Author: Nancy White

Sharing my Birthday with ALL OF YOU

Today I cross the half century mark. I am turning 50 on a typical Seattle spring day – the birds are singing wildly, the tulips are waving in the morning rain and the sky is just lightening. I won’t be online much today, but already I wake to a queue of well wishes on my Skype and even – a first for me – a blog post birthday greeting from the warm and wonderful Holder – Change Management Blog: Happy Birthday, Nancy White.

I am blessed and happy to be alive. My sister called earlier in the week and asked how I was feeling. You know, in my culture, turning 50 can be intimidating – some morbid “one foot in the grave” theme. But I feel very alive, and that life is full of love, meaningful work, and always a learning path in front of me. So as I head out to the last day of the Seeds of Compassion with the Dalai Lama, I’ll be carrying all of you in my heart. Here is my birthday gift to you for being in my life, both visible and invisible – some flowers created by Seattle youth for the Dalai Lama yesterday.
Flowers for the Dalai Lama

A Slow Community Movement?

slow, small and underfunded
A couple of weeks ago, Peter Block said the qualities of successful community initiatives were, in his experience, being slow, small and underfunded. We all laughed, but looking around the room, his bravery in saying it seemed to resonate with many of us.

Have we been “communitied” to death? Has the abundance of choice, the speed with which commercial ventures have yet again jumped on to the “community” bandwagon anesthetized us to what “being together” as a community really is in our lives?

I was on a Skype call with a friend and colleague from Germany this morning and he was reflecting on how much he was enjoying working on an unfunded project. Used to the structure of organizations and businesses, he found the passion a wonderful, refreshing experience. I paused, then laughed and told him about hearing Peter Block. Something resonated. Bing!

Then, for fun, I said “what about a ‘slow community’ movement — like the ‘slow food’ movement?” We laughed, but again, that bell went off.

I thought I was joking, but now something is blossoming from that moment of humor. A few minutes later I read an email from Jay Cross recommending the article, Freedom to Learn :: Unitierra in Oaxaca by Gustavo Esteva. The article talks about the work of communities in Oaxaca who are eschewing schools and centrally designed learning experiences to take learning back into the hands of the community – on it’s own time, terms and tempo.

In the rush to colonize the possibility of community on the internet, with its characteristic speed and fleetness of metaphorical foot, we may have lost sight of the fact that some many of our most precious communities are slow, small and underfunded.

What kind of magic is this? What should we be paying attention to?

Is it time for a “slow community” movement? What would that look like to you? More importantly, how would it make your world a better place?

(Edit: Vanessa DeMauro had this thought in March. A good sign! )

Flickr: The Seeds of Compassion Pool

Steven Wright's capture of the Qwest Field Seeds of Compassion EventToday I head over to do graphic recording in the Compassionate Listening Room at Seeds of Compassion. I have been cruising flickr to encourage people to put their events into the The Seeds of Compassion Pool. I have uploaded the graphic recording team’s work from Friday and Saturday there (limited access for the recorders at Qwest field, but they did small drawings on paper) on my Flickr stream. Just to be clear, the images are the amazing work of Keith McCandless, Patti Dobrowolski, Steven Wright and Timothy Corey. (The one to the right is from Steven Wright.)

If you are not in town, there is streaming video of many of the events on the Seeds website.

Seeds of Compassion Begins in Seattle

Seeds of ChangeI awoke before dawn to many birds singing, then a beautiful sunrise. An auspicious start for Seeds of Compassion , a 5-Day Gathering in Seattle with his Holiness, the Dalai Lama and a huge community of people who care about the role of compassion in the lives of children. This morning I attended the session on the Science of Compassion, and am currently listening to the live stream of this afternoon’s second science day. Archived materials are being translated into 24 languages. That is a mind-blowing, bridge-building commitment. (The image to the right is a close up of Tim Corey’s work)

Experiencing the Dalai Lama
You hear about this remarkable human being — of his warmth, humility and compassion. Even from high in the stadium stands, I felt this. Such humor too… his twinkle twinkled across the stadium. He spoke without pretension, took his time and radiated calm. While I was intellectually engaged with the offering of the panelists (and they came across very compassionate themselves), I found myself just experiencing his Holiness. Sometimes I could not understand with the amplification and echoes, but that didn’t seem to matter. It mattered that I was able to just be there.

Graphic Facilitation at the Seeds of Compassion
I’m also a Seeds volunteer over the next 5 days, helping with the graphic recording of many of the events and welcoming people to put their mark on paper in the Conversation Cafe room where people can debrief and talk with each other about their experiences over the 5 days. Today Patti Dobrowolski and Timothy Corey recorded. You can see photos here. Our full team also includes Keith McCandless, and Steven Wright. I am thrilled to be able to watch and learn from them, as well as provide a contribution to the event WITH them.

Today after the morning event ended, I hung out while Tim and Patti completed their charts. It was wonderful to see people look at them, remark at how it helps them remember what they heard, and their amazement that “they drew this DURING the presentation!” For me as a newbie practitioner of this art, it was immensely useful to see their two different styles and watch their final additions.

I’m looking forward to five days of learning, community and compassion. It seems a fitting entry point to my 50th birthday on April 15th.

6footsix and Becoming a Sponsor

Colleen's WaveFor years I have sponsored friends doing charity walk (like the March of Dimes’ Walk for Babies coming up soon.) That’s a no brainer. However, I’ve never sponsored an athlete-environmentalist. But now I have.

As of a few hours ago, I sponsored a bunch of temporary tattoos to help amazing beach volleyballista Colleen Smith, aka, 6footsix energize kids to help save our environment. You can read about it here.

Why Colleen? A couple of reasons. First of all, my pal Steve Crandall (another “imaginary friend who I met via my online network) told me about Colleen and her story grabbed me. He asked if I can help. NOTHING BEATS A PERSONAL ASK! So we started brainstorming. I strongly supported Steve’s impulse to set up a blog and I said to add a donation mechanism. I think Colleen’s story resonates and that people will respond.

I told my friend, freelance writer and yoga teacher, Erin Pursell (also a great editor) about Colleen. Erin eventually interviewed Colleen for an upcoming story in Sierra Magazine. Because, you know, getting the word out is important.

For Steve and I, it seemed fitting to activate our networks to support Colleen, not just in her work to become a winning beach volleyball player, but because she was interweaving her sport with a passion for the environment and, particularly, engaging kids in environmental issues. Why?

Backstory from Colleen’s blog:

I started thinking more about living in a greener world and thought about the beaches I play volleyball on. If global warming persists at the rate us earthlings are consuming, some predictions state that by 2100 the sea level will rise up to 6 meters! Just to put this into perspective, that is 3 Colleens! This made me realize that perhaps I could make a bigger difference than just making changes in my life; while on tour, I could encourage others to make changes in their own lives.

A friend of mine designed a temporary tattoo for me and I am going to wear it at one meter on my body which is just below where my bikini bottom meets my thigh. Crazywave_3This mark is going to represent where the sea level may rise to by the year 2060. This is during our lifetimes, people!

I really enjoy talking to kids and want to get their ideas on living greener. I am going to encourage them, their parents, and other adults to join my green team. In order to do so, they must promise me to change one aspect in their lives to contribute to a better greener world. Upon making this promise, they will be provided with a token to keep their word: a temporary tattoo, a re-usable shopping bag, or a 1-meter magnet to stick to their fridge. All kids will receive an extremely cool storyboard from Pixar artist, Nick Sung, just to give them some ideas how they and their friends can live greener lives. (THANK YOU NICK FOR YOUR GENEROUS VOLUNTEERMANSHIP!!!)

Second reason? Because I can. My contribution is tiny. But tiny contributions add up. And people’s lives can be changed. Not just Colleens, but the kids she will reach. That is power.

So, can you help? Bob (or spike) over to Colleen’s blog and click the paypal button. Maybe you too, can become a sponsor!