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October 2009 Newsletter


Greetings!

Greetings to all as we move into the last months of the calendar year. This seems to be a time to recognize ways in which we are being called to get out of our own way so that we can offer our best to the world.

In this eFlash, we are offering a variety of reflections on this "getting out of our own way." For example, we begin with a few retrospective comments about the past ten years of offering PL seminars in Crestone, CO. Following this, we highlight the relationship between the PL practice of "engaging emotions" and the perspectives of positive psychology. We do this with the intention to remind us all to reflect upon our emotional habits and ways in which we can step beyond them into much freer more spontaneous experiences.

AND, it will be no surprise to note that there are some surprises: a new PL publication is underway, intriguing programs have been offered by facilitators and the PL book has travelled to unexpected places.

Take care all,


10th Anniversary at Crestone

2010 will mark the 10th anniversary of Personal Leadership (PL) seminars being offered in our inspirational home, Crestone, Colorado. There are many ways to describe this ten-year span; two words that first come to mind are COMMITMENT and TRUST. In 2001, Sheila, Barbara, and Gordon made a commitment to go to Crestone to offer the very first PL Foundations seminar...even if, EVEN IF, no one else chose to come. The least this did was allow we three to make airplane reservations and to know that we would not have to cancel our tickets! More to the point, however, it expressed our commitment to come together in community around the practice of Personal Leadership, and to believe that others would be drawn to doing so too. To our delight, we were joined by six others, they too intrepid adventurers. In 2002, we were once again joined by six people and slowly over the years that followed the numbers coming to Crestone each March began to grow. For the last two years, we have been at full capacity for the combined Foundations and Training of Facilitators (ToF) seminars. The ToF will mark its seventh year.

And what of the trust part of the journey? Well for Sheila it began in 2000 when she had nothing but her clear deep knowing that she was to buy the house and seminar room in Crestone, and several handy credit cards! Trust also played a part in our first year, in that belief that there was something about the practice of PL that would draw others to join us in Crestone. And, as the years have gone by, trust has become a pivotal component of the PL marketing strategy. At times, our proposals to offer PL workshops have been turned down and at others we have declined invitations; in all cases there has been a sense that this ‘work’ has a mind and heart of its own, larger than our more limited view. We have come to know that we must trust the twists and turns. Now, looking backward, we see that PL has shown up in often surprising and always appropriate places.

So, once again in 2010, we will gather in March, in Crestone, for the unfolding of Personal Leadership in its next emerging iteration. We offer the now traditional Foundations and Training of Facilitator seminars, although in a new configuration, and this year also an Integrated Advanced seminar for those who have been practicing PL for at least two years. There are combination packages for those who would like to maximize their learning by coming to more than one event.

Please join us if you can! We look forward to learning together, and to the celebration and acknowledgement of ten quite amazing years.

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A New Personal Leadership Publication in it's Formative Stage

A large group of Personal Leadership facilitators, 10 and counting, are at work on a book examining the diverse contexts where they are using PL. Applications in the realms of education, organization and human development are extremely varied and promise to spark recognition that Personal Leadership can bring forth new energy wherever we practice. Look for this exciting new publication in 2010. Contact Adair Nagata for more details.

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Facilitator Highlight: Riikka Salonen

My journey with Personal Leadership started at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication in 1999 when I first arrived in the U.S. to intern at the Intercultural Communication Institute (ICI). I kept reading the articles Barbara, Gordon, and Sheila wrote about PL and, while working at the ICI for the next seven years, followed the development of the PL principles and practices very closely.

In March 2007, I joined the Training of Facilitators program in Crestone having just made the decision to serve as a Intercultural Specialist on the ocean-going university, The Scholar Ship (TSS). Several members of the freshly hired TSS staff, Alfred Flores, Vanessa Harris, and Sarah Woodside, attended this TOF program with a very specific goal in mind; to create a sustainable PL program for TSS staff and students.

Barbara and Gordon joined the ship in Piraeus, Greece to facilitate several sessions with TSS staff prior to our 8 months at sea. Sarah, Vanessa, and I designed and later implemented a 5-session PL seminar for the students on board. I have used PL and Critical Moment Dialogue (CMD) with the Intercultural Development Inventory when doing intercultural coaching. They are perfect tools for developing self-awareness. Currently, I am working for the Oregon Health & Science University hospital and integrating PL into a 4-week workshop series, "Managing Across Cultures", designed for managers and supervisors. I am also hoping to introduce PL to our OHSU Healthcare Cultural Advocacy Team.

Personal Leadership practice is integrated into my daily decision-making. When I am in intra-personal or interpersonal conflicts, trying to figure out what is the best way to proceed, I pull out my CMD questions. Typically, I answer the questions in my mind, but more serious situations require a pen-and-paper approach. Meditation has always been hard for me, but I have recently started to cultivate my stillness with yoga practice. Creating a powerful vision statement and trying to constantly align myself with my vision has improved my life quality and overall happiness substantially. In the future, I want to explore PL in the context of cross-cultural healthcare and multicultural team work.

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What On Earth Are They Up to Now?

With our quarterly edition of "what on earth" our PLSeminars facilitators "are up to now" we feature five individuals in very different and very similar places! From their own words (respectively):

Adair Linn Nagata, Tokyo, Japan

In September 2009, I did a 2 1/2-hour Personal Leadership for Skillful Communication workshop for the women's development program at a global company in Tokyo. The participants were 26 women in their 20s and 30s who are being developed to take leadership roles in the company. This is the third year of the program there and the first time Personal Leadership has been included.

The workshop started with the women generating specific examples of leadership presence they had encountered in their colleagues. It then moved to identifying a quality they would like to embody in their own presence. Small groups discussed 'use of self' as an instrument of communication, how they are using themselves now and what they aspire to in the future. Following this, the significance of 'inner state' was presented as a foundation for how their whole self communicates. Personal Leadership was offered as an approach that can enable them to make skillful and creative communication choices in their work and personal lives so that they are effective and gain respect. The short session ended by emphasizing the importance of self care for cultivating an inner state and presence that will contribute to their career success.

The customization of Personal Leadership to this audience seemed to have caught their interest. Comments about a specially written case study titled Presenting Confidently elicited comments like "This is me!" Most of these young women are not oriented to thinking about communication except in terms of linguistic challenges, and they clearly noticed the difference in approach. One person observed afterwards, "Everything is based on inner state, but it's so hard to change that." Now that they have been introduced to the practice of Personal Leadership, they have a new resource.



Rita Wuebbeler, Nova Scotia, Canada

After marrying a Canadian, having two wedding celebrations in two countries – one in Canada and one in the US - going on a honeymoon to Turkey and moving all my earthly belongings in a U-Haul truck 1,700 miles from Georgia to Nova Scotia, I finally landed in my new PL-ayground in Halifax, NS at the beginning of September.

Much is to be explored: how to survive 15 plus snow storms in one winter, how to eat lobster on a regular basis and not become a snob and... how to introduce the people of Nova Scotia to Personal Leadership!

One avenue might be the world famous ALIA Institute - Authentic Leadership in Action (formerly Shambhala Institute) located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It brings together some of the world’s best thinkers on personal leadership (with a small ‘p’) every June during its annual Shambhala Summer Institute and does some incredible work throughout the rest of the year. Last week Wendy Palmer conducted a workshop on Conscious Embodiment in Halifax (website).



Tina Johnson, Lynchburg, Virginia, USA

In the fall ’09 semester, I facilitated two one-hour Personal Leadership workshops during a special weekend conference for student leaders on [Randolph College] campus; thirty-two students attended. Additionally, I have continued to work with Randolph College’s education department to incorporate Personal Leadership and the Critical Moment Dialogue reflection process into a course for education students engaged in a required teaching practicum within local schools. In the next month, I will conduct interviews of students abroad in spring ’09 who engaged in a one-credit course designed around the principles and practices of PL; the data will comprise the bulk of my master’s thesis.



Jan O'Brien, Houston, Texas, USA

Repatriation: A Shift from Resistance to Relief!

Recently I facilitated a training program for a family (spouse and two teenagers) who were experiencing a challenging and unexpected repatriation to the US. The employee was unable to attend due to a change in his employment situation; he was still living overseas and commuting back to the US every couple of months.

 

The family’s repatriation was a necessary move for financial reasons. They found themselves coping with a significant change in living standard and dealing with living conditions that they had never experienced, even before relocating overseas. The children were struggling to “fit in” at school and they and their mother were faced with the challenge of adapting to an “unwelcoming” community whilst being separated from a loved one.

 

Having heard part of their story before the program, I reflected on what might help the participants cope with their situation in a more inspired way. The materials provided by the training company were very helpful and we covered a lot of ground, however, I sensed that this was an opportunity to go deeper, to work on shifting from trauma and resistance to understanding and inspiration, or at least to help provide some “relief” and empowerment.

 

As we worked through the repatriation process, from time to time I asked the participants to describe their emotions and their corresponding physical sensations. We had some wonderful discussions and a deeper awareness was beginning to manifest. After “checking in” with my own deeper knowing, I decided that it was appropriate to facilitate a variation of the PL Resistance/Inspiration exercise. The form this took is approximately as follows:

Step 1 (Materials - 1 large sheet of drawing paper per person, divided into 2 columns: Resistance/Challenge & Inspiration/Appreciation)

Step 2 (Materials/environment – make-shift flip chart paper, dark hallway, light-filled leaded glass window)

Step 3

It suffices to say that the participants’ shift to Inspiration (and Relief!) was significant. They loved the exercise and found it insightful and fun. The energy shift was very apparent and enhanced even more when I taught them to do the “duck walk” later in the day!

From my own perspective as a PL practitioner and facilitator, this exercise emerged step by step, by going with the flow of coaching the participants and sensing intuitively the energy that we were creating together.

Claudia Zysk, Seattle, Washington, USA

Claudia Zysk recently delivered a two hour PL workshop for International Senior Fellows of the Melton Foundation in Seattle. The session was co-designed by Claudia and Megumi Sugihara and focused on developing intercultural competence. The session was well received and, once again, such a session was a fertile learning ground because of some of the questions that were raised. These included for example: "Why do you say 'right action' isn't this biased?" "Does this work with 'mean' people?" and "Isn't it too selfish to focus on what's right for ourselves, don't we need to compromise?"

 

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Book Sightings


IRAQ...

Books were given to a group of 16 Iraqi students who were in the U.S. for a month for a program sponsored through the State Department. The program was entitled Iraqi Young Leaders Program for Undergraduate Students. The focus of the training was Leadership and Social Advocacy. The program was broken into 4 weeks or themes: Personal Leadership, Civic Engagement & Government Involvement, Global Responsibility, and “Where do we go from here?” The book wasn’t used specifically in the curriculum, but the program sponsors felt it was a great resource for these young people to take back to Iraq with them. The program sponsor was the Office of International Programs, Department of International Education, Colorado State University.

US DEPARTMENT of AGRICULTURE...

One hundred copies of the PL book accompanied a half-day day session by Sheila Ramsey on “Do You Hear What I Hear” De-fusing Emotionally Challenging Situations. This session was part of a three-day conference for hearing officers of the National Appeals Board in the US Department of Agriculture. In the session, PL wore a different costume than the usual attire. Can you recognize Personal Leadership within this acronym used in the session?

PARC

P: PAUSE
take a break, breathe deeply, stretch, take a walk;
give yourself physical, mental and emotional space

A: ALLOW
acknowledge all your judgments, emotions and
physical sensations; “no expression, no suppression”

R & R: REFLECT
de-code your judgments, emotions and physical sensations;
what information are they offering you? REMEMBER your
guiding values and why you do what you do

C & C: CHOOSE
your right action appropriate to the situation and your values;
as you do so, you are being CREATIVE"

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Personal Leadership and Positive Psychology

Know that joy is rarer, more difficult and more beautiful than sadness. Once you make this all-important discovery, you must embrace joy as a moral obligation. - Andre Gide (Positive Psychology, pg.37)

Anyone who has taken a PL foundations seminar has heard about the work of Dr. Barbara Fredrickson and her research into positive psychology. Her focus forms one of the major theoretical foundations that supports the PL principles and practices all designed to lead us into living and working at our “highest and best.” It is critical for PL to rest in such well-documented research because our focus on optimal states has been criticized by some as being too happy-go –lucky, too unrealistic and, certainly, too Western.

Thus, PL practitioners will be glad to know that this important work can now be accessed in one place with Fredrickson’s 2009 publication of Positivity: Groundbreaking Research Reveals How to Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions, Overcome Negativity, and Thrive (Crown Publishers, New York). She begins the volume with two core truths that are repeatedly supported by research: 1) “Positivity opens us... positive emotions open our hearts and minds making us more receptive and creative” and 2) “Positivity transforms us for the better... by opening our hearts and minds, positive emotions allow us to discover and build new skills, new ties, new knowledge and new ways of being.” (pg 23-24)

She suggests that we need to go beyond labeling positive emotion as just ‘happy’ and ‘good’ but become more discerning. To this end, she introduces us to ten forms of positivity: joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, awe and love. Fredrickson focuses on these ten because in her research they seem to color our day-to-day lives more than others. She suggests that these “fleeting states are remarkably fragile and somehow they add up to a power to change the very course of our lives.” (pg 40)

This book is a highly recommended, easy to read volume which contains plenty of examples, research and details to support the PL perspective. More specifically, let’s look at some of the connections between positive psychology, as Fredrickson presents it, and PL.

First, sounding like she has taken a PL foundation course, she says that we need to pay more attention to the levers that turn such emotions on rather than to the labels themselves. She spends a good part of her book suggesting ways that we can do just that. This is indeed a study that lies at the heart of the PL practices. Emphasizing that one major lever is how we think, (how we interpret ideas and events as they unfold) she devotes one chapter to how to decrease negativity and one chapter to how to increase positivity. In the chapter on negativity she highlights an idea shared with PL: become more mindful and defuse negative stories. Suggestions for increasing positivity include: savor goodness, count your blessings, apply your strengths, connect with nature and dream about your future.

While PL of course supports such strategies, we suggest an additional pathway. As we notice our judgments, emotions and sensations and take them into a space of stillness and inquiry, we are able to uncover our deepest layers of truth, understanding and knowing about right action. This experience of discovery with the resultant “ah ha” that enlightens our inquiry, culminates in a shift into a more positive state whether it be awe, inspiration, joy or all three at the same time.

Secondly, when in PL we are exploring a commitment to “highest and best”, we are careful to say that the negative emotions, we call them contracting emotions, are certainly important parts of our human experience. They have use and are great teachers. Fredrickson also says that “to experience 100% positivity defies and denies the humanness of life…it would mean that you have buried your head in the sand and it would drive others away from you.” (pg 32) One of her more important contributions is the negative to positive ratio that seems to make the difference between whether people languish or flourish. And what is that magic ratio? For every heart wrenching negative emotion, it is important to experience three heartfelt positive uplifting experiences... so it is a positivity ratio of 3 to 1.

Thirdly, as she describes the effects of positive emotions, we can easily hear echoes of the rasion d’ętre of our PL work. Such effects include: 1) whether or not we can see the big picture depends on our emotional state for in both neutrality and negativity there are no “dots to connect;” 2) from enhanced positivity comes more ideas, more possibility of taking action and increased ability to envision the future and win-win solutions; and 3) positive emotions are correlated with the ability to break out of old entrenched habits and let our interactions be different than they were before. All of this supports the connection in PL between applying the six practices and the grounding principle of creativity.

Let us close with one last connection. She stresses that our emotions are contagious; they contribute to the environment that we create for others in our proximity. When we feel positive emotions and then act from them, the mirror neurons in other’s brains pick up our actions. A chemical mimicking occurs in their physical systems in addition to any conscious behavioral mimicking.

Her conclusions support ours: our state of being matters, we are all connected and perhaps, as Gide suggests, joy is a moral obligation after all.

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A Special View of the Practice of "Engaging Emotions"

To offer an example of one who offers a living example of Fredrickson’s research, and the principles of Personal Leadership, consider His Holiness, the Fourteen Dalai Lama of Tibet. The following is selectively excerpted from a blog article by Pico Iyer titled "The Doctor is Within" (NYTimes.com, July 2009. For the full article, click here.):

“Not long ago, I was traveling with the Dalai Lama across Japan and another journalist came into our bullet-train compartment for an interview. "Your Holiness," he said, "you have seen so much sorrow and loss in your life. Your people have been killed and your country has been occupied. You have had to worry about the welfare of Tibet every day since you were four years old. How can you always remain so happy and smiling?"

"My profession," said the Dalai Lama instantly, as if he hardly had to think about it. His answer could mean many things, but one of the better things it meant to me was that that kind of happiness is within the reach of almost anyone. We can work on it as we work on our backhands, our souffle or our muscles in the gym. True happiness, in that sense, doesn't mean trying to acquire things, so much as letting go of things (our illusions and attachments). It's only the clouds of short-sightedness or ignorance, the teachers from the Dalai Lama's tradition suggest, that prevent us from seeing that our essential nature, whether we're Buddhist or not, is blue.”

Iyer also suggests that : “We can't change the world except insofar as we change the way we look at the world and, in fact, any one of us can make that change, in any direction, at any moment. The point of life, in the view of the Dalai Lama, is happiness, and that lies within our grasp, our untapped potential, with every breath. The first words the Dalai Lama said when he came into exile, I learned not long ago, were "Now we are free." He had just lost his homeland, his seeming destiny, contact with the people he had been chosen to rule; he had been forced to undergo a harrowing flight for 14 days across the highest mountains in the world. But his first instinct was the result of training and teaching, no doubt, as much as of temperament, was to look at what he could do better. Now.

He could bring democratic and modern reforms to the Tibetan people that he might not so easily have done in old Tibet. He and his compatriots could learn from Western science and other religions, and give something back to them...The very condition that most of us would see as loss, severance and confinement, he saw as possibility.”

To read the full article by Iyer, click here.

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