The Olympics are about so much more than winning or the feelings that go into it.

For me it’s about doing one’s very best after many years of focused practice and extreme dedication. It’s about the ability to be centered enough to perform at one’s peak in front of the world watching. It’s about the drive and passion to be the best we can be at something and going after it. It’s about the ability to perform with precision despite any pain or obstacles that get in the way. And these lessons are applicable to all of us, including the spiritual practices that we can bring to our work, money and other important matters.

My friend Marilyn King was an Olympic pentathlon athlete. About 6 months before the Moscow Olympics she was in a bad car accident and was hospitalized for months. Rather than give up her Olympic dream, she watched videos constantly of other pentathlon athletes performing at their peak and very consciously visualized doing the same.

Although she only had a few months of actual practice time before the Olympics, she placed second. Her practice of visualization was a powerful tool of success.

Marilyn then applied her Olympian wisdom to peacebuilding and education in a process she calls Olympian Thinking.   Her formula is passion (source of energy and creativity), plus vision (crystal clear images of goal), plus action (everything I do in alignment with vision) equals exceptional human performance (ordinary people doing extraordinary things).

What lessons can we derive from the Olympics for the workplace?

1. Strive for excellence - Excellence doesn’t mean perfection, rather the ability to focus and care deeply about our work to do the best we can. Striving for excellence motivates us; striving for perfection is demoralizing. We all make mistakes, but the opportunity is to learn from them and not repeat them. Excellence takes time, hard work, patience, practice and commitment. It doesn’t mean settling for just good enough.
2. Vision - In order to excel in something, we need to be clear where we’re going, what we want to do well. What drives us? What are we passionate about? It’s hard to excel if our heart is not in what we’re doing. Find what has heart and meaning and go for it.
3. Ask for Help or Guidance – All Olympic athletes have coaches – people who work with them, oversee their training, encourage them and keep them on track. We can’t do it alone. If we don’t understand something or are confused or overwhelmed, we need to be able to ask for help or guidance. Consider hiring a coach or finding a mentor.
4. The 3 C’s – Courage, Creativity and Commitment – Athletes don’t make it to the Olympics by being wimps. It takes tremendous courage and commitment to stretch beyond their limits and practice over and over, even when they are exhausted, until they achieve their personal best. It takes creativity to keep trying new routines (ice skating), faster runs (skiing) or new strokes (swimming) until they discover the best, fastest and most creative they can be. Do you practice the 3C’s in your work?
5. Ensure you have the right practical tools - We can never excel if we don’t have the right tools for the job. If you have an older computer, not enough staff, outdated software, need for training, slow internet, etc, be sure you take steps to upgrade. Yes, these cost money upfront, but in the long run save you time and money and enable you to get the job done. Prepare a brief proposal to your boss and explain why upgrading makes sense. Don’t waste time with outdated tools.
6. Don’t forget your spiritual tools! This blog is filled with spiritual tools and practices that can be applied to any task.  Just click on the “Spiritual Practices” category near the bottom of the categories list.
7. Use visualization - See yourself doing what you love at your very best. What does it look and feel like? Remember how Marilyn King used visualization to help her succeed in the Olympics. Use it for yourself.

What is your passion? Your personal best? Where do you excel?

Are you using Olympian thinking to combine your passion with your vision and action to achieve your best? If not, try it.

In peace,

Kim

Kimberly Weichel is a social pioneer, educator, author and specialist in global communications, leadership and peacebuilding. She is co-author of “Healing the Heart of the World” and director of the Institute for Peacebuilding.  www.kimweichel.org.

Since that interview, Elizabeth has written The Compromise Trap: How to Thrive at Work Without Selling Your Soul. The spirituality and work movements have grown along with a movement towards socially responsible business or conscious capitalism.  Still, simple, compelling pictures of what it’s like to do ordinary work with meaning and joy are still fairly rare.  That’s why I’m excited by the new TV show, “Undercover Boss,: which puts CEO’s into entry level jobs throughout their company, with a fake identity and a real quest to see what’s really happening.

When Employers and Employees Care About What They Do, We All Benefit.

Probably the biggest blessing any employer could give is to be fully acknowledge employees, as President and COO Larry O’Donnell of Waste Management did when he demonstrated a willingness to learn from his employees and to honor them during the launch of “Undercover Boss” on CBS.

While there was not a “religious” word spoken in this show, I saw in it a great model of the basic Buddhist practice of mindfulness, the Muslim practice of creating no split between what you do in the marketplace and what you do in your religious life, the Jewish and Christian practices of compassion and service, and the Hindu practice of engaging fully with any task but surrendering the results to God.

7 Spiritual Practices Demonstrated by the First “Undercover Boss”

No, none of these principles was stated in the show, but they’re what I saw in action:

See The Truth, Then Live By It, That You May Be Free. In business, truth is often hard to come by, because most managers are surrounded by spin doctors and “yes” men or women who only say what seems currently expedient.  Also, rarely do all of us see others without projections or fear, or a quick dismissal because they don’t seem to offer us anything at the moment — which leads to the power of the next tip.

Bless Others By Acknowledging And Appreciating Them As They Are. As many workplace surveys have found, a top yearning for many employees is simply to be seen, acknowledged and appreciated. When they get this from their employers, their morale naturally soars and stress diminishes. Often, productivity also soars — as was reported at Waste Management in the follow-up section of the show.

Open Your Eyes To The A Workplace Full Of Spiritual Allies. O’Donnell was blow away by the gifts and commitment in his own employees.  As I discovered during a hard time when my husband was out of work and we were dealing with three fatally ill family members across the country, workplace spiritual allies are everywhere, at every level of the corporate ladder.  I learned from such expert practitioners of acknowledgement and appreciation as receptionists and mailroom clerks that simply acknowledging and appreciating others is a deliciously satisfying practice.

Put Your Values Into Action. A huge value for O’Donnell is workplace safety, because his daughter was brain-damaged after a doctor failed to follow proper procedure in a routine medical procedure. That led his vow only to work for or run companies that take safety seriously.

See And Take Responsibility For The Impact Of Your Actions On Others. O’Donnell was shocked to see how badly his productivity policies impacted employees.  As CEO, he had the power to change hurtful policies, and he did.  We of lesser status in smaller companies always have the option to notice how we affect others for good or ill, as the Iriquois say, “to the seventh generation.”  We always have the option to be more socially or environmentally responsible, to be more kind to others, to tell the truth more.

When Life Hands You S__t, Laugh and Deal With It! At Waste Management, some employees literally have to work with human waste.  Fortunately, O’Donnell was taught to deal with it from a master, Fred the potty mentor.  If you don’t think of laughter as a spiritual practice, remember the proverb that a merry heart is healing for you and everyone around you.

Whatever Your Work, Do It With Caring And Integrity. Or, to paraphrase Khalil Gibran, allow love to take form and be seen through your work.  Or as people of many faiths say, through our work in the world, whatever our work,  we are God’s hands and feet.  So work as if we worked for God or another beloved.

What spiritual practices do you now quietly, and without fanfare, engage at work?  What else could you discover if you also shed your usual workplace personal and simply saw it afresh with new eyes?

Please comment below and, as always, many blessings,

Pat McHenry Sullivan

Flow is the opposite of what happens when get stuck in problems that beget more problems. For me, the opposite of flow is like a downward spiral that can worsen when I respond to problems by getting in a bad mood.  This irritates my family or colleagues, which makes me feel worse. My tension and irritability inhibits my ability to solve the original problems, because I can’t think clearly and make good decisions.  When I relax and get back into the flow, however, I am actually more productive!

Sound familiar?

The flow state is when we are totally immersed in what we are doing NOW, not thinking about results or time or outcome.

All we have to do to remember how much flow could be a part of everyday life is to watch children at play. We too can be in the flow as we paint, play music, or write a story.  Flow can happen over a fun family dinner, while spending quality time with friends, or taking a long walk in nature.  It can happen when we do work we love or  do any work with love.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi,  a psychologist who has spent decades studying the state of being he calls “flow,” says that, “The flow state is accessible to everyone … and can occur at any level of skill, and is in fact necessary for real enjoyment of life beyond simple pleasure-seeking. We really don’t get much out of the passive consumption of pleasure, compared to enjoyment which is much more active and creative and self-directive.”

Being in the flow can happen when we are really engaged in our work, when we bring our creativity and aliveness into it.

It can happen when we have lunch or a conversation with work colleagues and really get to know them as if for the first time. It can happen when we believe in what we’re doing and we know our work makes a difference in people’s lives.

Most of my personal examples of being in the flow at work revolve around team projects. I love the excitement that is created when we begin our group brainstorm, then see how it evolves as roles are defined and our plan is established, as we check in with each other, support others as needed, and end up with a product we can all be proud of. None of us could have done this alone.  I usually (not always) feel closer with my team members at the end of the project.

How do we best achieve flow?  Here are my favorite tips:

1. Have an open mind, be curious and open to possibilities, awe and wonder.  If you have forgotten how to do this, imitate how a baby watches the world.
2. Put your full self into what you do and how you do it. Trying to get by is not a way to achieve flow. Nor is doing the same thing over and over because it’s easy.
3. When something doesn’t go the way you hoped, stay flexible. Accept bad things gracefully, rather than resist them.  Otherwise, says a common spiritual principle, what you resist will persist.  As you accept and work with what is, you can soon flow naturally into enjoyment and fulfillment again. I love the John Denver song that goes “All this joy, all this sorrow, all this promise, all this pain, such is life.”
4. Tap into your innate knowing and creativity. Don’t limit yourself by saying “Oh, I’m not creative”, “I can’t write”, “I can’t ……………”  Just start acting as if you believed you were creative, and soon you will be creating.
5. Give yourself permission to have silent time, get lost in your thoughts, experiment.  This is where our inspiration and creativity comes from. When we stop trying to multi-task,  we can be more present to right here, right now.

Ask yourself, when are you normally in a state of flow? What takes you out of it? How can you achieve greater flow in your life? Wishing you many opportunities to be in the flow.
Enjoy,

Kimberly Weichel

Amazing how that inner critic can get in the way at work.

How often have we not spoken up at a meeting because we were afraid our idea or suggestion wasn’t worth it? How often have we delayed turning in a report because we were concerned it wasn’t good enough? Or how often have we not applied for a higher position in our organization or company because we didn’t think we were smart enough or experienced enough?  When we let these voices dictate our behavior, it definitely limits our potential. Our limiting beliefs get in the way of our advancement and fulfillment. And they also harm our sense of self worth and our relationships. This doesn’t mean we need to boast or push our ideas forward – a healthy reflection and sense of humility are important.

It seems that women suffer from listening to our inner critic more than men.

For years I told myself I couldn’t draw – a self-fulfilling mantra that would come up each year when I got out my sketch book and tried to draw something only to stop after minutes out of discouragement. Yet several years ago I decided that that concept was no longer serving me and I took up a painting class.  Now that I confronted that limiting belief and go beyond it, I love to paint.

Several girlfriends tell me in different words about why they can’t do something. When I suggest to one middle age friend who loves music that she take up piano, she tells me “I’m too old to do that”.

What can we do to tame our critic?

Our thoughts are our only power. They control our life in more ways than we know, yet the only thing we really have control over is our thinking. If we can learn ways to begin changing our thinking patterns, we can watch how our life begins to change, from our health to our work to our ability to give and receive love. Here are some things that have worked for me:

1. Be aware of those critical voices. Acknowledge them, confront them and assess them. Be honest with yourself.
2. Decide you don’t need them anymore. This is a conscious choice, and every time that critic surfaces, remind yourself of your choice. Grow beyond it, as I did with drawing.
3. Visualize yourself doing what you’d like to do – playing the piano, drawing, stepping into a new position at work, etc. Visualization is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
4. Be courageous, be bold. Step out of your comfort zone.

Sometimes this requires deep work.

We might want the help of a therapist or trusted friend. These inner voices can harm relationships, keep us stuck in a position that we’ve grown beyond, and run our lives in more ways than we know.

Rather than have that inner critic greet you rudely every morning and criticize you every time you fall short – perhaps causing harm to your personal success and relationships – reframe it and make it your friend.

There is at least comfort in knowing that most of us deal with this, so we are not alone. Yet we each need to do our own work to overcome the negative effects.

When your inner critic is at your service instead of against you, it gives you a tremendous amount of power.

So next time you stop yourself from speaking up, from applying for that next higher position, from taking that new class, from dating that special person, from writing that book, think again. Why not?  You can do it.
In peace,

Kim Weichel

Praying the News Begins by Being Fully Present To It

“Reality shows” can be watched as entertainment.  Genuine news demands that we be fully present to what is and allow it to affect us, even when there’s nothing we can do about it. That means honoring life as a mystery, not as a problem to be solved, but as a paradox where we are called to go deep into the heart of compassion without agenda or attachment to outcome.

Every faith has so much to teach us about surrendering to the wisdom and will of something greater than ourselves, whether or not we use the word God.  I have been particularly touched by the work of the late artist/peacemaker/oral surgeon Frederick Franck, who taught me the Dutch word “schouwen.”  Franck saw this as a way of seeing life in all its dimensions, so perceived separations between us and the other dissolve. This kind of practice, Franck said, opens us to inspiration.  It liberates creativity and builds respect for self and others.

For Franck, schouwen led him to humanitarian service throughout his 97 years of life, authoring The Zen on Seeing and 29 other books, and creating the beautiful trans-religious oasis, Pacem in Terris in Warwick, New York.

One Way to Pray the News

Please join me, right where you are, in praying the news.  As you do so, edit the following prayer as you see fit.

Let us now attune together, heart and soul, as we enter the mystery together.  In the silent fullness of sweet surrender to what’s most eternal and wise, let us rest for a moment and refresh our souls.

Into the heart of this quiet mystery, let us place our care and concern for whatever is happening.  Let us bless it by seeing it just as it is, right now.

Let us bless it by envisioning the best for all concerned (even if we do not yet know what is best); let us bless it again by calling forth the best.

Let us bless our own questions about the news as we reflect: how do outer events mirror our own gifts, faults, etc.?  How are we like the dazed wanderer or the tyrant or the healer we see in the news?

How are we being called to serve this particular challenge or follow this opportunity or vision?

How can we do what calls us, when so much calls?

The News Isn’t Just What’s Reported on “The News”

The real news includes the ongoing reporting of your intuition, your instincts and other elements of your natural genius that are too often quashed. When those gifts come alive, we see life more clearly.

The most dramatic experience of praying my own news happened during what is now known as the Loma Prieta quake in 1989.  Then, I felt the bristles going up and down my spine warning danger long before my mind registered “Earthquake! Big one!” and way before I felt the building sway wildly.

Hyper-alert, one part of my brain reviewed quickly a recent show on “How to Survive the Big One” on the local PBS station.  I saw this information almost as if it were an internet home page, allowing me to skim quickly the various offerings and to click for further information.

At the same time, I surveyed the room for likely dangers and my safest spot.  Almost immediately, my two bad knees (from torn tendons in separate accidents) bent easily, and I was under my desk fast.  I heard the same inner voice that has guided me to my husband, my right work and other good things in life.  “You are now going to learn the difference between fear as a fault and awareness of danger as a gift,” it said.

Under the desk, I became aware of that part of my psyche that some call the mask or persona, which was obsessed with whether or not my crystal glasses at home were safe or if colleagues who were then laughing and talking throughout the quake were going to tease me afterwards.  Underneath the mask level, in what the Pathwork www.pathwork.org calls the “lower self,” I was just furious.  How dare God put me into this situation where I could get killed?

Underneath all that, the quiet voice spoke again.  “You could always die at any moment.  The question is, how are you going to live your life in the meantime?”

In that instant, I surrendered to the choice to live fully in the present, at least for that moment. I was overcome with awe and wonder, as if I was riding the power of earth and feeling how it connected the approximately 7,000,000 of us who live in the Bay Area.

Afterwards, the awe and wonder continued,  as I became more aware of both the power of humans to build with the earth and the impossibility of taming it.  In the weeks to come, it was always amazing to watch buildings that looked irreparable to my untrained eye be made whole again, while buildings that looked safe to me bore the red tag of unsafe and had to be torn down.

Ever since that quake, I have had a clearer touchstone for what it means to see more clearly what is and to be guided by a force much greater than ego or will. This is what it is like, my personal news archive reminds me, to be engaged with life and let it teach me, let it call me to work more from that sense of connection to others and the earth. This is a reminder of how much can be learned and experienced in a short time, for the Loma Prieta quake itself lasted only 15 seconds.

What’s Your News?  How Does It Call You to Live and Act?

In the days to come, I pray for the renewed commitment to keep praying the news, to find my best service for Haiti, for my hometown, and elsewhere. Without prayer, it feels impossible to take in the news.  With prayer, I can sometimes see how the little I can do, the little I can give, can grow and be enough.

What’s your prayer?  What does your prayer guide you to do?

As always, many blessings,

Pat McHenry Sullivan

Let’s be creative with the word creative. Creativity isn’t just in what we do, but in who we are.
Creativity for me is a way of expressing myself, incorporating my own ideas into what I do and how I do it, a desire to step out of the ordinary and try new things, to think “out of the box”, and to take risks. It means having a flair for beauty and color and design. It means having a zest for life and deepening my connection with my inner child. It means giving myself permission to try something new.

I can be creative in the way I dress, in how I set up my office, in how I relate with others, in how I manage other people, and in how I do my work. I can be creative in the way I write, speak, and act in everyday life.

Being creative is a way to grow, to experiment, to deepen, and to enjoy life.
I am more fully alive when I express my creativity. I love to play the piano, sing, and paint watercolors. Once in awhile I love to get creative in the kitchen and cook up something unique – without a recipe. And when people like it, I make up a title. I also love to be creative in how I dress. In the Washington, DC area where I now live, many people wear dark suits.  Dressing in a bright colored outfit accompanied by an ethnic necklace or scarf at professional events is my way of expressing myself and rebelling against the norm, I’m always amazed at how many people compliment me on my outfit.

How can you expand our creativity — even if you believe you are not creative?

1. Be aware of what your own voice wants to express, whether in words, actions, dress, cooking, writing, or otherwise. Listen to your intuition. Then, express yourself!
2. Try something new or different. I find there is nothing more stifling than doing the same thing the same way over and over. Be bold!
3. Courage. As Erich Fromm says “Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.” Go for it!
4. Brainstorm. See how many different ways you can come up with to tackle a problem, handle a situation, work with a colleague, etc. We often think there are only 2 ways of doing something – your way and my way, but there are always many more options than we think. Practice being non-judgmental and listing as many options as you can, despite how silly or impractical they may sound. This is how advertising agencies work.
5. Don’t limit yourself.  Don’t believe your own limiting comments such as “I’m too old to learn to paint/play music”, “I can’t do that.” Plum under the excuses, e.g., “I tried writing once but it didn’t work” ignores the fact that to get good at something we need to practice it. “I don’t have time” belies the fact that when most of us want to really do something, we want find the time. When you go beyond self-imposed limits, you just might find that your life takes on new meaning.

Creativity connects us with our soul and our innermost yearnings.

I love Alan Alda’s description of creativity: “The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.”

And Albert Einstein says it well, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

So remember your gift and explore your creativity in as many ways as you can.   At work you might consider:

1. Looking at how you decorated your office – does it express your uniqueness?
2. Examining your relationships with your boss and colleagues – could they be improved?
3. Exploring how much creativity you put into your work. Are you simply going through the motions and doing the minimum possible to get by, or are you putting yourself into your work and making it truly yours? If the work doesn’t spark you, what can you do to change it?
4. What might you suggest at work to enhance the creativity of yourself and others? Brainstorm with others and make recommendations.

Remember, we are ALL creative.

May 2010 be a creative year for you.

Blessings,

Kimberly Weichel

We judge people and situations constantly based on our own frame of reference.

If we’re extroverts, we might consider those who don’t speak up meek or timid; if we’re introverts, we might judge extroverts as forthright or pushy.  Neither judgment is considered a positive by the person making it.

When I was a manager of a department, I asked for agenda items at the beginning of weekly staff meetings. I assumed that silent staff weren’t interested or had nothing to say. After our department took the Myers Briggs test, I learned the quiet staff were introverts who preferred to get the agenda in advance so they could think about their responses ahead of time. It was a great lesson in the danger of assumptions and the importance of acknowledging different working styles.

Finding common ground means looking beyond stereotypes and trying to understand the issue or situation from the other person’s perspective.

It means being open to listening to the other person’s viewpoint – not like a cat ready to spring with our response, but really hearing what they say. Sometimes it helps to summarize what the person has said to be sure you have understood their message – which lets the speaker feel heard and gives them a chance to restate their message if it wasn’t fully understood.  It means asking questions for further clarification.

It doesn’t mean we need to agree. When I really disagree with someone and neither of us is going to change our minds, I often like to say “Let’s agree to disagree on this issue.” This at least provides a common ground ending on that topic.

Finding common ground requires emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence is understanding and taking responsibility for our feelings, and showing respect for other people’s feelings. It includes several key components:

1. Self Awareness - The ability to recognize and understand your moods, emotions and drives, as well as their effect on others.
2. Self regulation - The ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods; the ability to suspend judgment – to think before acting.
3. Empathy – The ability to understand the emotional make up of other people; skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions.
4. Social skill - Proficiency in managing relationships and building networks; an ability to find common ground and build rapport.

Building Common Ground Begins with Personal Spiritual Practice

My practice includes taking personal responsibility for my words and actions, being mindful of the impact of my words and actions on others and making adjustments where necessary, caring about the wellbeing and feelings of others, and nurturing my relationships.

To nurture my relationships – at work, at home, with friends – I need to be sure that each relationship is free of misunderstandings and conflict. Where misunderstandings occur, and of course they do, I take time to speak with the person with as open mind as I can to talk about the misunderstanding and what we can both do to clear it.

The more open I am, the more able I am to hear any concern and make amends or adjustments in my words or actions. Sometimes the misunderstanding is just that – and talking about it clears up confusion. Sometimes it’s a difference of opinion or upset about different ways of doing things, and talking about it honestly can dissipate the energy and lead to healing. I don’t need to change my mind – just understand their perspective.

Intent is key!

When talking with someone about a misunderstanding, is my intention to heal the difference, or do I want to score points or get back at the person? Clearly, a healing intention supports common ground, while the intent to score points shatters it.

When I speak up with an intent to heal, I am vulnerable and I open the door to a deeper kind of dialogue. I have found that misunderstandings or even conflict have deepened a relationship if both of us are willing to be vulnerable and to really listen.

I encourage you to review your relationships.  Check your intention, and see if there are conversations you might want to have to clear up differences – you may be very glad you did.

Blessings,

Kimberly Weichel

Transforming Practices: Finding Joy and Satisfaction in the Legal Life by Steven Keeva is just as powerful a transformative tool for real estate agents, receptionists, doctors or people in any other profession as it is for lawyers, judges and legal staff. That’s because Steve wrote about how ordinary people, without permission from the powers that be, bring transforming practices (such as meditation) into their work and thus transform whatever is their work.  Plus, legal work touches all of us, and if lawyers can work more effectively by working more deeply from their souls, then there’s more hope for all of us.
Steven Keeva’s writing and speaking voice have been stilled for several years due to illness.  His website, www.transformingpractices.com, was hacked into some time ago and has not yet been restored.  His book was for several years out of print.  Now the American Bar Association has brought Transforming Practices back.  If there is only one book you could read to discover the heart and soul of your work, this is it.

Transforming Practices is full of juicy stories and practical tips that anyone can use to rediscover the values that drew us to our professions and to steer clear of ethical sandbars or to keep energy and spirit alive through difficult times.  As several attorneys noted in a tribute to Steve at a convention of the International Association of Holistic Lawyers, it’s a lot easier to make changes in a sometimes hidebound profession when someone else has helped make more creative and compassionate ways of operating better known and acceptable.

As you hear some of those tributes to Steve on YouTube, you can be inspired about the impact one person can have when we simply take time to listen, to reflect, and to articulate the longings in others’ hearts that they do not yet know how to speak.

Spirituality and law was not Steve’s original beat for the ABA Journal.  His introduction to the field came first from recognizing how dispirited many lawyers are, for when Steve had to consult with attorneys about a story he was writing, they often poured out their frustrations with the profession.  After discovering the field of spirituality and work about the mid-90′s, he started searching for signs of spirituality in law.  Soon he had enough examples to pitch an article on the subject to the ABA Journal.  Research on the article led to the initial publication of Transforming Practices.

I first connected with Steve while he was finishing Transforming Practices through my friend Judi Neal, Judi’s story of how her meditation practices transformed her experience as a whistleblower and legal client became the center of Chapter 11 of Transforming Practices.

It’s been a joy to speak to Steve over the years, to trade e-mails, and once to speak with him and Stewart Levine about spirituality and law at a spirit and work conference at the University of Massachusetts some years ago.

Steve may never be able to write again.  Those of us who have loved talking with him may never be able to carry on a conversation with him again.

Fortunately, the stories he has told and the simple, clear instructions he has given will endure.  So will his model for transforming a profession:  listen to your own heart.  Take good notes.  Listen to others.  Take good notes.  Open your heart to the hearts of others.  Take good notes, and when you are ready, share the best words that your heart can find to express what matters.

As always, many blessings,

Pat McHenry Sullivan

Without spiritual practice, how can we possibly discern how best to spend our time and money on building peace when the needs are so huge and often contradictory? Without spiritual practice, how can we move from overwhelm and exhaustion, into the state of grace, where peaceful abundance can naturally escalate?

Sharing Stories of Hope as a Spiritual Practice

The human business that most concerns me now is peace.  Last week I was deeply disturbed by Obama’s Afghanistan war escalation speech, an armed robbery on the street where I live, the break-in of a friend’s car in San Francisco, and the growing disparity between the haves and have-nots throughout the world.  I don’t know how to make peace in the world, but I do know how to share powerful stories you may have missed in the general media about peace-building practices that work.

Stories inform and inspire.  We need lots of them, and we need them from many sources. The first of the following two stories came from Stephen Colbert and Bill Moyers. The second came from a colleague who had recently bought a peace basket at Macy’s to support the reconciliation movement in Rwanda.

Peace-making is too important to be left to the generals and people in power.  Without our individual and grassroots participation and leadership, peace-making won’t happen.  May the stories that follow stir your own courage and creativity.

From Liberia:  A Model for Casting Out a Dictator and Warlords

Just a few years ago, Liberia was a killing ground run by a corrupt dictator and competing warlords. Then Christian women began praying for peace in their churches.  Muslim women joined them, creating a coalition previously unknown in Liberia.  That led to a sex strike like that in the ancient Greek drama, Lysistrata.

No more sex, the women told their men, until you stop the fighting and make your friends stop fighting.  They then pulled out other motherly weapons, like shaming the warriors, sit-ins, and forcing the men to the peace table. Now the dictator has been banished from the country, the warlords are out of power; and the first freely elected female president rules in Africa.

Last week, I finally got the DVD about the transformation in Liberia, Pray the Devil Back to Hell.   It’s an amazing lesson in the power of commitment, courageous coalitions, and persistence.

From Rwanda:  Reconciliation after Violence

In Rwanda, over a million citizens were slaughtered by their neighbors in 1994. In 2003, the overburdened courts of the Rwandan government began releasing into the community tens of thousands of confessed genocide murderers.

While in prison, many of these murderers were touched by a prison ministry led by, among others, a clergyman who had lost many members of his own family. They felt remorse and sought reconciliation into the community. 10,000 of them have asked to help build homes through the Living Bricks Initiative, which equips repentant genocide perpetrators with the tools to build much-needed housing for their victims’ families.  The vision is to “establish new villages where former killers and survivors live together again as neighbors through practical reconciliation.”

Act by act, person by person, the possibility of sustainable peace grows there. It’s a great role model for restorative justice everywhere, on a one-to-one or larger scale.

We So Need More Stories of Successful Grass Roots Peace Movements

If I had my way, we’d spend way more on helping more people to have more courage of their convictions throughout the world and way less on military actions or prisons.  We’d all know and honor the peacemakers of Rwanda and Liberia, who truly are much more interesting than celebrities or political speculations of any kind.  We’d help each other see how these role models can inspire our own peace-making.

One small step in this direction for me was to buy four copies of Pray the Devil Back to Hell and to lend them out so many small groups can watch it and ask each other, “how am I called to take a stand here in my neighborhood and elsewhere?”  Next month, I’ll add a film about peace-building in Rwanda, “As We Forgive,”  with the same questions.

What’s your next step?

As always, many blessings,

Pat McHenry Sullivan

I used to think I was being clever in getting things done quickly.  But at what cost?

One of the most obvious costs of multi-tasking is the toll it takes on relationships.  In earlier conversations, people might say after speaking for a while, “What do you think?”  Because I couldn’t really pay attention while trying to do something else, I would blush and not know what to say, other than sheepishly ask, “Would you mind repeating it?”

What happened to attentiveness as a basic component of caring?

Like most people with a few decades of life experience, I was brought up to politely pay attention, while inattentiveness or interruptions were considered to be rude.  Now, inattentiveness and interruptions have become common.

I often find myself irritated when I attend events and someone’s cell phone rings, they answer it and start talking in the middle of a conference, movie or program! As both a speaker and attendee of various conferences, I find it disturbing to look around the room and see at least half the heads looking down at their Blackberry.

Can’t people pay attention? Why did we come to an event if we don’t want to listen?  Sure, there are RARE occasions when we are expecting an urgent call, but not all of our non-urgent calls seem to take priority over where we are and who we are with.

Scientific Studies Reveal Some Dangers of Multi-tasking

We all know the dangers of texting and driving, which fortunately has now been banned in all states. Yet many states allow people to talk on the cell phone and drive, despite plenty of evidence that it can lead to accidents, even fatalities.

And how often do we make costly mistakes at work when we try to do too many things at once?  How much longer do conversations take because we don’t pay attention?

Brain Research Shows Multi-tasking Really Doesn’t Work

“For each aspect of human performance — perceiving, thinking and acting — people have specific mental resources whose effective use requires supervision through executive mental control,” says Dr. David Meyer in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. http://www.apa.org/journals/xhp It’s as if our mental CEO is trying to process and establish priorities among multiple tasks so it can allocate mental resources to them.

Multi-taskers diminish their ability to focus (and thereby be effective) because they tend to retain distracting information in their short-term memory.  “You’re being flooded with too much information and you can’t selectively filter out quickly which is important and which is not important,” says Meyer. “It only takes a fraction of a second for you to take your eyes off the road and miss the guy making a right-hand turn into your lane.”

Dr. Meyer and others found that people actually lose time by switching repeatedly between two tasks of varying complexity and familiarity. They have shorter attention spans and increased difficulty being present. When things seem not to move fast enough, they try to quickly fill it with something that seems to move faster.

Multi-tasking really inhibits effective human relationships. Don’t we notice when others aren’t paying attention to us?  Aside from whatever feelings we might have about another’s lack of respect, doesn’t the lack of focus and attention make it harder to transact any business right the first time?

For spiritual growth and human relations, we need to focus on one task at a time.

That’s the only way we can be more centered and present. Yes, I can do things like straighten the desk while waiting on a telephone hold, but a conversation or other task requires my full attention.

Spiritual practices help to center me in a fast paced world.  I especially need moments of silence, time for reflection, and time to dream.  The more of this type of practice I do, the more efficient I become.

Next time you are tempted to try 3 things at once, think again. And be sure you savor time for presence and silence.
In peace,

Kimberly Weichel

Kimberly Weichel is a social pioneer, educator, author and specialist in global communications, leadership and peacebuilding. She is co-author of “Healing the Heart of the World” and director of the Institute for Peacebuilding.  www.kimweichel.org.