Happy Soul Food Friday!

Happy Soul Food Friday!

Heart and Soul:

Sometimes bringing heart & soul into a discussion makes people uncomfortable, in the same way that bringing the topic of love into the workplace freaks some people out…

After growing up with an English mother and an Indian dad, and spending 14 years in India (the East) and then moving to California (the West) it took me another 20 years to finally stop keeping these two worlds apart and distinct (spirit and material)- and in a moment of epiphany and self-trust, I smashed them together. 20 years later, I have thankfully never looked back!

Granted this makes me an outlier and an odd duck that doesn’t fit in the middle of the bell curve, but mercifully I over-rode my need to simply “fit in” (a core issue growing up in a bi-cultural context where the Indian kids could ostracize me as not being Indian, and the Western kids could do the same, and then getting another opportunity to practice this after coming to the States where I was once again “different”) and just strived to be the best I could be. Today, I am a passionate advocate for being yourself- which generally means being ok with being different, as long as you are not harming others…

Just like the rest of the 7 billion of us on the planet, I am shaped by 3 meta-filters that in turn shape our view of the world and of ourselves.

These are:

1. The language (or languages) we speak

“What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages-trilingual, what about 2 languages –bilingual, what about 1 language- American”

(sorry couldn’t resist – although this is rapidly changing as by 2020 the Unites States will be a “majority of minorities”)

1. The culture (or cultures)  we are brought up in

Current emphasis on augmenting IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional intelligence quotient) with CQ (cultural intelligence quotient)  has some real promise, especially when you take this down to the organization level (people have personalities and companies have cultures– and culture eats strategy for breakfast!)

1. Our personal experience

We are the sum total of our personal experience and not just what happened to us, but how we choose to interpret our history- which in turn creates the conditions for manifesting our destiny

(our envisioned future and unique gift to enrich our world)

Each of these are so powerful and so all encompassing, we don’t even know how these filters impact us and shape our beliefs (attentional and cultural blindness).

Through my lens- granted just one person’s experience- matters of the spirit (soul) are less about any particular ideology or religious orientation, where as far as I am concerned, everyone is free to believe whatever resonates for them. Soul/spirit is more about bringing about a fundamental deep and coherent connection with meaning and purpose to our lives.

It is the same with love which in this context is not about romantic love at all, but entirely about encouraging our heart, and bringing heartfelt emotional engagement to our work and play.

This is the spirit and intention behind Soul Food Fridays. That and a little respite from the 24/7 negative news cycles and pathogenic pommelling we get in our daily mediated dose of purported “reality”…

Apparently, I am not alone.

Increasing numbers of people all around the world and from each generation are finding newfound purpose and heart in their enhanced definitions of themselves and how they contribute to their workplaces, community and society.

Recently at the American Marketing Cause Conference here in San Diego, the largest conference of its kind on the West Coast that Mission Fed has been sponsoring for several years, the keynote speaker and thought leader in the space Carol Cone, of Cone Research fame and now with Edelman the world’s largest PR firm, spoke on The Power of Purpose in a Transparent World- Creating Pathways to Sustainable Value.

Today, a growing segment of worldwide businesses are actively focused on their organizations reason for being beyond profits. Non-profit and for-profit lines are blurring. We have the emergence of

B- Corps, a new class of business structure (Benefit corporations). We have the growth of Social Entrepreneurs, Encore Careers, the list goes on. People want to matter. They want their work to matter…

Purpose-driven organizations:

Create differentiation

Fuel growth and sales
Build and protect reputation

Engage and inspire customers AND employees

For those of you who “worship at the altar of data”, here is a compelling statistic:

87% of Consumers worldwide want business to place AT LEAST EQUAL WEIGHT on society’s interests as its business interests.

How is your business stacking up?

A Trust Barometer?
The cornerstone of any relationship is trust. Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose.

Check out the Edelman Trust Barometer- the largest exploration of trust to date, and the largest survey of its kind examining Trust around the World, Trust across Sectors, and How to Build Trust:

http://www.edelman.com/insights/intellectual-property/trust-2013/

Conscious Capitalism Down Under:

While immersed in this subject I get an invite to a spontaneous meeting from a friend- Cathy to meet a friend of hers- Amy from Australia, who is on the West coast to attend the Conscious Capitalism Conference in SF.

A stimulating evening with Amy uncovers what Australia is doing to model and mentor conscious capitalism instead of conspicuous consumption. Poke around this site for some inspiration:

http://www.consciouscapitalism.org.au/about-us/

The Power of One:

If you think you don’t count and one person can’t make a difference, check out this story about how one person’s intention and ignition can catalyze a global response to respecting our fellow women!

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/03/29/needed-response-steubenville

Lighter Fare: Brain Candy-Trivia

Time for a little fun!

Stewardesses” is the longest word typed with only the left hand

And “lollipop” is the longest word typed with your right hand.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or

purple.

“Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in the letters  “mt”.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose  and ears never stop growing.

The sentence:  “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy  dog”  uses every letter of the alphabet.

The words ‘racecar,’ ‘kayak’ , and ‘level’  are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left

(palindromes).

There are only four words in the English language which  end in “dous”:

tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels

In  order:  “abstemious” and “facetious.”

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the  letters only on one row of the keyboard.

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

A “jiffy” is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a  second.

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years.

Almonds are a member of the peach family.

An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.  (We all know some people like that too)

Babies are born without kneecaps.  They don’t appear until  the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to  have a full moon.

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been  domesticated.

If the population of China walked past you, 8 abreast, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

The average person’s left hand does 56% of the typing.

The cruise liner, QE 2  moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a  radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze  completely solid.

There are more chickens than people in the world.

Winston Churchill  was born in a ladies’ room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Bonus!! All the ants in Africa weigh more than ALL the  Elephants!!

WILD Photos- Eye Candy:

A couple are a bit risqué’ but they are all thought provoking…

Click here!

PRICELESS!!!

Now, asking questions during children’s sermons is crucial, but at the same time, asking children questions in front of a congregation can also be very dangerous.

Having asked the children if they knew the meaning of Resurrection, one little boy raised his hand……..

The pastor called on him and the little boy said, “I know that if you have a Resurrection that lasts more than four hours you are supposed to call the doctor.”

It took over ten minutes for the congregation to settle down enough for the service to continue……….

Thanks this week go to Cathy O., Amy P., Larry H., and all of you!

Stay light hearted, soul-filled and joyful!!

Love,
Neville

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
—Oscar Wilde

Happy Soul Food Friday!

You don’t have to be an engineer to appreciate this story…
A toothpaste factory had a problem. They sometimes shipped empty boxes without the tube inside. This challenged their perceived quality with the buyers and distributors. Understanding how important the relationship with them was, the CEO of the company assembled his top people. They decided to hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem. The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, and third-parties selected.  Six months (and $8 million) later they had a fantastic solution – on time, on budget, and high quality. Everyone in the project was pleased.

They solved the problem by using a high- tech precision scale that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box weighed less than it should. The line would stop, someone would walk over, remove the defective box, and then press another button to re-start the line. As a result of the new package monitoring process, no empty boxes were being shipped out of the factory.

With no more customer complaints, the CEO felt the $8 million was well spent. He then reviewed the line statistics report and discovered the number of empty boxes picked up by the scale in the first week was consistent with projections, however, the next three weeks were zero! The estimated rate should have been at least a dozen boxes a day. He had the engineers check the equipment, they verified the report as accurate.

Puzzled, the CEO traveled down to the factory, viewed the part of the line where the precision scale was installed, and observed just ahead of the new $8 million dollar solution sat a $20 desk fan blowing the empty boxes off the belt and into a bin. He asked the line supervisor what that was about.

“Oh, that,” the supervisor replied, “Bert, the kid from maintenance, put it there because he was tired of walking over, removing the box and re-starting the line every time the bell rang.”

It is better to give than to receive:

We have all heard this notion and some of us have difficulty internalizing it. This article might help…

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/magazine/is-giving-the-secret-to-getting-ahead.html?pagewanted=3&_r=0

How much does a teacher make?
We value education, but as a culture fail to value the real contribution teachers make to young people, our communities and by extension to our society.
This poetic slam recalibrates our thinking and provides a healthy vent for all those educators who make a difference every day!

I love quotes. Here are 10 quotes that changed Robin Sharma’s life.
Hopefully, one of them will strike a resonant chord in yours.
As he says, “keep releasing your excuses + pursuing outright mastery + making the world a better place because you’re in it.”
10 Quotes That Changed My Life

Creativity can come in many flavors:
Up for a good time? Check out what these young ladies can do…

Cranes on the Brain:

Courtesy of Charles Smith
Diane and I spent last week in Nebraska. Needless to say, we didn’t go for the dining. We went to witness the spring migration of the Sandhill Cranes and their dining habits on the Platte River. Last September in Colorado, we came down with a hopeless case of “cranes on the brain” after hearing Jane Goodall remark that she heads out to Nebraska almost every year for the show — when a half million cranes make their way out of their winter refuges in New Mexico and Texas, winging their way to Canada for making baby cranes, known as colts. By the time they are landing on the Platte, the cranes have been airborne for 800 miles, give or take. Goodall called it one of the greatest migrations on earth. Who better to know?

Here are a few shots…

The best images show up on the gloomiest, snowiest days. Something about the muted nature of the backgrounds seems to fit my impression of these animals.

Cranes are mischievous and slightly crazed when the race is on to breed and get to the feeding grounds. Some of the males will dance and show off in the most wondrous ways — springing up and chucking various bits of debris at rivals. That’s my interpretation as a fellow fella, but take it with a grain of salt. Some say they are merely relieving social stress with their antics.

Sandhills are very easily spooked and it’s quite hard to get close, especially when the polar jet stream has looped down into Nebraska and the temp is 16 F with wicked winds out of the north. It’s hard to creep up on them before freezing in place. Indeed, my camera froze up a couple times and I’ve never seen that before. This is probably my favorite shot from the trip – a blast of life in muted tones of brown and grey.

Although there is some bit of controversy, Sandhills are thought to be the oldest birds on the planet with a fossil from Nebraska dating back about 10 million years. The closest other extant bird species seems to be about 1 or 2 million years old. That means there is something within cranes that somehow withstands the ravages of unlucky circumstances and extinction. They’ve made it through 23 ice ages.

There are about 1,800 cranes in this one view (yes, my OCD made me count them on the hi-rez image). All of them are chatting with each other as they fly (some call is bugling) and the sound of them passing overhead is one of the great earthly pleasures. It’s a sound that reaches back into deep time, the sound of a few million annual migrations. The cranes of March should be on everyone’s to-see-and-hear list.

A group making their final spiraling approach with landing gear deployed.

Jane Goodall was not the first to put me onto cranes. That would be Aldo Leopold who in 1949 wrote the astonishingly beautiful and, at times, heartbreaking Sand County Almanac. That one book, page by page, turned me into a conservationist. Aldo’s language is evocative, emotional, visual, auditory, anthropomorphic, and remarkably similar to that of J.R.R. Tolkien, except the subject matter is this very real earth, its varied inhabitants, and their plight. Here are a couple passages about cranes:

“A dawn wind stirs on the great marsh. With almost imperceptible slowness it rolls a bank of fog across the wide morass. Like the white ghost of a glacier the mists advance, riding over phalanxes of tamarack, sliding across bog meadows heavy with dew. A single silence hangs from horizon to horizon.

Out of some far recess of the sky a tinkling of little bells falls soft upon the listening land. Then again silence. Now comes a baying of some sweet-throated hound, soon the clamor of a responding pack. Then a far clear blast of hunting horns, out of the sky into the fog.

High horns, low horns, silence, and finally a pandemonium of trumpets, rattles, croaks, and cries that almost shakes the bog with its nearness, but without yet disclosing whence it comes. At last a glint of sun reveals the approach of a great echelon of birds. On motionless wing they emerge from the lifting mists, sweep a final arc of sky, and settle in clangorous descending spirals to their feeding grounds. A new day has begun on the crane marsh. 

 …Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language. The quality of cranes lies, I think, in this higher gamut, as yet beyond the reach of words.

This much though can be said: our appreciation of the crane grows with the slow unraveling of earthly history. His tribe, we now know, stems out of the remote Eocene. The other members of the fauna in which he originated are long since entombed within the hills. When we hear his call we hear no mere bird. We hear the trumpet in the orchestra of evolution. He is the symbol of our untamable past, of that incredible sweep of millennia which underlies and conditions the daily affairs of birds and men. 

 And so they live and have their being–these cranes–not in the constricted present, but in the wider reaches of evolutionary time. Their annual return is the ticking of the geologic clock. Upon the place of their return they confer a peculiar distinction. Amid the endless mediocrity of the commonplace, a crane marsh holds a paleontological patent of nobility, won in the march of eons. The sadness discernible in some marches arises, perhaps, from their once having harbored cranes. Now they stand humbled, adrift in history.

… Someday, perhaps in the very process of our benefactions, perhaps in the fullness of geologic time, the last crane will trumpet his farewell and spiral skyward form the great marsh. High out of the clouds will fall the sound of hunting horns, the baying of the phantom pack, the tinkle of little bells, and then a silence never to be broken, unless perchance in some far pasture of the Milky Way.”

–Aldo Leopold — Sand County Almanac, 1949

Enjoy the remarkable wonder of Antarctica:

Which of these is your favorite pic?

Please give it a few moments to load. Breathe…

Click here

Thanks this week go to Marianne H., Gailya S., Dan M., Robin S., Heidi D., Charles S. and Larry H.

Pay it forward you can’t take it with you…
Love,
Neville

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”    –Patanjali

Happy Soul Food Friday!

Don’t tell me this town don’t got no heart… you just have to look around…

Go Unto God:

An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and he  turned to her and said, “Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if  you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”  The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the  total stranger, “What would you want to talk about?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said the atheist. “How about why there is no God  or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?” as he smiled smugly.
“Okay,” she said. “Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff – grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?” The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence, thinks about it and says, “Hmmm, I have no idea.” To which the little girl replies, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss God, Heaven and Hell, or life after death, when you don’t know poop?” And then she went back to reading her book…

Dog Knows God??

By AFP Jan 16, 2013

ROME – Since his owner died two months ago, Tommy the dog has not

missed a single mass in the small church in southern Italy where his

mistress’s funeral was held, Italian media said Wednesday.

When the bells of the Santa Maria Assunta church begin to toll each afternoon in San Donaci near Brindisi, the 12-year-old German Shepherd sets off from the village to get himself a front row seat next to the altar, Il Messaggero newspaper said.

His owner, who was known in local dialect as “Maria tu lu campu” — “Maria of the fields” — had lived alone with Tommy and three other rescue dogs, who used to follow her faithfully on her daily rounds and have now been adopted by the village.

After following his mistress’s coffin up to the church on the day of her funeral, Tommy has returned daily, sitting quietly throughout masses, baptisms and funerals, according to local priest Donato Panna, who now wouldn’t do without him.

Opening Another Door:

Could you imagine coming home from work to find this tiny creature napping on your couch with your dog?

Guess who came home for dinner? It followed this beagle home, right through the doggy door. This happened in Maryland recently.

The owner came home to find the visitor had made himself right at home…This hit the 6 o’clock news big time.

Fairy Dog Mother:

What mothers will do for her kids!!!

During an early morning response to a house fire, firefighters were amazed…

A Mother dog risked her life to save her puppies from the fire surrounding the burning house…

The Mother dog, Amanda, raced back and forth between the house, putting her 10 day old puppies in the safest place she could find – a Fire Truck! …

As an onlooker photographed it with his cell phone after she already had a few in one of the truck’s equipment compartments.

She didn’t stop racing back into the smoke and fire until all of her puppies were safely away from the fire.

The firemen on scene could not believe their eyes. Most people have never seen a dog this smart or this brave!

Bringing each one out, six trips into the fire and no one could stop her.

All the fireman could do was to try to keep a little water spray on her to keep from singing as she kept making trips running through the open door. You can see some of the singed hair on her back end, forehead and lower legs.

After rescuing all of her pups from the blaze, Amanda sat down next to them to nurse, protecting them with her body.

Onlookers called an emergency veterinary service and she and her pups were rushed to the hospital.

Aside from one puppy being treated for serious burns, the entire family are alive and well! Thanks to the bravery of Amanda! What an amazing mom!

It gets better…

A Great Dog Story and Well Worth the Read!!

They told me the big black Lab’s name was Reggie,

as I looked at him lying in his pen.

The shelter was clean,

and the people really friendly.

I’d only been in the area for six months, but

everywhere I went in the small college town, people

were welcoming and open. Everyone waves

when you pass them on the street.

But something was still missing as I attempted to settle

in to my new life here, and I thought a dog couldn’t hurt.

Give me someone to talk to. And I had just seen

Reggie’s advertisement on the local news. The shelter

said they had received numerous calls right after,

but they said the people who had come down

to see him just didn’t look like “Lab people,”

whatever that meant. They must’ve thought I did.

But at first, I thought the shelter had misjudged me

in giving me Reggie and his things, which consisted

of a dog pad, bag of toys almost all of which were

brand new tennis balls, his dishes and

a sealed letter from his previous owner.

See, Reggie and I didn’t really hit it off when we got home.

We struggled for two weeks (which is how long the shelter

told me to give him to adjust to his new home). Maybe it

was the fact that I was trying to adjust, too.

Maybe we were too much alike.

I saw the sealed envelope. I had completely forgotten

about that. “Okay, Reggie,” I said out loud, “let’s see

if your previous owner has any advice.”

To Whomever Gets My Dog:

Well, I can’t say that I’m happy you’re reading this,

a letter I told the shelter could only be opened by

Reggie’s new owner. I’m not even happy writing it.

He knew something was different.

So let me tell you about my Lab in the hopes

that it will help you bond with him and he with you.

First, he loves tennis balls. The more the merrier.

Sometimes I think he’s part squirrel, the way he hoards them.

He usually always has two in his mouth, and he tries to get

a third in there. Hasn’t done it yet. Doesn’t matter where

you throw them, he’ll bound after them, so be careful.

Don’t do it by any roads.

Next, commands. Reggie knows the

obvious ones —“sit,” “stay,” “come,” “heel.”

He knows hand signals, too: He knows “ball”

and “food” and “bone” and “treat” like nobody’s business.

Feeding schedule: twice a day, regular

store-bought stuff; the shelter has the brand.

He’s up on his shots. Be forewarned: Reggie hates the vet.

Good luck getting him in the car. I don’t know how he

knows when it’s time to go to the vet, but he knows.

Finally, give him some time. It’s only been Reggie and

me for his whole life. He’s gone everywhere with me,

so please include him on your daily car rides if you can.

He sits well in the backseat, and he doesn’t bark

or complain. He just loves to be around people,

and me most especially.

And that’s why I need to share one more bit of info with you…

His name’s not Reggie. He’s a smart dog, he’ll get used to it

and will respond to it, of that I have no doubt. But I just couldn’t

bear to give them his real name. But if someone is reading this …

well it means that his new owner should know his real name.

His real name is “Tank.” Because, that is what I drive.

I told the shelter that they couldn’t make “Reggie” available

for adoption until they received word from my company commander.

You see, my parents are gone, I have no siblings, no one I could’ve left Tank with …

and it was my only real request of the Army upon my deployment to Iraq, that they make one phone call to the shelter …

in the “event” … to tell them that Tank could be put up for adoption.

Luckily, my CO is a dog-guy, too, and he knew where my platoon

was headed. He said he’d do it personally. And if you’re reading this, then he made good on his word.

Tank has been my family for the last six years, almost as long

as the Army has been my family. And now I hope and pray that

you make him part of your family, too, and that he will adjust

and come to love you the same way he loved me.

If I have to give up Tank to keep those terrible people from coming

to the US I am glad to have done so. He is my example of service and

of love. I hope I honored him by my service to my country and comrades.

All right, that’s enough. I deploy this evening and have to drop this letter

off at the shelter. Maybe I’ll peek in on him and see if he finally got that third tennis ball in his mouth.

Good luck with Tank. Give him a good home, and give him an extra kiss goodnight – every night – from me.

Thank you,

Paul Mallory

_____________________

I folded the letter and slipped it back in the envelope. Sure,

I had heard of Paul Mallory, everyone in town knew him,

even new people like me. Local kid, killed in Iraq a few

months ago and posthumously earning the Silver Star

when he gave his life to save three buddies.

Flags had been at half-mast all summer.

I leaned forward in my chair and rested my

elbows on my knees, staring at the dog.

“Hey, Tank,” I said quietly.

The dog’s head whipped up, his ears

cocked and his eyes bright.

“C’mere boy.”

He was instantly on his feet, his nails clicking on the hardwood floor.

He sat in front of me, his head tilted, searching for the name

he hadn’t heard in months. “Tank,” I whispered.

His tail swished.

I kept whispering his name, over and over, and each time,

his ears lowered, his eyes softened, and his posture relaxed

as a wave of contentment just seemed to flood him. I stroked

his ears, rubbed his shoulders, buried my face into

his scruff and hugged him.

“It’s me now, Tank, just you and me. Your old pal gave you to me.”

Tank reached up and licked my cheek.

“So whatdaya say we play some ball?”

His ears perked again.

“Yeah? Ball? You like that? Ball?”

Tank tore from my hands and disappeared into the next room.

And when he came back, he had three tennis balls in his mouth.

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in

front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
—G. K. Chesterton

Take a Paws…and click here

Finally,

If dogs are really not your thing go shopping at this market that is more art than veggies!

Have a doggone great day!

May I always be the person my dog thinks I am…

Thanks this week to Larry H. for this terrific dog compendium!

Love,

Neville

“We are all here on earth to help others.  What on earth the others are here for, I don’t know.”
~ W. H. Auden

Happy Soul Food Friday!

This was a big week for the Papacy with the first pontiff in history from the Americas

This picture from Saint Peter’s Square comparing 2005 and 2013 -post white smoke- speaks volumes about the changing nature of our world

Above all connect…

Who is the Susie in your life?
WET PANTS – Lessons from the 3^rd Grade

Come with me  to a third grade classroom….. There is a  nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk and all of  a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet.

He thinks his  heart is going to stop because he cannot  possibly imagine how this has happened. It’s  never happened before, and he knows that when  the boys find out he will never hear the end of
it. When the girls find out, they’ll never speak  to him again as long as he  lives.

The boy  believes his heart is going to stop.

He puts his  head down and prays this prayer, ‘Dear God, this  is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes  from now I’m dead  meat.’

He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.

As the teacher is walking toward him, a class mate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is  filled with water.

Susie trips in front of the  teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy’s lap.

The boy  pretends to be angry, but all the while is  saying to himself, ‘Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!’

Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym
shorts to put on while his pants dry out. All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning  up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful.

But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else – Susie.

She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. You’ve done enough, you klutz!’

Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers,
‘You did that on purpose, didn’t you?’ Susie  whispers back, ‘I wet my pants once too.’

May God help us see the opportunities that are always around  us to do  good..

—

Are You Afraid of the Boogie Man?

This is the real boogie man and watch out, he is FAST and can get in your head!

 

 The Power of Words…

I shared this link some months ago on Soul Food Friday but it “came around” again so I thought it was worthy of a redux for yux

 

Many of you resonated with last week’s Happiness and Positive Psychology posts.

Here are two follow ups- one a clip and the other a website:

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130222155338-128811924-positive-psychology-and-the-workplace?_mSplash=1

http://sharetheadvantage.com/

A School in the Cloud

This Award Winning TED talk on Education is truly inspirational!

http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud.html

Be courageous enough to do the unexpected and become a “Category of One”

I shared this at a Leadership meeting this week and many were moved, some to tears…

 

The next time you think you are unable, revisit this guy’s attitude and tenacity…

Got this from a friend of a friend

http://vimeo.com/59749521

 Our National Parks are a Terrific Treasure! Put them on Your Bucket List

Enjoy these glorious pictures from God’s Country- Yellowstone

Click here!

Thanks this week go to Joseph, Larry, Mitch, Jillian, Frank, Jack, Mique and Fab

Pay if Forward!

Love,

Neville

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in…

— John Muir

Happy Soul Food Friday!

As you might recall from previous posts, I have committed this year in an immersive dive into our Happiness, Resilience, Wisdom and Wellness.

If these topics resonate for you, please keep sending the best you have got on these subjects, so I can share them with everyone…

Starting with Resilience, here is a story of Self-Preservation…

This is a story of self-control and marksmanship with an itsy bitsy pistol by a woman against a fierce predator.

What is the smallest caliber you trust to protect yourself?

Some say it is the Beretta Jetfire…

While out hiking in Alberta Canada with my husband we were surprised by a huge grizzly bear charging at us from out of nowhere.

She must have been protecting her cubs because she was extremely aggressive.

If I had not had my little Beretta Jetfire with me I would not be here today!

Just one shot to my husband’s knee cap was all it took…..the bear got him and I was able to escape by just walking away at a brisk pace.

It’s one of the best pistols in my collection.

—

From Crass Humor to Genuine Happiness

The Happiness Advantage-Change YOUR Formula for Happiness and Success:

Did you know that only 10% of your happiness is based on external factors. As a society, have we pushed happiness over the cognitive horizon?

Normal is the “psychopathology of the average” so don’t be normal, and try to keep up with the Jones’s, the Jones’s are NUTS!

Got this link from Jim Lin, former Acting Provost of Muir College at UCSD.  It features Shawn Achor is both informative and entertaining and singles out a key fact that success and work are intimately connected with how happy you feel.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=shawn+achor&mid=B2B25C7B7143984D30D1B2B25C7B7143984D30D1&view=detail&FORM=VIRE2  

Well it turns out there Actually is a Happiness Formula (probably one of many)

I got this one from a 5 day immersive I did at The Chopra Center some years ago entitled, “Journey into Healing”

The happiness formula goes something like this:

H=S+C+V

Happiness = Set point + Conditions for Living + Voluntary Choices

These variables are not all equal

H=S50+C10+V40

S is the Set point in the brain (50%)

Our brain mechanism is genetically encoded and wired during childhood

3 things can be used to change your set point:

1. Drugs that alter neurotransmitters (with both transient + side effects) which explains the panoply of pharmaceuticals sold and self-medication practiced daily
2. Cognitive reframing/therapy to reflect on one’s negative beliefs and rightly understand them (see below)
3. Meditation (left pre-frontal cortex causes release of neuro-transmitters naturally with no negative side effects)

Cognitive Reframing/Therapy can be used to reflect on negative beliefs associated with anything that is keeping you from your bliss, using an A-E acronym to literally re-frame beliefs:

• Adversity- Is this true? Generally not
• Belief- Am I 100% sure? Generally not
• Consequences- What does holding on to this belief do to or for me?
• Disputing that belief- Who would I be without this belief? Name new self
• Energy you release @ dispute- Positive statement of intention & outcome

C is the Conditions for living (external factors)

This only constitutes 10% of total happiness

–      Lottery: At end of 1 year back to set point

–      Tragedy: At end of 1 year back to set point or even stronger!

Darwin: “Adaptable Survival”

Voluntary choices (40%)

These are intentional actions done for either:

Personal Pleasure such as shopping, eating, sex, alcohol, entertainment, etc.

But pleasure exhausts…

Or Fulfillment

• Meaning & Purpose, Creativity, Making Someone else happy builds spirit, is not exhausting and in fact is self-perpetuating of a virtuous cycle!

So to be happier, invest your time and energy changing that internal set point in your brain (worth 50% of your effort) and make those smart voluntary choices that create fulfillment (worth another 40%) and invest less time and energy trying to manage external factors (that only comprise 10% of your happiness anyway!)

—

Speaking of mindfulness, being present and meditative…

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find it necessary to slow things waaaay down, to settle into the minute, the moment, the now.

We are human “beings” not human “doings” but our actions don’t necessarily reflect this

These next two submissions, help us do just that…

A nice opportunity to center…

http://www.gratefulness.org/brotherdavid/a-good-day.htm

Reflections

What we do, see, feel is reflected back to us

Click here

Can an optimism bias have unintended consequences?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/03/04/173227718/your-childs-fat-mines-fine-rose-colored-glasses-and-the-obesity-epidemic

 Animal Virtues

Truth be told, I am partial to dogs and this deck is a good example…

See it here

Thanks this week go to Larry H., Jim L., Deepak C., Michael F., NPR and You

Love you,
Mean it!

Salud,
Neville

 “Follow your bliss and the universe will open
doors where there were only walls.”–Joseph Campbell

Happy Soul Food Friday!

Your Feel Good Story for this Week:

What is this all about? Why did this happen to me? The theme is the question, not the answer…

This clip reminds us of the value of stewardship, relationship, how to accept life on life’s terms, and to seize the wonder of every moment in life!

This is quintessential soul food…

http://silverandgoldandthee.net/V/Sk.html

—

Is the World of Higher Education keeping up with the Pace of Change?

It is not business as usual in public higher education…

Financial pressures both on consumers- as student loan debt exceeds credit card debt in this country, and on the institutions- as state support declines precipitously, competitive disintermediation brought on by technology and the digital revolution, students that enter college as “crispies”-often already burned out from all the effort it takes just to get in, and a changing national & international mood about the value of scientific enquiry and the real value of education mandate that we adjust and adopt to meet the changing times and needs. This is mission critical work!

Are You On Board?

Rather than simply ponder these imponderables, as part of the UCSD Alumni Board of Directors, I get to actually work on these challenges and opportunities.

In the last week, I had the privilege of investing some quality time with the UCSD Alumni Board where I am part of the Executive Committee and help lead the Branding subcommittee.

Our quarterly meetings cover many meaningful topics as we identify where our 150,000 strong alumni can make a positive contribution to our university, our community and our society.

This set of meetings, included a session on developing a common vocabulary and launch pad for Scholarship to actualize the access and affordability promise for young people who otherwise would not be afforded the gift of education, a session on building and protecting the UCSD brand, as well as  an active working session on the UCSD Strategic Plan with our 8^th Chancellor Pradeep Khosla and external consultants.

The weekend was also capped with the inspiring 11^th Annual Black History Month Celebration and Scholarship Fundraiser Jazz Brunch featuring UCSD Alumnus John Wesley, best known in our popular culture for his TV work on Frasier, The Jefferson’s, Benson, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air & “Willie” on the Jamie Foxx Show. In alignment with the theme, “Our History is Our Future”, John highlighted two key dates- 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation, and 1963 the tipping point for the Civil Rights movement, which became the template for future social movements both in our country and around the world.

With the United States poised to become “a majority of minorities by 2020”  it is useful for us to both understand and learn from our history, especially when you consider what 1863 and 1963 can do to make for a better 2063.

This quality of discourse and engagement is common fare at UCSD, and speaking of branding sadly a best kept secret.

Hidden in Plain Sight:

Did you know that UCSD’s rise to eminence remains unchecked with stellar rankings that include:

• ·         1^st in the Nation based on Positive Impact on the Country– Washington Monthly’s College Guide 2012
• ·         #1 Campus in the Nation for Surfing– Global Website Surfline, 2009 (we “embrace the geek” but shred the waves too J )
• ·         UC San Diego Health System is the #1 Adult Hospital in San Diego– 2012-13 US News and World Report “America’s Best Hospitals
• ·         The Preuss School UCSD is the #1 Transformative High School in the Nation– Newsweek magazine “America’s Best High Schools” 2012
• ·         We are the 3^rd “Coolest” School in the Nation for Going Green- Sierra Magazine, 2011
• ·         6^th in the Nation in Total Research and Development Spending–National Science Foundation, 2010
• ·         8^th Best Public University in the Nation– US News and World Report 2013 Best Colleges guidebook
• ·         10^th Best Value Public University in the Nation– Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
• ·         15^th Best University in the WORLD– The Center for World-Class Universities 2012 Academic Rankings of World Universities

For a complete picture of UCSD’s impact, if you have an iTunes account, you can download the free UCSD Alumni Annual Report app. You WILL be blown away by what UCSD is doing for you, the community and the world!

Personal Note: As most of the UCSD Alumni board get and read Soul Food Friday, Chris a fellow board “activist” and I were chatting, and he casually asked about the thank you’ s I include at the end of each edition.

I shared that I thank the individual contributors for each edition as they forwarded me something that touched their soul. Chris said he thought I was simply thanking people just for being WHO THEY ARE.

I really liked the notion that we are all deserving of gratitude, thanks and esteem, not just for what we have done (our role) but for the intrinsic value we inherently have and for WHO WE ARE.

So thanks for that Chris!

This edition is for each and every one of you. Thank you for being YOU and for Who You Are. There is only one you, and the world is lucky to have your talent, energy and gifts-period.

Are you a Lifelong Learner?

Here is an excellent TED talk regarding what happens with the Pace of Change overcomes the Pace of Learning

http://www.ted.com/talks/eddie_obeng_smart_failure_for_a_fast_changing_world.html

Speaking of Social Movements & Education…

Girl Rising – Educate A Girl Change the World

Please mark your calendar for March 8^th 7:30pm, spread the word, and encourage others to join us as we focus our International Women’s Day celebration on gender equality in education at the release of Girl Rising. The film tells extraordinary stories of girls from around the globe fighting to overcome impossible odds to realize their dreams.  It features voiceovers by Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Kerry Washington and Selena Gomez. NGO Partners include: Afghan Connection, A New Day Cambodia, CAREUSA, UN Foundation’s Girl Up, Partners in Health, Plan International USA, Pratham USA, World Vision and Room to Read.  We have registered a request to watch the film at La Paloma theater in Encinitas March 8th, they have approved it, and now we need to get at least 150 people to buy a $10 ticket within 27 days to secure the theater.   Attached is a flyer specifically created to help you promote this event to your peers, colleagues, friends, and students.  Time is of the essence to secure a theater.  Please take the time today to buy your ticket, let others know of the event, and encourage them to join us.

Click Here and Buy Your Tickets Today: http://gathr.us/screening/943

Room to Read is one of among ten nonprofits featured in 10×10 a global movement and grassroots efforts to increase the number of girls receiving an education.  You can go to 10x10act.org to learn more, register for a different theater, watch the trailer, or to get more information.

Click here to see the flyer

—

If the Oscars last weekend, and talk about the Emancipation Proclamation triggered your thirst for more on ” Lincoln ” here is a personal follow-up.

Note: I did not fact check this so if you historians have evidence to the contrary, feel free to correct me…

Who was Robert Todd Lincoln?

Click here to find out!

Other topics this week:

The Simple Act of Kindness Fuels Our Best Brain with Will Marre’
PONDER THIS: What can give you a rush of endorphins, improve your workplace revenue, and jumpstart your creativity … all at the same time?

RESEARCH SAYS: The power of a simple act of kindness fuels our best brain. Brain scans reveal that whenever we give or receive compassion, care or selfless generosity, it lights up the same part of our brain in the same way that chocolate, sex, and sunshine do.  Yep, it makes us feel closer and more trusting and, as an added bonus, our creativity and problem solving flourishes!

YOUR CHALLENGE: Think of three kind acts you can perform, either today or tomorrow. One for a stranger (like letting them take your place in line), one for a customer or coworker, and one for a loved one. Tell us how this both brightens your day and ignites your creative flame.
Share your results on our Facebook page.

Want to receive tips like this and other great content directly in your inbox? Then sign up here to join our email list.

Past Tips:
#34 – Eating 2.0
#35 – How to Get Your “Early Start” Started!
#36 – Ditch the Daydreams

Ready for Some More Inspiration?

Feel the Love with Connor and Cayden,  Sports Illustrated 2012 Sports Kids of the Year

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Finally, Got some serious Wonder Lust but don’t have Travel Plans?

These photos and music will help scratch the itch…

Click here (it may take a minute or two to download)

Thanks this week go to ALL of you for who you are, and to the UCSD Alumni Board & Staff, Larry H., Brandon B., & Will M.

Pay it Forward!

Love,

Neville

Eighty percent of life’s satisfaction comes from meaningful relationships.”

— Brian Tracy

The cynic says one person can’t do anything. I say ‘Only one  person can do anything.
All good ideas start with one person. The creative, caring, believing person sends out waves of influence. One affects others who in turn affect others…
Celebrate, the Power of ONE

Happy Soul Food Friday!

The Story of the 3 Travelers:

A women noticed three men with long white beards standing outside her front gate.
May I help you gentlemen?, she asked.
We have traveled many miles and we are hungry, one of the men replied. Could we bother you for something to eat?
It would be no bother, the woman replied, please come in.

Wait, one of the other travelers said, Is your husband home?
Not yet, but he will be home soon, the woman said.
Then we will wait for him before we come into your home.
Very well, the woman said and returned to her chores…

A short time later her husband arrived home. She told him about the three travelers and they decided to go to the front yard together to invite them in for supper.
You can ask only one of us in, said one of the men.
I am Wealth, that is Success and the other fellow with us is Love.
You must decide which one of us can enter your home.
The husband pulled his wife aside and said, Let’s ask Wealth to come into our home.
Maybe he will bestow many fine gifts upon us.
The wife disagreed. We should invite Success. Success makes wealth possible and successful people always have lives filled with good fortune.
Just then the couple’s daughter joined the conversation. You should always choose Love. Without love there is nothing.

The couple thought about it for a moment and then walked to the gate.
The wife said, Love, we would like to invite you to have supper with us.

The husband opened the gate and the three men walked into the yard.

But I thought you said we could only invite one of you in, the husband questioned.
That is correct, one of the bearded men answered, but you chose Love. And wherever Love goes, everything else will follow.

(Thanks Sensei Leong for Bits and Pieces)

Creating Good Work– The World’s Leading Social Entrepreneurs Show How to Build a Healthy Economy

Is your work extractive i.e. taking from the greater good, or generative i.e. contributing to the greater good?

Here is a teaser from a new book by my friend Ron Schultz where deliberate disruptive design is the model, and nurturing resilience, creating good work (work that has meaning and purpose and is of benefit to others) and creating enough wealth (commonwealth) becomes the hallmark with respect to social innovation.

The book launched Tuesday and is already #32 on Amazon. Ron will be sharing this over the weekend at the Ashoka U 2013 Exchange at USD where more than 1,000 people from 150 institutions and 40 countries gather for a premier event on social entrepreneurship education. http://ashokau.org/exchange/

Read this

You can stay current on this topic at: http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/715-creating-good-work-identifying-commonwealth-building-healthy-economies

(thanks Ron S.)

Natural and Unnatural Wonders:

Savor this soul feast for the eyes. Here are some amazing pictures from around the globe

Check this out

(thanks Larry H.)

Al Gore (Blood and Gore): The Future

Speaking of book launches, recently, I was grateful to my friends the Warwick’s for an opportunity to hear former US Vice President and Nobel Prize Laureate Al Gore speak at his book launch- for his new book entitled The Future.

If you are not familiar with Warwick’s, it is the oldest family owned and operated bookstore in the US, that has been delivering the independent bookstore experience since 1896. Warwick’s is currently run by the 4^th generation sisters Nancy and Cathy. http://www.warwicks.com/ “Independent minds need independent books”

While I wasn’t sure what to expect, I was suitably impressed by Mr. Gore’s depth of understanding of a variety of subjects and his ability to passionately engage with and communicate to his audience.

Mr. Gore was introduced by San Diego Mayor Bob Filner who as an academic and a politician used self-deprecating humor to bridge the gap identified in his own joke, “Academics are all thought and no action. Politicians are all action and no thought.”

In his early remarks, Mr. Gore joked about his time in Investment banking when with his partner Mr. Blood he seriously considered naming their firm “Blood and Gore”. Obviously keener sensibilities prevailed…

On a more serious note, some of the highlights for me included:

• The Emergence of Earth Inc. where decision making authority is being pulled from politicians to markets,  and changes in the means of production are moving from subtractive manufacturing where you chip away at the excess, to additive manufacturing such as 3-D printing (interesting to consider in relation to extractive or generative work mentioned earlier)
• The Emergence of the Global Mind where millions of connected devices, sensors and machines are hailing a new season of creative disruption where of the 7B people on the planet, 5B have smart phones that are getting smarter every year
• The Emergence of the Artificial Intelligence Genetic Revolution that is altering the very fabric of life where as a stray example- spider goats can now produce silk in their milk (since it is hard to farm spiders)
• The Emergence of China as the largest economy on earth, and what this means for the US after more than 100 years in the poll position…

Mr. Gore got most passionate about his belief and experience that “democracy in America has been hacked” as big money, anonymous contributions and super pacs dominate the political process and how politicians have no choice but to cater to big money and the 30 second commercials that are critical to their elective process, as it is only human nature to do the calculus on how each decision I take as a politician will impact my campaign contributions. This means in our current  system, zero reform can occur without support and sanction from special interest groups, and how this flies in the face of the script that our founding fathers believed in, and how critical it is that we become more informed about, and restore the proper functioning of democracy in America.

Wherever you find yourself in the political spectrum, I think Mr. Gore’s attention to the emerging trends is worthy of exploration, especially his important point that growth – the “holy grail” for countries, corporations and institutions without an “accounting” of the externalities not captured or measured in metrics like GDP including pollution, education, art, science and music, depreciation of natural resources, yes climate change and hyper inequality in income distribution (some inequality is a necessary condition of capitalism) but when the 6 Wal-Mart heirs are worth as much as 100 million Americans, and when since 2008, 93% of the income gains have gone to the top 1% of Americans- this is over the top, and collectively represents  an incomplete accounting with “off balance sheet” implications that could be deleterious for our species and our planet.

You can check out the book at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Future-Drivers-Global-Change/dp/0812992946 or better yet GO to Warwick’s!

(Thanks Cathy)

Who You Calling Dumb Animals?

This story is unbelievable…

After a mother chimpanzee who lived in a zoo died, one of the zoo’s employees took the baby chimp home to care for it. It never crossed his mind that his dog, who had recently given birth, would adopt the chimp and raise it with her pups. Judging by the look on her face at times, she is not quite sure why this particular offspring has hands to grab her with. Now that portrays unconditional love. Something to think about!

Click here!

PLEASE DON’T SAY DUMB ANIMALS…THEY HAVE MORE LOVE AND COMPASSION THAN MOST HUMANS!

Stay Loving and Compassionate.

Love,
Neville

“Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Happy Soul Food Friday for Valentine’s Day week!

This week in the heart department:

• A Love Story of a Hero and an Angel that is so good it hurts!
• A love of Music that begins early and will blow your mind when you see what a grounding in the fundamentals does for one’s trajectory toward mastery
• A love of Reading cultivated early by that soul food army- Volunteers
• A love of the seemingly mundane moment when the days seem long but you realize the years are short
• A love of art with a nice surprise at the end…

Ever wonder what starting to get a grounding in the fundamentals of one’s art would do for your “mastery” trajectory?
This should light a fire of inspiration…

Can you guess the artist?

http://www.wimp.com/oldschool/

—

Giving the gift of reading and your love is timeless.

Learn about Rolling Readers with Mission Fed and SD Mayor Bob Filner and consider participating…

—

The Days are Long but the Years are short

I got to hear this happiness guru speak last year at the Atlantic meets the Pacific event in La Jolla…

—

Experience this speedy painter who throws in a surprising twist at the end.

Finally, a True Love Story (in 22 photos)

If he is a hero… She is an angel!

Thanks this week to Larry, Mission Fed and its righteous volunteers, as well as Heidi & Rex

Pay it forward, do it with LOVE, and bank on me!

Neville

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
–Margaret Mead

Happy Soul Food Friday!

Did you know that the Chinese Character for music and happiness is also the character for medicine?

I recently learned that the Chinese character for music, if pronounced differently, can also be read as “happiness”. The character for “medicine” is exactly the same as the character for “music” and “happiness” with the addition of the symbol for “herb” on top. This gives us a sense for how ancient the ties are among music, happiness, and health.

On that “note”, maybe we would do well to pay more attention to our musical diets so “hear” goes…

This Father and Son Story is a Soul Food Crescendo that will surely strike a chord!

You Country Rock Fans will appreciate The Graham Parsons story

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2012/03/14/gram-parsons-rock

Life is a Gift. The Zen of Bennett:

This radio interview with the legendary artist Tony Bennett is perfect pitch!

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2012/11/29/tony-bennett-zen

Now, let Andre’ Rieu’s Stradivarius violin and his world renowned orchestra at Radio City Music Hall, New York, stir your soul with a magical tribute to Frank Sinatra with My Way:

Finally, expand your musical horizons as this band, led by a Navy Vet sings an updated version of the Star Spangled banner: http://www.starspangledbannerchallenge.com

Thanks this week go to NPR/KPBS, Larry & Chris

Musically yours,

Neville

“If you have to ask what Jazz is you will never know” –Louis Armstrong