power, like capacity to manifest, like understanding we have a divine appointment, like accessing the divine feminine, both for men and women. That all of those capacities, those extraordinary, we call them, because we think they’re not available to everyone, except they are, those capacities have as much credibility and clout as strategic planning, as being good at numbers, as being a great athlete, as what we’ve defined, in the patriarchy, as the high bars that are what we call success. That these other qualities—that are often demoted to “lesser than,” or we’re not so sure about them, or they’re too woo-woo—that they get the same clout... posted on Mar 12 2022 (2,971 reads)

what you have to put on that canvas, to complete that small canvas versus a big one. There’s something about that sense of knowing when you love what you do and you’re involved in what it is you are doing, and something is growing through what the work you’re doing, you do really have a sense of losing track of time. So many people have been ambitious and pushed to do something. I remember one person I did quote in something I wrote about: he’d climbed a ladder for success, and then, when he got to the top, he realized he had put the ladder against the wrong wall. That, yes, he reached the top of the ladder, and it was successful, but it didn’t have meanin... posted on May 9 2022 (3,938 reads)

to ‘follow one’s heart’. I was very curious to know what it felt like. I was certain it would be extraordinary, with an air of mystery. Something lofty and noble, a higher purpose. It would be a dramatic turning point after which all the pieces of the puzzle would fall neatly in place. I would no longer feel torn, there would be no guilt or self-doubt, no more bad decisions, and no future-anxiety. I was convinced it would bring clarity and peace, joy, fulfillment and perhaps, success. All the good stuff. I finally found my calling around my forty-second birthday, but it wasn’t quite what I had imagined. Just when I'd begun to feel a sense of security and ... posted on Jul 13 2022 (3,868 reads)

of the four fingers with their thumbs arriving at twelve and its multiple, 60. The quartz-crystal clock, invented in 1928 by WA Marrison, changed yet again how time was measured. Quartz crystals can vibrate at millions of times a second, allowing time to be measured up to a millionth of a second. Races at the Olympics can be won by one millisecond. This ability to manage time gave birth to the desire for speed. Until recently, when Covid slowed things down, speed was the measure of success. Cars are marketed for the speeds they can reach and how quickly. We design faster air travel, bullet trains, speed boats. Employees are stressed with the need to meet deadlines. Multiple Choi... posted on Aug 4 2022 (3,725 reads)

for the stress of a Wall Street job and single decisions that move billions. Humans evolved as collective hunter-gatherers who cohabitate, not hyper–individualized competitors locked away in steel skyscrapers. And the psyche was not designed to handle a single entire life and all its inevitable blemishes compared with billions of people’s photoshopped images cherry-picked to share only their happiest milliseconds. Moreover, all of that roughly describes what many consider “success” and says nothing about poverty, racism, or sexism—three cancers of the modern Western world with serious health impacts that are thoroughly documented but seldom discussed. For ex... posted on Oct 2 2022 (6,107 reads)

the people themselves. In the book, she detailed the singular role of music in Native American culture, teleologically distinct from the spiritual function it served in early Western culture: The radical difference between the musical custom of the Indian and our own race is that, originally, the Indians used song as a means of accomplishing definite results. Singing was not a trivial matter, like the flute-playing of the young men. It was used in treating the sick, in securing success in war and the hunt, and in every undertaking which the Indian felt was beyond his power as an individual. An Indian said, “If a man is to do something more than human he must have more ... posted on Nov 10 2022 (3,511 reads)

do well in the good college, in the hopes of getting a good job, so you can do well in the good job so you can . . . And this is actually O.K. If we’re going to become kinder, that process has to include taking ourselves seriously — as doers, as accomplishers, as dreamers. We have to do that, to be our best selves. Still, accomplishment is unreliable. “Succeeding,” whatever that might mean to you, is hard, and the need to do so constantly renews itself (success is like a mountain that keeps growing ahead of you as you hike it), and there’s the very real danger that “succeeding” will take up your whole life, while the big questions g... posted on Feb 11 2023 (49,848 reads)

And I don’t have to tell you much about the genocide and the conditions in Eastern Europe during the war and particularly of the Jewish population under the Nazi occupation. But here’s what I will say, and this may seem strange, but I just am compelled to say it. I’m often asked why is it that a person like myself, a Jewish infant growing under really life-threatening, not growing up, but spending my first year under life-threatening, unbearable circumstances can become a successful doctor and do OK, whereas other people—for example, Indigenous Canadians here in Canada—so often the families are mired in addiction and suicidal events and mental illness and v... posted on Feb 26 2023 (6,991 reads)

for their community. We want there to be 1,000 farms like Soul Fire, not replicants of Soul Fire. TNFE: That seems to be a radical model, insofar as it’s more interested in circulating value than in extracting it. Penniman: Exactly, or just the capitalist idea. If I were to tell you that year one, we had 25 CSA members, and then year two, 50, and then 100, and then 75, you would think, ‘What happened? What went wrong?’ But to us that might be a success story. That might be because we found our K value, we found our limit, and so we needed to pull back to something sustainable so that we could be healthy as individuals—as a farm team&md... posted on May 13 2023 (1,697 reads)

a skill that does not require any special talent. Given proper instruction, anyone of sound mind can learn to draw. It’s not as difficult as learning to read, for example, but, as with reading, you must have effective instruction. After all, everything you need to know in order to draw something is right there in front of your eyes. You just have to know how to see it. For lower‐income students, who too often experience failure in school, becoming skillful in drawing can give them a success in school that is meaningful and highly admired among their peers. Even little kids admire drawing skills. I think it would be helpful in that way. Also, I think that in our highly verbal, seq... posted on Jul 9 2023 (2,594 reads)

web of interconnections.  If one examines the history of any one of the seemingly fragmented methods of contemporary embodiment practices, one is taken back to 1800’s New England; Kirksville, Missouri; Melbourne Australia; Wuppertal and Munich in Germany; and Vienna Austria.  this manage is not simply the abstract one of theory, created by a common readership of texts.  there are several teachers in the San Francisco Bay area, for example, who can trace back the succession of their teachers directly to teachers in that earlier. This long history gives the lie to the common misperception that the methods found within this community are not well founded in s... posted on Sep 17 2023 (2,332 reads)

to embrace and integrate the complexity of being human. The Story of The Whisper from Kobrini Stories on Vimeo. I ignored The Whisper for many years, but it never gave up.  Lean Back The Whisper The tiny little Whisper inside I made a career out of not listening to it Until it broke me free Under the big sky of Montana Nowhere to hide from the truth That nobody knew about me I run a manufacturing plant and I hate it I am a scientist An executive I lean into success I lead from behind and beside I am a business woman At the top of her game And my Whisper saw something else She saw me dying Dying to fit in the boy’s club Dying to prove my wort... posted on Oct 7 2023 (3,793 reads)

of your vision, you are adding a black and white pixel onto the screen of your life. Soon, the vision will be gone, the inspiration will fade, and you will have had your life chosen for you instead of choosing your life for yourself. Make a decision and start today.”   After he said those words, I was changed. It was a moment of grace, a moment where I was given another chance and an opportunity to start again and live a life I wanted to live. They say people who are successful make decisions fast and change their minds slowly. People who aren’t successful make decisions slowly and change their minds fast. If you know, then you know. You can take a step or a... posted on Feb 13 2024 (3,749 reads)

whose context is more likely to inform the right choice or decision. 4.“Everything You Do Is an Intervention.” This is another key principle that Ed liked to point out. In contrast to the traditional sequence of diagnosis followed by intervention, Ed said that everything we do, including diagnostic activities, is already an intervention in the existing system. 5.“Everything You Experience Is Data." We live in a data-driven economy. Data is what drives the success or failure of companies, regions, and economies. This generally refers to third-person data, the stuff you observe. Ed had a different take. As a social scientist and an action researcher, he ... posted on Mar 1 2024 (2,726 reads)

my wife Randi, who is responsible for me being here, not just by creating the space to allow me to do my work and care for our family, and having been the primary caregiver for our kids. She also carried the financial burden - when we started our first company, she was the only one of the three of us (who started the company) that actually had income. And so, to the extent that we had food on the table, it was because she was employed.While that business grew incredibly rapidly and was quite successful, there was a period there in the back half of it which was also quite painful. There was a Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael sort of schism; a split between me and my best friend and co-foun... posted on Apr 16 2024 (1,646 reads)