Tag: Unsplash


My Freckled Egg

Photo by blackieshoot on Unsplash

Going to the supermarket is one of the highlights of my week here in rural Corfu. I love the novelty of a foreign country, local produce, cultural foibles, different brands and branding, packaging in a foreign language and this week, especially experiencing the Greek version of Christmas. Spoiler alert – it includes chocolate Santas, Christmas stockings, bauble and tinsel that looks the same in Ireland i.e. made in China and a little disconcertingly, though not surprisingly considering the history between Corfu and Italy – Panetonne. I went to all 3 of the supermarkets in Sidari – the luxury of a day off from working commitments. Twice I nearly bought eggs and twice got a flash of the local veggie shop with their basket of eggs on the counter; eggs I have assumed are the result of a co-operative local endeavour supporting hens to live free laying eggs in rustic idyll.  I may be completely wrong but the romantic notions won out.

Giant Christmas poinsettias jostled for space in the Veggie shop foyer with sacks of potatoes and onions. Dates and figs appear more prominent and token trappings of Christmas dot their sparkle around the store. It is chill and dim as seems to befit veggies. The eggs are there on the counter – I find a little cardboard egg container and unconsciously pick out 3; then I notice my 4th, tucked away at the bottom of the bowl, a freckled wink captures my attention. A snapshot of a second illuminated and slowed in my memory.

I pile everything up in a cardboard box, it is shallow but well packed it all manages to fit though the light bundles of mountain tea, slide around the top. The shop assistant tells me to be careful, she will close the door for me. I bristle. The door slams, another car pulls up, everything feels precarious and I am now thinking how to open the boot of the car with my arms full. A shout of warning and a bundle of mountain tea flimsies to the ground. I get to the car, rest the box but it tilts, the cucumbers topple out followed by a gay abandon of strawberries and that egg, that one speckled egg, lovingly and carefully selected, delicately plucked from the cosy bottom of the bowl, that egg on its way to a baking dish or a frying pan. Did I curtail it’s purpose with my carelessness, did I push it over the edge or did it defy it’s inevitable demise leaping to a concrete death?

That clumsiness is not new. Carrying too much, overloading myself, stuffing in just one more thing; whether that be into a bag or into time, it is familiar. It is something I do. I have dropped things, broken zips, snapped fastenings, missed flights. For the most part I live with it, it is dysfunctional and awareness helps me curb the worst of it. I certainly wasn’t expecting an ‘oeuf’ to be the straw to break the camel’s back.

It broke me breaking that egg, the cucumber and the strawberries were easily dusted off and put aside for consumption but that egg. It chose me and I chose it. It was supposed to be a breakfast egg, fried or scrambled, eaten with avocado, freshly squeezed orange juice and LaVazza coffee. I didn’t know what to do about it, the yolk wide eyed me shocked and knowing the finality of this moment. I got into the car reversed to get into position and then drove forward to finish the job, I missed, I reversed and tried again, and again. I failed and I left. The broken egg bothered me for the rest of the day, this tiny little fragment of life splintering my consciousness, festered until it became obvious that I had to write an obituary, this obituary and I needed a photo. A race against time as the light drained from the ombre of the violet sky. The shop was open, there were evening customers and cars parked outside. The scene of my crime was lit by a lone street light standing guard. Where I had failed someone else had succeeded. My freckled egg was no longer egg shaped or hermetically whole in any way, shattered shell, faded and pale against the concrete, a yolk-yellow stain a modernist attempt to deconstruct life distorted by the light, fuzzy and unworthy of posting. The strangest, weirdest end to a day and an unexpected eulogy to an egg.

Paradigm Shifting, Paradigm Twisting, Discombobulating Times.

Uncertainty is bumfuzzling, it brings up fear, it shakes the cage of our knowing and shows it to be an illusion. Goals and dreams that we have been so confident about shimmer and dissolve like a mirage and instead we find ourselves coddiwompling through life, to a destination disappeared.

And there is immense liberation. Things are not how we think they are. ‘How it is’ shatters and its shards and fragments are flung into infinity. I am just a dust mote floating in limitlessness horrified at being blown to smithereens and then through a clink just wide enough I glimpse the wonder. The wonder of what else is possible, the elasticity and power of our connectedness, the mobilisation of ideas, the leveraging of technology. Brain freezing, heart expanding times. Truly exciting times.

Leaning into the exhilaration of expansion is what is calling me now. I itch to be in that sandbox. My best contribution is creative service. I am offering 5 free no strings attached, discovery sessions* to explore an idea waiting to be born.

*45-50 mins available until 31 March.

#crossingfrontiers #theimaginationtechnologist #openforbusiness #letsgetcreative #liberation

Photo of the day on Unsplash.com Subtle Cinematics

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.

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

Be The Orchestrator Of REAL Change In Your World

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash
Orchestrated change fails not because of lack of passion, determination or intelligence but because of our individual and collective orientation to the past, to what we already know and believe to be true. It fails because of our inherent efficiency as humans to base our responses and actions on embedded sense making patterns.
 
Purposeful change succeeds when we respond from our connectedness to ALL THAT IS possible and from our ability to dynamically evolve our sense making from the future that is emerging in the moment.
 
To change from a reality that we do not want to one that we do requires us individually and collectively to disengage from our embedded patterns of understanding and sense making, to sit in the space of ALL THAT IS and cultivate a quality of inner spaciousness to listen to the whisper of the emergent future.
 
After 30+ years in the transformation business – systems, structures and people I have distilled my knowledge into a model that guarantees REAL change, change that nourishes the individual, fosters flourishing relationships, promotes thriving communities and is the foundation for business in service to sustainability, re-invention and regeneration.
 
It is a model that serves the agenda of connectedness and heart centred creation:
 
* Based on our human capacity for developmental learning and our capacity to imagine.
 
* requires no special training or upskilling
 
* makes for an effortless shift from reactionary to creative responses in all areas of life the more it is used and applied
 
* can be applied at the individual, group and collective level.
 
* provides immediate insights and results can be apparent in as little as a couple of hours.
 
The model is based on my study and experience of structural dynamics, hermetic philosophy, alchemy, intuition and business transformation methodologies e.g. Agile, Lean sigma, Theory U, Systems Thinking.
 
There are no intellectual property or trademark restrictions and although there is no training required as such to use the model it’s efficacy and the integrity of results are inextricably linked to the interior quality of the Teacher, Leader, Coach or Facilitator – their level of self-awareness, self-responsibility, self-mastery and their agenda of intention.
The quality of change – or not – is a direct reflection of the quality of s/he who orchestrates that change. Whether the reality that is created is the desired outcome or not it becomes the starting point for the next iteration of creation and the teacher for the student who wants to learn.
The key themes of the model are:
1. Inner Sense
2. Structural Integrity
3. Creative Tension
4. Devotional Action
5. Learning & Adjusting
6. Leveraging Momentum
 
Are you a change-maker with a business, product or project that you dearly want to succeed? If you have read this far and you are interested in how to orchestrate successful change I am available for a no obligation consultation on line.
 
Email me on [email protected]

We Are All Alchemists


unsplash-logoKelly Sikkema

Black is just how humans perceive the absence of any significant peaks in the spectrum of reflected light.

The alchemist knows that where there is lead, where there are challenges, there is blackness, there is also gold.

We are all of us alchemists. We activate our ability to release the spirit of the lead when we know that everything in life happens for us not to us. When we turn the eye inwards, when we observe our lives from the perspective of spirit we reveal the spectrum of golden light that is hidden to the human eye. Light that opens up new pathways for us to follow.

To Be Awake Or Not To Be Awake


unsplash-logoElla Jardim

To be awake means that the dream is over – to re-member the dream of unconsciousness that brings a life of tensions, anguish, feeling unfulfilled and running after illusions is to be asleep again.