessed with the bottom line, they downsize to increase “productivity,” squeezing more work out of a smaller work force, demanding that 40 people do the work of 60. In a desperate drive for innovation, one Silicon Valley corporation has even deprived employees of their offices. Removing all their personal effects—staplers, family photos, and coffee mugs—each day these people must find a new work space.  Difficult external conditions can snuff out the flame, make us feel like victims of circumstance, with no control of our lives, not only destroying our creativity but making us doubt our sanity.

Yet as the Buddha realized, although painful conditions arise, suffering is optional. The power of mindful awareness can reignite the flame, transforming oppressive circumstance into liberation, creating new possibilities not only for ourselves but for all beings. Viktor Frankl discovered this power of the mind in a Nazi concentration camp, surviving to inspire millions with his book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Nelson Mandela emerged from 27 years in prison with a vision of the new South Africa, and Aung San Suu Kyi has kept the flame alive for democracy in Burma.

Like Frankl, Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, and centuries of other creative men and women, we are each keepers of the flame, the sacred source of our inspiration. Who knows the power and possibilities that lie within you?
Take a moment now to connect with this source. Focusing on your heart, ask yourself:

• What in my life snuffs out the flame? These are situations to avoid or transcend.
• What ignites and strengthens the flame? For many people it is contemplation, beauty, play, time spent in nature.
• Focus on your heart, feeling the flame burn brightly as you visualize what nurtures you.
• Feel this creative energy warm your heart, healing, nurturing, inspiring, flowing through your body and out your fingertips, preparing you to make your own creative contribution to the world.

Right here, right now.
Namaste,
Diane

What is Your Journey?

My friend Juan Velasco has said that writing and “reflecting on the different stages of your life, can dramatically improve your understanding of yourself and others.”

From earliest human history, throughout all world cultures, we have told our stories. Huddled around the campfire or sleeping under the stars, our ancestors passed down the stories that define us as human beings.

Joseph Campbell (1968) traced the mythic pattern of the hero’s journey—the courageous individual who leaves the known world for the great unknown, returning with a treasure to share with the larger community. Although some scholars see this as a masculine model of self-definition, I see the hero’s journey repeated in each of our lives. From the journeys of Odysseus to Dante’s Divine Comedy, the vision quests of Native Americans, to Thoreau living “deliberately” at Walden Pond to courageous individuals in recent times—Jacques Cousteau’s journeys to the ocean depths, Margaret Mead’s research in Samoa, Jane Goodall’s discoveries among the chimps in Africa—these journeys give us all a greater understanding of ourselves and our world.

The journey is ever present, yours and mine. Whenever we venture from the known to the great unknown—whether facing a new challenge or reaching out to explore a new opportunity, we take the hero’s journey, discovering valuable treasures along the way.

Take a few moments now to reflect on your own journey.

• When did you last leave your familiar path to enter the great unknown?
• What challenge did you face?
• What treasure did you discover?
• What did you learn about yourself?

Take a deep breath. Pause to give thanks for this experience as you recognize the deeper patterns of meaning in the ongoing journey of your life.

Reference

Campbell, J. (1968). The hero with a thousand faces. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. (Originally published 1949).

All The World's a Stage

Shakespeare wrote that “all the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players” (Greenblatt, 1997). How we relate to the world around us shapes the daily drama of our lives. Are we mere puppets, dancing to someone else’s tune, second rate actors mouthing our lines—or jazz musicians, improvisational artists, actors who make the parts our own, creating a new reality in response to the world around us? Is our vision of reality static or dynamic?

Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck has made a powerful discovery, recognizing the degree to which our sense of self, our abilities, our success in life depend upon our “mindset.” People with what she calls a “set mindset” are stuck in the status quo, believing that their intelligence cannot be changed, while those with a “growth mindset” believe that their intelligence increases as they embrace new challenges in their lives.

Neuroscience research has shown that our brains develop throughout our lives, growing new neural connections in response to stimulation. So if you cannot ride a bicycle, use a new computer program, play a musical instrument, or do any other new task, regular practice will stimulate your brain to develop new connections. After days, perhaps weeks of clumsy attempts and awkward efforts, suddenly one day it all comes together: suddenly you can do it. Stimulated by all that effort, new brain connections have formed.

On a cultural level, the two mindsets of growth or status quo reach back to the earliest Renaissance concepts of vocation. Both Martin Luther and John Calvin believed that we were blessed with unique gifts and called to use them to serve God and our neighbors. But Luther saw the world as set, with the social order created by God—so that if your father was a butcher, a baker, or a glove maker, you were destined to follow his trade. But Calvin looked at the social injustice around him and concluded that God had nothing to do it: the social order was constructed by men. He believed we were called to discover our talents and use them to create new possibilities. With such a growth mindset, one glove maker’s son, William Shakespeare, found his calling on the London stage, writing plays that have inspired the world for centuries.

One view of life was dynamic, the other static; one led to conformity, the other to creativity and social change. These two social mindsets appear on many levels. The 18^th century gave rise to two views of patriotism: 1) obedience to the status quo or 2) ideals that led to a new form of government, moving from monarchy to democracy, government of the people and the rule of law.

The world around us continually affirms a growth mindset. Look around you at the flowers of spring as they blossom and raise their heads to the sky. We can also find growth and set mindsets in our daily lives. Recently, when I questioned a longstanding policy at work, some people said “but we’ve always done it that way.” Yet just because we’ve done something for years doesn’t make it right or rule out better alternatives. If our country had followed a set mindset, there would be no progress, no airplanes, electricity, phones, or computers; women couldn’t vote and there would still be slaves. Progress—in science, art, politics, and life—flows from a growth mindset.

Now it’s your turn:

• Do you believe your intelligence and abilities are static or dynamic?
• Do you have a set or a growth mindset?

Whatever you have believed about yourself in the past, you really can change your intelligence and ability with practice--brain research has shown this is true. And by embracing a growth mindset, you can create greater possibilities within and around you.

Take a moment now to breathe in—realize that you are a living, growing unique individual, able to make a dynamic difference in your world, right here, right now.

References

Dweck, Carol. S. (2006). Mindset. New York, NY: Ballentine Books. Watch a video of Professor Dweck explaining her mindset research at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHW9l_sCEyU

Shakespeare, William. (1997) As You Like It. II. 7. ll. 138-139 in Stephen Greenblatt (Ed.). The Norton Shakespeare. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. Date of composition c. 1599; originally published 1623

Creation or Stagnation?

Does your environment foster creation or stagnation? A recent study in Psychological Science has shown that while administrators and corporate CEOs talk a lot about creative innovation, they routinely block it. Threatened by the uncertainty of the creative process, they stifle the creative ideas of their people to maintain a predictable status quo: an absolute formula for stagnation (Mueller, Melwani, & Goncalo, 2012). And when they do promote change, these administrators over control. Instead of listening and learning from the people around them, they impose a new policy top-down, rewarding complicity, not creativity.

What our world needs now is not complicity but deep creativity, the courage to reach beyond the status quo for new solutions, new possibilities. This vision of creative leadership is affirmed in the ancient Chinese classic, the Tao Te Ching, which has inspired artists and innovative leaders for over twenty-five centuries. The Tao reminds us to look beyond divisive policies and limited definitions to learn from the wisdom of nature, the patterns within and around us:

The earth and sky cooperate
And the soft rain falls
Not by man’s laws
But by natural harmony.

When civilizations developed,
Definitions arose.
We know the part and not the whole.
Wisdom is seeing the patterns.
. . .
The powerful currents of Tao
Are like a river
Flowing homeward
To the sea.
(Tao Te Ching, chapter 32, from Dreher, 2000, pp. 242, 6, 198)

Change, in the Tao, is part of the natural cycle, and uncertainty the path to higher wisdom:

The way to greater light leads through the darkness.
Going ahead feels like falling back.
The even path seems rugged and hilly,
The highest power, a yielding valley.

The greatest virtue seems unreal,
And strength of character appears like folly.
Great space has no boundaries.
The greatest skill is developed gradually,
The greatest music rarely heard.

The great Tao is without form,
Elusive, undefinable,
Yet the source of all life.”
(Tao Te Ching, chapter 41, from Dreher, 2000, p. 213 and Dreher, 1996, p. 9)

As you face the challenges in your life, you can draw upon the wisdom of Tao. By pausing to recognize the larger patterns within and around you, you can transcend the status quo, experiencing the power and joy of new possibilities.

Take a moment now to breathe deeply. Know that you are part of the larger process. Embrace the infinite source of your creative power, right here, right now.

References
Dreher, D. (1996). The Tao of Personal Leadership. New York,NY: HarperCollins.

Dreher, D. (2000). The Tao of Inner Peace. New York,NY: Penguin Putnam.

Mueller, J. S., Melwani, S., & Goncalo, J. A. (2012). The bias against creativity: Why people desire but reject creative ideas. Psychological Science, 23, 13-17.

See Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching. (2011). Gia-Fu Feng, Jane English, Toinette Lippe. (Trans.). New York, NY: Random House/Vintage for a beautiful translation of the Tao Te Ching with original Chinese calligraphy and evocative nature photography.

You CAN Make a Difference

As we create with words, images, and ideas, we participate in a powerful pattern of transformation. When we release our creations to the world, we never know how far they will travel, how many souls they will reach.

In 1848, a young man spent a night in jail for refusing to pay a poll tax, protesting against slavery and the Mexican-American War. The next morning, a friend paid his tax and he was released. A small action, unremarkable, perhaps. Yet this action inspired Henry David Thoreau to write Civil Disobedience, which later inspired Mahatma Gandhi’s campaign of nonviolence, liberating India from colonial rule; Martin Luther King’s campaign of nonviolence that began liberating African Americans from oppression and segregation; and countless other acts of nonviolence, large and small, that continue to liberate the human spirit.

We are all connected in the intricate pattern of life. Never doubt that your call to create is part of a process of transformation in which our individual actions ripple out to change the world.

Lately, I’ve been inspired by people in the Occupy Movement, raising their voices against corporate greed, injustice, and economic inequality. Now Maxina Ventura of Occupy Berkeley, has found a creative way many of us can connect in support and solidarity. She founded the “knit-in for the sit-in,” inviting people to knit at the Berkeley farmers’ market and send hand-knit hats, mittens, and scarves to help Occupy members keep warm this winter. So far, I’ve knitted four hats which have been sent to Occupy Wall Street, Tahrir Square, and Fukushima, Japan. Knitting these hats has become a kind of spiritual exercise, affirming my personal connection with this courageous campaign for change.

Because we are all connected, everything we do makes a difference, continuously creating the world we know. How can you make a difference in your own creative life? Following your heart will show you how. Together, we can create new possibilities for our world—right here and right now.

For More Information about the “knit-in,” see http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/11/26/crafters-organize-knit-in-in-solidarity-with-occupy-berkeley/. If you’d like to knit warm items for the Occupy Movement, you may send them to Occupy Berkeley, c/o Maxina Ventura, 2399 E. 14^th St. No 24, San Leandro, CA 94577.

Follow Your Dream in 2012

Despite our many challenges, the new year always brings a ray of light, a promise of new possibilities. This time last year, Alicia Forbrich left her secure job to follow her dream. In January, 2011, she opened opened the San Jose Learning Center in California's Silicon Valley, offering

Alicia Forbrich

continuing education to working adults--helping them learn new skills, develop their creativity, and lead more balanced lives.

The child of a German father and Japanese mother, Alicia has always been fascinated by other cultures. After getting a degree in International Business from the University of San Francisco and an M.B.A. from San Jose State, she had a successful career with a company building international shipping containers. But she dreamed of starting a school.

Today, she says “I’m fortunate to be able to go for my dream." The San Jose Learning Center reflects her vision of a successful, creative life in the 21^st century, offering courses in 15 languages including Mandarin, Cantonese, Persian, Korean, Tagalog, Russian, Vietnamese, Arabic, ESL, and American Sign Language as well as Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, and French.

The curriculum helps promote a balanced life: languages to expand students’ international understanding, practical classes in business and computer skills, classes in the arts—writing, drawing, calligraphy—to promote creativity, and health and fitness classes—yoga, body toning, martial arts, and nutrition—to help students lead more balanced lives. “Most busy people don’t take the time to study what they need for their own health,” says Alicia. At Silicon Valley companies people spend all day sitting at their desks, sit in their cars to commute, never giving their bodies the exercise they need. Most students come to the Learning Center to learn a language for their work, with their tuition often paid by their companies. Health and fitness classes are scheduled before and after the language classes, so people can conveniently add them to their schedules. Since“a company can only be as strong as its owner,” Alicia works out every day. Running is her passion—“the only time I get pure silence,” time to organize her thoughts, answer her own questions, and get inspiration for the next step in her journey.

The Center’s classes are reasonably priced, seven weeks long, and small, giving personal attention to students. Classes are offered on weekday evenings and Saturdays, to accommodate schedules of working adults. The Center has ample parking and a break room with healthy snacks and wi-fi where people study and meet friends between classes, building community--another part of a balanced life. The Center also offers some free classes, such as Small Business 101, to help people start up their own small businesses, and Money Management, to help with personal finances.

“I’ve never worked so hard in my life,” says Alicia, “and I’ve never been happier.” While old job brought her money, security, and benefits, following her dream gives her a deep sense of purpose. She sees her school “making a difference every day,” she says, as students gain new knowledge, become more fit and confident, building the skills and courage they need to make a positive difference in the world. That’s Alicia’s dream.

Now it’s your turn. The year is new. What dream has been calling out to you? Take a deep breath and see yourself living your dream.

Now ask yourself, “What is one small step I can take to get started?” Take that step to make 2012 a bright new beginning-- right here and right now

For more information about the San Jose Learning Center, visit www.sanjoselearningcenter.com

490 West San Carlos St.
San Jose, CA 95110
(408) 722-1785