Truly Powerful People (435)

Posted on May 18, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

435.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.</e

Last night Horatio and attended fundraising pitch for an independent movie. Horatio is a filmmaker and was invited to attend the pitch so I tagged along. I like stepping into unknown cultures. Both Horatio and I were underdressed in a room of suits and slacks. His shorts and flip-flops accompanied by my jeans and painter’s clogs made us curiosities at the cheese tray. We were not careful with our wine – spilling held no danger to our clothes – and unlike the real investors we exhausted our quota of laughter in the first 3 minutes; we were forced to borrow laughter from the others unused laughter bank. I think we left it fairly empty. We had fun.

The screenwriter/director of the film told us of his background and qualifications. We saw clips from his past projects, actors read portions of the screenplay and then the executive producer made the pitch and gave us some idea of the return on our investment if we bought in and if the film made money. Horatio and I nodded our heads as if we had the $50,000.00 to buy in and were seriously considering it. “Hmmm,” I said. “Yessss,” Horatio wrinkled his brow and nodded; a mixed message. I was tempted to roll my program like a telescope and look through it but refrained. This was a serious artist trying to finance his next project and telescope antics seemed disruptive. Had he been a real estate developer I would not have hesitated. Peering through my program/telescope I would have said, “Those numbers seem awfully small!”

Horatio is a tall drink of water and I am not. I teased that we were like George and Lenny and he said, “If I start picking up mice slap me.” If I slapped high I might catch his shoulder. He held a plate of cheese so I scanned the floor just to be sure. Mice can climb and I was feeling more and more like I was in the movie and not the pitch for one. Anything is possible.

We knew it was time to go when the nice young man, the intern, sauntered over to learn who we were. Horatio had credentials and I opted for mysterious. I can be pleasant and obscure, saying nothing with too many words, though I liked the intern and asked what he dreamed of doing. He said, “When I graduate I am going to Japan to spend two months in a Buddhist temple, then I’m going to spend 3 months in India before I go to Rio.” He told me that, at 18 years of age, he was aware that he saw the world through Western eyes. He wanted to shake things up a bit. “Why wait for graduation?” I asked. He didn’t understand but neither did I at 18. I was tempted to give him my telescope but thought better of it – he’ll be better served by learning to roll his own telescope. Anything is possible.

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Truly Powerful People (434)

Posted on May 17, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

434.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

“The studio is an extension of the sandbox and the kindergarten playroom. It has a dynamic unlike any office or factory. It’s a room at the service of a dreamer on her way to becoming a master.” Robert Genn

The indomitable Patricia sent this quote to me. I love it. If you get the chance to see what comes out of her studio you will know that the quote describes her perfectly. She is a master though will deny it emphatically (the sign of a true master).

My first nickname for her was The Accomplishment Hog because she accomplished everything and left nothing for the rest of us to achieve. Had I been wiser at the time I would not have demanded to share in the accomplishment pie; I did not know the true meaning of freedom until I lost it beneath a pile of accomplishments. When I finally learned that my identity had nothing to do with the stuff that I’ve done (or not done or will do) I found myself skipping more, whistling, and doing things because I just wanted to do them.

I cannot find an accurate antonym for accomplishment but I suspect it might look something like “learning,” or “play.” Because I complained that she was hoarding the accomplishments Patricia sent me a large cardboard cutout in the shape of a dancing hog; it wore a party hat and had a noisemaker. I added Accomplishment Taunt-ress to my growing list of nicknames for her. The dancing Accomplishment Hog was the centerpiece of my house for months. I giggled every time I passed the Hog and said, “Oh, yeah, watch this!” One day with wrinkled a brow Lora asked, “Can the pig go somewhere else?”

I believe Patricia and I are both attempting to measure our lives, not by what we achieve, but by the depth and breadth of our experiences. She is my ally in a world gone accomplishment crazy. She walks on her mountain and lets the wild look deep into her eyes. She knows the truth behind the totem, the worth of the seed. She helps me remember to see.

When I told her that I loved the quote she responded, “Given that we both have sandboxes, I figured out that we are actually getting younger.” Yes. The key to perpetual youth: find a sandbox and play, play, play your way to mastery.

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Truly Powerful People (433)

Posted on May 16, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

433.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

Today was lonely-odd-object-on-the-beach-and-beyond day. The morning was overcast and cool; the smell of rain was in the air. It was quiet. The tide was out and the Sound was unusually still.

As I walked my usual loop I saw, sitting all alone on a bench, a microwave oven. It’s long grey cord stretched behind it as if the oven had slowly crawled across the street and lifted itself up onto the bench to stare longingly at the sea. Since I recently fired my inner archeologist for excessive storytelling I was left to my own devices to understand how a microwave oven came to be sitting on the bench. I sat down next to the oven hoping to strike up a conversation but it was not in a talkative mood. After a while I felt oddly responsible for its melancholy so I moved on.

A hundred yards later I spied a bunch of balloons, blue and white, sitting at the water’s edge. Clearly the bunch had escaped a wedding or birthday party and had finally come to rest at the exact spot where water meets dry land. I suppose that might have been an accident but it seemed much too intentional (not to mention metaphoric) so I went to have a look. The balloons were clearly exhausted after a long flight; their once tight rubber skin was now wrinkling. The shine of festive blue and white was fading. Life, it seemed, for this tribe, had been about flight – running from a celebration that must have seemed false or like a prison. They flew rather than suffocate. I wondered if they individually or collectively had regrets but it didn’t feel appropriate to interrupt their meditation.

I arrived downtown and while walking from my studio to a meeting I passed the train station and came upon a huge statue of Anubis suspended from a crane. The jackal-headed Egyptian god weighs the hearts of the newly deceased; if your heart is lighter than a feather you may pass go and collect 200 afterlife dollars, if not, you are crocodile lunch. Anubis seemed embarrassed to be swinging from a crane. Exposed. It broke my heart to see such a powerful deity so ungrounded. I wondered what he thought about doing his heart-weighing at the portal of a modern train station. It was clearly the wrong time to ask so I walked away.

On the way back to my studio while crossing the street a man with a crazy red beard ran up to me and sang, “Do Your Life and Do It Out Loud!” A seer? A message? Personal? Random? By the time I recovered myself he had moved on. So many unanswered questions!

Filed under: Metaphor, Seeing, Story, Truly Powerful People | 1 Comment »

Truly Powerful People (432)

Posted on May 15, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

432.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

I walked slowly through downtown today. It was such a gorgeous day that I couldn’t help myself. It is not as easy as it sounds to walk slowly through downtown. I felt as if the world was moving in fast motion or like I was a little kid playing on the freeway; people move fast! Folks in business attire whizzed by, some careening into walls to avoid crushing me. I thought it was a courtesy to slam into a wall rather than mow down a slow walker. Some people slammed on their leather-shoe-brakes and danced behind me looking for a passing opportunity. One lady cussed; she was late for something and I was an impediment.

The community resource guides – nice folks in yellow shirts that ride bikes and ask people if they need help or directions – stopped to ask me if I needed help or perhaps directions. Walking slow in the city signaled that I must be a tourist; locals have things to do and places to be. I said “No thank you,” and they said, “We’re here to help if you need us.”

“Wouldn’t it be a great world,” I thought to myself, “if people extended to their fellow citizens the same courtesy they extend to visitors!” Can you imagine a city whose citizens were dedicated to helping anyone at anytime find their way through life? A society dedicated to helping all members get where they need to go – as personal acts of generosity?

Of this I am certain, members of this imaginary culture would never rush through downtown.

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Truly Powerful People (431)

Posted on May 14, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

431.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune – without the words
And never stops at all.
– Emily Dickinson

When I lived in Santa Maria I used to run early spring mornings between the strawberry fields. They were alive with birdsong. Sometimes I would stop my run, stand still, close my eyes, and listen. The song always quieted my mind and lightened my heart. It brought the life I yearned to create one step closer; all possibilities were within reach within the magic song of the birds.

This lazy afternoon, twenty years after the birds first taught me about incantation, I sit on the balcony with my eyes closed. My world is alive again with birdsong. It’s as if all the nation’s bird choirs have gathered in the field across the street for a hope-song competition and I have been selected as the sole adjudicator. I’m taking my time picking the winning team because I do not want this hope-fest to stop. If my heart were any lighter I might lift off the balcony and join the singing, disgracing adjudicator’s everywhere. It is moments like this that irresponsible decision-makers like myself award the blue ribbon to all the teams. They are glorious, singing their hearts out trying to distinguish themselves and help me with my soul decision.

I wonder if they know that they are magic? I wonder if they know the power of possibility that they stir in the human heart? I wonder if they know that they bring mighty love one step closer? Fingers outstretched and reaching to touch our heart’s desire; with their birdsong magic entire worlds shimmer, take shape, and perch within grasp.

Filed under: Awakening, Love, Metaphor, Truly Powerful People | 6 Comments »

Truly Powerful People (430)

Posted on May 13, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

430.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

Sitting in my assigned seat (7B) I was taken by this phrase: Use bottom cushion for flotation device. I’ve flown several hundred times in the past decade and I’ve seen this phrase on every flight and took little notice. For some reason today it struck me as odd. The airline stenciled it in 3 places on the seat back directly in front of me; that makes 9 stencils for every row! There are only 3 exit signs on the plane. The emergency exit rows have some escape hatch instructions that are also written in the language of toy assembly: pull red handle to position “A,” lift hatch bottom until it detaches from slot “C.” Thrust hatch out and let go. These instructions are given only once. Why the flotation device repetition? Getting out of a sinking plane seems a higher priority than knowing that floating is an option. It’s all very corporate. Legal.

I suppose that’s the point. The phrase is there to satisfy a legal requirement and is reiterated 3 times so the airline will not be liable for my death by drowning. The irony of that possibility made me cackle and my seatmates grew nervous. I pointed to the phrase and lied, “I find this a statement of hope!” and my seatmates looked away. In the age of the underwear bomber, humor is suspect. They worked hard pretending I wasn’t there so I made them stretch beyond their limits pointing to the 3 identical stencils saying, “Three times must be a charm.”

That must be the explanation! If my plane went down in the water (unlikely on my flight from Lincoln to Denver) and I survived the impact (unlikely on a flight from Lincoln to Denver) I doubt that I would be thinking clearly. I have a list of the things I’d probably think – none of which I feel good about writing. I cackled again and my seatmates eyed the flight attendant button so I said, “It actually might take 3 repetitions for me to grab my bottom cushion en route to flotation and eventual water rescue.” Their panic was palpable so I said, “I guess you should be glad I’m not sitting by the door. We’d all drown.”

The image of me popping through an airplane hatch riding like a cowboy atop a seat cushion and bobbing to the surface of a mountain lake was too much. I laughed outright and couldn’t stop myself from saying, “I wonder where they keep the oars?”

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Truly Powerful People (429)

Posted on May 12, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

429.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

I sometimes have to remind myself that everything isn’t a metaphor. The powerful headwinds that slowed our progress but afforded us the opportunity to go slow enough to see and be in our moment (instead of just passing through) might not have been a metaphor. Also, my renewed appreciation for the wind is probably not metaphoric of the unseen forces of my life. No way.

The fish I spied swimming too intently and accidently beached itself on a sandbar and then had to slowly and painfully wriggle it’s way back into water again was clearly not a metaphor for going too fast. My great-aunt Dorothy used to have a sign on her wall that read “the faster I go the behinder I get.” The fish had never read the sign.

The students covered in paint, loving school and their teacher (Melissa-the-inspiration-to-us-all) and their lives, believing anything and everything is possible – that probably wasn’t really a metaphor for the heart of possibilities or perhaps the essence of education. When Kimmie swept up the snow sculptures made from the torn bits of paper that once held the limiting stories of her students – that wasn’t a metaphor. And it really wasn’t a metaphor when she put the bits of paper in a gallon jar so her kids might remember the day they began telling a more loving story.

The sun on my face, the eagle that rode the thermals like a Ferris wheel in what I understood as an act of elation and metaphoric of my moment – was probably not really a metaphor either. But, then again, the world seemed extra alive this week. How else can I explain it?

Filed under: Metaphor, Story, Truly Powerful People | 4 Comments »

Truly Powerful People (428)

Posted on May 11, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

428.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

“Wherever you are is the entry point.” Kabir

John was my seatmate on the flight from Seattle to Minneapolis. He was in school in Hawaii and returning home to see his parents before he stepped off the edge of the world. He wore swimming shorts, an old (very old) tee shirt, and rope sandals. His blonde-blonde hair had not seen a comb in years (a man after my own heart!) and was more comfortable in the world than almost anyone I’ve ever met. Joyce would call him an old soul: he is at home everywhere.

He told me that during the last semester he felt compelled to travel. He said, “I can go to school anytime – it will always be there. But I’m not always going to be so footloose. I want to learn Spanish so I’m going to South America by way of Mexico.” He told me he consulted his advisor – apparently a wise woman because she cheered his choice and told him to go. “There’s plenty of time to settle,” she told him. “Life begins today.” I told him that I thought his advisor was enlightened.

He squinted at me and told me that I was “different.”

“I get that a lot,” I said squinting back at him. “What do you mean by that?”

“Dude!” he laughed, “people in Hawaii are happy. They are choosing to be happy. You’re like that. I mean, look around this plane! Look at all the serious faces! No body’s talking. People going somewhere and never being anywhere. That’s different.”

We raised our paper coffee cups in a toast to good life, travel, and being different.

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Truly Powerful People (427)

Posted on May 10, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

427.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

“Art happens – no hovel is safe from it, no prince may depend upon it, the vastest intelligence cannot bring it about.” James McNeill Whistler
Years ago I attended a summer session of The California Arts Project (TCAP). The foundation thought beneath TCAP was that teacher’s could not teach the arts unless they recognized themselves as artists. The amazing educators driving TCAP understood that all people are artists and very few people recognize it. They existed to help teachers recognize (reclaim) their artist identity, activate it, and build community with all of the other newly re-found artists. The work was extraordinary, the revelations transcendent.

Ed was an angry young man. He looked like he’d rather punch you than talk with you. I loved him! He was a wonderful teacher because he’d been a misunderstood student. He had little tolerance for adults who abused their power over children. He was a champion for children; Ed was destined to be shamed, blunted, betrayed, and forced out of education. His administrator sent him to TCAP with the last-ditch hope that the arts would take the edge off of Ed (oh, silly administrator!).

When he came to TCAP he chose dance as his primary art form because he knew nothing about dance. Ed’s choices were usually rooted in resistance and rebellion and that extended to his personal choices. I imagine his inner monologue went something like this: “So you think you can be an artist! Well why don’t you just try dance, Mr. No-Rhythm-Multiple-Clubfoot!” Over the next two weeks at TCAP Ed went through the stages of death; denial and anger led to acceptance and then burst through to another stage: desire. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that desire burst through Ed. He decided to do a solo performance as his final demonstration. He disappeared for hours at a time to rehearse. He began to smile, his brow un-knit, his usual heavy aura sparkled; Ed had a secret and it tickled him.

Ed danced a lifetime of pain away before our eyes. To Seal’s Kiss From A Rose, he moved through darkness to liberation to celebration to elation. He bloomed. 200 teachers, shocked into silence, bore witness to the enormity of the human spirit and the power of the arts. Ed unwittingly called forth the muses and art happened. Pandora’s box was open and the art was out! Ed’s anger was transformed. He returned to his school with more than an edge: he now knew how to wield his power. There is nothing more potent than a teacher who has released their artist from the box.

Filed under: Art, Awakening, Education, Truly Powerful People | 1 Comment »

Truly Powerful People (426)

Posted on May 9, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

426.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

Lately I’ve been practicing a new form of gratitude. I trace everything I eat or drink back to the plant. So, for instance, the cup of coffee I am enjoying: someone cultivated, cared for and harvested the beans. Someone carried the beans to a market. Someone sold them. They were carried again: lifted, shipped, lifted again, and delivered. The beans were roasted and packaged by someone or many people. The roasted beans were ground. They were brewed for me. Count the people involved in the experience of a single cup of coffee and it will take your breath away. What will further knock your socks off is to not discount the plant. Practice this form of gratitude and everything can be traced back to the plant. We are here by the good graces of the plants. Their health is our health! Now, there is something worth our attention!

For another thrill, take a look at The Biology of Desire; it will pop open your eyes about how truly intimate is our relationship with plants – and how these extraordinary complex life forms change us as much or more than we imagine. We like to think we are in control but, like most forms of control, it is an illusion. We control at our peril. When we participate, everything flourishes.

Martín Prechtel writes that we can only know ourselves fully when we know the origin and story of the seed that feeds us. To know our story we must know the story of our people. To know the story of our people you must know the story of their sustenance. This is not an abstraction. It requires participation. Our identity is told in the story of the plants that feeds us. Without this story, we are untethered, alienated from our community, deluded into thinking we control nature, constantly searching for where we fit and wondering what it all means. If you’re looking, start with a seed.

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