Turning Point: Are You Happy?

News this week:  more shootings... more dead and injured... more assumptions and incorrect conclusions... more blaming.  No solutions.  No healing.  What is happening to our world?  What is happening to us?

I read online and have heard many people saying, "Is this a turning point? Are we ready to change course?"

What do you think: are we?

Are you happy?
(Photo: Dead Fish Skin, Djúpivogur, Iceland
- Larry Gardepie, 2025)

Questions I ask myself -- and each of you:  Am I happy?  Are you happy?  How does this news make us feel?  Some have expressed anger, frustration, confusion, isolation, and impotence.  What are your thoughts?  How are you feeling right now?

Maybe it is a turning point... if we each make a choice.  Are you ready to choose?

What emotions are boiling below the surface?
(Photo: Thermal Vents, Iceland - Larry Gardepie, 2025)

There may be some answers in the two-year Dialogue Practicum I participated in.  We learned about three stances that assist in the practice of dialogue:

• Noticing (awareness)
• When do we not notice... and therefore cannot act freely?
• When do we notice... and can choose to respond differently? 
• Non-Violence 
•  When do I think ill of myself or others... and do violence to both?
• When do I respect myself and others... and practice non-violence? 
• Non-defended Learning
• When are we defended or defensive... and our ability to work with others is limited? 
• When do we support individuals and groups... and pursue options that benefit everyone? 

What happens if we don't change course?
(Photo:  Icebergs off the Greenlandic coast - Larry Gardepie, 2025)

Is the Turning Point in ourselves:

• The Awareness that we are not happy with the current state of our world?
• The Choice not to do harm to Self or Other?
•  The Practice of asking questions and trying to understand?

If we are not happy, let's Turn Together and seek a new way of being.

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

Natural Beauty

A friend and I were walking around the neighborhood a few weeks ago and came across a beautiful garden filled with color and an unusual combination of plants.  We pass this house and yard several times a week but, for some reason, the colors stopped us this one day.

We were each drawn to different flowers, but it was my friend who noticed the overall beauty of the whole yard.

Where do you focus your attention?
(Photo:  Neighborhood Flowers - Larry Gardepie)

As we leaned in to look at specific flowers, we became aware of the number of bees that were also attracted to this yard.  They were busy at work while we were Relaxing in the Beauty.

From the smallest purple flowers that projected from the white, fuzzy brushes to the yellow daisies, it was the "naturalness" of the setting that caused us to pause: the flowers and bees were doing what they were supposed to do -- creating and pollinating beauty!  And, it seemed natural for us to stop and take in the beauty!

Do you appreciate the smallest details around you?
(Photo:  Small Purple Flowers - Larry Gardepie)

 As we continued our walk, I wondered about the current state of world affairs:

• Have we lost the beauty?
• Do we notice small acts of kindness?
• Can we pollinate ideas that support future beauty?

This act of noticing and reflecting opened my eyes to individual and combined beauty, the attractions that stimulate and enlarge us as One and Many.

Where do you pollinate beauty?
(Photo:  Busy Bee - Larry Gardepie)

The irony of this situation is that we pass this yard several times a week and had not noticed the individual and combined beauty.  Together, we noticed.  Together, we shared our awareness.  Together, we walked away changed... caught in the naturalness of life.

 

A challenge for us this week might be to notice and pollinate beauty -- alone and with others... naturally!

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

Foolish Perspectives

One of the unique features of each Holland America cruise ship is in the elevator: the day of the week is imprinted on the floor mats.  Crew members are tasked with changing out these carpet pieces each evening so that passengers know the day of the week.  It's a nice feature... until you realize time is quickly passing and your vacation is coming to an end!

Talking to a cruise director one day, I mentioned that an interesting April Fool's joke might be to place a different day-mat in each elevator on April 1st.  How many passengers would notice?  Imagine the confusion!

How many clues do you gather each day?
(Photo: Holland America elevator floor mat - Larry Gardepie)

As humans, we receive a vast array of sensory input throughout the day, and our minds are constantly trying to sort out and understand this information.  What I find interesting are the various methods we individually distinguish between what we pay attention to, what we consider to be true and accept, and what we decide to believe or not believe.

For instance, observing myself and other passengers seeing a floor mat that says "Saturday":

• Some people looked at their watch or phone to confirm the day;
  
• Some talked to their companion to confirm the day;
• Others simply shook their heads in affirmation; and,
• A few didn't say or do anything.

When are you too close to a situation to see it fully?
(Photo: Holland America artwork - Larry Gardepie)

Another nice feature of Holland ships is the artwork scattered throughout the vessel.  I have always admired creative simplicity:  being able to artistically tell or display simple scenes.  One art piece was covered with colored plastic bubbles that had been squished.

 

Looking closely, you could appreciate the technique and amount of work - the placement of each plastic bubble; the evenness and consistency when depressing the bubbles.  Stepping back, the viewer could now see, understand, and appreciate the full image.  Both closeness and separation were important to appreciate what was before us.

Can you step back and appreciate a different view?
(Photo:  Holland Artwork - Larry Gardepie)

I would suggest that Dialogue invites us into meaningful conversations about differing ideas, opinions, thoughts, and truths.  It attempts to differentiate between facts and assumptions we have held closely, and to build foundations of shared meaning and understanding.

 

Dialogue doesn't presume that everyone will agree on everything.  But it relies on goodwill and trust to look closely and then step back on various topics, issues and concerns.  It asks that we develop an awareness of where we gather information and with whom we check it out.

 

I am worried, though, that our society is playing with the anti-thesis of dialogue:  to push out narratives and perspectives that push away opportunities to come together.  Like my April Fool's suggestion to the cruise director, today's narrative attempts to confuse.

My prayer as we enter each Holy Week of our lives, let us release the foolish perspectives that separate and divide, and let us be drawn together to resurrect New Ways of Being together!

 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

Immersed in Beauty

I find myself continuing to process the "Beyond Van Gogh" exhibit mentioned in last week's blog.  Something happens to me when I become fully immersed in a play, movie, book, project, or discussion:  my whole being is challenged to understand the experience, and it takes awhile to release the experience.

Do you know what I mean?  That ability to transcend the physical or mental aspects of a situation and to Become One with what is happening: to cherish and Rest in Being; to release time and allow Presence to exist.

When do your thoughts and feelings linger?
(Photo:  Shadow reflected on Art,
Beyond Van Gogh, Larry Gardepie)

My memories and photos don't quite capture the inner Beauty Awakening when that moment lingers.  Eventually the distractions of life reclaim my attention and that brief boundless encounter fades.  But even as I return to normal, my heart continues its wondering:

• What caught my attention?
• How can I hold onto that Beauty?
• Is there a way to nurture the longing to understand... and to be understood?

How do you take in the beauty of our world?
(Photo:  Walking among Starry Night,
Beyond Van Gogh, Larry Gardepie)

Sometimes dialogue is a practice of letting go of... preconceived ideas... memories and past hurts... what is known or not known clearly.  It is a time of waiting and noticing what is Real Now... what is beautiful and revealing in this current moment.  It is sitting at the shore side, waiting expectantly to be illuminated by the reflected light that eventually reaches us:  Now I understand!  Now I see!

Are you willing to sit, notice, and wait?
(Photo:  Sitting along the Shore,
Beyond Van Gogh, Larry Gardepie)

The "Beyond Van Gogh" exhibit still resonates in my thoughts, I believe, because it invited me to be immersed in a beauty that I don't experience every day.  I was ready.  I wanted to see.  I was in a place where I could accept something different.

 

May we find ways to seek out the Beauty of Others, to wait expectantly, and to be ready to become immersed in illumination and understanding.
 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)