Seeing Anew

So much happens in our world that we don't see!  That's what I was thinking as I was walking along the shoreline the other day.  Unless we are present and have seen or experienced something, we have to rely on family, friends, work colleagues or some form of media to inform us.

Questions then surface:

• Which sources do we believe or trust?
  
• How do we know what is true or accurate?
  
• Do we need to experience it for ourselves?

 

When have you slowed down and stretched your understanding?
(Photo:  Yoga on the Beach - Larry Gardepie)

Experience, trust, and inquiry are important ingredients to enlighten our narrow views.  Sometimes we go in circles, repeating the same results... that is, until we open ourselves to new information.

 

It is this openness -- receptivity, interest, acceptance -- that creates Possibilities Unimagined.

What risks must you take to understand others?
(Photo:  Luau Fire Dance - Larry Gardepie)

Yes, openness... and risk!  Are we willing to let go of:

• What we thought was happening;
• The conclusions we arrived at;
• The opinions we made?

And, can we See Anew... that is, gain a broader perspective of our ever-changing world?

Do we see the changes before us?
(Photo:  Pacific Beach, San Diego - Larry Gardepie)

An image that I like to contemplate:

 

Wave after wave crashes on the people-infested beach, adding to and changing the beach as we know it today.  We stand and frolic in the water, refreshed by the breeze and ocean spray.  The heat of the day is cooled.  Our tiredness is refreshed.

 

I wonder if I truly understand the changes that are happening... to me, in the moment of being refreshed.... to the shoreline, as the waves slowly reshape what I know... to the sandcastle creations, that melt away with each wave.

Is that the Wisdom of Change:  accepting that change is happening each moment and seeing anew the refreshed landscape of life?

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

A Maze of Dead Ends

Do you enjoy puzzles and word games?  I do!  The process of thinking through a number of possible solutions and narrowing down to one answer is stimulating.  So many possibilities... but why can ONLY ONE be Right?!

There are so many ways to to be challenged these days:  online games and jigsaw puzzle apps; books of word searches, crosswords, Sudoku, and acrostic brainteasers; TV shows that pit contestants against one another... and the list goes on, especially when we look at our day-to-day lives!

Do you see a world of possibilities?
(Photo credit:  Chirag Upreti - NASA)

Once, when traveling in southeast England, a friend and I attempted to walk through a life-size hedge maze.  The problem?  We almost missed our train because we couldn't find the maze's exit!  Dead ends prevented us from finding the Right Way out!  Yelling over the hedge walls didn't help... fellow mazers were just as lost as we were!

Reflecting on other dead ends in my life, I haven't been as frantic.  Similar to working out a solution in a puzzle or word game, I notice the obstacle or dead end, step back, retrace my steps, and consider another way out of the situation.  (It helps not to be rushed for time!)

How do dead ends help you?
(Photo credit:  Couple Creates 7-foot-high Maze in Their
Backyard with Only One Way Out - New York Post)

It sometimes helps to be able to "phone a friend," "ask the audience" or have some of the options removed.  In fact, like mazes and puzzles, dead ends and multiple answers sometimes slow us down and invite us to consider another way to move forward.

Is this what we do with our assumptions and conclusions about other people?  When they exhibit behavior we weren't expecting or when our conclusions don't match the outcome, do we step back and reconsider what we were thinking?

What life signs keep you safe?
(Photo credit:  California DMV Road Side Test Video)

The gift of puzzles and games is when we are a-mazed at the end result:

• What we learned about ourselves;
• How the dead ends helped us; and,
  
• Were we willing to ask for help?

I hope that you enjoy the challenges of this next week... treating each dead end as a way to step back, seek help, and learn.

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

Boundaries and Possibilities

There's something beautiful and expansive about being out on the water... whether on a river, lake or the ocean.  My land-locked views of Southern California buildings, streets, canyons and mesas fall away and I begin to see beyond the limitations of this land-based existence.  The fast-paced freeways that connect cities disappear as a slower-paced rhythm of water travel allows me to consider a different way of Reconnection.

Even the darkest moments at sea -- when pinpoints of lights onshore or the even more expansive reaches of the star-filled skies -- invite a network of possibilities beyond my limited world.

In your darkest moments, do you see connection or separation?
(Photo:  San Francisco Bay Bridge, Larry Gardepie)

I enjoy these periods of Reflection:

• Who am I in relation to you and this world?
• Have I contributed to the well-being of people I encounter?
• What limits or separates me from the possibilities and potential of Life?

And, maybe most importantly in this time of Division and Separation, am I willing to change how I listen to and understand what blocks my relationships with those I disagree?

What barriers limit your potential?
(Photo: wake from ship, Larry Gardepie)

Slowing down and reflecting creates the Pause required to see beyond our limitations.  Other possibilities -- which may already exist -- can be seen more clearly when we don't rush past them.  We are able to encounter Choice that expands our horizons.  Barriers fade away, and we are left with more capacity to see beyond.

Is there beauty on your horizon?
(Photo:  Sunset over Sea of Cortez, Larry Gardepie)

Life is beautiful... whether at home with the normalcy of our days or on a brief holiday that expands our experiences.  Being lulled into the doldrums of inactivity and stagnation robs us of who we are Called to Become:  people connected to a common good; people created to look beyond our limitations and explore the horizons and stars; people invited into the possibilities of the universe.
 

May this week provide time to slow down, reflect, pause, and make a choice towards connection and healing.
 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

When Closings Open

A friend and I have been introduced to Louise Penny's murder mysteries.  In the first several books, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache invites young, untrained officers into his homicide unit.  Oftentimes, these officers have been labeled as outcasts - by themselves or others.  Gamache takes them under his wing and imparts the lessons he has learned over the years:  ask questions, be silent, observe, and listen.

I wonder -- as people who are moving from a COVID-closed Way of Being towards more openness and freedom of movement -- what lessons have we learned about ourselves and those around us?  What questions have we asked?  Are we willing to sit in silence, observe, and listen?

Do you seek light in your darkest moments?
(Full moon over Avalon, Santa Catalina, California)

Also, there is a vulnerability and humility in Armand's Way of Seeing life around him.  Whether he is piecing together the events leading to the murder, gently training his officers, or relating to his wife and children, he chooses to seek Light even in the darkest moments.  In several books he mentions four sentences that he has learned to say:

• I don't know.
• I need help.
• I am sorry.
• I forget.

Reflecting on Armand's wisdom, when was the last time I said these words to another person?

When do you open yourself to possibilities?
(Beach dining on Crescent Avenue, Avalon)

I am beginning to realize that being in relationship and learning to dialogue requires that we practice when and how to openly reveal ourselves to another person.  Being human means that we accept not only our strengths, but also our weaknesses; the times we are closed to -- or open to -- helping and understanding; and the moments we don't know or forget how to act.

Spending a few days and evenings in Avalon, Santa Catalina, I sat, observed and listened to how an island town suffered during the COVID closures.  Heavily reliant on tourism, their island totally shut down.  People lost their homes and businesses.  In order to survive, 500 of the 4,000 people were forced to move away.

Are you willing to burst outwards?
(Aureolin Yellow Spire Chandelier, Dale Chihuly)

 As closings began to open, people learned to rely on each other.  Masks may have covered mouths and noses, but the resilient minds and hearts found ways to become creative and unmask what separated them:

• Beaches in the evenings became dining rooms.
• Social gatherings reconnected people at a distance.
• Normal services focused on individual needs, not differences.
  

Rather than returning to the Past Normal ways of being and seeing, I wonder if we can share the lessons of loss, challenge, and darkness by asking questions... sitting... observing... and listening to Ways of Creating Common Unity (community) through what we don't know, where we need help, how we might be sorry, or when we forget... to be human with each other.

Our future doesn't have to be dictated by the past.  Rather, might we consider when closings call us to be more open with one another?

What reflections do you have of your Closings and Openings?

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

Penciling in Possibilities

No matter where we start in the year, we encounter beginnings and endings, endings and beginnings.  For instance, we are:

• Ending the school year and beginning the summer season;
• Moving from one phase of the pandemic and starting another; and
  
• Finishing one project or assignment and being introduced to another project and team.

It is this latter situation that is happening for me at work: having completed one product redesign and launching another multi-month project with a new set of coworkers.

I guess that is why I am thinking of pencils right now!

Do you enjoy new beginnings?

I remember as a child the magic of a new pencil: unsharpened and eraser unused.  The possibilities of that new pencil!  How long would it stay sharp?  Would the eraser last until the pencil was too short to use? What would be written or drawn with this pencil.... compared to the last one? And finally, letting go of that trusted companion and welcoming another new pencil into my life.

 

As I contemplate pencils and new assignments, I wonder if I face relationships and dialogue the same way?

• How will I sharpen my skills in order to create?
• When will I need to erase missteps and harsh words?
• Will the relationships last beyond this moment?

Beginnings and endings are interconnected: beginning the path toward discovery in order to be discovered.

When do you seek the Light-in-the-Darkness?

Projects -- and sometimes, people -- are like being in the dark.  We can't always see the outcome until we take that first step.  Moments of unseeing and unawareness require us to seek light and understanding.  It asks that we become curious, letting go, and moving forward.

The straight lines that we draw with that pencil -- and with our understanding of others -- sometimes need to bend, making shapes both simple and complex.

Can you envision the balance between
Simplicity and Complexity?

Beginning with a new team, starting a new relationship, and opening a dialogue require that we balance our individual needs with those of the Other.  I must end the myth that "I have all the answers" and "I am right."  We are asked to listen to possibilities, and begin to understand the unity common to each of us: we are human, trying our best to survive.

 

The light comes from walking together through the darkness of misunderstanding, and beginning to trust that each of us brings beauty and truth to our Created Future.

May we be willing to sharpen our dialogue skills by listening.  May we be willing to erase the judgments and conclusions we have made of others.  May we draw on the possibilities that will bring light to our darkened world.

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)