Happy Father's Day...

I don't know where the concept of Father's Day came from, but I'll take it...

As I reflect this morning, I realize that my kids both exercise me in ways and also bring me pleasures that the world wouldn't otherwise without them.  There are upsets and challenges, but also successes and accomplishments along the way.  Without the kids, there would be no mother and no calling on us as a couple to show up and to exemplify good behaviors and decision-making that can set a good example.  They can also learn from our mistakes and missteps as well, as we are human and are not perfect.  This, hopefully, gives them both room to be authentically themselves and allows them to show up with their own gifts and to serve the world in their own special ways.

No, I do not know who invented Father's Day, but I am glad that they did.  Happy Father's Day to the fathers out there and to the mothers and kids that allow us fathers to show up.

Local Travel: Exploring the Inner Landscape

Last Friday,  I attended the first public session of the Search Inside Yourself course at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.  As I jotted my notes about the content of the course, I also found myself doodling in the margins.  What came up?

Early on, we wrote about the characteristics of leaders that distinguished them and the usual suspects came to mind: integrity, vision, transparency, authenticity.  But, also, did peaceful.  Interesting.  Somehow, I feel that I discern a sense of peace.  Why?  How did I pick that up?  Something to think on for a bit…

Later, we were discussing emotional awareness and regulation; the edge of my paper discerns our mood as the “climate that we live in” and emotion as the “current weather pattern.”  It helps me adjust my mood when my emotions get the best of me.

When we introduced ourselves, we also gave a word that described where we were at the moment.  What was my word?  Curious.  I was curious to explore the material and to see where it might take me on my professional journey.  As I described to a few of my friends that have joined the course with me, even though I have learned this material, taught it to others and even read Meng’s book, I (we) need to experience it in order to really know it.  That was what I was here for; the good news is that I was able to show up as a beginner.

The great New Yorker comic of a billboard with one of those “you are here” sendups that Meg showed us reminded me of the est seminar, “Be Here Now”, that I attended back in the 80s.  BHN helped us access and remember that being present is being alive…  Mindfulness and attention are the keys to staying present or bringing ourselves back when we inevitably drift off again.  We were encouraged to be kind to ourselves as we prepared to practice a bit during the class; it appears that we are distracted 47% of the time, so we have a long way to go still.

While we meditated, Meg described the posture: back like an arrow, legs in lotus position, etc. to be both alert and relaxed.  My body felt more like a coiled snake, a description that I envision whenever I feel a bit too vigilant or my threat response getting warmed up.  As I relaxed and relax yet again, I realize that there are “a lot of floors in that building” and that my breathing was an elevator taking me down to the basement.  Hmm, perhaps another 20 years of practice and I might get somewhere…  Along the way, I get to show up for life rather than watch the movie or imagine how it might be.

I look forward to further thinking on this and well as the next few weeks of the course and what lies beyond.