Our World Village

On our journey up the Amazon River, we visited a small village of 100 people, Boca da Valeria ("Mouth of the Valeria River").  Children gathered around us, holding visitors' hands, and leading us around their village.  Dressed in modern and traditional clothes, holding onto sloths, iguanas, and caimans, they wanted their photos taken.

We visited their school, saw their church, and wandered around their homes-on-stilts.  These industrious people had adapted to the ever-changing river that provided food, work, and recreation.

How do you welcome others into your world?
(Photo: Children in Traditional Dress,
Boca da Valeria, Brazil - Larry Gardepie)

Our visit meant a day off school, but it was a workday of sorts as they collected tourist dollars for food, river trips, pictures, and selling locally made handicrafts.  Though business was part of the day's focus, the overriding principles of Hospitality and Welcome were ever-present.

As visitors, we were members of their village for one day... part of their family.

What do you bring to the relationship?
(Photo: Young Boy and Baby Sloth,
Boca da Valeria, Brazil - Larry Gardepie)

We were thousands of miles from home, yet I felt At Home.  Why?

We couldn't communicate in my language.  People spoke Portuguese or the local dialect.  We had some things in common -- kitchens, stoves, satellite dishes, but other things were unfamiliar or outdated -- outhouses, wildlife, houses on stilts six to eight feet high.

Why?  The adults and children accepted us.  They wanted to show us their Way of Life.  We were people meeting other people.  We were curious and interested in one another.

Can you create and give something of yourself?
(Photo:  Artisan and His Creation,
Boca da Valeria, Brazil - Larry Gardepie)

Yes, I handed out a few dollars for pictures and handicrafts, but I never felt exploited or manipulated.  I felt Family and Togetherness... thousands of miles from home and friends.

As our world order and what we know changes, there may be questions for us to consider:

• Do I feel alienated and misunderstood?
• Can I accept people different from what is familiar?
• Am I willing to create a welcoming and understanding environment?

In a time when we may feel a lack of power or control over what is happening, I would suggest we can influence the outcome more than we think.

• We have a choice in how we define Family and Togetherness.
• We can develop Curiosity and Interest in others.
• We can Welcome All into our World Village.

Your thoughts?

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

 

 

Today's Challenge: Looking for Goodness

Friends have described insights they have received from journaling or developing an Attitude of Gratitude.  (I've fallen in and out of my own journal writing -- and am currently taking a breather!). Other friends have described their supervisory goal of "catching employees doing good."  (I tried this as a supervisor and enjoyed seeing the surprise and smiles on employees' faces when they were recognized for their ideas and accomplishments.)

Just recently I read about a group of friends who committed themselves -- as a group -- to a Goodness Challenge.  That is, at the end of each day they individually documented the goodness they saw or experienced that day.  Then, they met at a restaurant each weekend and shared what they had encountered and written.

How often does "Goodness Begin with You"?
(Photo credit: Accident Fee Workplace Sign - Cousign)

There are so many ways that we can focus on goodness and gratitude:  what is working versus what is not; what people are doing right versus when something goes amiss; and what is sacred and holy about the people around us versus what is wrong.

In this season of Giving Thanks, we are challenged to:

• Appreciate people for who they are.
  
• Recognize their efforts and accomplishments.
  
• Inspire goodness and great things from one another.
  

Do you reach out in a spirit of welcoming and trust?
(Photo credit: 5 Characteristics to Identify the
Goodness in People - Inc.)

Our actions may start with a smile, a warm greeting, a handshake, or a hug.  Then, the challenge is to let our critical minds relax for a few hours, focus on the goodness of that person, and enjoy their presence in our lives.

Goodness also comes in a Make-a-Wish mindset: that is, listening to the wants, needs, and dreams of another person... and surprising that person with an unexpected gift of friendship and generosity.

When do you smile and with whom?
(Photo credit:  Mother Teresa - Picture Disc & Books)

If you need a few examples -- or need an uplifting moment at the end of a rough day, search YouTube for "Secret Santa East Idaho News" or Ellen Degeneres' "Military Surprise" and "Teacher Surprise" for ways that people are recognized.  We may not have millions to give away, but any way that we can gift people with our presence (time), recognition (focus), and kindness (attitude of goodness) will help us reframe how we see and experience this world.

Our challenge this holiday and holy season is to See Goodness!  Are you ready?!

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

Welcome What Has Never Been

Our world has been struggling with COVID-19 for two long years.  I understand the desire to move on.  After all, it's a New Year and it's been difficult to stay focused and vigilant this past year.

The Dark Night of this pandemic seems to go against the  human spirit -- the part of ourselves that hopes for an end to suffering, death, and uncertainty.  We want to get on with Life.  We want the best for ourselves and our loved ones.  We say we want to get back to Normal (dictionary definition = conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; familiar).

Where do you seek Light and Goodness?
(Photo:  Full moon at sea, shrouded in clouds)

But, as each New Year approaches, isn't there a period of planning and anticipation... a time of remembrance and reflection... seeking to resolve changes in our habits?  Aren't we focused and vigilant as we await an untarnished year ahead?

I never fully appreciated the song, Auld Lang Syne, until I read through the lyrics... and looked up what "auld lang syne" means.

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne?"

The poem's Scottish title, Auld Land Syne, may be translated into standard English as "old long since" -- or less literally as: "long, long ago"; "days gone by"; or "old times".  Before the ball dropped in Times Square or balloons fell at our parties, I wondered what continues to draw us back to that "Old Normal" of pre-pandemic times... our old habits... old times?

What are you celebrating from last year?
(Photo: ready for the balloons to drop)

Maybe, as we step into this New Year, we can look to our furthest horizons and imagine a different Way of Being, an original or new Normal :

• What values do we have in common?
• Why do we seek familiar routines and shy away from the unknown?
  
• When do we expect people to conform to our ideas and beliefs?
  

Normal is about common standards or practices where we conform and perform regular routines.  In many ways, we don't have to think - familiarity allows us to be on autopilot.

Is that really what we want?  Is that the Normal that draws us?

What new horizons draw you?
(Photo: sunset over Lanai, Hawaii)

Or, are we actually looking for comfort in knowing that I can trust in you or what I see, that the familiar brings comfort and peace?

 

A Christmas card that I kept last year stated simply:  "And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that have not been."  If we reshape our outlook, maybe our approach this year is to nurture our relationships, ask questions where we don't already know the answers, and develop a curiosity of what has never been.

How might you welcome what has never been?
(Photo credit:  Rainer Maria Rilke)

As 2022 emerges, let us break away from our auld lang syne and co-create a year that contains the hope, the light, and the comfort that we seek.  Let us not return to the old Normal of the past.  Let our vision draw us together and focus our attention on a sense of common good.  Let us explore what has never been!
 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)