A question about Leadership

Travels are over – at least for a little while – and I'm back enjoying the serenity and peacefulness that is our life by the River. While the weather has been less than springlike; it has been great to be home and to see my friends again. Back to walking on the beach and catching up on the current news.

Canada is in the midst of a federal election right now and it seems for the second time in less than a year our community is going through election fever. An important time to consider how we want our country to be led over the next several (we hope) years. These are challenging times right now and it will take many people with a strong sense of purpose and vision to accept this challenge and lead this country with commitment and heart.

Leadership is an illusive quality in our political mosaic here in Canada. Many people want control and even more want power but how many really want to lead? And, if they do want to lead, where the heck are they taking us? These are questions that are worth asking yourself as you listen to the speeches and the rallying cries of the candidates.

Watching CNN on the weekend, I was inspired by an article that appeared to be written by Author Y (who turns out to be the joint chiefs of staff in the Pentagon.)

John Norris discusses this article in 'Foreign Policy' and quotes the article within the context of funding:

"Courageously, the authors make the case that America continues to rely far too heavily on its military as the primary tool for how it engages the world. Instead of simply pumping more and more dollars into defense, the narrative argues:

'By investing energy, talent, and dollars now in the education and training of young Americans -- the scientists, statesmen, industrialists, farmers, inventors, educators, clergy, artists, service members, and parents, of tomorrow -- we are truly investing in our ability to successfully compete in, and influence, the strategic environment of the future. Our first investment priority, then, is intellectual capital and a sustainable infrastructure of education, health and social services to provide for the continuing development and growth of America's youth. "

That for me is leadership and coming from the Pentagon no less.

The North South Divide

Life has been hectic recently – up to Newcastle, over to Richmond, down to Sheffield then back into London. I enjoy the different landscapes of these parts of England; each has its own unique and lovely energy.

Newcastle is a bit of homeland; my mother, grandmother and great grandmother are all from South Shields (which is the Newcastle area). I enjoy visiting this part of the world even though I often don't understand a word they say. A Geordie accent is something quite amazing to behold; almost like a secret language only knowable to the initiated. I first encountered the Geordie lingo when my grandmother was chatting with a Geordie friend and slipped very easily and quickly into the almost indecipherable language that is from these parts.

Reassuring is how it feels to be in the North of England; familiar, friendly, forthright and honest. These are qualities that have often been attributed to me by my family and not always in a positive and encouraging way. The qualities of northerners can grate on the rest of England and certainly the more subdued Southerners are often quite affronted by their Northern brethren. I, however, enjoy the frankness and the honesty; it sits very well with me.

Today I had a wander around the Kings Road in Chelsea and thoroughly enjoyed this part of London. It isn't an area that I go to frequently but on the advisement of a friend, I thought I would go and partake of the excellent shopping and also enjoy the sunshine and the warmth of the spring day. After my experiences in the north and the work that I enjoyed last week and on the weekend, it was lovely to have an afternoon to meander about and just take in the sights and sounds of London.

My awareness of the North South divide is never more acute than when I have the opportunity to spend some time up north and then immerse myself in London; the homeland of my father, grandfather and great grandfather; a completely different experience of England. London is fast, vibrant, multicultural and anonymous. A person can get seriously lost here and no one would notice. This is also an aspect of me that fits very well in my psyche.

Bringing the divide together is the balance that I seek.
Geographies of England: The North-South Divide, Material and Imagined (Cambridge Studies in Historical Geography)

Rock Your 'Asanas' Yoga

So what else does a person do in South London on a Saturday night but engage in heavy metal yoga. No kidding, rock music, light show and heavy breathing; all part of the 'yoga' experience that my friend and I participated in on Saturday. Followed by a lentil curry and a glass of wine; they do things differently over here.

It was a bit odd for me – to say the least – and yet, I cannot argue with the positive effects that I have felt since doing this 'extreme sport' yoga. I of the 'Nordic Walking' persuasion and occasional yoga aficionado feel incredibly energized and dare I say it, quite changed as a result of this experience.

I had no idea what I was getting into when my very good friend of many years asked me if I'd like to join her in a yoga class on Saturday night. I thought, sure, I love yoga, really miss doing it and hey, what a fun way to hang out and spend time together.

There wasn't a whole lot of information about the night just that it was yoga and then a veggie meal. When I arrived in the yoga room I was somewhat startled to see two dj's and a huge table for spinning discs and a light show being set up. Well, a few minutes later, 35 bodies proceeded to chant, stretch, downward dog and shake our shakti's. Whoa – not what I was expecting at all.

When I shared this experience with my son over our 'Mother's Day' lunch on Sunday (yes, they have a different day than Canada) he burst out laughing and said that it reminded him of an episode of the 'Peep Show' which is shot in South London – 'Rainbow Rhythms.' Later that night he put the episode on the tv for me to watch. What was hilariously funny for me was the degree to which my Saturday night mimicked this episode. It isn't a natural thing to blend yoga – quiet meditative practice – with loud rocking music and a light show.

I am a bit of a purist when it comes to yoga; I like it quiet, meditative, relaxing and to be honest, not that sweaty. If I tell you that 'Shavason' is my favourite position (the corpse pose) it will probably tell you a lot about my level of activity in yoga. So having such a wildly physical yoga experience was, for me, a uniquely South London experience.

Fusing South London and Yoga; the beginning of change indeed.

Back in the UK

The past week has flown by and I'm somewhat bemused as to how I have managed to go this long without doing the blog. Normally, it is something that I sit down and do without a huge amount of pre-thought. It tends to flow from my current experiences and thoughts.

Not so much this past week. Perhaps because it has been a week of huge change; just prior to leaving for the UK I heard from my very dear friend that her uncle had passed away on the Tuesday evening. This was a bit of a shock thought not a huge surprise. Her uncle had been very ill with brain cancer for a number of months. We had given him Reiki in January and the message was clear; 'your life is in your hands.'

This is the reality of life and cancer; ultimately, the decision to live or die rests with the individual. No one can really say or declare that someone is 'terminal' or that they will live. Our souls are our own and it is our decision. This isn't an easy concept to understand because for all the world a friend or family member appear to have the desire to live and in fact, will espouse that point of view openly and with great inner conviction. This indeed was the case for my friend's uncle. He did believe he would live.

So my trip to the UK was overshadowed by his passing and yet, it has given me a lot of fuel for thought and introspection. We really do not know when our passing will be. Our only real option is to our live our life as consciously and with as much love and gratitude as possible.

This feeling of gratitude has been with me throughout the past week. I am grateful to be in the UK with my friends and family. To have this time to be together and to also have the opportunities I have to work and do what I love to do.

I truly am blessed and grateful that I am able to live the life that I am living right now. I understand at a very deep level that this time here is very brief indeed and to appreciate the many gifts that I have received already.

Feeling blessed and trusting I am where I need to be.

New Beginnings

Spring has always been one of my favourite seasons and never more so than after the winter we have had here at the 'Beach.' Winter has been relentless; snow, ice, wind and freezing temperatures have all combined to make this a very challenging place for me to be. I prefer the temperate climate of Vancouver and London.

This past weekend has been an especially significant weekend with a massively huge full moon waking and shaking everything in it's path. That's what a full moon does; it wakes people up by stirring the emotional body and getting things activated. People feel a little crazy and with everything going on in the world, it isn't hard to understand why crazy seems to be the current emotional flavour of the month.

I chose this past weekend to hold a Reiki Level 1 class. My thinking was that with all this powerful energy arriving this weekend, it would be a perfect time to hold a class. To integrate the energy of the moon and the equinox with the assistance of the Reiki energy seemed like a good plan. The word 'Reiki' means 'Universal Life Force Energy' which is essentially the same energy that holds the moon in the sky, keeps the sun where it is meant to be and runs through our energy systems; it is all the same stuff.

Connecting with the energy of Reiki has been a 21 year relationship that never ceases to surprise and amaze me. I met the husband soon after doing Reiki; it was as if our souls could finally see each other and recognize who we were. My interest in 'Soul Mates' was cultivated and deepened through my relationship with Reiki. Curiosity about this thing called 'Soul' and where does one find a 'Mate' that matches your soul?

And here I am again, bemused and aware that once again this powerful force is taking me on yet another journey. I leave again for the UK this Friday and I am holding the vision to teach a Reiki class while I am there. My two worlds of 'corporate' training and 'spiritual' training are coming together, just like me.

I think that the world and I are in for an incredible ride.

Reiki: Hawayo Takata's StoryReiki: Hawayo Takata's Story

The Aftermath of the Earth Shifts

It may be too soon to speak of this being the 'aftermath' but I'm going to risk it for the sake of addressing what I think is an important part of this whole horrible crisis in Japan.  Thousands of people are either dead or missing – thousands more injured; this is the real aftermath; loss, grief and the prospect of a very slow recovery.

It leaves me with the very big question; what can I do to help?  How do I relieve the genuine sense of hopelessness and helplessness that this type of crisis evokes in me?  I don't think it is a coincidence that I have spent most of this weekend at my computer trying to come up with a creative solution to an issue we have faced since we moved back to Canada.  How do we get our youth leadership programme off the ground?

We are in the business of training, development and fundamentally; leadership education.  We have worked with young people and understand some of the issues they face.  Each time we experience a crisis like the one recently in Japan, I feel strongly drawn to do something about this leadership gap that exists in our society today.  We have worked with adults but in my heart I know that it is the kids who need the support.  This level of change has got to be traumatic for them; what hope do they see for themselves as the world appears to be crumbling before their eyes?

I am now pursuing all avenues of marketing to see what I can do to generate the financial support that we need to do this work.  I have gone up many dead ends this weekend and gained some knowledge about many different 'portals' that offer opportunities to raise funds online.  It is all very confusing and it will take time to sort out what will work and what can be left behind.

Spending this time focusing on what I can do, helped me to ease the pain of what I simply couldn't do; I couldn't make the pain of loss and grief that the Japanese people are feeling go away.  What I can do, is focus on my vision and do what I can do to make a difference here and with my friends and my family.

My hunch is that everyone has been deeply touched somehow with the events in Japan.  How we move forward from here is going to be a very individual thing.  For some people it will be a donation, for others, committed action to do more in these devastated areas and for others,  it will be a greater commitment to move forward with courage and determination to provide solutions that will hopefully lead to a deeper level of understanding and compassion for who we are on this very fragile and currently, very volatile, planet.

The shift has only just begun.

The Earth is Shifting

I woke up this morning to the news of a devastating earthquake and Tsunami in Japan that is working its way across the Pacific to Hawaii and then the coast of Canada and the US. For me, this is very close to home. I lived in Vancouver and on the Island for many years and have spent a lot of time in California; these are places that are also home to me. It is difficult to believe that these areas are going to be affected. My heart is in my throat as I think about the people who I know and love and who are currently under threat. I am praying that the effects will be minimal and that my friends and family will be safe.

As a planet, we are only just coming to grips with the disaster in New Zealand, followed by the flooding in Australia and then the earthquakes in Chile – how can we comprehend the enormity of these shifts that the earth is going through? I think in some ways, I'm a bit numb to the possibility of what might happen here. This is very close to home indeed.

We have been given warnings for years that the earth is shifting; shaking off the effects of our abuse and neglect over the many years. As a sentient being, mother earth feels as much pain for our bad behaviour as any mother does when observing the self destructive habits of her children. It hurts and eventually, the hurt comes out as grief and a massive healing process. This is what we are experiencing right now and so many of us are being affected in a truly horrendous way.

As the earth shifts, we are being awakened to our own inner grief and pain. The opportunity is to observe, reflect and to be accountable for our own emotional distress. It is easy to look outside ourselves and say that it isn't about me – it's happening over there – but this is no longer possible or true. We are all responsible and it is time to take a stand and own our part.

The earth shifts aren't going to stop any time soon; in fact they are going to get stronger and louder. This is a wake up call on a major scale and like any mother who wants her children to wake up, she is being a bit of a nag – annoying really – but it must be done.

As the earth shifts; so do we. Are you ready?

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61)