Opening Remarks

Good morning. Welcome to Hank’s place…as the Henry Miller Library is called by some of the locals. Welcome to this year’s Collaborative Event. It’s great to see all of you here…many of you from last year!

This year we have people joining us from the Mid-West, the Rockies, the Southwest, and the East Coast. I am personally excited and pleased for the efforts all of you made to be here today.

We have guest speakers from various sectors today: government, non-profit and for-profit media, and personal development. These speakers will introduce the work they are doing toward creating solutions. Each speaker and I will then join in a conversation about these solutions. We will also talk about the insights and actions that have resulted from them. Each presentation will be followed by a question and answer period with the audience. At the end of the day, our guests will join us as a panel to discuss what has been covered here.

Thank you for attending this year’s event, Conversations with Creators of Solutions — focusing on people who have transformed their already successful careers, by creating solutions in their particular areas of social interest. I hope this day will allow you to take time out…to come back to your natural rhythm.

Nature’s rhythm is medium to slow….
There is nothing in nature that works in the fast lane, except when there is danger. When there is danger, nature can move at incredible speed…….There is a lot we can do in the fast lane: we can produce, we can create……But, there is one thing that the human spirit cannot do without slowing down, which is…deepening and integrating our experience!

We can’t listen in the fast lane! Accessing our inner self requires that we listen…very carefully! LISTENING REQUIRES SLOWING DOWN! By being in our natural rhythm, we can pay attention to our intuition. It’s all about paying attention and listening to what matters.

I’d like to share this short passage from The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo:

"Much of the anxiety and inner turmoil comes from living in a global culture whose values drive us from the essence of what matters…At the heart of this is the conflict between the outer definition of success...and the inner value of peace. Unfortunately, we are encouraged, even trained to get attention…when the renewing secret of life is to give attention. The longer we try to get attention instead of giving it, the deeper our unhappiness."

Many people this weekend are attending special events, similar to this one, all over the country…For example, in upstate New York, at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, there is "Conversations on Sustainability." In the Southwest there is the historic "Fiesta De Santa Fe," a celebration of the anticipation of a good harvest – culminating with the ritual of burning the old man of gloom. In Vermont, there is "For Love of Earth," a celebration of the earth charter, to guide the United Nations and its member countries in finding solutions to the numerous challenges they face.

Our theme here today is that of the stories of human development, told by our guest presenters. They will discuss how they create solutions through dedicated intentions within their daily lives.

Today provides an opportunity to focus on what solutions we can create…individually or collectively!……Today in our conversations from within different sectors, you will hear how our guest speakers have paid attention to their synchronicities and have followed their passion and intuition to their life’s work.

So…What is your life’s work…? What is your calling? Is it a call that leads you to something, or away from something?

There are many forces which divide or divert us from our ability simply to listen to ourselves. You must use your spiritual instinct to reveal your purpose and meaning.

Through attention, as a creator of solutions, you may notice synchronicities…Carl Jung felt that synchronicities are instructive, because they seem related to the growth process he called "individuation"…the work of becoming ourselves……One way synchronicities do this, Jung said, is by reflecting or projecting onto events in the outer world…something we already know…but do not know we know.

To help you on the path, start each day by setting a dedicated intention…A wonderful example of a dedicated intention is the one Nelson Mandella set for the people of South Africa, which is:

Let us take care of the children, for they have a long way to go.
Let us take care of the elders, for they have come a long way.
Let us take care of the in-between, for they are doing the work.

Today, as you hear our guest speakers talk about what they are doing…remember…it is not just about what they are doing, but, as with Nelson Mandella, it is the courage with which they do it!!!

Now, as you retreat from your daily lives, prepare to listen to the journeys of our guest speakers…with a quote from Georgia O’Keefe…O’Keefe was talking about her retreat from New York to New Mexico in the 1920’s when she said:

"I went to strip away what I had been taught…
To accept as true, my own thinking."

So, as we start the journey today, I will light a candle to guide us to enrich our minds and hearts.

Anyway Passage
This quote was found posted on a doorway of Peete’s Coffeehouse in Menlo Park. It’s called, "Anyway."

"People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered –
…Love them anyway

If you do good, people will accuse you of ulterior motives –
…Do good anyway

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies –
…Succeed anyway

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow –
…Do good anyway

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable –
…Be honest and frank anyway

People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs –
…Fight for some underdogs anyway

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight –
…Build anyway

People really need help, but may attack you if you help them –
…Help them anyway

Give the world the best you’ve got and you may get kicked in the teeth –
…Give the world the best you’ve got anyway"

To be creators of solutions, we must polish our souls entering the doorways of creativity, inspiration, and generosity. This requires us to:

- Love anyway
- Do good anyway
- Succeed anyway
- Be honest and frank anyway
- Fight for some underdogs anyway
- Build anyway
- Help people anyway

And most of all – give the world the best you’ve got anyway!

To download a printable PDF of this click here.

Closing Remarks

I have two things I would like to leave with you as we end the day. The first is a quote which will remind us to make a daily dedicated intention. Then, I will ask all of you, in closing, to gather together for a simple ritual.

As a closing ritual, I would like all of us to take a moment to think of a dedicated intention to creating a solution about something important to you. As we gather in a circle, you can simply state your intention – something like this:

Make your intention in silence.

As we go around the circle, take a candle, light it, and as you place the candle in the sand, speak your intention aloud or in silence.

Thank you each very much for being here today!