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welcome
what's new
Whether it’s money or the environment everybody seems to be talking about green. They seem to be on opposite sides of the spectrum, money on the one hand, environment on the other. But are they? In this country, especially these days, money has a big voice and spending is how we have our say. We thought we’d give you a chance to think about that in this edition of transform. — a different sort of homage to Earth Day. Are you supporting the earth with your green?
Universal Form Universal Form, the body movement we do every morning to before we sit, reminds some folks of yoga, tai chi or qi gong. That’s because it combines all three. We do a modified version of the original form developed by Lawrence Tan, but it’s super effective and unlike ‘downward dog’ just about anyone can do it. Read more Universal Form at MLK Park:[New Day!] Sat May 9 | 11am
Super Om, Courtesy of Students for A Free Tibet: www.studentsforafreetibet.org
in SIGHT An Indigenous Perspective on How to Survive the Next Hundred Years At Bioneers in 2007 Evon Peter blew away the audience with this talk that radiates truth and compassion. In this clip he touches everything from colonization and its effects on both people and the environment. What he says does much more than make
seven deadly sins of change: a superhero's funding and field guide to transformation INcite with angel Kyodo williams
you think about the earth differently, you also have to begin to think about your place in it. Watch YouTube video An Indigenous Perspective:Purchase Complete DVD
in TIME
While then-candidate Obama wooed the electorate into an oddly fleeting historic
Inner Justice
moment with his steady call for us to all be Agents of Change, those of us that have been
Justice Intensive | June 20 to
stealthily exchanging our glasses for capes with only tepid results to show for it know that we need more than ordinary change to get us out of the one-step left, two-steps right shuffle our social justice agenda has been stymied by for the past 50 years. We need the kind of change that leads to deep-rooted, broad-based, sustainable lasting change that can't be rolled back with the swirl of a pen or crushed under a wave of conservative backlash. We need Transformative Change. We've been secretly biding our time in serene anticipation of the Fall of
Save the Dates: 4th Annual Inner June 27 | Prep on June 19 Weeklong meditation, Yoga, Breath and Study Intensive for agents of social change. Earth Day Weekend : Spring Spruce | April 25 | 10 AM - 1 PM Get your hands in the Earth this Earth day, while helping spruce up our beautiful garden. Snacks and refreshment. Come for any or all of the time and bring your friends. 4th Annual Inner Justice Intensive | June 20 - 27 | Prep June 19
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the American Consumptive Ways. With a complex mix of dismay and satisfaction, we hold appropriate, compassionate empathy for the folks that are the least buffered from even subtle turnabouts in the economic winds, much less the comparative financial tsunami of the past seven
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Earth Day Weekend: Spring Spruce | April 25 Awarding Collaboration: 1st Inaugural Transformative Leadership Awards | April 30 Congratulations to the Seasons Fund Awardees: CLUE,
months. This is expressed with The Deeply Furrowed Brow of Concern. But understanding that our collective faces hitting the floor may be our
ForestEthics, Generative Somatics and Social Justice
only Wakeup Call, that concern co-mingles with The Subtle-But-Knowing Smile of Approval.
Leadership Program, stone circles and to Finalists:
Yoda would be proud.
Leadership, Make the Road New York, Rockwood Kindred and Miami Workers Center
in the CENTER
Even Time Magazine's cover pronounces "The End of Excess" with a picture of a great big reset button along with the rhetorical inquiry: "Is This Crisis Good for America?" Well, of course it is. When you view your life and the
27 Days to Change
world through the lens of transformation, you recognize that any upset or tragedy is really an opportunity for another level of growth and deeper understanding. You run with it rather than away from it. The caveat is
country are participating in this
Forty-three people around the season's 27 Days of Change. Whether here at the Center
that because the Grand Designer made a package deal of Free Will and the Breath of Life, it's entirely up to us to either seize the opportunity to
virtually or actually, they've come through for sits,
find a new Way to become that which we all inexorably endeavor to become: a Whole Human. If not, we'll return to our previous incomplete
online and done a little yoga in between. Many of them
state: driven by fear and panic, desperately and pathetically groping for what is familiar but no longer viable, if it ever was. When that window of opportunity passes, the Universe has to conjure up another greater
on their own (a challenge to be sure) or with maybe one
tragedy for us to get the message. Time's rallying cry calls for us to "make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and be entirely ready to remove our defects of character."
dharma talks, check-ins, talked about their experiences are social change folks. And a lot of them are doing this or two people as support. Read more... Vote! On Our New Logo
inner PRACTICE
The Watchmen for Change are made up of Freedom Fighters, Organizers,
Welcoming What We Resist
Agitators and Activists paired with the folks that, like it or not, foot the bills. In a perfected partnership, they are our Supporters, Advocates,
If we practice and practice with
Advisors and Allies. Some of us pay with the currency of creativity, vitality, energy and soulforce. Others pay with hopefulness, steadfastness, wild cheering and dollar bills, y'all.
effort we get a chance to take a long, hard look at ourselves. Whether that means we stop a particular habit, or pick up a new better one, we get to
Together we are the Jedis of Justice. We are The Ones that We have Been Waiting for to illuminate the Matrix and reveal the passage out of Babylon. We are the Agents of Transformative Social Change. X-Agents for short. (Yea, I know, but X-Men was already taken and it's chauvinist anyway...)
know ourselves and our (sometimes) strong reactions to wanting to hold on to the way we already are. Read more...
outer ACTION
So what are our collective defects of character, the Kryptonite that saps our power, woos us to the Dark Side and is an impenetrable barrier to a
Training To Lead With Head & Heart
movement of truly Transformative Social Change that we both envision and are beckoned by?
Rockwood Leadership Institute is where leaders like Todd Paglia of
Here are Seven Deadly Sins of Change and their respective Virtuous behavioral antidotes:
Forest Ethics has encouraged his staff to go year after year in order to make sure the work they do is effective and aligned with their values
1. Release Lust: Bigger is not better. Hasn't the economic bubble splat taught us that? The organizations that have become the biggest are not necessarily the best. The day of the 900-lb Gorilla eating up all the resources because they can should be over. It leaves the rest of the creatures of the forest to fight amongst themselves for scraps. Real innovation gets crowded out by behemoths. We all lose. Practice Chastity: Consume only what you need to sustain real, viable work, not just what will get you funding because its the buzz. Pass on the
of honesty, communication and human connection. Read more... Learn More About Rockwood
social CHANGE Got Chaos? Funding Cuts and Volunteer Floods: Time to
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rest and pass the plate.
Prioritize and Organize
2. Release Gluttony: On the other hand, there's just too many of us. We've got an organization for every issue, identity and incident, each
Got Chaos? According to the New York Times, one
scavenging for five crumbs. As a result, we're disorganized, disconnected and still disenfranchised. We resist the natural cycle of organizational
highly skilled, signing up to help non-profits. This is a
death because we've tied our livelihoods up with our causes. We start organizations to avoid corporate life but end up being slaves to those
in large numbers of displaced workers who are helping
institutions, too. Creativity is curtailed and resources are spread too thin. Death, no matter how painful, gives way to fresh, viable life. Practice Temperance: Is your organization serving you or are you serving
jobs.
your organization? Is your work changing THE World, not just your world? If not, Merge. Fold. Find your new path. Be Reborn in the next life. We'll all benefit from a nimbler movement, better-resourced movement.
upside to the downturn is the flood of volunteers, often result of the oft-cited chaos in the economy, resulting out social change organizations while they search for Read more... From Ranks of Jobless, a Flood of Volunteers
in the MIND Mind Over Money
3. Release Greed: Grantmakers have lost almost one-third of their assets. Never mind that foundations are only required to give 5 percent
Last April several folks from our
of those endowments, most of which were ill-gained to begin with. I always say "when it's your house that's burning down, you don't use 5% of the water you have to save the rest for the fire that might come in the future. You use the whole damn bucket..." Practice Charity: Charity of common sense, that is. Raise giving to a mere 15% of that monopoly money. Even with 30% losses, you'll be giving more than double what you gave when you were flush and we'll all be twice as far along.
community did a Street Retreat for three days. We slept on the steps of the public library and begged for food and change. A lot of us learned first hand about our relationship and society’s relationship to money and giving. And Lynne Twist shares insight about the very Soul of Money Read more... Street Retreat Reflections 2008
4. Release Sloth: When it comes to the task of being the change we wish to see, we're pretty damn lazy. Our movements are constipated, our coalitions siloed, our collaborations fractured, our organizations
"the best workshop i've ever taken. radically changed
top-down, and our personal practice is toenail-deep. We're tall on rhetoric, short on application. We want sustainability while we work
fearless Meditation is our 3-part signature series that
ourselves to exhaustion. We insist on Universal Healthcare and Ubiquitous McDonald's. We want green job access and plastic bag convenience. We strive for environmental justice and allow "feed-animal" damnation.
is offered for no charge for agents of social change:
Practice Diligence: We have to PRACTICE what we're preaching for. It's all connected and it starts with you: Eat healthy, Pray frequently, Love deeply. And to keep it all in perspective, Dance wildly.
my work." teaches practical meditation in a social justice context fearless Meditation I: Fri May 1 | 7pm and every 1st Friday Save the Date | fearless Meditation II: practice of the breath | Fri May 22
in the BODY
5. Release Wrath: The lifeforce of our work is still choked by useless "us
Tree Pose
vs. them" ego-tripping and bad attitudes. These issues need to be addressed at the roots. We'll never make peace with others until we
Be like a tree! Root yourself to
make peace within ourselves. Transformative Change is only possible when the people doing the change are changing themselves.
changing the world with Tree
Practice Patience: Heal and Love Thyself. Start working out your issues at your Inner Gym. Watch your mind and notice how it wreaks havoc on reality. Find ways to lower the volume on the internal noise that makes you a walking time bomb of contraction and imbalance. Do Yoga. Meditation. Centering Prayer. Better yet, let them do you. Save your heart, save the world.
the earth and to your work for Pose. Tree pose helps with cultivating balance, concentration, and coordination. It also strengthens the thighs, calves, ankles, and spine as well as relieves sciatica and reduces flat feet. Read more... Jo Kata: Moving from Center Universal Form: 3 Minutes to Power and Peace is a short
6. Release Envy: Funders, you matter. So stop inserting yourselves to assert your Selves. While many of you live vicariously and combat boredom by dreaming up new projects, frontliners are busting their tails out there and still they're relegated to using up to 40% of their energy to
moving meditation to calm your body and ease your mind. Fun & Free. Come join the crowd: Universal Form at MLK Park: [New Day!] Sat May 9 | 11am & Then every 1st Saturday
raise money for their work. Change will only take place through real leadership, partnerships and collaboration. Every good partnership is borne of knowing your role and contribution and honoring that of your
wellness & being well
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partners. Stop hating on changemakers because you envy their courage while fearing the direct experience it arises from. Funders should fund and let the people that work the frontlines work...not scurry, scrape and suck up for funds.
Grow-Your-Own-Food
Practice Kindness: With yourselves, first and foremost. Tend to the wounds that excessive privilege imprisons and burdens you with. Letting
people going back to growing
REVOLUTION! There's a rise in the number of their own food. There are a lot of
your money or control of it front as self-worth leads to narcissism, self-centeredness and a profound emptiness that compels you to a never-
reasons why including, saving money, having access to
ending search for fulfillment. Give your burden away...even some of the sacred principal. You'll be free to be you and not your money. I repeat: Save your heart, save the world.
the Earth.
7. Release Pride: The failure point of Pride, when it leaves good and turns sour, is "failing to acknowledge the good work of others." If you
Smoothies! Check out recipes from we like it Raw
really want change, enable people to do the work of change for real. If this is a platform for your personal whims, but you actually fear what real change looks like--yes, you'll have to give things up: money, land, status,
april wallpaper
higher quality fruits/vegetables, and connecting with Read More... NYTimes: Banking on Gardening Green your body and soul with Green Well-Being List
control, privilege, power, privilege--stay home, watch reruns of ER and stop wasting your own and our time. Practice Humility: Fund what works broadly and deeply. But more importantly at this moment, fund risk. Fund bold efforts that are unknown, untested, untried. Fund creative solutions to intractable problems and expect no guarantees in return. If it makes you nervous, fund it. The ladybug symbolizes the ushering in off deep Spring
Together, we, the Practitioners and Funders, Agents, Activists and Allies of Change need to be the "Real American Idols"(trademark pending), the
because after clustering together through the winter,
Super Heroes and Sheroes that take up our part day-to-day to do the ordinary work of changing the world while doing the extraordinary work
days. Considered a good luck charm that you can make
of changing ourselves.
variety of the bugs are children's favorite.
I know we're up to the task of seizing the real opportunity that is at hand--to live, love and lead from heart--one by one kick-ass X-Agent at a time.
Read more and download this image as wallpaper with
they disperse in response to the increasingly longer a wish on and then blow it away, the brightly colored
or without calendar for your desktop. Download with calendar... Download without calendar...
angel Kyodo williams, is founder of Transformative Change (formerly urbanPEACE). A social visionary and leading voice for transformative social change, she is the author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living
connect | share | support transform feedback editor@transformativechange.org
With Fearlessness and Grace. Share your transformative story
Want to read older stories or just keep up with angel? Be sure to connect to her blogs or join her fan page in Facebook. Blog: new Dharma: live, love & lead from the heart Facebook: Fan angel here
how are you changing the WAY change is done Subscribe get your own monthly issues of transform.
Web: www.angelkyodowilliams.com Forward
angel Kyodo williams next public talk: Thursday | May 14 | 7:20pm
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Center for Transformative Change Tell-All-Your-Friends
activists, allies & agents of change The Roots of Forest Ethics
Registration and other questions 888.XSOCHANGE (new number! toll free) register@transformativechange.org
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By integrating inner awareness techniques with cutting-edge public campaigning, ForestEthics' executive director Todd Paglia has pioneered a groundbreaking approach to environmental protection. Mr. Paglia’s philosophy of being ‘tough on the issues, but soft on the people’ has led to creative and highly productive partnerships with many Fortune 500 corporations—even those that were once campaign targets, such as Staples, Office Depot and Victoria's Secret. As a result, over 65 million acres of Endangered Forests, the equivalent of more than half of California, will be protected. Mr. Paglia lives in Bellingham, Washington with his wife and two young sons.
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Center for Transformative Change is the first national center entirely dedicated to bridging the inner and outer lives of social change agents, activists and allies to support a more effective, more sustainable social justice movement. Donate to the Center to support our work. Visit the Center's website. Center for Transformative Change 2584 MLK Jr. Way Berkeley, CA 94704 · USA +1.510.549.3733 Google the Center.
Todd Paglia grew up among the trees as a youngster in Upstate New York and over the course of his life there watched as the landscape grew drastically different. The trees began to disappear. This is a lot of what inspired him to do the work he does with Forest Ethics—a cutting edge, no-nonsense, and yet incredibly open, community-driven organization that gets companies like Dell, Victoria’s Secret and Staples to change their environmentally unsustainable ways. Forest Ethics pulls out all the stops to do what they do using a plethora of activists in places all around the nation, and in Canada and Chile). They do everything from staging traditional protests, airing commercials, posting information on websites and having folks everywhere divest from the targetted companies. To say they are incredibly passionate about the work they do is an understatement. As Kristi Vance Chester, Communications Director states, “People here have given their souls to this work.” Read more... Learn more about www.forestethics.org
resources for change… Here are a couple short clips on the importance of being green: a powerful speech by a young girl about the environment and one way that sewage could be very useful and sustainable. You can also buy the complete DVD of Evon Peter's Bioneers Talk. All proceeds go to Evon Peter. An Indigenous Perspective on How to Survive the Next 100 Years 13-Year-Old Girl Addresses UN From Sewage to Charcoal TIME - The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?
quote of the month “I think that people who want to change society have a double duty...We have to really look at how we ourselves are combative, punitive, self-destructive, greedy; we're passionate about changing that in the external world, even as we enact it in our internal world and in our relationships with each other.” —Van Jones, Van Jones & Green For All
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Center for Transformative Change is a project of urbanPEACE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization whose mission to inform, incite and empower a broad-based, presence-centered transformative social change movement.
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