Questing 2015 Day 1 of 12

#Quest2015 launches 12 December days of queries from 12 visionaries for nurturing the roots of 2015. Jen Louden leads us off to explore what’s fun and how #GrittyCompassion can serve to create more of that.

Gritty compassion is a lot like holly with its pointy, prickly leaves.

 

Today (12-2-14, Tuesday) launches a month-long Quest for 2015. It’s 12 visionaries  sharing food for the journey over 12 days in December, a community-building experiment for anyone who finds goal-setting and resolutions untenable approaches to creating a satisfying future. It’s convened by Jeffrey Davis and the team at Tracking Wonder. (More info and to join the quest, go to:  trackingwonder.com/quest-2015.)

Day 1 of 12: #GrittyCompassion

Jennifer Louden is the gentle-hearted luminary who starts us on our Quest 2015 journey with this:
“Grit without compassion is just grind. What would be most fun to create this year? How can self-compassionate grit support you in that creating?” – See more at: http://trackingwonder.com/quest-2015/community/#sthash.nL0A3wRi.dpuf

Here’s what’s coming up for me in response:

Inner explorations and deep dives are where and how I thrive. Splashing around in the chaos is what I do for fun. Guiding people through the GAP, through the chaos, is where I shine. So I am always excited to start a new adventure inward. This collection of inner-sourced wisdom that emerges from this quest IS the heart of the fun and exploring that discovery of inner light through the process itself. (I love process!) As I prepare for 2015, adding this wisdom journey to my Medicine Bag is key to my inner quest and creative juju for 2015.

Notes to self/Instructions for the Journey:

Stick with the things that deeply nourish. Without beating myself up when I don’t.

Know that what nourishes in one season isn’t the right food for a different season. Choose appropriately.

Allow imperfections to play in the pool with inspiration. Love them both. And the pool.

Here’s to just moving forward.  #quest2015

Onward.

 

 

 

Are You Creating a Life that’s a Work of Art?

What happened to August? (And July, for that matter…) Suddenly it’s back-to-school and the Jewish New Year. I love the timing for that and often celebrate it — just because.

In July, I conducted my live sacred circle event for “Creating What Matters Most.” The afternoon’s energetic shifts were palpable, and the follow up call invited everyone to continue on the path they’d started just a short week or so before.

 

Welcome Philip!

 

August was a whirl of change and very much a family focus.  We adopted Philip, a natty fellow who wears a tuxedo all the time. He’s a burly Cocker spaniel adopted from PAWS (Pets Are Worth Saving) in Chicago. We all went to the adoption center, met him and brought him home. This was following on the heels of  a good-bye lunch at the vegetarian Annapurna snack shop in the Indian neighborhood on Devon Ave. Isabel departed the next day for a year in Delhi on her Fulbright and Critical Language Fellowship; Gabriel left on Monday for Los Angeles and his last year in college at USC.

On the third Sunday in August, I co-facilitated a sacred circle for Chicago IONS on Forgiveness with my friend, June Keszeg. Following that was nearly a week away, visiting family in West Virginia and giving Philip his first taste (with us) of country life. He loved it! Walks and foreign scents, rolling in wet grass, scrambling over rocks to the river, chasing tennis balls, and long car rides: he was soooo happy.

We had an intimate birthday celebration early (for me) in West Virginia as the wheel of the year turned into Virgo. We invited a local artist friend, plus Jonn, his mom, Philip and me.  We gathered for a fabulous picnic, tapas-like small dishes of my very favorite things, on the the porch.

Another guest joined us — the goat that got away from the neighbors. With Joan, the artist’s, help, the poor lost soul was collected and led into the fenced area. Then we called the neighbors to come get her as the downpour started. The distress in that voice, the goat separated from her herd, was palpable and echoed through the valley. Baaaaaaaaaaa.

I met a couple of online friends in person, spending a lazy afternoon walking along the river downtown with Shweta Parmar when she came through Chicago. Jonn and I celebrated with Isabel Faith Abbott at her one-year-cancer-free party perched in a River North penthouse party room with stunning views of the skyline.

I practiced my new learning of Healing Touch (energized with Qi)  [with a shout-out to Margaret Leslie and Deb Lipetz Weisenberger, my awesome teachers] on several situations, both for physical issues like pain relief for a dear friend post-surgery, as well as draining away some situational pain, stress and anxiety and filling the space with healing Light.

There’s magic tucked away in every life. If you would love to have a partner committed to helping you bring that magic into focus to become conscious of your life as the work of art that it is, then we should talk. You see, collaboration is the new black and the mantra for our time is, “Do NOT do it alone!”

I continue sharing purposeful messages in collaboration The True Purpose Instituteâ„¢ and am collaborating with Cassandra Washington’s One Degree Shift group on an inspiring new book. (For my section, I’m exploring curiosity as an attitude for Difference-Makers to cultivate. More on that project soon!)

After this spring and summer’s beta-testing of my new upgraded blessing, guiding people to “Go Deep First,” I am now inviting you to explore if now is the time to “Create What Matters Most” at ever-deepening levels. It’s a call to you if you resonate with phrases like courageous evolutionary, intrepid explorer in right livelihood, creator of your highest work, transformational leader, vanguard visionary, sage-hearted change-maker,  or if you have the soul of a difference-maker or are in a transition and at a crossroad between what came before (that’s coming to an end) and what is ready to emerge.  What will be your legacy? If this is up for you, let’s talk!

Reply here or message me, and we can set up a Taste of Deep Listening readiness conversation, to see if now is YOUR time and what you need to move forward.

With love and appreciation,
Bobbye

Solstice Wishes to Open to Your Healing and Flow

Wolf Road Prairie

Celebratory greetings on the longest day in the North!
Happy Solstice to you.

I’ve just learned what a powerful portal day it is for opening to our own healing and flow. Both self-reflection and gathering in a circle magnify those energies. This message invites you to do both!

Today’s series of questions for reflection:

* How is it that listening more acutely to yourself can be so healing?

* What practices do you have in your collection?

* How are you doing with actually using the positive practices that you know?

The Backstory

My whole lifetime living in the default position of, “Go Deep First,” combined with a commitment to bringing forth in each moment my best self and highest expression … Ah, this calling to shape and share a life of wholeness while creating what matters most, THIS is the heart of the sacred journey for making life into a work of art, a process-based art of living into wholeness and co-creation. All this keeps things moving forward and deeper.

Yet while continuing to plumb the depths and live life beyond the frontier’s leading edge, I landed in a quandary, thinking, “It’s incomplete.” My challenge has always felt like, “I can’t begin to share this. It’s not whole yet. I’m not cooked, and there’s more to be revealed!”

The Shift

Then something shifted. I was not exactly ready, but the willingness to experiment had shifted inside. The world’s energies were shifting too, inviting these new transformational depth-soundings out into the public sphere. After a three-week trip to India, I found myself dangling over the void one more time. From this deep sweet center of sacred emergence, (AKA chaos) I knew it was time. (Even if I wasn’t really ready.)

Go Deep First

I used the 7 steps of what I call the “Go Deep First” process on myself, to create this process as “what matters most” right now for me. It’s allowed me to get clear on how I’ve been a catalyst for transformation– even when I wasn’t quite sure what I’d “done” for?…to?… with?... my people and clients to support their transforming. Now I’ve turned this implicit and invisible magic into an explicit, clarified process and a sacred circle mini-retreat.

Create What Matters Most

“Go Deep First to Create What Matters Most” taps into people’s essential wholeness. It is a continuing and iterative process, so that those who really use it, including me, the facilitator, can continually take the work — writing, healing, learning, co-creation, collaboration, insights, art of every kind — deeper, following an ongoing learning journey.

Tap Into Your Deep Why — To Get To Your “What”

It’s an inner workout for strengthening your innards for what it takes to give birth to a new vision, whether it’s a personal healing journey that matters right now, or it’s the content and message for a book, talk, workshop, a whole new body of work, web site. Or maybe you find yourself at a crossroads where making a conscious choice about the next path is crucial. The process works in service to deepening anyone’s journey. It meets you wherever you are on your journey’s path to inspire and infuse confidence in creating what matters most to you. Now.

An Invitation

I am so excited to be facilitating a live sacred circle. It’s for co-creating what matters most to you right now. This afternoon mini retreat is in the Chicago area on Sunday July 20, 2:30-5:30. For full details and to register online: http://bit.ly/1iWJmbL

What you get is an inner-power-tool for creating what matters most. It’s a renewable resource for tapping into the well of gifts that all of us are here to bring forth. Use this process to bring them forth with quality and confidence. How you get there is by going deep first. I have done the process with groups, in one-on-one sessions, and for myself. It is a malleable and flexible tool that people can use on their own, repeatedly, with new insights gleaned each time.

If you’re feeling curious and hopeful, longing to bring forth the gifts you are here to give, then please take a look. It’s a potent first step! Details and to pre-register: http://bit.ly/1iWJmbL

Sending you blessings on your path as you magnify your presence and transform your people —- starting with yourself.

Warm solstice blessings,

Bobbye Middendorf

P.S. Remember to use the positive practices that you already know! And if you sense the camaraderie of a sacred circle can help you amplify your process to get the creation juices flowing, then take a look at the description of what we’ll be doing on July 20.

Here’s the EventBrite link with details and to pre-register. http://bit.ly/1iWJmbL And be sure to mark your calendar for July 20!

P.P.S. If you are feeling called to this journey, and getting to Chicago in July isn’t going to work for you, then shoot me an email. We can schedule a brief conversation to see if doing this visioning journey work one-on-one is a good move for you right now.

 

 

 

Savor the Silence

Lily of the Valley
Listen into the silence of the white bells of the Muguet. Photo by Bobbye Middendorf

Dear One,

Savoring silence and appreciating
the ambient sounds — sounds that
happen around you in your environment
wherever you are — can be a
beautiful practice as you develop
your “inner listening” muscles.

Note to yourself:
*What are you listening to?
*What are you attending to or
paying attention to?
*Are you connecting with your
own still, small voice?

This inspired nugget called
out to be shared. Take it in.
It’s for you to consider.

“The silence is as important
as the noise. What gets left
out is as important as what
gets included.”

–Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
Author, “I’ve Known Rivers“

*What are you leaving out?
*What are you leaving in?
*Are you noting the space
between the notes?
*Can you read what is between
the lines?

Ponder well and deeply, my
sweet friend. If you feel
called, use this quote and
these questions to travel
deeply within. Travel with
your pen and a journal on
the waves of sacred silence.

Let me know what emerges
for you in this exploration.

With blessings from your friend,

 

Bobbye

 

P.S. On July 20, I am offering an
in-person workshop in the Chicago
area. It’s a chance to connect to
your inner gifts and discover what
is in the way of bringing more of
them into the world. Mark your
calendars! More details coming soon.
Email me if you have specific questions.

 

 

 

CrowdSourcing New Narratives for Climate Change

I am calling on the change-makers and vanguard visionaries, those dancing on the edge of beyond. Someone has called for stories around global climate change. We are the ones to deliver.

Greetings, Soul Friends,

This is completely my “take” on a recent call for stories from US Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Here’s how I am taking her call for stories into MY heart:
Climate Change Affects Us All: A story-changing, narrative-shifting opportunity

Senator Warren has called for stories about climate change: Where are we going? What will things look like in 25 years if we choose NOT to tackle climate change directly? She is part of a group of Senators who will stay awake all night on Monday (10 March-11 March) to share stories and change the political narrative around the precious planet on which we live.

There are important things to say, observations, insights, from all levels of our understanding — all the continuum from personal concerns to research to connected spiritual consciousness.

In particular, I wonder, what are the stories she is **less likely to hear? (Yes, the ones that are from people connected in the ways we are…)

I realize that for those of us connected to the deeper story, with ties to Mother Earth, the Divine Feminine, shamanic understandings, the greater Qi field, Nature Intuitive messages, the Akashic Records, those of us holding the field of compassion, care, and consciousness for all life everywhere, planetary and beyond — we are the ones who often consciously choose not to step into the fray of politicized conversations. (I have my theories as to why this is, but that is a matter for another time.)

I am choosing to participate, not that I think what I say will be mainstream enough to appear, but to start to publicly and energetically voice the narratives that, to date, we have been sharing amongst ourselves.

If you feel called to share any of the downloads or insights from the stream of life-connection in which you have been living, please do so.

There is a link to a web form for Sen. Warren. I think that stories from beyond her individual constituents are welcome. (After all, I’m on her list, and I live at the tip of Lake Michigan, in Illinois.)

Below is a copy of the message I received from her.

Many of us are concerned. So share your concern. I suspect that some of us will have a perspective that is unique. This is a place and opportunity for courageous voices to share the words of those whose voices are seldom or never heard…To open doors for shifting the energies from everyday narratives, crucial as they are, to the deeper resonating messages that are coming through, in some cases energetically, from places that many people have not yet learned to go…

Ours are the stories seldom heard, from the depths of sacred emergence.
If you feel called, share the story and insights from your unique perspective and body of work, or give voice to the voices of the future.

With appreciation,
Bobbye

Here’s the link to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s web form.

http://my.elizabethwarren.com/page/s/climatechangequestion?source=20140308em#.UxyHaBZzMts

This is Sen. Warren’s letter calling for stories.

“There are a lot of people in Washington — a lot of lobbyists and a lot of politicians — who are determined to block any new laws that might reduce pollution.

“Year after year, evidence grows about the damage we suffer from carbon pollution, and yet, the science deniers stay locked in place. It’s so bad that we can’t even have a serious conversation about the growing evidence that the earth is in real trouble.

“So I have a question for you.

“If we don’t do anything at all to stop climate change, what do you think the world will look like 25 years from now?

“Monday night, several other senators and I are pulling an all-nighter on the floor of the Senate to talk about the importance of pollution and climate change. We are going to do our best to bring attention to a topic that a lot of people in Washington don’t want to talk about.

“I’ve been assigned a block of time to talk, and I want to spend a chunk of it talking about as many stories as I can from people like you.

“So take the question wherever you want: What do you think the planet is going to look like 25 years from now if we don’t tackle climate change head-on? What small thing will be different? What big thing will change everything?

“Make it personal or make it public. Do some research or talk about what worries you. But however you want to do it, write it up — maybe a paragraph or two? — and send it to me. I want to post some of your answers online and read some of your answers on the floor of the Senate because I want other people to think about this question: If we don’t act, what could happen?

“I think about what we could lose. I think about our natural treasures here in Massachusetts, from the Cape to the Berkshires, from hidden away gems to defining features of our great state. I think about what a more acidic ocean will mean for our fishermen, and whether we can sustain great oceanfront cities if sea levels continue to rise. I think about increasing rates of asthma and toxins that work their way into our food chain. I think about the threats to our economy and to our safety.

“I also think about my three little grandchildren, and what kind of world we will leave to them. Are they going to live in a world where it’s not safe to breathe the air or drink the water because powerful corporations and their lobbyists blocked real change?

“Twenty-five years is not such a long time. In 25 years, what will you be doing? What about your family and friends? And what about our earth?

“I’m hopeful that if we think more about the future — if we really think hard about the path we’re on and the place it leads — then the urgency to change will be stronger and change will be within reach.

“So back to my original question: If we don’t make serious changes, what happens to our world? Take a minute to answer that question now.

“Remember, I’m going to read as many of these stories as I can on the floor of the United States Senate, so please make them good! If you find some good research, add a link. If you want to add a picture, I’ll include as many as I can. And if you want some friends or family to think about this question too, please forward the email and ask them to write. More voices will make us stronger.

“Thank you for being a part of this,

Elizabeth Warren”

Shero: Your Heroine’s Quest

In early 2012, I joined a course at En*Theos with Jennifer Louden called Shero’s Journey. It was a powerful path to walk. This piece of writing emerged from that time.

 

The Shero's Journey and the boots that make it all possible.

A shero journeys across the universe,

her footprints among the stars, opening realms before lunch and back to concoct a dinner for her beloveds.

Fully inhabiting all the corners of her life and befriending all her inner selves, she radiates like the heart of a star, staying grounded in her own power like the Iron Crystal Heart of Mother Earth**.

She rides the waves and nurtures the garden, cultivates the inner wisdom and shares with all on her path the vital energies of co-creation.

She unfurls Divine Love like a magic carpet at the hearth, its glow and warmth are sparks and candle flames freely shared.

Every element, at need, answers her call of pure spirit — the flow of the waters, the spark of Divine Fire, the grounded knowledge of Mother Earth, Gaia, the messages of wisdom from the animal kingdoms, the lessons of interdependence whispered by the plants and played on the wind at the top of the trees.

And grounding it all in Pure Being, growing infinity loops in a garden of grace and reweaving tender and brilliant threads with healing warp and woof on the loom of Divine Expression.

Claiming your Shero on her own heroine’s quest:  Yes, it is true that it will not necessarily look like the Hero’s Journey. That is not for you to concern yourself with. Instead, put on your boots and be willing to walk the walk … that

you are willing to  claim your true power as a Divine Co-Creatrix*.

(*with thanks to Julie Daley at UnabashedlyFemale.com

and **acknowledging Barbara Hand Clow)

 

Love and light dear sisters, whether you are your own heroine or your own shero, and many blessings on your journey, your quest, your path!
~Bobbye

 

Greetings from the Dark of the Year

 

We are called to be the bringers of light, the ones we have
been waiting for, the light bearers, the light workers. Your
light shining in the times of the dark makes a difference.

As the dark of the year descends, throughout delicious December,
know that it is time for dream-renewal on every level. Stretching
into the sacred container of December’s dream time, I invite you
to explore your connections with your own light and amplify
the wattage of the pure light of divine love in connections and
partnership with your sacred siblings.

If you would love some inspiring support, wisdom, and a
circle of light/like-hearted others, if you would love a new
way for you and your business to complete your year with
grace and delight, please say yes to yourself!

See if this sacred bundle of Solstice gifts from 21
wisdom-energy-keepers speaks to your soul, and if so,
please sign up. I am among 21 givers of gifts in this
collection initiated by Success Shaman, Brenda MacIntyre.

I am tickled to be part of this illustrious group.
My contribution and your gift from me:
You might have heard me talk about the Waterfall
of Divine Virtues, on Facebook or in a meeting/attunement/
invocation/collaboration.

If you are intrigued, this is your chance to get
from me some special poems and guided meditations
into the waterfall of the divine.

Specifically the 21 Days of Solstice Gifts…
You can sign up for your gifts — a variety of
wisdom packaged for your delight — over here:
http://wintersolsticegiveaway.com

You will receive messages through Dec 21, and
prior gifts are available for download after you sign
up.

Sending you love and light,

Bobbye
Bobbye Middendorf
Poet and Priestess of Pure Potentiality

Connect to your Inner Divine for Invitations that Shine

What if …

… your message, copy and invitations to play with you (in your work, your services, your  books, events, contributions, transformative gifts, and blessings)  emerge from your sacred center and tap into your divine essence?  What if …  you send into the world your words from your soul clothed in the heart of love?

You know what happens? That message from the heart gives your people a taste of the Presence they receive when they join you in the circle/party/event or engage with you via your book or course or service. And all people — including YOUR people — are starving for that level of connection, of seeing and being seen.

What if you could give people an experience of someone like Panache Desai, and embodied that level of Divine Connection in the words of your invitation? Then think of what can happen when that also comes through in their experience of the event?

What if you experienced yourself and your words as the blessing that they are? Would that not be delicious?

 

 

Vision Clarity

If “Be the change” really resonates with you…

and yet you wonder what that change might look like as we co-create a world that  works for everyone, then you are invited to give your change-maker muscles a workout.

My colleague, founder of the True Purpose Institute, Tim Kelley,  will be sharing his proven vision-clarity process for the first time to a group. It’s all about bringing change-makers and collaborators (like us) into a position to truly “Be the change” we are called to be and create the new paradigms that our society is calling for.  I hope you are able to be my guest on the call. (Or, if you can’t join live, please go ahead and sign up, and you will get the recording.)

It seems especially timely for the state our world is in. We are being called to our highest expression — together!

 

Because, you see, creating a new vision is a radical act ….

of change agents and change makers. It is far easier to complain about the old paradigm than to create a new one. What currently exists has served to bring us to this point, and it must continue to operate until the new paradigm is sufficiently developed to perform all the necessary functions of society. Making current reality wrong hinders transformation. What is needed is a crystal clear, detailed picture of the transformed world you are working to create.

 

One of the leading visionaries in the business of transforming  business is my mentor and colleague, Tim Kelley, founder of The True Purpose Institute.  While vision is a best practice in organization development, it’s not always done well. Vision is also of critical importance to change  agents:

One of the key problems in how we are going about the process of changing the world is the lack of a clear vision of what that changed world will look like. Join us at the September Gathering call when we welcome back Tim Kelley to lead us in discussing this crucial topic.

Tim is an acclaimed speaker and author of True Purpose: 12 Strategies for Discovering the Difference You Are Meant to Make. He has inspired audiences worldwide with his message of hope and empowerment. Tim has helped many leaders clarify their vision, including international corporations like ING and individual leaders in business and government who are working to transform society. He has transformed entire organizations by working with their executive teams to bring passion and inspiration throughout the work force. Tim has never spoken to public groups before about this vision clarity process.  You won’t want to miss it!

Things you will learn:

  • The two different types of visions that are applicable to change agents and change-oriented organizations
  • Specific methods for creating powerful visions
  • Best practices for wording vision statements
  • What to do with vision statements (they usually just sit on a shelf and gather dust)

The things you will learn on this call will be applicable to your work on yourself as a change agent, your work with individual clients, and work you do with teams and organizations.  Even if you already do work professionally with vision statements, we guarantee that you will learn something new on this call!

Here are the details to sign up  to join our call:  http://Tinyurl.com/bjmTPIGathering

 

Just fill in your contact and email address in the fields on the right-hand side of the page. You will receive the call-in details as well as a post-call link to listen again, or if you can’t make the call live.

 

In shared vision for a world that works for everyone,

 

Bobbye
Bobbye Middendorf
Poet of Pure Potentiality
“Shine your light in words.”


P.S. I’ve been an active collaborator with teams that make up The True Purpose Institute for two years. This is a fresh and exciting process that Tim has only used within private client interactions.

P.P.S.  This call series does not have a cost attached, although there is a way to “pay it forward,” if you choose.  If you use the link included in this email, and choose later to purchase a course or training from The True Purpose Institute, I may receive a small thank-you referral  fee.

Creating New Paradigm Businesses

So what’s with this new paradigm versus old paradigm business conversation?

Arguably business is the one institution on the planet with the power to change things for the better. How can you and I help business live up to its highest potential and shift things for the better?

My friend, colleague and mentor, Tim Kelley, is convening a series of video conversations about the changes that will lead us toward positive practices and results that emerge from ‎New Paradigm Business. He invites all of us to play, because each and every voice contributes to the change that’s possible when we all collaborate.

Tim says, “Business is the key to creating a better society for all, but the current paradigm won’t get us there.”

Please join me in this crucial conversation convened by Tim Kelley.

http://bit.ly/1aofF09

It will also include an upcoming series of interviews with New Paradigm Business Leaders. All at no cost.

Everyone is invited to play!

Because this shift is at the heart of our purpose — why so many of us are on the planet right now. Together, we CAN make a bigger difference! Together we will be exploring the old paradigm of business (What isn’t working) as well as the building blocks and initial vision for co-creating this new paradigm of business.

If you are at all curious as to what is possible, if you wonder what it means for your team, your organization and (ultimately) for our shared world, you won’t want to miss this no-cost educational video series. For more details and to sign up to be notified of each new short video, you can explore and sign up at this link:

http://bit.ly/1aofF09

I’m playing full-out to support this shift, and gathering circles of people ready, willing, and able to give birth to various aspects of this new, emerging paradigm. We can only make change happen at this magnitude by partnering and working together.

Won’t you please join me and listen in?! It’s an easy first step if you are curious about what it might look like to do your part in bringing about this new paradigm in business.

 

Wishing you all the courage you need to BE the change you wish to see in the world,
Bobbye