transform-200911

121209 608 PMmeeting change | transform | november 2009

of 6httptransformativechangeorgdocsnltransform-200911html

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welcomeSince 1974 Thanksgiving Day Native Americans have held aSunrise Ceremony on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco as a reminderof the myth of Thanksgiving and the mourning of incalculable lossThis month were acknowledging the powerful act of leave takingas a way to connect both our feelings of gratitude for what welearned and our feelings of grief about what has been lost what isleft behind--in particular the leaving of land people andtraditions Let us not forget we are all indigenous to somewhereWhile some of us got to keep our traditions language history ourland our rights - others of us struggle even today to reconnect towho we wereare so we can be our own Leaders our ownTeachers

meeting changethe art amp practice of transitionINcite with angel Kyodo williams

As an east coast native the traditional fourseasons of the year have become deeplyembedded in my psyche and soul as a map anda means for organizing my life Winter SpringSummer Fall repeat Seasons are like phasesin the cycle of Life Going from one to thenext represents Transition the in-betweenspace of moving from one way of being inrelationship to life into another

Taken together the turning of the four seasons into a year reflects ourcollective relationship to and dependence upon nature and all herrhythms according our journey with the sun and the entire vastuniverse

whats newCXCs New Public ScheduleTrue to our name CXC isundergoing transformationInternally we are taking leave ofa few of our old ways We aremaking changes to our physical

space the people and things who occupy it and theway we do work--in addition to developing someexciting new projects that support deep change

Read more

A Mind-Blowing Video on Climate ChangeTransformative Change-oriented Forest Ethics joinedup with Environmental Defense to produce one of thebest videos on climate action See it now

Moms Against Climate Change | 126 min

in SIGHTLeadership

No video Click 1 httpwwwyoutubecomwatchv=gZ5X2Mki7QQ

or 2 httpwwwyoutubecomwatchv=JTxrOcKsLJA

When you think of leadership you inevitably think ofpower The question is what kind of power Somethingslightly tyrannical perhaps True leadership springsfrom power that is a well of vision truth integritycompassion and relationship In these two videos Revangel Kyodo williams touches on how each of thosequalities form exemplary leaders allowing others tolive into their full potential


Page 2 of 6httptransformativechangeorgdocsnltransform-200911html

universe

I have come to appreciate this internal alignment with the cyclicalrhythms of the Earth herself as a powerful counterbalance to the falseconstructs of busyness and get-it-doneness made by Men Capitalismand consumerism have erected false notions of the rhythms we shouldadhere to We are corralled from one hopping holiday or sale season tothe next

While many people use birthdays as their marker for a new year Ivealways used the early Fall Fall is both a beginning and ending for meA time for simultaneously harvesting the learnings of the Spring andSummer before it while fervently preparing for the rest and gestationof the Winter to come Once upon a time I resisted this rhythmicpattern noticing with chagrin that come Fall I would invariably takethings apart reorganize them and put them back together againSometimes in my reconfigurations things would get thrown awaySometimes everything would go

The people in my life cant always quite make sense of this internally-driven process from the outside and through the years have mistakenlyviewed it as my being restless inconsistent breaking down or workingthrough some kind of crisis

The reality is Im not any of those things and I am all of them Im justMeeting Change

So while I make a reasonable effort to accord with or renegotiateexternal commitments and the demands of relational life there aretimes when like the seasons I must honor this internal rhythm whetherit makes sense to or works for others or not Once you can hear it tonot honor the resonant call for meeting change is to not honor lifeitself

Change Whose Time Has Come

Sometime in August in the midst of preparing for our biggest event ofthe year a clear knowing about what our work needed in order to moveto the next level came to me Holding some sweet sadness for what Iknew had to happen I invited the community Id been living with insome form or other for the past five yearsmdashto leave I wasnt kickingpeople out nor had I made a decision that I didnt want to live within acommunity of transformative practice any longer What I had come torealize was that as a living experimentmdasha petri dish for learning howbest to support people working for justice in their own deep inner lifechangemdashour time had come to an end

So on 9909 a date representing completion we gathered to bringto completion our time together in that form As requested eachperson planned a transition from this phase or season of life to thenext I had only one request for their plan that the step they takewould be one that would bring them closer to their own life purposeThat they waste no time in a limbo space but regard their lifeforce asprecious enough to not waste a single moment ambling near their pathchoosing instead to step out fully onto it in whatever form that mighttake They were also asked to state what they would need if anythingto support this significant endeavor

Organizationally speaking this transition was invited at a time when weare like many non-profits picking ourselves up out of the dust and

live into their full potential Difficult Acts of Leadership | 4 min Obamas Nobel Prize A Significant Act of

Leadership | 244 min

in TIMEAll NEW

NEW Center Practice HallSchedule amp Introducing Jo KataPracticeJo Kata is the practice of

extending and maintaining a field of energy beyondones own body It utilizes 31 different moves with astaff (never a stick) called a Jo Jo Kata was developedby Saito Sensei a senior student of Morohei Ueshibawho was the founder of aikido See you soon at theCenter to connect with community and get yourpractice on

NEW 27 Days of Change Practice Period For the first time ever we are offering our winterPractice Period as an exclusively virtual experienceDesigned for activists allies amp agents of social changePractice Periods are 27 days of daily inner practice inthe midst of our urban lives The 6-point 360 degreepersonal change program helps you examine yourrelationship to yourself your community and the worldREAL change amp justice begins with YOU Register today

New Center Practice Hall Schedule 27 Days of Change Practice Period | Virtual

in the CENTERA Changing transformIts not exactly transform thatschanging A couple of the folksbehind the newsletter are leavingtheir posts to go on to otherprojects--creating a grand

opportunity for those interested in adding their voice totransformative social change

Read more

inner PRACTICEGood Grief The RelationshipBetween Transformation ampGriefCo-authors and well-knownexperts on death and dyingElisabeth Kubler-Ross and David

Kessler define grief as our internal response to lossLast month in our INcite feature article Founder Revangel Kyodo williams an expert on deep changeoutlined the 6 Ways to Know Transformation



are like many non-profits picking ourselves up out of the dust anddebris of the past years economic crisis which is obviously far fromover Many would argue the move as less than wellsane But Idargue that one of the most subtle Arts of Change is recognizing whenits time to transition to step forward into the awkwardness of theunknown and to meet change head on To have continued on with folksthat I had a felt sense belonged somewhere else would have been toopt for convenience over integrity thus dishonoring this workmdashas KhalilGibran named my love made visible in the worldmdashat its core Weeach know intuitively that Love sometimes calls for a valiant honor thatmay set our preferences and conveniences aside In work towards realabiding justice and change that will last our work and how we hold itmust be the same

As a result of meeting change on that day and bringing forth intentionfrom as long as 10 years ago

On October 31 half of the residential communitymdashalsomeaning half of our staffmdashtransitioned out Gracefullyand sometimes not so each person stepping firmly on thepath of fulfilling their purpose in life

On November 1 we transitioned in a new ED therebyreleasing me from the confines of organizationalstructures while enabling all of what Ive been able tocontribute thus far to live on until it is no longer useful

On December 1 I will officially begin my first sabbaticalafter having logged 25 years of work 20 of them with aneye towards social change

In January a new phase in the life of what has becomethe Center for Transformative Change will begin with thewind of legacy at its back and the raw power of newenergy carrying it forward

In June CXC will collaboratively launch what we believewill be one of the most powerful toolkits to help shiftthe culture of social justice towards one ofTransformative Social Change

To hold these transitions off because things were far from rosy and wewould be heavily challenged and sorely inconvenienced is to miss thevery point of the practice of meeting change We must come towelcome the awkwardness and inconvenience of change because that isprecisely where our learning edges live So even as we here at CXCnegotiate the sticky places (and yes there are LOTS of them) we knowthis is the right thing to doand it is the right time

Entering the DoorwaysOne of the practices of our New Dharma spiritual tradition is to bringour palms together and bow upon entering and leaving doorways Thehands form what is called gassho in Japanese a bringing together of allthings into One It is the universally familiar gesture of namasteprayer respect welcome Out of this Oneness arises the bow agesture that in the West might be thought of as a lowering butpracticed well in its quiet humility is actually a raising up For us itmarks the transitionmdashfrom outside to inside from busy day to quietsitting from scattered head to One Mind from get it done to let itbemdashwith an imperceptibly small ceremony that gives us permission to

outlined the 6 Ways to Know Transformation Read more

outer ACTIONLessons on Burying the Bones In the absence of ritual the soulruns out of its real nourishmentMalidoma Someacute

Ive always thought of ritual asbeing a response to something larger than ourselvessomething that fills us to the point where words are notenough I should clarify here I mean big ritual ritualsaround death love birth honor Big ritual lets us getover ourselves and land in the present

Read more Burying the Bones Symbolic Ritual

social CHANGEAfghanistan For Radical Inneror Social Change the Answersare the SameWhether its for individualtransformation thetransformation of two countries

at war or for transformation of the the world theanswers are the same If we want radical changewhether its the end of the US occupation ofAfghanistan or inner transformation as individualsheres a few things well need on the way - BreakdownVulnerability Grief and Gratitude Self-Determinationand Leadership We can see more specifically how theseoperate in the relationship between the US governmentand Afghanistan beginning with Malalai Joya known asthe Bravest woman in Afghanistan

Read more Malalai Joya Historic Speech - Vulnerability and

Leadership

in the MINDSitting with GriefWhen we think of grief ourminds eye usually conjures upimages of deep sorrow anddeath For many of us thesubject of death and dying elicits

a rather strong emotional response And as a culturewe tend to shy away from subjects that elicit strongemotional responses particularly ones that leave usfeeling vulnerable

Read more

the best workshop ive ever taken radically changedmy workfearless Meditation is our 3-part signature series that



bemdashwith an imperceptibly small ceremony that gives us permission torelease what came before so that we might step fully into what is new

Transitions are the doorways to change Choosing to engage transitionand enter each doorway as consciously as possible but with awillingness to not know whats on the other end is makes that changeintentional

Life IS change And if youve been around for five good minutes youknow that Change Happens So your only real choice is to either let lifehappen to you or for you to choose to live it

One way to do that is to become practiced at happily humbly andheartily Meeting Change

mdash

With love and deep gratitude for all the unnamed stalwartpractitioners of the Inner life phase of the New Dharma MeditationCenter amp Community that evolved into the Outer life Phase with thesefolks as staff of Center for Urban Peace chandrashekara thuy tranKaren Muktayani Villanueva Premadasi Luna Amada Simhanandi EvanStubblefield Zochi Alonzo Young seeing it through its transition tothe Center for Transformative Change It is only for each of you thatwe can now step into the Social (Change) life phase of CXC to see ourwork for justice and deep change through Good journey yall--aKw

angel Kyodo williams isfounder of urbanPEACE and its Center for Transformative Change Asocial visionary and leading voice for transformative social change sheis the author of Being Black Zen and the Art of Living WithFearlessness and Grace

Blog new Dharma live love amp lead from the heartFacebook Fan angel hereTwitter Follow angel for tweets of wisdom on ChangeWeb wwwangelkyodowilliamscom

angel Kyodo williams next public talkThurs | Nov 19 | 720pm CXC - Center for Transformative Change

newDharma TalkA Real Human BeingMotivated by two letters Alice Walker wrote toBarack Obama before and after he becamePresident this talk addresses real leadership andwith it real Humanness

Excerpt Where is it that this inspiring sense of leadership and hope--where does it actually come from Is this another spin-doctor that hasfigured out how to say the right words to get us all excited so that wecan get behind someone as they carry out an unjust war Or are wehearing as they call in Indigenous cultures particularly [among] AlaskaNative tribes a real human being Are we hearing from and respondingto the words of a real human being that can only speak these kinds of

fearless Meditation is our 3-part signature series thatteaches practical meditation in a social justice contextis offered for no charge for agents of social change

fearless Meditation I December 4 | 7pm amp every 1stFriday

in the BODYGratitude to ServeEvery day is a good day to givethanks And since Novemberbrings Thanksgiving lets takethe opportunity to offer gratitudefor what IS in our lives as well as

for the changes we are working towards Read more Heart amp Breathing Exercise The Power of Acceptance

and Gratitude

wellness amp being wellWhole Care Not Health CareIn our culture health care issomething if we can afford towe pay a pretty penny to receiveHealth care is about hospitalsdrugs what the insurance

company will cover or wont cover Health care ispharmaceutical drugs to treat symptom after symptomand being rushed through a visit to the doctor becausehe has other patients to get to I think you get the idea

Read more

november wallpaper

leave-ingWith 125 species and literally thousands of cultivarsthe Acer genus of trees and shrubs more commonlyknown as Maple enjoy a shared status of high regardin many places in the world Often sporting brightlycolored leaves for Fall they are a signifier of thetransition of seasons worldwide Native to fourcontinents and cultivated on all they are a centralfeature of leaf-watching traditions everywhere

Download this image as wallpaper with or withoutcalendar for your desktop

Download with calendar Download without calendar



to the words of a real human being that can only speak these kinds ofwords and have our ears hear them when they speak from the insideThat these words are not to be found merely on a piece of paper by aspeechwriter these words come to us because they come from us Thatwe can hear these words because we have the kind of ears that canreceive them because these words are speaking to something that hasalways been in us and has been begging to come to the surface

Listen to A Real Human Being

activists allies amp agents of change

Northeast by Southwest Ways to Change the World from Home

Evon Peter is the Executive Director of theIndigenous Leadership Institute Chief ExecutiveOfficer of Gwanzhii LLC and former Chief of theNeetsaii Gwichin tribe from northeastern Alaska Hehas served as the Co-Chair of the Gwichin CouncilInternational and on the Executive Board of theAlaska Inter-Tribal Council Evon is a well-recognized advocate of Indigenous Peoples rights

youth and a balanced world active as a speaker strategist writerand organizer[image Bethanie Hines]

In April of this year Evon left Flagstaff Arizona to return home toAlaska Hes gone back to a place that feeds his spirit in a way thatnowhere else can His family is there his grandmother uncles auntscousins and communityall of the people who nurtured and supportedhis path toward leadership Alaska is also where Evon at seventeendeeply realized the importance of self-transformation and its extendedconnection to community transformation It was a realization thatopened up a path of leadership for him and gave him a chance toconfront personal imbalances so they could be handled in a good waymdashsomething that any good leader should address in taking up hisherrole

Read more Learn more about Indigenous Leadership Institute

resources for changehellipLeave it all behind It almost sounds like a vacation getaway And itcould be but a vacation from self from the things we try and holdonto be they ideas beliefs or practices or just thinking that doesntserve us Wanna get away Try these on to reconnect to your path andrealign with what matters

Un-Thanksgiving on Alcatraz IslandIndigenous Occupation of Alcatraz IslandBuy Evon Peters DVD - Homeland Four Portraits of Native ActionMalidoma Someacutes Elemental Rituals

quote of the month

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Share your transformative storyhow are you changing the WAY change is done

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Forwardsend this issue via email to a friend now

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registertransformativechangeorg

Center for Transformative Change is the firstnational center entirely dedicated to bridging the innerand outer lives of social change agents activists andallies to support a more effective more sustainablesocial justice movement

Donate to the Center to support our workVisit the Centers website

Center for Transformative Change2584 MLK Jr WayBerkeley CA 94704 middot USA+15105493733

Google the Center



ldquoThere is something in every one of you that waits and listens for thesound of the genuine in yourself It is the only true guide you willever have And if you cannot hear it you will all of your life spendyour days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls rdquomdashHoward Thurman Civil Rights Activist Howard Thurman PapersProject

Center for Transformative Change is a project of urbanPEACE a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization whose mission to inform incite and empowera broad-based presence-centered transformative social change movement

Having trouble reading this email Go to httptransformativechangeorgdocsnltransform-200911html



universe

I have come to appreciate this internal alignment with the cyclicalrhythms of the Earth herself as a powerful counterbalance to the falseconstructs of busyness and get-it-doneness made by Men Capitalismand consumerism have erected false notions of the rhythms we shouldadhere to We are corralled from one hopping holiday or sale season tothe next

While many people use birthdays as their marker for a new year Ivealways used the early Fall Fall is both a beginning and ending for meA time for simultaneously harvesting the learnings of the Spring andSummer before it while fervently preparing for the rest and gestationof the Winter to come Once upon a time I resisted this rhythmicpattern noticing with chagrin that come Fall I would invariably takethings apart reorganize them and put them back together againSometimes in my reconfigurations things would get thrown awaySometimes everything would go

The people in my life cant always quite make sense of this internally-driven process from the outside and through the years have mistakenlyviewed it as my being restless inconsistent breaking down or workingthrough some kind of crisis

The reality is Im not any of those things and I am all of them Im justMeeting Change

So while I make a reasonable effort to accord with or renegotiateexternal commitments and the demands of relational life there aretimes when like the seasons I must honor this internal rhythm whetherit makes sense to or works for others or not Once you can hear it tonot honor the resonant call for meeting change is to not honor lifeitself

Change Whose Time Has Come

Sometime in August in the midst of preparing for our biggest event ofthe year a clear knowing about what our work needed in order to moveto the next level came to me Holding some sweet sadness for what Iknew had to happen I invited the community Id been living with insome form or other for the past five yearsmdashto leave I wasnt kickingpeople out nor had I made a decision that I didnt want to live within acommunity of transformative practice any longer What I had come torealize was that as a living experimentmdasha petri dish for learning howbest to support people working for justice in their own deep inner lifechangemdashour time had come to an end

So on 9909 a date representing completion we gathered to bringto completion our time together in that form As requested eachperson planned a transition from this phase or season of life to thenext I had only one request for their plan that the step they takewould be one that would bring them closer to their own life purposeThat they waste no time in a limbo space but regard their lifeforce asprecious enough to not waste a single moment ambling near their pathchoosing instead to step out fully onto it in whatever form that mighttake They were also asked to state what they would need if anythingto support this significant endeavor

Organizationally speaking this transition was invited at a time when weare like many non-profits picking ourselves up out of the dust and

live into their full potential Difficult Acts of Leadership | 4 min Obamas Nobel Prize A Significant Act of

Leadership | 244 min

in TIMEAll NEW

NEW Center Practice HallSchedule amp Introducing Jo KataPracticeJo Kata is the practice of

extending and maintaining a field of energy beyondones own body It utilizes 31 different moves with astaff (never a stick) called a Jo Jo Kata was developedby Saito Sensei a senior student of Morohei Ueshibawho was the founder of aikido See you soon at theCenter to connect with community and get yourpractice on

NEW 27 Days of Change Practice Period For the first time ever we are offering our winterPractice Period as an exclusively virtual experienceDesigned for activists allies amp agents of social changePractice Periods are 27 days of daily inner practice inthe midst of our urban lives The 6-point 360 degreepersonal change program helps you examine yourrelationship to yourself your community and the worldREAL change amp justice begins with YOU Register today

New Center Practice Hall Schedule 27 Days of Change Practice Period | Virtual

in the CENTERA Changing transformIts not exactly transform thatschanging A couple of the folksbehind the newsletter are leavingtheir posts to go on to otherprojects--creating a grand

opportunity for those interested in adding their voice totransformative social change

Read more

inner PRACTICEGood Grief The RelationshipBetween Transformation ampGriefCo-authors and well-knownexperts on death and dyingElisabeth Kubler-Ross and David

Kessler define grief as our internal response to lossLast month in our INcite feature article Founder Revangel Kyodo williams an expert on deep changeoutlined the 6 Ways to Know Transformation



















Leadership



Read more








mdash











and Gratitude



Read more

november wallpaper
















quote of the month












Google the Center
























Leadership



Read more








mdash











and Gratitude



Read more

november wallpaper
















quote of the month












Google the Center












mdash











and Gratitude



Read more

november wallpaper
















quote of the month












Google the Center


















quote of the month












Google the Center






transform-200911

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