"All change rests on the full, albeit temporary acceptance of the status quo."
Virginia Satir
Virginia Satir
The beginning of every engagement, so I often teach, is intention. Some authors call it source energy. Lately it's all over the news as The Secret. Most often, for me, it starts as a vague sense of a change in direction usually noted in the area of my solar plexus.
But is this really the beginning?
Here is a chicken and egg question: what comes first, our Intention or our Presence?
Intention without Presence seems like a wind with no sail. Presence without Intention seems like a sail without a breeze.
Humberto Maturana, the noted Chilean biologist, postulates that the two things that make humans different from all other biological entities and living systems are the two things that allow us to effect deliberate change in our environment.
- The ability to accept things exactly as they are - radical acceptance/love (what I call Presence - with a capital P).
- The ability to form and hold an Intention for things to be different than they currently are.
As I start this new beginning, I am announcing my Presence - feeling more tentative lower-case p than proudly unfurled upper-case P. Regardless, my full (uncomfortable) awareness of this tentative sense probably shouts loudly PRESENCE. So, I'm guessing that this constitutes a radical acceptance of how it is. Damn!
So I announce my Intention, to share what I'm learning and what I've learned about making a difference. And this is the beginning. Such as it is.
Maybe someone will find this interesting. Maybe it will make a difference. Maybe I'm simply sailing to my next port of call.
Anyway, it's my adventure. Join me?
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