Happy Soul Food Friday!

The Autumnal Equinox is today Friday, September 23, 2011.

It’s one of only two times in a year that the day and night are of equal length. (Light and Dark in Balance)
The Equinox reminds us about the passage of time-change, the motion of the Earth-change, and the different seasons-change. (Change is certain, Growth is optional)

Along with the Winter and Summer Solstices they demarcate the four seasons.
Today marks the start of Autumn (Fall) for us in the Northern Hemisphere.

For the Southern Hemisphere, it’s reversed. Spring has just begun… (North and South in Balance)
Today the Sun will begin to rise at the South Pole after six months of darkness (Keep moving into the Light)

Today when the Sun passes straight overhead, at the “zenith” for people on the equator, like in Kenya or Ecuador, there simply aren’t any shadows. (An opposite of Emerson’s Quote: “When it’s dark enough you can see the stars”, “When it’s fully light there ARE no shadows!”)
On this day, the Sun rises directly in the East, and sets directly in the West. (the Rest of the year this varies slightly…)
So on this naturally balanced day may you find your balance and center, in tune and in harmony with mother nature.
Note: Thanks Billy for your inspiration…

Here are some tender vittles to warm the cockles of your heart and inspire mastery in all of us.

The main course is a feel good story captures the importance of manifesting your dreams and achieving your success. ( A goal is a dream with a deadline)

It is never too late…

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

She said, ‘Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?’
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, ‘Of course you may!’ and she gave me a giant squeeze..

‘Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?’ I asked.
She jokingly replied, ‘I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids…’
‘No seriously,’ I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
‘I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!’ she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.
We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this ‘time machine’ as she shared her wisdom and experience with me..
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.
Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, ‘I’m sorry I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.’

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, ‘ We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.
There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have tolaugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.
We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it!
There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.
If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.
Anybody! Can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change.

Have no regrets.
The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets..’
She concluded her speech by courageously singing ‘The Rose.’
She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those months ago.
One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.
Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be.

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. We make a Living by what we get. We make a Life by what we give.

The second dish is a musical interlude with the Andre Rieu Orchestra from Holland and a thirteen year old virtuoso Melissa Venema playing Taps in its entirety.

The Original version of Taps was called Last Post , and was written by Daniel Butterfield in 1801as you will hear in this clip. In 1862 it was shortened to 24 notes and re-named Taps.

http://www.flixxy.com/trumpet-solo-melissa-venema.htm

Finally, to see “be the ball” move from a mental concept of being in the flow experience to really happening, check out this video.

Note: Thanks Larry for sending this around…

May you be one with all that brings meaning, purpose, love and laughter to your life and keep the change!

Pay it forward…

Neville

Happy Soul Food Friday!

Here’s this week’s boost of energy juice to keep you
inspired, and remind us of what is truly important…

Education: It was another inspiring week
interacting with education here in San Diego.

K-12

This time it was Back to School night at Earl Warren Middle
School in Solana Beach, where I was awed by educators that “get it” and are
committed to making a difference of consequence for our kids.

Here are some examples of good stuff which I hope is going on
all around the county that I hope we all model and practice in our daily lives:

An 8^th grade English class where the read, write,
listen and speak fundamentals are cultivated in a context of “searching for
justice”,& “saying what you feel” so students develop a
conscious framework in their quest for understanding, learn to love to read,
and can cultivate their own voice and ways to express it. Finding your voice
and helping others find theirs. Is there anything more poignant?

A US History class where a student-centric 3 tiered approach
takes students on a journey from Facts and Evidence –> Historical Themes (including Political- Democratic values, Economic- Capitalist values, and Social- Societal issues –> Big Ideas and Concepts such as Freedom, Justice and Inclusion that are tackled along with inconsistencies & contradictions between our aspirations and our practice. Being intellectually honest and teaching us to temper idealism with reality. Is there anything more genuine?

A Math class that instead of being monolithic is actually self-paced
based on the level and understanding of each of the students, as they
progressively move the dial on their understanding and integration of the key
concepts. Accommodating individual learning intelligences, styles and paces.
Is there anything more progressive?

A Digital Arts class where kids are exposed to the principles of
design and the technological tools that are being used today in commercial
enterprises everywhere to produce inspired information age art. Blending
timeless creativity with information age technology is there anything more
joyful than young people expressing themselves?

A Band/Music class where kids are focused on the development
of musicality and actually challenged to site read music they have never
seen before. Being comfortable in the unknown. Is there anything more
necessary?

A Physical Science Class focused on empowering kids to be
responsible not only for their own education but grounding kids in a better
understanding of science in their lives, predicated on respect for themselves, each other and the environment so they can be good stewards of our planet. A respect frame that expands our definition of self to others and our planet. Is there anything more vital?

Clearly, Whole Child, 21^st Century Readiness is alive and well in many classrooms with engaged students and committed teachers modeling the way- Bless you ALL!

Higher Ed

UCSD is well on its way to developing a total wellbeing cluster
to prep and equip students with skills and practical experience; fostering good
habits in all 8 dimensions of wellness. Here once again, there is a recognition
that mission attainment at a great institution of higher learning can’t just
focus on intellectual advancement at the detriment of the whole being, and they
are committed to creating the conditions for a healthy and vibrant student body
that can carry these talents and skills into the world along with their
degrees…

Civility

Last week with the black out, I touched on the fact that
adversity doesn’t breed character it reveals it.

This article embodies the best in people that even in the most
rowdy of circumstances, step up and do the right thing.

Durkheim the father of sociology said ethics is “adherence to
the un-enforceable” doing the right thing even when there is no one there
to catch you if you don’t…

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Qualcomm-Stadium-server trips-loses-1-000-82?urn=nfl-wp7156&active_dimension=carousel_coke_today&ysp_frm_woah=1

Inspiration

A group of us have been working hard on Transforming Education
in San Diego

Best-selling local author Steve Farber is committed to this
cause and is releasing a new publication to support education in San Diego
(more on this later)

Here is some inspiration from Steve and his publisher that
should spark you up!

Welcome to the No Limit Loop –
The Anti-Newsletter Newsletter.The No Limit Loop is the next
evolution of newsletters. More value and impact in less time. Short, sweet
and intense.The No Limit
Publishing Group is thrilled to be releasing Steve Farber’s next book, The Radical Leap Re-Energized, on November 4, 2011. Steve is an absolute
leadership force in the U.S. Enjoy the piece below, inspired by his upcoming
book, that will serve as an adrenaline shot for your mind.For more exclusive content, use your Android device or iPhone/iPad to download The Loop app, providing the latest on what Steve Farber and other thought leaders are doing and saying, plus discounts, special offers and advance notice of events near you. To get in The Loop, Android users click here and
iPhone or iPad users click here!Remember…if you must doubt
something today, doubt your limits.–Jeremy Brown, Publisher,
No Limit Publishing Group

Steve Farber on Finding the Love in What You Do

Yes, you want your customers to love doing
business with you, and you want your colleagues and employees to love working
with you, but the most important element in the practice of cultivating
love is, ironically, the one we talk the least about and give
virtually no attention to: your own personal connection with the work
you do every day.

Why is that so important?
Because it’s impossible (at least in any significant and long-lasting way) to
engage, motivate, compel, energize anyone else unless you feel it yourself,
first. And love is the way to generate all of the above.

Here’s a process you can use to spark the match in your own heart. Try this and
see if it gives you the juice you need to lead in a way that inspires others to
accomplish extraordinary things:

1) Remember why you took your job: Think back over
the course of your career so far and recount the events, jobs, projects and
other things that led to your beginning your current work. Then write your
answer to these questions: Why did I take this job/start this company/enlist in
this program? Are the ideals that I started with still in place today? If not,
how can I re-enliven them?

2) List every aspect of your current work/job/career: Make a
quick inventory of all the various aspects of your work: tasks, projects,
roles, responsibilities, colleagues, higher-ups, employees, customers, clients,
underlying values, etc. Write it however works best for you. Categorize if
you’d like; or don’t. However you do it, you should be able to look at the
finished product and see all the aspects of your work life at the present time.

3) Highlight what and whom you’re grateful for: Use a
highlighter to emphasize the items on your list that really resonate with
you—those things you love doing, the people you truly care about, the values
that you strive to live by—and make coming to work worthwhile. As for the items
that don’t get highlighted, well, that’s life. We all have to do things that we
don’t love doing in order to do the overall work that we love. (I, for example,
don’t love waiting in airports, making sales calls and tracking expenses). We
have a technical term for doing those things anyway. It’s called “being an
adult.”

4) Review your highlights every day: Once a day—ideally in the
morning, before things get rolling—review your list and focus on the
highlights. Allow yourself to feel genuine gratitude for the things,
activities, and people that populate your working experience. That one simple,
reflective practice should help to stoke or re-kindle the love in your heart
for the work you do.

And if it doesn’t?

It could be that you’re in the wrong place and/or doing the wrong work. But
don’t jump to that conclusion rashly; use this opportunity to reflect and
consider this work in the greater context of your life and goals.

Remember: You’re starting this process with yourself because
that’s how you’ll genuinely and effectively be contagious to those around you.
That’s how you’ll inspire others to step up and do the same.

—Steve Farber, leadership expert and author
of The Radical Leap Re-Energized

Last but not least, here is some Cool Art (thanks Larry) to
stretch your perspective and mitigate attentional blindness- that conditioned
response that precludes us from seeing “what is”…

Have a glorious weekend!

Pay it forward…

Neville

Click the first photo to enlarge and you can scroll through the rest…