LT: First

​Only a true natural servant automatically responds to any problem by listening first.

-- Robert Greenleaf, The Servant as Leader

Listening enables servant-hood like servant-hood enables leadership.

What If: Actually You

What If...because something was so big:

you thought something else that moved each day, was actually you.

It's Theatre

Instagram: bobgoff

When It matters more what our faith looks like than what it is, it isn't faith anymore, it's theatre.

-- Bob Goff

Wholehearted & Half-Assed

If I could write a book right now, I would consider titling it ‘Wholehearted & Half-Assed’.  So, you ask, what would the sub-title be?

When I sit on this bench for a while and notice what is in front of me — what is moving, what isn’t moving — I find myself noticing how different the economy here is than the one I so often swim in.  Among other things, this one seems to have no regard for selling and buying; and, it appears to be doing just fine with that.  What is this one revealing?

Tami just finished, and I am now reading, Brené Brown’s book, Daring Greatly.  Brown offers something surprising.  For example, if I were to ask this question, “What is the reward of vulnerability?”, how would you answer?  “Wait, what?”, you say?  Again, what is the real reward of vulnerability?  

Brown’s answer is:  greater courage.

So, when I see something that looks like something that is truly real — that isn’t swimming in a false economy — what does it seem to call to in me?  

I think it is something more wholehearted and something that is less concerned about how well I do it.  Do it.  Do it, even if it isn’t great, finished, completely thought through, perfect or final.  Do it.  Learn from the mistakes.  Make it better.  Grow from it.  But, go for it.  Be wholehearted and don’t let the possible assessment from someone else that it looks half-assed keep me from doing it.  

Because risking vulnerability actually creates more courage.

Credo

Poem for the week -- "Credo":

I sing the will to love:
the will that carves the will to live,
the will that saps the will to hurt,
the will that kills the will to die;
the will that made and keeps you warm,
the will that points your eyes ahead,
the will that makes you give, not get,
a give and get that tell us what you are:
how much a god, how much a human.
I call on you to live the will to love.

-- Alfred Kreymborg

Avoid Criticism

There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.

-- Aristotle

Group Value

Are we primarily valued in a relationship or by a group because of what we contribute to it? Of course, this is not rocket-science folks, right?

But, there are times when it feels like we are not valued, IF we don't contribute.

There is merit to the idea of everyone doing their part to help in a relationship, a group, a team, etc. Certainly; where would we be without such things as mutuality?

On the other hand, at times, it also seems easy to see that if you don't keep up your 'contribution', your value (to whatever the entity is) seems to go down. And, from that angle, sometimes it is clear that this is a rather awful basis for things to run on because it inadvertently (perhaps?) leads to unstated things like: "we don't really like you for who you are, we just like you for what you do for us (our group)"...or, more personally, "I don't like you so much, but I do appreciate what you do for me".

An unfortunate irony is that, as long as you keep contributing, true value can go on unacknowledged  for some time in a group.

LT: The extreme leadership that got the Thai soccer boys out of the cave alive

Fear is really uncertainty about what the future holds.

Five themes emerged. The first is something called “inherent motivation.” Leaders who do well in crisis tend to be low motivators. They do not fire people up, they tend to calm people down. Dangerous places are inherently motivating — people are already spun up, so if you go in there and act like a cheerleader, they think you’re a fool.

The second was what we call an “outward orientation” or “learning orientation.” People used to being in dangerous places learn to focus on the environment — they’re not thinking about themselves. They're not focused on their own emotions. When you are task-focused, you’re activating a different part of your brain than the part where you experience fear and anger.

The number one variable — far and away — was competence. They want to know: Is that leader good enough to get us out of this fix? And the second thing they want to know is will that leader be loyal enough to take our concerns and considerations into account when he or she makes decisions? If those two things are established — competence and loyalty — they’ll trust that leader.  Continue here....

-- Jena McGregor

Open To Criticism

I've noticed...that when I am less open to criticism, it is often related to a belief I am holding on to.

The belief I recognize the most is that I have not been heard (and, that I really need to be heard).  This tends to block me from receiving criticism from others.

Why Jordon Peterson Still Believes In God

"Scientific truth explains what things are.  Religious truths explains how you should act."

7 Skills That Are Hard To Learn But Pay Off Forever

7 Skills That Are Hard To Learn But Pay Off Forever:

1. Knowing when to shut up
2. Emotional intelligence (EQ)
3. Time management
4. Listening
5. Saying "no"
6. Getting high-quality sleep*
7. Staying positive

* We've always known that quality sleep is good for your brain, but recent research from the University of Rochester demonstrated exactly how so. The study found that when you sleep, your brain removes toxic proteins, which are by-products of neural activity when you're awake, from its neurons. The catch here is that your brain can only adequately remove these toxic proteins when you have sufficient quality sleep. When you don’t get high-quality deep sleep, the toxic proteins remain in your brain cells, wreaking havoc and ultimately impairing your ability to think—something no amount of caffeine can fix. This slows your ability to process information and solve problems, kills your creativity, and increases your emotional reactivity. Learning to get high-quality sleep on a regular basis is a difficult skill to master, but it pays massive dividends the next day.

More here....

-- Travis Bradberry

Visual: Opening Beliefs

Visual - "Opening"

St. George, Utah

A visual representation of the process of 'Loosen Your Beliefs'?  ...long, slow, over time — that opens things up, even in rock-hard environments.

Loosen Your Beliefs

In order to live your soul into the world, you must continuously loosen your beliefs about who you are.

-- David Whyte

Rough Drafts

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We're all rough drafts of the people we're still becoming.

-- Bob Goff

LT: Simplicity

Management is about handling complexity. Leadership is about creating simplicity.

-- Peter Docker

What If: At The Edge

What If...because something was so big:

you thought something in the center, was actually at the edge.

While In The Hospital

Deep suffering makes theologians of us all. The questions people ask about God in Sunday school rarely compare with the questions we ask while we are in the hospital.

-- Barbara Brown Taylor

How To Think

I can't recommend this book enough:

Here's one thought, from the book:

Acceptance (or non-acceptance) of ideas is way more based on the social context of approval (or disapproval) of those ideas than any of us realize.  

-- Alan Jacobs

...more to follow, perhaps.

The Light of the House

Poem for the week -- “The Light of the House”:

Beyond the cheat of Time, here where you died, you live;
You pace the garden walk, secure and sensitive;
You linger on the stair: Love’s lonely pulses leap!
The harpsichord is shaken, the dogs look up from sleep.

Here, after all the years, you keep the heirdom still;
The youth and joy in you achieve their olden will,
Unbidden, undeterred, with waking sense adored;
And still the house is happy that hath so dear a lord.

To every inmate heart, confirmed in cheer you brought,
Your name is as a spell midway of speech and thought,
And to a wonted guest (not awestruck heretofore),
The sunshine that was you floods all the open door.

-- Louise Imogen Guiney

What We Allow

We become what we receive, what we allow into our hearts.

-- Richard Rohr

Devastating and freeing:

Devastating in the sense that, as we age, we seem to tend towards closing things off, rather than continue to receive.  That is worth thinking about — why is that?

Freeing in the sense that we are free to remain open, just as easily as closing ourselves off.  It seems to me that a healthy person increasingly becomes aware of the reasons he or she maintains a disposition of humility and, therefore, has less and less to fear (and control for) because our vulnerability is already so significant anyway.

Being open allows us to receive, to be free, and to continue to become.

Posthumous Fame

Exceptions to every generalization aside, it seems most good fame is posthumous.

Why is that?  Is that because it (fame) is no longer mitigated by whatever detracts from it?  In other words, it's over; what has been done is done — nothing can take anything further from it.  In the living moment, it is still being added to and detracted from.  But, after it is over, fame stands on it’s own, by itself, finished.  Unmitigated.  Seen in final form for what it is — posthumously.

This shouldn't be so disappointing.

LT: Courage To Go First

Leaders are the ones who have the courage to go first, to put themselves at personal risk to open a path for others to follow.

-- Simon Sinek

Woe Is Me

I've noticed...'woe is me' can easily be too handy.

Morning Prayer

Tami and I were struck this morning by something we don’t experience as much as we would like — silence.  “Stop”, she said, “Listen to how quiet it is...”.

This led to this prayer:

Thank you, God, for the opportunity you give me each morning — to exert myself physically, in the context of the natural world, to receive from you awareness, through my mind, of my spirit — your image in me.

There can be such a quietness, even in the noise of the natural world:


Bryce Canyon National Park, Mossy Cave trail.

Utah: Bryce Canyon National Park, Peek-a-Boo Trail

Perhaps the most stunning and picturesque trail I’ve ever seen:




More pics here....

Utah: Bryce Canyon National Park, Fairyland Loop

Walked 18 miles of amazing views today:




We have the world to live in on the condition that we take care of it.  And to take care of it, we have to know it.  And to know it and be willing to take care of it, we have to love it.

-- Wendell Berry

Utah: Zion National Park, The Narrows

Nature is a place where size and time instruct you.

Utah: Zion National Park, Angels Landing

Wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity of the human spirit.

-- Edward Abbey

As we celebrate the 4th of July, I am so proud of our country. While there are many problems, there are also so many beautiful things as well. I am grateful for the vision and work to create and maintain our national parks systems. We had a blast today on Angels Landing in Zion.

And, last night the stars were aflood in the sky. It’s been a while since I’ve seen so many twinkling!

I couldn’t agree more with Abbey’s thought above.  More pics here....

Montana: Climbing the ‘M’

Once again, an annual favorite to do with family (Tami used to do this with hers); climbing the 'M', in Bozeman, MT.




More Montana pics here....

Idaho: Bike Trip Sights

Grow The Most

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God isn't always leading us to the safest route forward but to the one where where we'll grow the most.

-- Bob Goff