For about three years, I took spiritual refuge in an unprogrammed Friends (Quaker) meeting in West Texas. The meeting didn’t own their own facilities, so we either met for worship in the children’s education rooms of a local community church or had brunch and bible study at the clerk’s home. Each time, we all settled […]
Recovering from Rejection
Leading from outside of the org chart, or with limited social privileges is a constant apprenticeship in leveraging the seasons for every purpose. We watch for the time when new things can be born and when old things must die. We guard the fields of our organizations, communities, and societies for the right time to plant new patterns and the […]
Apathy: An Analogy
Situation A: We’re working around the yard, I slip, and drop a mallet on your foot. That’s going to hurt. Situation B: We’re working around the yard, I get angry with you, and I smash a mallet on your foot. That’s going to hurt. Situations A and B may have different relational consequences for us; […]
Lorde on Silence
The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action (1977) In becoming forcibly and essentially aware of my mortality, and of what I wished and wanted for my life, however short it might be, priorities and omissions became strongly etched in a merciless light, and what I regretted most were my silences. Of what had I […]