Category: Crossing Frontiers


Exhale The Old, Inhale The New

Maiella National Park, Abruzzo, Italy

2020 has been an extraordinary year. A collective shakeup, things are topsy turvey and I am not sure anymore what is good or bad – I am heartened by the words of Hamlet ‘there is nothing that is good or bad only thinking makes it so’

I am not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions – of that process of taking account of achievements, successes, failures & lapses to gird my loins against the fray and strap myself into the yoke of ‘must do better next time’.

My life is too short for that. I want to enfold all of who I am, what I am experiencing, what I have created and who I am becoming into the embrace of a life fully lived so…

As the year comes to a close
Darkness sighs submission
The sun gently stretches the days
And brightens the horizon

The playful zephyr of the future
Gently coaxes the past from my grasp
And it floats feather light and free
Into memory and remembrance

A winking luminosity of creations, lessons, learnings
A pocketful of preciousness
Without which there would be missing colours
On the tapestry of my life

I exhale
A long slow breath of reverence and honouring
A surrender
A release, a letting go and a letting be

I inhale
The fresh, earthy fragrance of new beginnings
A blank canvas
Ready for the paintbrush of my soul

Poem by: A K Scott

Our Home Is On Fire

‘Markets that deal in human futures are inherently pernicious’ Shoshana Zuboff – very interesting and considered observations on a new type of capitalism emerging as our experience becomes a commodity.

I, for one feel threatened by this scrutiny of my experience but Shoshana’s message is that it isn’t personal and we don’t have to be powerless when we understand that we are in ‘a moment of discontinuity’. Rather than thinking ‘our house is on fire’ understand that the very essence of who we are has now been commoditised and turned into data, data used to predict behaviour and shepherd our experience. We can be afraid because we do not know how to deal with this or be present to the bigger landscape turning our attention to deeper questions of awareness, responsibility and our collective vision for the future.

Let’s not be tinkering with the deck chairs on the Titanic rather consider a new paradigm of the future together.

I was prompted to write this post after listening to Shoshana’s webinar on Surveillance Capitalism as part of the Presencing Institute’s webinar series on Dialogues on Transforming Society & Self, (DoTS). Her book is available on Amazon.

My peer group On A Mission will be hosting a Pura Vida, a Creative Summit in Costa Rica in September 2020 to consider exactly that; new possibilities and paradigms to foster collaborative synergy based on consciousness, evolution & celebration. Watch this space for more information or email [email protected] if you want to know more.

And It Is A Happy New Year From Me

I am exhausted, an existential exhaustion. It hits me every year, this last two weeks of December is like walking through treacle. I sleep and I sleep and when I am not sleeping I am feeling sleepy.
 
The bright lights of Christmas cheer wane and fade leaving a charcoal smudge on my memory making way for a cacophony of completing, resolving, resetting, rebooting. There is an I in me that rebels, resists, defies the collective ceremony of the end of the year. Every cell in my body cries out to hibernate, to sleep, to dissolve, to disappear – a gravitational force that has the power to suck me off this merry go round of life. It is a familiar shadow particularly amplified at this time of year. Aha old friend. We can rub up companionably on the sidelines, observers & watchers of celebratory shenigans, out of the glare of effusive joy and optimism – by ourselves but not alone.
 
And then as the watery winter sun rises on a new year, on a new decade that shadow will fade; slowly at first but fade it always does and my energy will return; in fits and starts but splutter into life it will.
 
So as I energetically ebb into this New Year’s Eve I share the Rumi quote that lifts my heavy heart like feather weight across the Julian rubicon of endings and beginnings. May it lift yours too if lifting is required.

True Collaboration Calls For Carbon Offsetting

Photo by Cristina Cerda on Unsplash

I experience an increasing tension about the impact of my convenient lifestyle. Over 25 years I became accustomed to the fast pace of growth driven business at the heart of the disposable consumerism of big city London.

In the past 3 years I have come to question the primary drivers of business that gobble up our time, our joy, our spirit and our planet. I let go of living in London and of sacrificing my wellbeing and talents to a vision that didn’t belong to me.

I have found living directly connected to the elements of nature e.g. by the sea or in the mountains grounds me in a different rhythm, I think about light switches, own a bag for life and a reusable coffee cup, I choose zero air miles vegetables over world traveller imposters, cringe at plastic packaging, have nightmares about water bottles and the decimation of our oceans, walk more, spend less and sleep better.

I choose to live in the creative orientation, beyond the normal constraints of survival e.g. 9-5 job, regular income, a fixed abode. It is a wild ride at the extremes of existence that few people purposefully choose to do. I actually and metaphorically choose to voyage in unknown domains.

I choose to tread lightly on this earth; the call to be a hermit is seductive. I am passionate to leverage the genius of our collective creativity but I cant be bothered with kudos, conferences or the whitewash of feel-good collectives. I embrace the achievements of science, technology and innovation but don’t know where to begin to use them to transmute and transfigure life on earth.

I believe that we are better together, contributing the best of who we are to receive the fullness of who we can be. I believe that every human being has the potential to be part of the global synergy.

From the bottom of my heart I believe true collaboration is simple and it is the biggest challenge we are being invited to face at this time.

There is maverick community of early adopters out there, those with their toes in the water. I am called to join them and thanks to technology I can find and connect to them on line but is no avoiding the truth that the substance of collaboration is love and love calls for intimacy and vulnerability, for physical as well as ideological closeness, for kinship, sharing, eye to eye connection and the ability to be with and hang out in the messy entanglement of humanness.

I would happily stay at home – as I said earlier the call to be a hermit is seductive – especially when flying and many forms travel have such a polluting impact on our environment. Fortunately I have a friend who has a mate who has founded a company that helps those of us who caught in the carbon/climate predicament https://www.clevel.co.uk/flight-carbon-calculator/

An Oldie But A Goodie

#TheImaginationTechnologist #BeTheChangeInBusiness #CrossingFrontiers

Conversations On Change


I love taking photographs and using them on my posts and website but it isn’t my primary focus so unsplash is a treasure chest for me. There is always a photo to capture the essence of what I would love to share.

If you don’t know who unsplash (obscure name) are you found out here – Unsplash is a community where anyone can share high-resolution photos for anyone to use freely; open source for photographyI have been using this site for over 2 years and unlike most sites I subscribe too I receive very few emails and the ones I do receive are gentle reminders of this cornucopia of creativity that I might like to visit. Crediting isn’t required but is appreciated – and why not.

With a focus on connecting & sharing rather than competition & profit it is impacting the industry, Mikael Cho, founder, writes ‘We didn’t start Unsplash to reinvent an industry. We started Unsplash because we thought it might be useful.’

And it is useful – not just for me who wants to use photographs but also for photographers who want to get their work out there BUT there are cautionary notes. Unsplash has grown rapidly – there are mixed feelings from photographers, despite downloads work is often not credited (it can be easy to forget). Zero financial exchange may feel like a new way of doing business but it brings up mixed feelings on both sides; receiving something for free isn’t always reciprocal receiving. As an occasional user I dont mind being an anonymous ‘client’ receiving occasional email but as a contributor with 50K downloads anonymous or soliciting emails don’t cut the mustard (see online stories from disgruntled photographers).

The razors edge for unsplash has to be the line between the kindness, consideration & reciprocity of community and insatiable growth for growth’s sake which is part of the old paradigm of business. I don’t know how unsplash intends to evolve but evolve it will; the challenge is to direct that evolution always tweaking and adjusting.

I congratulate people & companies that are changing the way WE do business, not by changing the way THEY do business but by choosing to create from the source of a passion or a dream.

I work with entrepreneurs and change-makers to master and direct evolution. Feel free to contact me if you want to have a no obligation conversation about your business and how to stay on track and true to your original intention & vision.

Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash

#TheImaginationTechnologist #CrossingFrontiers #BeTheChangeInBusiness #BusinessReimagined

An Invitation: Halcyon Days In Corfu

Halcyon Days is a restorative retreat in Corfu from 26th June – 1st July 2019. 

The invitation is to enjoy 5 relaxing and stimulating days on the stunning island of Corfu to sink into who you really are and what matters to you. This will be a magical restorative time in a simple unspoilt part of the island. The gift of time and the ease of relaxation in the rugged beauty of Corfu will restore you to that which is forgotten but is inherent within you. It is all within us, rich layers of gifts, talents, resources and ideas. Much of this is lost or dismissed as we fulfil the busy demands of modern life. Our focus narrows and we forget how to expand again. Daily creative sessions will connect you to your inner wisdom and light the path to your future. A wonderful time of revival to remember and learn to prioritise what is truly important to you.

Our venue is in a delightful, simple boutique bed & breakfast offering heartfelt hospitality. We will have private use of this Durrell-style villa in the unspoilt mountain village of Magoulades in north western Corfu with easy access to beautiful beaches and the sapphire sea.

Myself and my co-facilitator, Thea Allison, share a passion for the freedom and wonder that follow when we ally self-responsibility and awareness with the liberation of imagination to expand our life choices.

The price of £695 covers 5 nights of twin-share B&B accommodation, all facilitation and our welcome meal on the evening of 26th June. Single room options are available on request.

If this invitation resonates for you please do get in touch.  We would love you to join us in June or, if you really can’t make these dates, later on in the Summer as we plan dates in August and October.

Feel free to spread the word if you know of anyone who would love to ‘receive the richness of life ‘

Click here for more details Halcyon Days.

Dissolution

We are story
Ilusion
Water colour
Rememberings
Kept alive
In the framing of my mind
Invisibly etched
On someplace
I call my heart

I clutch
A painted reality
of yesterday
Making it mean tomorrow
Projecting holograms
Of you
And you
And you
On to the mirror of the future.

Blind to see
There is nothing
There
I am nothing
And you
An emptiness
Of ephemeral meanderings
In the echo chamber of
Some consciousness somewhere.

The me that is I
And the you that is you
Captured by human magic
Pressed memories
On to the ether that is the internet
Or a photo on my phone
While the we that is us
Dissolves and disappears
And we are dissolving still.

The drip dropping of these words came as I was reminded of a friend of mine who passed away almost a year ago in May 2018. The partner of a dear friend; we didnt know each other well or for very long and perhaps there was only one photo of the two of us. A selfie on my visit in 2017 – two distorted moon like faces grinning into the camera as I prepared to depart from Middle Earth. And now……all I am left with is the mystery of it all and the dissolving.

Photo by Lieselot. Dalle on Unsplash

 

Easter Rising*


Perhaps it is the emergence of Spring, the coming of Easter, perhaps it is all of us, or just my desire for new life and emergence but my radar is picking up a farrago of metaphors about the cycle of life and death.

And just in case I dont notice it in this bucolic muddy, bole of countryside that I am living in then it shows up in my mail box and my twitter feeds.

Courtesy of Sharon Blackie of The Hedge School’s newsletter today:

Now, arriving in magic, flying,
and finally, insane for the light,
you are the butterfly and you are gone.
And so long as you haven’t experienced this: to die and so to grow,
you are only a troubled guest on the dark earth.

From The Holy Longing by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, translated from German by Robert Bly

Photo by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash

*Being Irish – the juxtaposition of the words Easter AND Rising is poignant and particular and has a singular meaning. Also known as the Easter Rebellion, it was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week, April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans to end British rule in Ireland and establish an independent Irish Republic while the United Kingdom was heavily engaged in the First World War. It is has a personal impact too as a great uncle of mine, Walter Scott, was probably the last child to die in this struggle. This is not the topic I wanted to talk about here but it is part of the mythic struggle to reach the light.

Still You Stand

‘If every remnant of success was gone from you — still you stand as the culmination of all that you’ve learned…’ @AbrahamHicks #CrossingFrontiers