jan stewart

Keep Going

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:21:00 -0800

I studied enlightenment teachings for ten years. A friend suggested I summarise the essential tenets of those teachings in my own words.

I have always been driven by a desire to be free. This has taken different forms over time - dancing, drinking, yoga, meditation, gurus and direct enlightenment experience.

My desire for truth brought me to a realisation that we always choose. This was initially both liberating and terrifying.

This had me start to face everything, to see everything for what it is.

This brought me to the realisation that all human life is essentially the same.

Then I started to get in touch with the deep drive of the life force, that wants ever more care for the whole of life.

These days I am overflowing with gratitude and love of life.

If you want something, you can have it. Intention is a strong force.

Keep going. Keep going.

Permalink

2011/2012

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 02:46:22 -0800

Ehon Chan inspired me to do a 2011 reflection blog post after reading his.

Jan 2011 has been an amazing year, and 2012 promises to be even more incredible.

I made a decision at the beginning of 2011 to go to a 4-day work week, as I was not feeling inspired at the place I was working. It had been a valuable experience working for the company, however my lessons were coming to a end. Opening up that one day changed everything.

January 2011 I was also accepted to be one of the first micro-trustees of the newly formed Melbourne chapter of the Awesome Foundation. It was a privilege to be a part of it this year.

January 2011 Ross Hill proposed he and I doing a conference on mindfulness and the edge, and This Is Mindful was born.

February 2011 I started working one day a week at Hub Melbourne, helping to prepare for their launch. Hub Melbourne was officially opened March 2011. I am grateful for the opportunity to work alongside Brad Krauskopf; his vision for a new way of working is vast and deep and his entrepreneurial skills are strong.

May 2011 I stopped working at my old job, and picked up 2 more days at Hub Melbourne, and one day a week at Integral Development as a customer service and business culture consultant. Ross and I also held our This Is Mindful one day event as a high point of a stream of This Is Mindful events.

June 2011 I attended an Open Innovation 2-day workshop at Deloitte. I was impressed by Pete Williams unleashed brilliance and creativity.

July 2011 I increased to 4 days a week at Hub Melbourne, as the primary space host and manager.

August 2011 marked 3 years again in Melbourne after 25 years living in the USA (New York City and Massachusetts). Ehon Chan also came on board the Hub Melbourne core team.

Oct 2011 things at Hub Melbourne were revving up; I decided to dive in and go full time, so I could give my one-pointed attention and energy to the Hub; we also finally had a unified core team, so we could really take off. I also flew to Brisbane for TEDxBrisbane to see a riveting talk by Eddie Harran.

Dec 2011 we also noticed the formation of a strong core of Hub members. We had a massively successful and fun Christmas party and crowdfunding campaign.

Jan 2012 started with lying on the beach at midnight at the Coral Sea, looking up at the stars together with my mates Ross Hill, Bryony Cole and Eddie Harran and then up again at dawn for the first 2012 sunrise. We then drove off for a week into the Daintree rainforest, the oldest rainforest in the world.

My first insight in the tropics was to pass my Awesome Foundation seat on to the smart and funny Jules Hughan, who also inspired me with her actions in 2011 (including an awesome Trampoline talk). I have decided instead to patron one person privately for 2012 who I also think is awesome.

I returned from the rainforest to a dynamic and busy Hub Melbourne, and we are all excited by the new developments for 2012, including tripling our space and activities in March. Hub is developing rapidly both locally and globally, with 30 Hubs worldwide (Hub Sydney on the cards for later this year, and other Hubs being planned in various Asian cities).

Stay tuned for new This Is Mindful developments, including what does the contemporary crowd do with meditation in 2012.

Happy 2012 everyone, we are off to a dynamic start!

Permalink

To Post or Not To Post

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:45:00 -0800

Steve Hopkins is posting everyday at the moment. I have just deleted most of my apps on my iphone and going minimal for my two week holiday. In a way we are doing the same thing. It has to do with intention.

I can see that as Steve posts every day, his writing is developing and getting deeper and stronger, as it did last time he committed to blogging every day.

I am aware my consciousness feels freed by my intention to do minimal online posting. Twitter and emails, that's it (they are obviously my favourites). No Path, Instagram, Yammer, Yelp or Foursquare.

In a few days I am going up north to the rainforest, and once I'm up there I'm going to go offline all together for a few days. Just rainforest, ocean, sky and people in real life.

Ross Hill posted something interesting today, which lines up with my intentions. Once in a while it can be good to free up your attention for an extended period of time, open up to one's own silence and to nature, and see what arises from within.

However then the point is to bring that new awareness and insight down from the mountain and see how it can be applied for the betterment of humanity and all of life.

Let's see what the adventure brings!

Permalink

The Inner Dialogues 1 - Melbourne

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:19:53 -0800

Last Monday night I was privileged to help organise and attend a premier event called The Inner Dialogues 1 - Melbourne, which was held at the Deloitte building on Bourke Street in the Melbourne CBD.

Nicky Hayward-Wright has done an excellent job summarising the event through her Storify process here.

Many thanks to Kalvinder Shields, Peter Spence, Peter Williams, David Jones and James Morrison for all their efforts and generosity.

As I have never before seen James Morrison, his way of being and expression had the biggest impact on me on the night. Sam Bell captured some of the essence of his subtlety here.

I have always been very interested in the power of silence and sound, and James spoke succinctly to this in these comments from him:

"Hear what it is you want to create."

"Music takes us places even words can't. Music as sound carries vibration and intention, no translation needed."

Here are a couple of amazing streams of music with James, powerfully transmitting this inner dialogue.

Mission Impossible

Burghausen Jazz Festival

Enjoy!

Permalink

Melbourne is Going Deeper

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:09:00 -0700

Once a month on Monday nights I assist in a collaborative meditation experience called Mindful Monday / Calm in the City, which is held at Kinfolk Café.

This is collaboration between HubMelbourne, Calm in the City and Kinfolk Café. The three of us share a passion to raise consciousness/deepen awareness to serve the greater good.

I am noticing more and more in Melbourne, this collaborative effort that is happening, where each platform’s primary motive is to complement another platform or network to be more effective and creative, so everyone involved benefits - innovation through collaboration.

There are more of these initiatives being planned across the city, and I will write more about them as they come to light.

At last Monday’s Mindful Monday/Calm in the City, Kinfolk Café was beautifully set out in candlelight, and Michael Johnson was playing exquisite harp. The meditation was guided/spoken, with the harp continuing as a sensitive delicate complement to the spoken meditation. Both guided meditation and music can serve to take us deeper into ourselves.

The experience was beautiful, uplifting and deepening.

As my particular interest is around depth, I look forward to sharing more of these collaborative experiences that facilitate greater depth and awareness.

Melbourne is going deeper.

Permalink

New Operating System

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 03:31:33 -0700

Humanity operating as one, when are we going to do this?

We have to stop, we have to rest in being, and let ourselves go deep, and give it some time.

And then we have to do, together.

And then we will find a new way, a new operating system.

We will find we are humanity operating as one.

It will be obvious, it really will.

Permalink

Mind on Fire

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 04:16:00 -0700

It was interesting to hear of Steve Jobs' decision to step aside for now from Apple to take care of his health.

It was also fascinating to hear of all the ensuing Steve Jobs' stories that came forth.

One of my fellow coworkers at Hub Melbourne mentioned that he knew of someone that worked with Steve Jobs in the 80s, and what an intense person he was to work with. The inference was that Steve Jobs was too much. It got me thinking on what type of a person Steve Jobs must be to manifest so much creativity.

Pete Williams from Deloitte Digital came to mind, as a similar type of person I personally know, very free and unleashed in order to stay at the edge and manifest his creativity.

Andrew Cohen, a spiritual teacher I studied with in America, was also of this temperament, free, released from personal concern, and consequently creating massively, far more than one would imagine humanly possible.

My colleague Ron Laurie from Integral Development referred to this as a 'mind on fire.' The energy emanating from such a person is strong, intense, passionate, released and authentic, and can seem too much for a lot of people.

I think these incredibly creative human beings and their energy may be misunderstood. This energy is pure creativity, pure evolutionary impulse, free of personal concern, one-pointed on a true, good and beautiful innovative response to a given situation which then keeps evolving perpetually over time. This type of consciousness is big picture consciousness, and contributes enormously to the betterment of humanity, because that is its driver.

I am enormously grateful for the Steve Jobs and Pete Williams and Andrew Cohens of our time.

They show the way to live a life of unrestrained creativity and massively contribute to our society.

May we all aspire to such greatness.

Permalink

Looking Up and Around

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 17:52:01 -0700

Today is an amazing day in Melbourne. Blue sky, massive sunshine, spring is in the air.

The other day my tweet stream was flooded with rainbow pics! It made me realise that more and more Melbournians and others on social media are looking up and around and paying attention to the sky, to the sun, to the rainbows, and tweeting and yamming when they do, so we can all share the natural awesomeness.

@lukemccormack Amazing day in Melbourne! #winning http://t.co/Hnd5ad5

@sammartino Morning view. Bellarine peninsula. Surf http://t.co/OJf2kWn

@juleshughan Home from morning run. The sun is simply epic today!

@biz Walking the dog around the neighborhood. We're stopping to smell the flowers and do other things. instagr.am/p/Ky_Lp/

@rosshill There's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in Melbourne right now http://t.co/XJq8g92 via @jemandtherobots

This is a really positive development. We share the profundity of societal evolution on social media, and more and more we are sharing the profundity of our natural experience as well. Deeper out and deeper in. It's really good news.

What amazing nature are you experiencing today?

Permalink

Momentum

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 19:47:05 -0700

I just read Ev Bogue's most recent blog post on writing every day. The thing that struck me the most was:

The momentum builds as time goes along, and pretty soon I even forget that I’m writing every day.

This blog post really resonates with me. It's pretty obvious to me that Ev is a natural and awesome writer. It is also pretty interesting that although this is a natural tendency, there is still room for continuous development (for all of us). In fact, it makes sense to focus on developing that which is most natural to you and that which you most love.

My focus is customer service, and I am currently working as an internal consultant of sorts with Hub Melbourne and as an external consultant with Integral Development. Customer service and business culture development has been my life passion, and there is always room for improvement and refinement.

The other point that resonated for me was that with things that you love and that are integral to the way you live your life, after a while they just become part of you. I would say meditating, yoga, eating well, meaningful work, these things are all integral to my life, they are like breathing oxygen, they are things I just have to do every day, and don't really have to think about them at this point, as enough momentum has built up, that they are self generating. And the impulse to keep developing all of these is also self generating.

Practice leads to building momentum leads to a tipping point leads to self generation leads to continuous development.

Thanks Ev. Hey, maybe you'll #cometomelbourne for the summer, and join us for a bit of beachwriting? :) x

Permalink

City or Nature or Both

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 04:43:00 -0700

I lived in New York City for many years and loved it. Then I lived in the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts for many years and loved it.

I now live in Melbourne Australia in St Kilda, right on the beach, and work in the CBD, right in the thick of things. I love both. Nature is most important, and vibrant city is super important too. Living next to the expansive water and sky, waking up and walking out my door, and seeing that expansion first thing, is such an awesome and alive way to start the day. Then going into the city, being amidst the diversity and creavity is also completely enlivening.

Last weekend I flew to Perth. Our business day was spent amongst Australian gum trees. After work drinks were held overlooking the Indian ocean. Breakfast was at another ocean view. After lunch was a walk overlooking the city and the bay. Each time we had the choice, nature, or not.

Nature leads to creativity. We need both.

I know I'm fortunate. I'm also aware whenever I have the choice, what am I choosing for, nature, or not?

Are you choosing for the vibrancy of nature, and then the vibrancy of creativity, when you have the chance, every day, or not?

Permalink

Universe

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 06:16:00 -0700

Tonight I took a St Kilda beach walk with a friend. We started talking about the universe. I started to talk about how I have mixed feelings talking about the universe. Then I realised that there is a difference between looking out into the universe, that is actually looking to the past. Conversely, when we look onto the earth from space, we are looking towards the future, as we are looking towards evolving life which humanity represents. We are the universe, we are made of universal elements. There is an evolutionary trajectory inherent in our universal makeup. As we have a bigger context and perspective for our experience, as we can see more of the bigger picture, we are better informed on how to respond, to care in a more comprehensive way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe

The universe is believed to be mostly composed of dark energy and dark matter, both of which are poorly understood at present. Less than 5% of the universe is ordinary matter, a relatively small contribution.

As we embrace the spacial component of our experience, life will begin to make more and more sense. There is an intelligence in the spacial component of the life experience that is subtle and powerful and whole. As we engage together from this spacial element of our experience, multiple perspectives and solutions emerge.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink

Power of Intention

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 04:45:04 -0700

A couple of week's ago I had a birthday. I decided it was a good time to step up my fitness levels. So I engaged a wonderful personal trainer Jo Hill, and she has put me on a low carb diet in order to catalyse some real changes. I can feel it already, the chemistry in my body is changing quite dramatically. It is CHANGE. I contacted her a couple of days in expressing some concerns that this might not be the way to go, however she reassured me and gave me some convincing facts and figures that sured up my resolve.

Besides the shift in body chemistry I feel, I wanted to speak to the power of intention. I had been wanting to move forward on a couple of projects, however nothing really seemed to be happening. However the moment I decided to make this shift regarding my fitness and diet, things started developing with my projects immediately.

There is a powerful principle at work around intention and alignment and directing of personal energy that is quite significant. When almost everything in you appears to be screaming to go the old way, but there is something deeper in you which is saying to go the new way, and you choose for that, it is very powerful. And each time you respond to that deeper direction you get stronger and stronger and more and more confident.

It is mysterious what it takes to effect that tipping point in yourself, but once you line yourself up with your new intention, it releases a lot of energy to give to the new projects.

Steve Pavlina explains it well.

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/cause-effect-vs-intention-manifestation/

I have seen this happen before in my life, and I'm having a sense for it again.

Intention is a powerful force.

Permalink

Compassion - Part 1

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 06:46:45 -0700

Compassion is a deep desire to see others relieved of suffering; love is the other facet, a strong wish to see others happy. - Dalai Lama

Yesterday I had coffee with Steve Hopkins and Ron Laurie, and Steve was speaking with us about his discoveries around compassion after attending the Mindful conference. I went out and bought 2 copies of How to be Compassionate, A handbook for creating inner peace and a happier world by the Dalai Lama, and will share them tomorrow with Steve and Nathan Sampimon. Steve mentioned how he has recently read The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama. I found a copy and was struck by the closing reflections. It tells of how the Dalai Lama intuitively stopped to speak with a man in the crowd that needed some support.

I am very interested in evolution of consciousness and culture and mindfulness and the edge. This is exciting, where life is full of new and continuous discoveries. I am also aware that when you take a big picture view, there are other aspects of life where things may be more challenging for people, and that sometimes these people need support, in order to help free them so that they too can learn to enjoy and thrive at the edge.

I resonated with the story of the Dalai Lama and the man that needed support. The Dalai Lama meditates 5 hours a day. I also have done a lot of meditation, and in the experience of that depth you have a sense for the oneness of life, and the intuitive responses that arise from that depth inform who to respond to and how and why. It may not be obvious from the outside, but it is clear from the inside. And the person receiving that response feels it too.

I'm looking forward to #deepdiving into compassion tomorrow with Steve, Nathan and Ross Hill, and we'll let you know how we go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion

Permalink

Servant Leadership

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 05:06:00 -0700

I recently wrote a blog post on Melbourne as the next platform, and mentioned I was interested in going deeper into relationship, deeper into nature and deeper into work. I have recently started working with a leadership and management consultancy called Integral Development. It is a new startup branch of Integral Development that has been running successfully in Perth for the past 15 years. I consider myself very fortunate to be working on the Melbourne core team with Ron Laurie.

I have been interested in the evolution of consciousness and culture for many years. I am also passionate about building awesome customer service systems. Integral Development in Melbourne is about living for others and living to give. Business as service.

I am also fortunate to be working on the core team with Brad Krauskopf at Hub Melbourne. Hub Melbourne provides diverse individuals and organisations with a unique physical space for co-working, meetings and events. It is a prototype for a new way of working together. It is also business as service.

Servant leadership is a way of leading where the motive for being is to be the servant of your employees, the servant of your audience, the servant of society, the servant of your customers. The motive for action comes from a deep place and deep desire to give for the betterment of humanity, and there is much gratitude for what has already been given. It is living for others.

Here is a passage from Lao-Tzu related to servant leadership:

The highest type of ruler is one of whose existence the people are barely aware. Next comes one whom they love and praise. Next comes one whom they fear. Next comes one whom they despise and defy. When you are lacking in faith, others will be unfaithful to you. The sage is self-effacing and scanty of words. When his task is accomplished and things have been completed, all the people say, ‘We ourselves have achieved it!’

Going deeper is not always easy, however it is always deeply satisfying. When more depth is reached in relationship, in work, in nature, in self, there is a satisfaction, an increasing sense of wholeness, of completeness, that cannot be matched.

When everything is given away, you have nothing and you have everything.

Permalink

Now

Sun, 22 May 2011 22:27:00 -0700

Saturday Ross Hill and I led an event called Mindful. It had been developing as a stream over 5 months. Saturday was a bit like a peak experience for a lot of people, the momentum of the crowd coming together was strong and impactful. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_experience

Today is Monday. How does one move from an experience of this and transform it into something that is ongoing? The essence of mindfulness and the edge is to be present now and simultaneously cultivating natural passions and creativity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)#Conditions_for_flow

Csíkszentmihályi talks about how to sustain flow - one must have a high challenge level and a high skill level. This makes it very clear. Identify your natural passion, continue to develop it, and continue to place yourself in challenging environments to test your skill level.

Put in the 10,000 hours, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_(book), give yourself over to your passion, and you will find creativity spontaneously arising. This creativity will lead you into those challenging environments you need for the conditions of flow.

My experience of flow is that it is also multidimensional. The deep creativity that comes from putting in those 10,000 hours is a creativity that is driven for the common good and betterment of humanity. The life force wants to align with itself, it is drawn to itself.

The trick is to keep letting go, keep giving, keep staying in the now, no matter how good life gets. It is only as good as now. It is only alive now.

The level of challenge required for flow is often much greater than you think. It tests you to your edge. It most likely will activate old conditioning, shaking everything to its core. You come up against a wall. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall#Physiological_wall

As a lot of people do not challenge themselves to this degree, they never find out what is on the other side of the wall. Freedom. Exhilaration. Complete attunement with life. Perfection.

I loved what Lex Garey said the day after Mindful. 'The main thing I got out of Mindful is to let go of my focus on flow now. It is time to get on with what I love.'

Yeah let's get on with what we love, build up those hours one #mindful moment at a time, and see life carry you into its effortless flow.

Permalink

Beginner's Mind

Wed, 18 May 2011 06:20:00 -0700

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshin

Shoshin (初心) is a concept in Zen Buddhism meaning Beginner's Mind. It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would. The term is especially used in the study of Zen Buddhism and Japanese martial arts.

The phrase was also used as the title of Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki's book: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, which reflects a saying of his regarding the way to approach Zen practice: In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.

Shoshin also means "Correct Truth" and is used to denote a correct or perfect signature on art works, "Shoshin" (good Mei). This is opposed to fake signature, "Gimei" (bad Mei). The term can be used for any thing or person who is perfectly genuine.

One of the things we will be exploring at Mindful is inquiring in beginner's mind, together.

Come join us this Saturday May 21 at 9am, in person or in the tweet stream!

http://thisismindful.com/

Permalink

Over the Edge with Yoga

Thu, 12 May 2011 04:22:58 -0700

I want to speak to something that is not talked about much in our society, yet something that I see occurring frequently. Kundalini or yoga syndrome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kundalini_syndrome

I was lucky to have a yoga teacher who was aware of the immense potential power in the human being at the more subtle levels, and warned me about it before I got deep into the practice. Yoga and meditation practices awaken this power, and you need to develop yourself in order to be able to bear it and thrive with it.

After I embarked on a serious meditation practice, often practicing a minimum of 3 hours a day, and sometimes from 4.30am until 10.30pm at night during 10 day intensives, I started to experience some of the symptoms described. Intense cranial pressure, and intense mental and emotional states. Thankfully I had the awareness that my symptoms were due to the meditative work I was doing, and as I was one-pointed in my desire to go deeper and see and understand more at the more subtle levels of being, I persevered.

Eventually I started to come out the other side and experience the benefits of all the meditation. However the intensity of the practices I undertook were and are not for everyone.

I also have a theory that as evolution of consciousness is occurring over time, as we have developed from cavemen to today, that younger generations are starting to experience the power of these subtle forces at a younger age.

The wisdom traditions are aware that there are 4 levels of being akin to waking, dreaming, sleeping and beyond. Each level is increasingly more subtle and more powerful.

http://www.swamij.com/beyond.htm

As we become increasingly more aware of all the different elements that make us up as human beings, and as we are supported through these changes we may undergo as we become more aware at the subtle levels... we will be empowered to utilise these powerful forces that make us up rather than feeling victimised by them.

Our life force is determined to know, see and understand itself once it is awakened.

So be mindful of subtle energy, it is a force to be reckoned with.

You can be over the edge before you know it!

Permalink

The Reality of One

Tue, 03 May 2011 19:12:38 -0700

@lex_garey

I"m 60% of the way to Melbourne. A video update to come later tonight! For now, check out the campaign page. --> http://www.indiegogo.com/Lex-Garey-Takes-Australia

Lex Garey from Oregon USA is raising funds to come to the Mindful conference in Melbourne on May 21. I thought people might be interested in her story and help her come to Oz.

A couple of months ago Ev Bogue mentioned Lex Garey to me, a young woman he had come across on Twitter, and that he was struck by her depth. I started to follow Lex on Twitter. I was also struck by her deep awareness of life's unity. She is currently writing an ebook "The Reality of One", and her description is that it is all about growing aware of our collective consciousness, flowing and connecting with others, and ultimately unifying as one.

As is the case with Twitter, people of like mind connect rapidly. Soon Lex was connecting with a group of Aussies, many of whom are coming to the Mindful conference from Melbourne and Sydney. An idea emerged through Twitter, originally from someone in the USA, to possibly crowdfund Lex to Mindful.

Lex's story reminds me of a similar situation I was in when I was 16. I had wanted to read Patrick White's Voss, a metaphysical tale set in the Australian outback, for an English Literature final year class. Because it was a challenging read, everyone discouraged me. Except my English Literature teacher. That one person supporting my own depth had a profound effect on the rest of my life.

Whether Lex comes to Oz for Mindful or not, a deep connection has been forged through social media. There has already been significant support for her depth, the same way that teacher supported my depth.

Lex if you are with us physically in Melbourne or not, you will be with us anyway. You are with us now.

Keep playing that awesome guitar and recording those awesome videos. You are on to something, and we in Oz are picking it up.

Permalink

Stepping out of the Shadows

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 23:24:00 -0700

Bryony Cole from Yammer started an inquiry this week - how to be a woman and throw down at work?

I was pretty interested in her inquiry. This lead to a beach walk with Bryony, Ross Hill and me to take the discussion deeper.

Listening to Bryony talk and getting a sense for her as a person, made me realise that she is the person she is looking for. Bryony also has awesome people around her (who happen to be mainly men right now) who naturally mentor her and she also mentors them.

What came clear in our conversation is that Bryony is a pioneer. She is aspiring to live as a natural woman, true to all aspects of herself. This way of living is emergent. It is not already known. It is authentic, real, alive, surprising, unlimited, unpredictable in its expression and predictable in its quality.

This way of living looks primarily for internal rather than external guidance. Dialogue with like-minded people can help to access this deeper intelligence.

It can be initially daunting when you keep looking outside for the answer, and then realise that it is inside.

Some of the men that Bryony mentioned as inspirational are so because of the deeper consciousness they express that transcends and includes gender. I can see that Bryony is expressing the same type of consciousness.

So what is it to start looking in rather than looking out? What if I am the mentor I have been looking for? What if we start co-mentoring, where each one of us has different strengths, and so together we can learn from one another.

Pete Williams from Deloitte Digital had an interesting response when I raised this issue of women being held back in the workplace. He just didn't respond to my "gender" emphasis. Instead he talked about how "people" hold themselves back. His response stopped me in my tracks. It was liberating.

The women's revolution happened in the 60s. Those of us who are privileged in contemporary society do not have anything fundamentally holding us back now except ourselves.

This can be subtle. There are many influences inside us, biological, social, generational and other conditioning. However these influences are within us, so we have the power to see them and bear them and respond from a deeper and freer place.

Holding the big picture, seeing human development over time (including changing gender roles), seeing the fundamentally positive direction of life over time (evolution), taking responsibility for that evolutionary impulse within ourselves, realising unity with one another (not defaulting to gender competition), in the face of life pressure deep diving for the deeper and stronger resource which already exist within ourselves, considering what is right relationship to power (including sexual and other), leading by example, being trustworthy, and rejecting victimhood - these are some ways of being which are all within our own power.

From the bigger picture we can see that men and women have been creating the world together over time. It is now time for us to step forward, be authentic, real, free, creative, bold and courageous, from a place that is deeper than just gender.

That is a place you can trust. Thanks for the awesome inquiry Bryony.

Permalink

Melbourne is the Platform

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 05:28:00 -0700

Melbourne is a hub of innovation, inquiry, and the quest for the next new. Ross Hill recently wrote a letter.ly stating that the existing social media platforms are no longer new. What is the next new?

Ross Hill asked me what are the platforms that I am interested in at the moment. The first thing I said was real life, deepening relationships with other people and also with nature. Then I am interested in developing Yammer internal social media platforms in the two lines of work I am currently diving in to.

We have gone from real interaction to online social media public interaction. Now that we are comfortable with social media in a general sense, as we have been able to explore it with our friends and people of like mind on Twitter, now there is a yearning for deeper engagement with a work focus, to really make a difference in the world. Using something such as Yammer increases social cohesion in the work environment, and allows for massive increases in work creativity and productivity.

So we in Melbourne are going deeper into work, deeper into our real life relationships, and deeper into nature.

My sense is that over time, as we develop the ability for depth of engagement individually, collectively, internally and externally, in all facets of our lives, that we will simultaneously respond to all these different levels, in a natural multifaceted way.

After our conversation on the new platforms, Ross Hill and I went to buy food for dinner. We stopped at the fish shop and I asked what fish should we buy. Ross looked up and saw a friend approaching who is a food expert and said there is Tresna, lets ask her. She mentioned she had just read Ross's letter.ly on the slowing down of our current online platforms. She recommended the perfect fish to buy and she happened to be wearing a dress with a fish print. She then went on her way.

Melbourne is going deeper. Melbourne is the new platform. Real life serendipity is the new platform. #cometomelbourne, and join us in going deeper into work, deeper into relationship and deeper into life.

Permalink