meeting change | transform. | november 2009
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Read this newsletter online: http://transformativechange.org/docs/nl/transform-200911.html Download printable PDF version: http://transformativechange.org/docs/nl/transform-200911.pdf
what's new
welcome Since 1974 Thanksgiving Day, Native Americans have held a Sunrise Ceremony on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco as a reminder of the myth of Thanksgiving and the mourning of incalculable loss. This month we're acknowledging the powerful act of leave taking as a way to connect both our feelings of gratitude for what we learned and our feelings of grief about what has been lost, what is left behind--in particular the "leaving" of land, people, and traditions. Let us not forget, we are all indigenous to somewhere. While some of us got to keep our traditions, language, history, our land, our rights - others of us struggle even today to reconnect to who we were/are so we can be our own Leaders, our own Teachers.
CXC's New Public Schedule True to our name, CXC is undergoing transformation. Internally, we are taking leave of a few of our "old ways". We are making changes to our physical space, the people and things who occupy it, and the way we do work--in addition to developing some exciting new projects that support deep change. Read more... A "Mind-Blowing" Video on Climate Change Transformative Change-oriented Forest Ethics joined up with Environmental Defense to produce one of the "best videos on climate action." See it now: Mom's Against Climate Change | 1:26 min
YouTube
in SIGHT Leadership
meeting change: the art & practice of transition INcite with angel Kyodo williams As an east coast native, the traditional four seasons of the year have become deeply embedded in my psyche and soul as a map and a means for organizing my life. Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, repeat. Seasons are like phases in the cycle of Life. Going from one to the
No video? Click #1: http://www.youtube.com/watch ? v=gZ5X2Mki7QQ or #2: http://www.youtube.com/watch ? v=JTxrOcKsLJA
When you think of leadership, you inevitably think of
next represents Transition: the in-between space of moving from one way of being in
power. The question is, what kind of power? Something
relationship to life into another.
from power that is a well of vision, truth, integrity,
Taken together, the turning of the four seasons into a year reflects our collective relationship to and dependence upon nature and all her rhythms, according our journey with the sun and the entire vast universe. http://transformativechange.org/docs/nl/transform-200911.html
slightly tyrannical, perhaps? True leadership springs compassion and relationship. In these two videos Rev. angel Kyodo williams touches on how each of those qualities form exemplary leaders, allowing others to live into their full potential. Page 1 of 6
meeting change | transform. | november 2009
universe. I have come to appreciate this internal alignment with the cyclical rhythms of the Earth, herself as a powerful counterbalance to the false constructs of busyness and get-it-doneness made by Men. Capitalism and consumerism have erected false notions of the rhythms we should adhere to. We are corralled from one hopping holiday or sale season to the next.
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live into their full potential. Difficult Acts of Leadership | 4 min Obama's Nobel Prize: A Significant Act of Leadership | 2:44 min
in TIME All NEW
While many people use birthdays as their marker for a new year, I've
NEW Center Practice Hall
always used the early Fall. Fall is both a beginning and ending for me. A time for simultaneously harvesting the learnings of the Spring and
Schedule & Introducing Jo Kata
Summer before it, while fervently preparing for the rest and gestation of the Winter to come. Once upon a time, I resisted this rhythmic pattern, noticing with chagrin that come Fall, I would invariably take
Practice Jo Kata is the practice of extending and maintaining a field of energy beyond one's own body. It utilizes 31 different moves with a
things apart, reorganize them and put them back together again. Sometimes in my reconfigurations, things would get thrown away.
staff (never a stick!), called a Jo. Jo Kata was developed
Sometimes everything would go.
who was the founder of aikido. See you soon at the
The people in my life can't always quite make sense of this internallydriven process from the outside and through the years have mistakenly
by Saito Sensei, a senior student of Morohei Ueshiba Center to connect with community and get your practice on.
viewed it as my being restless, inconsistent, breaking down or working through some kind of crisis.
NEW 27 Days of Change: Practice Period
The reality is I'm not any of those things and I am all of them: I'm just
Practice Period as an exclusively virtual experience.
Meeting Change.
Designed for activists, allies & agents of social change,
For the first time ever, we are offering our winter
Practice Periods are 27 days of daily inner practice in
So while I make a reasonable effort to accord with or renegotiate external commitments and the demands of relational life, there are
the midst of our urban lives. The 6-point, 360 degree
times when, like the seasons, I must honor this internal rhythm whether it makes sense to or works for others or not. Once you can hear it, to
relationship to yourself, your community and the world.
not honor the resonant call for meeting change, is to not honor life itself. Change Whose Time Has Come Sometime in August, in the midst of preparing for our biggest event of the year, a clear knowing about what our work needed in order to move
personal change program helps you examine your REAL change & justice begins with YOU. Register today. New Center Practice Hall Schedule 27 Days of Change: Practice Period | Virtual
in the CENTER A Changing transform. It's not exactly transform. that's
to the next level came to me. Holding some sweet sadness for what I
changing. A couple of the folks
knew had to happen, I invited the community I'd been living with in some form or other for the past five years—to leave. I wasn't kicking
behind the newsletter are leaving their posts to go on to other
people out nor had I made a decision that I didn't want to live within a community of transformative practice any longer. What I had come to realize was, that as a living experiment—a petri dish for learning how best to support people working for justice in their own deep inner life change—our time had come to an end. So on 9/9/09, a date representing "completion," we gathered to bring to completion our time together in that form. As requested, each
projects--creating a grand opportunity for those interested in adding their voice to transformative social change. Read more...
inner PRACTICE
person planned a transition from this phase or season of life to the
Good Grief: The Relationship
next. I had only one request for their plan: that the step they take would be one that would bring them closer to their own life purpose.
Between Transformation &
That they waste no time in a limbo space, but regard their lifeforce as
Co-authors and well-known
precious enough to not waste a single moment ambling near their path,
experts on death and dying,
Grief
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and David
choosing instead to step out fully onto it in whatever form that might take. They were also asked to state what they would need, if anything,
Kessler, define grief as our internal response to loss.
to support this significant endeavor.
Last month in our INcite feature article, Founder, Rev. angel Kyodo williams, an expert on deep change,
Organizationally speaking, this transition was invited at a time when we are, like many non-profits, picking ourselves up out of the dust and http://transformativechange.org/docs/nl/transform-200911.html
outlined the 6 Ways to Know Transformation.
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outlined the 6 Ways to Know Transformation.
are, like many non-profits, picking ourselves up out of the dust and
Read more...
debris of the past year's economic crisis, which is obviously far from over. Many would argue the move as less than, well...sane. But I'd argue that one of the most subtle Arts of Change is recognizing when
outer ACTION
it's time to transition, to step forward into the awkwardness of the
Lessons on Burying the Bones
unknown and to meet change head on. To have continued on with folks
"In the absence of ritual, the soul
that I had a felt sense belonged somewhere else would have been to opt for convenience over integrity, thus dishonoring this work—as Khalil
runs out of its real nourishment." Malidoma Somé
Gibran named: my love made visible in the world—at its core. We each know intuitively that Love sometimes calls for a valiant honor that may set our preferences and conveniences aside. In work towards real,
being a response to something larger than ourselves,
abiding justice and change that will last, our work, and how we hold it,
something that fills us to the point where words are not
must be the same.
enough. I should clarify here, I mean big ritual: rituals
As a result of meeting change on that day and bringing forth intention from as long as 10 years ago:: On October 31, half of the residential community—also meaning half of our staff—transitioned out. Gracefully, and sometimes not so, each person stepping firmly on the path of fulfilling their purpose in life.
I've always thought of ritual as
around death, love, birth, honor. Big ritual let's us get over ourselves and land in the present. Read more... Burying the Bones Symbolic Ritual
social CHANGE Afghanistan: For Radical Inner
On November 1, we transitioned in a new ED, thereby
or Social Change, the Answers
releasing me from the confines of organizational
are the Same
structures while enabling all of what I've been able to contribute thus far to live on until it is no longer useful.
Whether it's for individual
On December 1 I will officially begin my first sabbatical after having logged 25 years of work, 20 of them with an eye towards social change. In January, a new phase in the life of what has become the Center for Transformative Change will begin with the wind of legacy at its back and the raw power of new
transformation, the transformation of two countries at war or for transformation of the the world, the answers are the same. If we want radical change, whether it's the end of the US occupation of Afghanistan or inner transformation as individuals, here's a few things we'll need on the way - Breakdown, Vulnerability, Grief and Gratitude, Self-Determination,
energy carrying it forward.
and Leadership. We can see more specifically how these
In June, CXC will collaboratively launch what we believe will be one of the most powerful toolkits to help shift
and Afghanistan, beginning with Malalai Joya, known as
the culture of social justice towards one of Transformative Social Change. To hold these transitions off because things were far from rosy and we would be heavily challenged and sorely inconvenienced is to miss the very point of the practice of meeting change. We must come to
operate in the relationship between the US government "the Bravest woman in Afghanistan." Read more... Malalai Joya Historic Speech - Vulnerability and Leadership
in the MIND
welcome the awkwardness and inconvenience of change because that is precisely where our learning edges live. So, even as we here at CXC
Sitting with Grief
negotiate the sticky places (and yes, there are LOTS of them,) we know
mind's eye usually conjures up
this is the right thing to do...and it is the right time.
images of deep sorrow and
When we think of grief, our
death. For many of us, the
Entering the Doorways One of the practices of our New Dharma spiritual tradition is to bring our palms together and bow upon entering and leaving doorways. The hands form what is called gassho in Japanese, a bringing together of all things into One. It is the universally familiar gesture of namaste, prayer, respect, welcome. Out of this Oneness arises the bow, a gesture that in the West might be thought of as a lowering, but practiced well, in its quiet humility is actually a raising up. For us, it marks the transition—from outside to inside; from busy day to quiet sitting; from scattered head to One Mind; from "get it done" to "let it be"—with an imperceptibly small ceremony that gives us permission to http://transformativechange.org/docs/nl/transform-200911.html
subject of death and dying elicits a rather strong emotional response. And, as a culture, we tend to shy away from subjects that elicit strong emotional responses, particularly ones that leave us feeling vulnerable. Read more ...
"the best workshop i've ever taken. radically changed my work." fearless Meditation is our 3-part signature series that Page 3 of 6
meeting change | transform. | november 2009
be"—with an imperceptibly small ceremony that gives us permission to release what came before so that we might step fully into what is new. Transitions are the doorways to change. Choosing to engage transition and enter each doorway as consciously as possible but with a
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fearless Meditation is our 3-part signature series that teaches practical meditation in a social justice context is offered for no charge for agents of social change: fearless Meditation I: December 4 | 7pm & every 1st Friday
willingness to not know what's on the other end is makes that change intentional.
in the BODY
Life IS change. And if you've been around for five good minutes, you
Gratitude to Serve
know that Change Happens. So your only real choice is to either let life happen to you or for you to choose to live it.
Every day is a good day to give thanks. And since November brings Thanksgiving, let's take
One way to do that is to become practiced at happily, humbly and
the opportunity to offer gratitude
heartily Meeting Change.
for what IS in our lives, as well as for the changes we are working towards.
—
Read more ...
With love and deep gratitude for all the unnamed stalwart practitioners of the Inner life phase of the New Dharma Meditation
Heart & Breathing Exercise: The Power of Acceptance and Gratitude
Center & Community that evolved into the Outer life Phase with these folks as staff of Center for Urban Peace: chandrashekara thuy tran, Karen Muktayani Villanueva, Premadasi Luna Amada, Simhanandi Evan
wellness & being well
Stubblefield, Zochi Alonzo Young, seeing it through its transition to
Whole Care, Not Health Care
the Center for Transformative Change. It is only for each of you that
In our culture, health care is
we can now step into the Social (Change) life phase of CXC to see our work for justice and deep change through. Good journey, y'all.--aKw
something, if we can afford to, we pay a pretty penny to receive. Health care is about hospitals, drugs, what the insurance company will cover or won't cover. Health care is
angel Kyodo williams, is founder of urbanPEACE and it's Center for Transformative Change. A social visionary and leading voice for transformative social change, she is the author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living With
pharmaceutical drugs to treat symptom after symptom, and being rushed through a visit to the doctor because he has other patients to get to. I think you get the idea. Read more...
Fearlessness and Grace.
november wallpaper Blog: new Dharma: live, love & lead from the heart Facebook: Fan angel here Twitter: Follow angel for tweets of wisdom on Change Web: www.angelkyodowilliams.com angel Kyodo williams' next public talk: Thurs | Nov 19 | 7:20pm @ CXC - Center for Transformative Change leave-ing
newDharma Talk A Real Human Being Motivated by two letters Alice Walker wrote to Barack Obama before and after he became President, this talk addresses real leadership and with it real Humanness. Excerpt: "Where is it that this inspiring sense of leadership and hope-where does it actually come from? Is this another spin-doctor that has figured out how to say the right words to get us all excited so that we can get behind someone as they carry out an unjust war? Or are we hearing, as they call in Indigenous cultures, particularly [among] Alaska Native tribes, a real human being? Are we hearing from and responding
With 125 species and literally thousands of cultivars, the Acer genus of trees and shrubs, more commonly known as Maple, enjoy a shared status of high regard in many places in the world. Often sporting brightly colored leaves for Fall, they are a signifier of the transition of seasons worldwide. Native to four continents and cultivated on all, they are a central feature of leaf-watching traditions everywhere. Download this image as wallpaper with or without calendar for your desktop. Download with calendar... Download without calendar...
to the words of a real human being that can only speak these kinds of http://transformativechange.org/docs/nl/transform-200911.html
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to the words of a real human being that can only speak these kinds of words and have our ears hear them when they speak from the inside? That these words are not to be found merely on a piece of paper by a speechwriter; these words come to us because they come from us? That we can hear these words because we have the kind of ears that can receive them; because these words are speaking to something that has always been in us and has been begging to come to the surface." Listen to A Real Human Being
connect | share | support transform feedback editor@transformativechange.org Share your transformative story how are you changing the WAY change is done Subscribe get your own monthly issues of transform. Forward
activists, allies & agents of change Northeast by Southwest: Ways to Change the World from Home Evon Peter is the Executive Director of the Indigenous Leadership Institute, Chief Executive Officer of Gwanzhii, LLC, and former Chief of the Neetsaii Gwich'in tribe from northeastern Alaska. He has served as the Co-Chair of the Gwich'in Council International and on the Executive Board of the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council. Evon is a wellrecognized advocate of Indigenous Peoples rights, youth, and a balanced world, active as a speaker, strategist, writer, and organizer. [image: Bethanie Hines]
send this issue via email to a friend now Tell-All-Your-Friends
Registration and other questions 888.XSOCHANGE (new number! toll free) register@transformativechange.org 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
In April of this year Evon left Flagstaff, Arizona to return home to
social justice movement.
Alaska. He's gone back to a place that feeds his spirit in a way that
Donate to the Center to support our work
nowhere else can. His family is there, his grandmother, uncles, aunts,
Visit the Center's website
cousins and community...all of the people who nurtured and supported his path toward leadership. Alaska is also where Evon, at seventeen, deeply realized the importance of self-transformation and its extended
Center for Transformative Change
connection to community transformation. It was a realization that
Berkeley, CA 94704 · USA
opened up a path of leadership for him and gave him a chance to
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confront personal imbalances so they could be handled in a good way—
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something that any good leader should address in taking up his/her role.
Read more... Learn more about Indigenous Leadership Institute
resources for change… Leave it all behind. It almost sounds like a vacation getaway. And it could be, but a vacation from self, from the things we try and hold onto, be they ideas, beliefs or practices, or just thinking that doesn't serve us. Wanna get away? Try these on to reconnect to your path and realign with what matters: Un-Thanksgiving on Alcatraz Island Indigenous Occupation of Alcatraz Island Buy Evon Peter's DVD - Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action Malidoma Somé's Elemental Rituals
quote of the month
http://transformativechange.org/docs/nl/transform-200911.html
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“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls. ” —Howard Thurman, Civil Rights Activist, Howard Thurman Papers Project
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.
Having trouble reading this email? Go to: http://transformativechange.org/docs/nl/transform -200911.html
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