tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50839024918170727152024-03-13T10:57:28.253-07:00I'll just put this here Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-72952721369607207572021-01-02T08:51:00.006-08:002021-01-02T08:51:56.282-08:00Why We Don't Commit: Learning the Art of Under-thinking it <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvCas4a3LVPKN1A6lvn6wxfLduzaj8TGJEgwW8zmPckhJjsKDM94DWqdlZ8TVzF-aTEf4Mo14XnSPhhdBFTnY3h8u1-m0IgqPzB4eSuS2-Vh8iOCptl08-scoNb8eJ9vlKTWDgHYygEpp2/s2048/IMG_6852.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvCas4a3LVPKN1A6lvn6wxfLduzaj8TGJEgwW8zmPckhJjsKDM94DWqdlZ8TVzF-aTEf4Mo14XnSPhhdBFTnY3h8u1-m0IgqPzB4eSuS2-Vh8iOCptl08-scoNb8eJ9vlKTWDgHYygEpp2/s320/IMG_6852.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Any fellow over-thinkers out there? It's January 2 and I am still noodling with my New Year resolutions, or plan or projects. Can't even decide on <i>what it will be. </i><div><i><br /></i></div><div>What I want to do is to launch a new project: which I did yesterday after recognizing what was stopping me was my miraculous and overactive mind. </div><div><br /></div><div>I've set out to take a photo daily of White Rock Lake: a layering of a new series upon series I began in July of 2011. This time I will stand in the same place and I will study a view through the seasons: light, color, textures of the water and the shedding and growth of flora. I found the place to stand last night: a familiar dock: not the same dock as last year, and one I can rely on: the familiar nearby. </div><div><br /></div><div>I worked on how I will stand to make sure the frame is consistent. Can't do this project, I thought: I don't have a tripod. </div><div><br /></div><div>I wondered what will happen if I leave town. Can't do this project: I can't expect to be here 365 days...even in a pandemic. </div><div><br /></div><div>I considered my own boredom and the boredom of others Can't do this project: Won't we all tire of the same view? </div><div><br />And don't I really need an IPhone 12 before I start this project? </div><div><br /></div><div>OR. Even though it was already 5:30 and late enough I just needed to start it. I don't have all the answers but I do know what I am committed to: </div><div><br /></div><div>I am committed to trying. </div><div><br /></div><div>I am committed to being in practice. My two new practices are "Walk" and "Write" daily. This supports both-as there I was and here I am. </div><div><br /></div><div>I am committed to a final result: in an exhibition or a book: a new way of seeing nature change slowly over time. This is mindfulness. </div><div><br /></div><div>And I am committed to hard things. It may be raining. It may be too cold, or too dark. And I won't want to. But it will be this word, this existence for trying that will put me there. </div><div><br /></div><div>I could have made it harder: to be at the dock at a specific time. I decided to meet myself in the middle of intention and effort: the practice is to capture the same view each day. This is enough. Knowing what is enough is graceful, gentle and a way of being inside of a commitment with integrity, challenge and self-care. </div><div><br /></div><div>Perhaps you missed the start of your New Year Intention: still thinking about it, too? Wondering why, how long and for what purpose? Is a pen or computer nearby? </div><div><br /></div><div>Start with this prompt, an excerpt from the poem "The Journey" by Mary Oliver: </div><div><br /></div><div><table style="background-color: white;"><tbody><tr><td><table style="width: 200px;"><tbody><tr><td><span style="font-size: medium;"><b></b></span></td></tr><tr><td>One day you finally knew</td></tr><tr><td>what you had to do, and began...<br /><br />Write those words at the top of our blank page, set a time for five minutes and see what is there to be revealed. </td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> </div><div>Let the over-thinker be still for a moment and see how you can create possibility beyond the practical. How do you want to be in your beginning this year? </div><div><br /></div><div>And Happy New Year!</div>Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-15128230376567754952020-12-01T17:38:00.002-08:002020-12-01T17:38:09.942-08:00 John O'Donohue For the Interim Time<p> John O'Donohue</p><div class="poemreview">
<p><em>For the Interim Time</em></p>
<p>When near the end of day, life has drained <br />Out of light, and it is too soon <br />For the mind of night to have darkened things, <br /><br />No place looks like itself, loss of outline <br />Makes everything look strangely in-between, <br />Unsure of what has been, or what might come. <br /><br />In this wan light, even trees seem groundless. <br />In a while it will be night, but nothing <br />Here seems to believe the relief of darkness. <br /><br />You are in this time of the interim <br />Where everything seems withheld. <br /><br />The path you took to get here has washed out; <br />The way forward is still concealed from you. <br /><br />"The old is not old enough to have died away; <br />The new is still too young to be born." <br /><br />You cannot lay claim to anything; <br />In this place of dusk, <br />Your eyes are blurred; <br />And there is no mirror. <br /><br />Everyone else has lost sight of your heart <br />And you can see nowhere to put your trust; <br />You know you have to make your own way through. <br /><br />As far as you can, hold your confidence. <br />Do not allow confusion to squander <br />This call which is loosening <br />Your roots in false ground, <br />That you might come free <br />From all you have outgrown. <br /><br />What is being transfigured here is your mind, <br />And it is difficult and slow to become new. <br />The more faithfully you can endure here, <br />The more refined your heart will become <br />For your arrival in the new dawn.</p></div>Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-38674318060209864652020-10-18T10:00:00.003-07:002020-10-18T10:00:59.861-07:00Pandemic Side-Effect: Wanderlust <p>Windows: that's what they are, from inside the Pandemic into the outside world. </p><p>The Retailers found me in attractive links inside of our Social Media: clothing lines quickly shifted to easy-living, stay-at-home clothes. Solid colors. Simple-to-choose, alluring. <br /></p><p>The Institutions Found me: Virtual opportunities abounded toward the end of summer: a program at the Met, a series by the Asia Society in Hong Kong I have loved. I signed up over and over again, my schedule filling with webinar on top of webinar. </p><p>The Mindfulness teachers found me: a weekend retreat with Pema? for $150? You bet. And, it was wonderful. </p><p>The little windows are so-as I wrote-alluring, it's easy to live a day (days) virtually, not realizing there is an underpinning world of work and interests I was already committed to: continuing to transition the museum; managing a museum in Covid; managing a museum in the wake of George Floyd's death (and Briana Taylor...and so many more); continuing my already-virtual Mindfulness Teacher Certification Program. </p><p>This week I am remembering the Underpinning: what was already here for me to lead, love and work on for myself and those nearest. </p><p>Supporting a family that recently returned to in-school school. </p><p>Running an Art Museum and launching a project to build a second location. </p><p>Supporting my own practices of faith, mindfulness, pocketsunrise and yoga. </p><p>That Underpinning is something: a body of work that can easily take 24 hours a day. Thich Nhat Hanh wrote "mindfulness is bringing the mind home to the body." and to bring this mind home to this work is this life's work: this life in this moment. </p><p>In a work retreat on Friday I wrote down five priorities. And now, as I schedule my time, each moment of being in wanderlust and allure has a practice of a new, second moment: does this time I am so easily scheduling support my priorities? </p><p>And if so, how directly? </p><p>What is the return on my time? </p><p>And...it might just be joy, and do we ever need more of that. It might just be taking a weekend, with nothing virtually scheduled, to stare at the leaves from the couch. Taking a long walk with a friend. Ordering in dinner. </p><p>I am working to quiet the inner-critic: that by making a conscious, loving choice, I am here in this moment more fully, more intentionally. Wandering on the inside instead. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-78594338426794089512020-10-11T07:16:00.006-07:002020-10-11T07:20:56.637-07:00Silence is Learning to Be with the Noise <p>It's not often I find it: silence. Ours is a small house with teenagers growing larger. They room together so there is a constant channel of roommate dispute: the level of cleanliness, the stolen charger, disagreements on bedtime: the usual human conflict. </p><p>Covid-19 and it's call to shelter shrank our house, and after one careful trip to New Mexico in August, scanning the window of 4-day Fall Break this weekend, we decided it was worth it to drive 20 hours round-trip for 60 hours on the ground. I found a beautiful home in Tesuque on the north side of Santa Fe: a land held by Sunrise <i>and</i> Sunset: my kind of theater. I shopped earlier this week and we brought (most of) what we need in terms of nourishment. And, because it is so special, this place, there is no reason to leave, no where to be, other than right here. </p><p>This is mindfulness: We prepare ourselves for the intention of sitting in a mindful space, making sure we have what I need in terms of comfort and sustenance and learn to sit with ourselves. It's not always like you think it might be: there is no zafu (pillow) always available, a zen-like hall or even a bell. Sometimes we just have to let ourselves sit: wherever we are. </p><p>And there may be noise: the hum of a refrigerator, the background of an ipad game, the rustlings of a family member. Yesterday it was the silliness of three boys on a hiking trail (husband included). Baker (14) has recently taken several fall campouts and he's learned a thing or two about what happens when you spend time around a bunch of teenage boys. Usually on the hiking trail I am the first: blazing, map checking, leading. Yesterday I took fourth position, happily, and left them to their jokes and human noises. </p><p>I sat with the level of silence I had: the distance of being last in the line, hearing the hum of their playful hiking ahead: Edward calling out "Mom?" every ten minutes or so to make sure I was in the nearby. I spent time in meditation most of the hike: breathing, counting, scanning and sensing the stillness. I was very quiet: a nice counterpoint to how I was responding to the difficulty of the hike and the little time we had to acclimatize to the altitude. </p><p>But I found it: the silence that happens when there is noise all around you. I think this might be mindfulness: being with what is: worry, stress, anxiety (a lung-busting hike) and going slowly on your own time to experience what there is to experience--the way you can and are willing to. </p><p>And I am finding it now: watching the sun catch the mountains so slowly I can't really see it. Watching my coffee steam and thinking about how I can help today go by as slowly as the sunrise: pine needle by pine needle. So the next time you're invited to practice mindfulness, or you wish you had a mindful practice, maybe you already do and all that's left to do is just be where you are. </p>Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-48112649511196916762020-06-26T10:58:00.003-07:002020-06-26T10:58:59.125-07:00Recent Poetry 3/25/20-5/08/20 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 8, 2020 </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">I see your eyes in the skies.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Your words in the letter were bursting.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">With promise.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">And knowledge. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Care. For another.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Where do I source this? </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">To move toward the hand. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">To push into looking?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">To ask,</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">How are you (really) today?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">And stay for the answer.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">I work to stay with you.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">I listen, leave and wake up to my leaving.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">I re-arrive to your brilliance. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">And I know that it’s golden</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">To be with Us long enough.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">To see your sky.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">May 1, 2020 </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">In this time of Covid-19</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">My mornings have become so beautiful. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">It's part spring: birdsong symphonies, open doors, </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">The only natural silence of these long days. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">My outer voice at rest. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Inner voice alive and awake, hearing and seeing. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Remembering dreams, ideas and middle of the night thoughts. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Slow. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Not hurried by the hurrying </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">In slippers. Coffee steams at my side. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Like the vapor trails of shallow fog I saw on the lake
yesterday. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Swirling in dance as if to greet the sunrise. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Fewest cars on the road. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">No school to scurry to. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">At least on the outside. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Even the trail walkers stay in. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Not a human in sight. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Other than this one. And you.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">April 28, 2020 </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">On the other side of this </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">There will be a knowing </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">A detail of memory </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">A story we tell</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">To ones who aren’t here</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">On the other side of this you are taller, </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Quieter </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Grateful for the life we have.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">You will know the sweetness of </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Being together. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">On the other side of this I will </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Bring some of this with me.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Silence. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Stillness.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Being in love </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">With the place where I am. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">And not because there is no where else to go,</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Rather a knowing </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">I am here. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">I will bring a braveness </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">To the future,</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">A willingness to say more.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Leaving nothing unsaid. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Even</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">This</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Poem.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">April 13</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">At Home with Baker, 13</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">I watched you lap me. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">This time we have is slow </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Enough for me to see </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">You growing. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">It wasn’t in weeks,</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Or a sudden arrival. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">It was slow motion. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">I see the way you’re growing into</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Yourself. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Taller. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">More confident. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">I watched you lap me. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Just a smidge above 5’10”.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">I saw it happen.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">A lovely rare privilege of </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Being near you.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Soon I will be looking up to you. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">And I already do.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">April 9, 2020</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Home-School</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Lizard in the kitchen. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">In residence.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Scrabble on the Dining room table.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Puzzle, too. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Puppy on the couch. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Community spread.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Daily live-cooking shows.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Just leave that there.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">I’ll clean it up. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Tomato “soup” smeared on the pantry floor. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">From a shoe.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">“You can clean the blender by turning it on with soap and water,
Mom!”</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Fills fully.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Can’t find the chicken bone we gave the dog.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Can’t find a few things. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Like silence.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Bedtime.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">The homework hour.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">And the Air Pods the dog chewed on.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">March 25, 2020 </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">And for a moment I forgot. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">The cascade of color on the lake</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Distracted me. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Or drew me. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Held me, as if to say, </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">I’m here. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">And I remembered. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">A catch in my throat. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">A worry. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">And, my breath drew me,</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Held me, as if to say,</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">I’m here. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">And I remembered. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">But when? And who? And how?</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">Am I safe? </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">And I see you here, </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">You draw me,</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">You hold me. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #050505;">I’m here, too.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div style="text-align: left;">
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Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-78682290309327122692020-05-24T10:45:00.004-07:002020-05-24T12:39:33.699-07:00Silver Linings of the Coronavirus: Finding Health in a Pandemic, Head to Toe <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we arrive to Week Eleven of Sheltering in Place I’ve
learned a few things from truly spending time with myself. My mind-body
connection has never been stronger, and it is teaching me a few things I’ve
learned but until now didn’t know. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two years ago in my Yoga Teaching Certification Program, I
studied the body and its miraculous systems. At the Dallas Yoga Center Shelagh
McElroy taught me about my feet and Carla Weaver taught me about the benefits
of the <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response">Rest
and Digest</a> neural response to situations (the opposite of <i>Fight or Flight</i>).
Through this pandemic as time took over, Fight or Flight became less of an
option for me: no one to fight, no were to fly to. And so, what does happen to
the body when we have an affluence of time and an opportunity for more resting,
more digesting? Let’s take a journey through the body to see just what the silver
linings are of a sheltered life.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Feet</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After ten weeks out of heels, I wonder if I will ever go back.
This sabbatical from dress shoes has been bliss for my 26-bones and 30 ligaments (x 2).
The three arches of the foot (transverse/ medial/ lateral) have been at ease in
a natural way in house shoes, tennis shoes and even plein air. My toe nails,
un-polished are almost grown out from the stress of pedicures and the natural nail
is knowing for the first time in a long time what contact with oxygen is like. My
daily walks at White Rock Lake have been good for my feet in contact with the
earth. I am in every sense of the word, grounded. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Legs </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My walking practice has been good for my legs, too. And my yoga
practice. I am stretching daily and have noticed a toning of my calves and thighs.
We were meant to walk. To be in nature. Our paleo roots teach us this, and in
this pandemic I’ve spent more time outside reminding me of my summers at Brush
Ranch Camps. Daily contact with the planet has been good for me and my legs. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Heart</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br />
</b>Brush Ranch was in the mountains northeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The
altitude and the hiking offered me an unexpected benefit: the heart murmur I
have would disappear after my months at Camp. I like to think this is happening
here, too, with more cardio offered to my heart: more oxygenated blood in a daily
practice from my walks and on-line yoga classes. The physical heart thrives in
a space of having time for exercise. And my spiritual heart is stronger, too:
being with this suffering is teaching me how widely I can love and care. I
follow the heart and the heart gets stronger. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Lungs </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve been breathing more than usual, too. Deep, intentional
breathing every day helps me know I am here. Breathing can also trigger worry
of Covid-19, but I sit with this and the thoughts pass. A practice for breath
is good for me. I have a daily practice of mindfulness that offers me moments
with the breath. Thich Nhat Hanh offers the beautifully simple practice of <i>Breathing
in, Breathing out. </i>I have spent more time with my breath than ever in my life
and each breath is an invitation to fall in love with this moment, this miracle
of each breath. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sight </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am working on a future blog post of the benefits of
watching something grow slowly over time. This pandemic has helped me see
things: the edges of growth in my thirteen-year-old son as by micro-millimeters
he became taller than I am. I watched the bold greening of spring in the trees
arounds us, the unfurling of Queen Anne’s Lace, the mint, the potato vine, the Cosmos
and now the baby sunflowers I am growing from seed. Each moment is a miracle.
Seeing things happen slowly gives me the presence of my moment-to-moment
experience. Mary Oliver in her poem “Wild Geese” writes </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 1.5pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 450px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "-webkit-standard" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Whoever
you are, no matter how lonely,</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "-webkit-standard" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the
world offers itself to your imagination</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, ten weeks into this pandemic, I know it is true. I’ve
seen it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Hearing</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the first two weeks of the pandemic it startled me that
the birds left the neighborhood. Our birdfeeder, a place of frenzy and hype
stood untouched. Perhaps the birds were startled by the shifts in our patterns,
air pollution or how our stillness rippled into their waves. Perhaps it was a
season for mating, appetite for birdseed fell. But it was quieter, too. Maybe
it was colder. Nevertheless, they returned two weeks later, emptied the feeder
and began daily pre-dawn concerts for wakeful, willing listeners. My ears were
tuned and ready and now I throw open the windows, listening for names I don’t know.
This soundscape is the backdrop to my sound meditations. Never before have I
known how it is possible to finely tune one’s ear and one’s heart to the
conversations of nature. The frogs at the lake are singing in the moonlight.
And I am not missing it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<b>The Brain </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you venture out, be careful. Our brains have been called
to other tasks for these past ten weeks and they are out of practice for the
quick-response thinking needed for driving. Our daily decisions have become
fewer and more slowly summoned. I spend about an hour and a half driving daily,
countless decisions made to accelerate, yield, see, respond. At home, it’s
different: certainly the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/coronavirus-zoom-fatigue-is-taxing-the-brain-here-is-why-that-happens/" target="_blank">work to be on a video conference call offers a new kind of strain</a>, but for most people, this affluence of time (what we spent
commuting) is offered to other tasks: and with intention it can be extremely
beneficial. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Also, the brain likes to have patterns and predictability: there is peace in
the rhythms we’ve created at home, if even a relaxing to the blurred lines of home
and office. The mental energy to dress for events, presentations, travel has
all evaporated and in this space the distance between preparing for here and there
has diminished. I moved all of my work clothes to a different closet. My
choices are fewer and even the dog has come to love it when she sees me pull
out the walking shoes. My brain likes it, too. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
And sleep: I’ve had my moments of wakeful worry, but I am now in a space of
knowing we may be at this a while yet. I’ve stopped waking up at 3:45 am and
now, with two long walks a day at the lake, can fall into my pillow easily. For
sleep, I am creating an allowing: an allowing to rest for a few minutes in the afternoon,
to go to sleep earlier if I feel like it. If I can sleep, I try to. The daily
walks have been very helpful to this practice of sleep. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<b>Skin</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And finally, our exosphere: the magical human organ of skin:
alive, permeable, responsive. I am noticing the little things: the appearance
of more hydration (I am drinking more water). The daily connection in my
mindfulness practice to skin, noticing the connection points of skin to air,
breathing out to the outer edges of my skin and back into the body. I am eating
less fried food (more home cooking) and I can see it in my skin. I've stopped wearing makeup. More Vitamin D
has to be helping, too. More oxygen from my walks. More joy, too. In this common
humanity, it feels a little better to be in our skin, not in the tension of
where we were pre-Covid-19. At home, in this waiting place, we’re in the
practice of being with what is, in the skin that we have. I can only imagine
this to be really and truly good for us. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So take it all in – yes, we have new worries and strains on
the mind, body and spirit, but from this lens on week eleven, my body feels more
like mine today than it did in February. And as we lean into this future, this one
we don’t quite imagine yet, I plan to bring this body along with me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Stay well, friends. </span><br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></div>
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Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-47443004644720954982020-05-11T04:26:00.002-07:002020-05-11T04:49:56.440-07:00Zooming Out: 100 Things to Do Between Online Video-Conference Meetings <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Several weeks ago, fresh “in” to this New Normal, in the middle of the day I left a Zoom call and took a hard Einstein-style cat nap on the bed conveniently located just inches from my office desk. I felt guilty, self-conscious and unsure why a deep sleep was so quickly available to me. For a few moments I did the thing I didn’t think I could do: I was unavailable. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">And why is that? This generous act of self-compassion, to care for oneself first is taboo and un-spokenly so: we are the last ones we take care of. Couple that with the effort to meet our teams where they are (Virtual): and I believe we have too many humans on Zoom or TEAMS for too long, without taking breaks, offering ourselves equal time alone in the creative space of debriefing meetings, writing and designing. Remote work does not equal being available in the Virtual Space all the time. That’s a story I told myself. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">We are missing our natural transition times: driving to meetings, walking down the hall to the restroom or kitchen, saying hello to a colleague nearby. The brain is not shifting activity: these respites were not only purposeful but also extremely beneficial to our cognitive health. Asking the brain to down-shift momentarily can increase our productivity and joy in the Home Office. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Last week I took back my schedule and wrote in swaths of time for desk work. I spent a few minutes each day checking on my independent teen and pre-teenager. I stopped taking 8 am meetings and ended the day at 6. I sourced the collective wisdom of my social media communities and here is an offering of one-hundred ways to counter-balance the side effects of Zooming in.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">1. Go to the restroom without apology or haste.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">2. Take five-minutes for a mindful walk outside.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">3. Create your own flow of three yoga poses.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">4. Drink a tall glass of water.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">5. Divide your house into five zones. Clean one zone daily M-F.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">6. Sit in silence for five-minutes, ring a bell or set a timer on your phone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">7. Sit in the car and listen to loud music as if you would to drive to a meeting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">8. Set up 2-3 areas of your house for remote work and offer yourself a new view during the day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">9. Take a power nap, yes this is allowed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">10. Wash a window.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">11. Fold laundry.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">12. Tidy your desk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">13. Powder your nose.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">14. Apply lip gloss.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">15. Calm the dog.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">16. Voice check.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">17. Set an intention for your next virtual meeting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">18. Give your dog a massage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">19. Call a friend or family member you’ve been meaning to check on: make a list at the start of the week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">20. Write a postcard to a young person you know.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">21. Flip and rotate your matress.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">22. Spend time just sitting with Jesus. Be silent. Let his peace be your peace. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">23. Change the laundry from the washer to the dryer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">24. Take the dogs for a walk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">25. Water your plants.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">26. Unload, load the dishwasher.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">27. Create a prayer candle in your common area and light it for those in need. Place a name on a small card near the candle each day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">28. Plant a vegetable garden and take time to water it every day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">29. Sit outside with a frosty glass of tea listening to the birds.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">30. Divide a landscaped bed into sections and take a section at a time to pull weeds or trip hedges.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">31. Spend a few moments to reflect on friends and family, whomever God lays on your heart, write them a real letter. It can be one of thanks, something they did that you are grateful for, memory you treasure from long ago or just that you are thinking of them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">32. Take five deep breaths; with each, breathing in something you want to fill your heart and exhaling what you want to expunge. Example: </span><i style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">breathing in courage, breathing out fear; breathing in trust, breathing out angst. </i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Source: Thich Nhat Hanh)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">33. Make masala chai and serve in fancy cups.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">34. I take the time to refill my coffee with a fresh pour-over, and stand on my patio steps with the sun on my face</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">35. Go sit at the piano and play or write a new song.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">36. Take a moment to stretch and take some deep breaths.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">37. Turn on a personal fan.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">38. Tell your children that you love them and that you are proud of how well they are handling the pandemic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">39. Gather eggs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">40. Check the garden.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">41. Encourage the plants.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">42. Throw sticks for the dog.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">43. Watch the birds.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">44. Sweep a porch or a back deck.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">45. Make a healthy snack. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">46. Brew some herbal tea. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">47. Happily bother a sleeping cat.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">48. Go for a run.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">49. Write your partner a note of love and appreciation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">50. Dust a fan.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">51. Read a poem.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">52. Read the Hobbit over time with your children.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">53. Write a family schedule for the week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">54. Plan a family meeting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">55. Make placecards for your family dinner.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">56. Set up an art station in your house with supplies (example: coloring pages, collage)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">57. Clean your laptop and your phone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">58. Sweep the garage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">59. Open the windows in the house.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">60. Clean out a drawer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">61. Write a journal entry.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">62. Free-write, pen and paper for five minutes without stopping.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">63. Empty the refrigerator or pantry (or both!) of expired items.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">64. Make popsicles.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">65. Slice an apple and offer your kids a healthy snack.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">66. Check on a neighbor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">67. Fill the birdfeeder.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">68. Fluff the pillows.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">69. Play music.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">70. Check on your friends at home with small children.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">71. Organize your jewelry or ties.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">72. Cancel your digital subscriptions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">73. Make care kits for the homeless.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">74. Bake cookies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">75. Write a haikiu (a short, three-lined poem from Japan with syllabic structure of 5/7/5)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">76. Sing at the top of your lungs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">77. Rest in shavasana (corpse pose) for ten minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">78. Research restorative yoga poses and try a new one each week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">79. Create a home meditation or prayer space.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">80. Read a verse of scripture.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">81. Learn a new word and teach it to someone else.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">82. Adopt a grandparent from a retirement home and check-in with them often.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">83. Adopt a friend’s young child and check-in with them often; sending notes in the mail.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">84. Drink a cup of tea mindfully (research mindful eating and drinking).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">85. Take a shower (if you haven’t).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">86. De-brief your last meeting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">87. Write and agenda and outcomes for your next meeting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">88. Pull the scrabble board out and play a round or two.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">89. Doodle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">90. Sit with both arms extended up in a wide “V”: hold for one minute breathing deeply.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">91. Call a beloved teacher and tell them why they were great.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">92. Organize your jewelry and take photos for your files.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">93. Write a blog post.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">94. Watch a TED talk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">95. Download the Marco Polo app and start communicating with friends and family.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">96. Work on your Family Ancestry.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">97. Sit and do nothing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">98. Listen to the birds.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">99. Put your feet up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">100. Create existence in your calendars a few of your favorite ideas above. Have new ideas? Please share them with me!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Be generous with yourself: we are all getting through this together as the perfectly imperfect human beings that we are. We’ve accomplished a remarkable transition to working from home in short amount of time. Now it’s time to make working for home work for us. Enjoy new joys. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Thank to special contributors: Jennifer Stanton Hargrave, Rowena Raroque-Watters, Debby Fosdick, Lollie Tompkins, James F. Fosdick, Stephanie Cole, Allison Perkins, Diana Marquis, Dyana Pari Nafissi Holzworth, Claire Sexton, Mary Beth Whitman Goodrich, Leslie Barker Garcia, Nana Boardman, MK Benton Sharp, Mickey Parson, Jenny Apperti, Melody Hamilton, Lisa Reed, Caren Lock, Laura Neff, Nancy Dorrier and Kelly Irwin Heatly. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Resources: <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/coronavirus-zoom-fatigue-is-taxing-the-brain-here-is-why-that-happens/"><span style="color: blue; font-weight: normal;">Zoom Fatigue is Taxing the Brain: Here's Why That Happens, National Geographic</span></a></span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mindful.org%2Fzoom-exhaustion-is-real-here-are-six-ways-to-find-balance-and-stay-connected%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Cahofland%40crowmuseum.org%7C60ad99d14eb440436b8608d7f59bf94a%7C8d281d1d9c4d4bf7b16e032d15de9f6c%7C0%7C0%7C637247922568855569&amp;sdata=KL0DgzohzGVqJEKeZfVA2hmtHikklK7%2Bq5wOirReLD0%3D&amp;reserved=0"><span style="color: blue; font-weight: normal;">Zoom Exhaustion is Real: Here are SIx Ways to Find Balance and Stay Connected, Mindful Magazine </span></a></span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-7244438216470069792020-05-06T04:28:00.000-07:002020-05-06T06:37:16.082-07:00What I Was Doing While You Were Dying <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">I got the call today, a few minutes before I was to teach my first Introduction to Mindfulness Course for UT Dallas Faculty. I, this person about to teach tools for grounding, felt the earth shift. Molecules around me rearranged. I had to gather for the 40 humans arriving to my TEAMS Teleconference, greeting each other with “Good Afternoon” and “I miss you” messages to each other.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“Donald is gone.” I hear in my thoughts. Followed by: “Keep going, teach the class.” I breathe: facing new challenges of an un-sharing screen, yet held by two colleagues who quickly found a way for my presentation to be seen. I, in turn, held a space for these humans in the only way I knew how: mindfully with lovingkindness and compassion. Dis-believing the outer weather, the news, the facts, I held a calm inside: “Donald is gone.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Last night through two more on-line sessions, I made mistakes. I held up my Family for the Family Walk in the driveway and mis-fired an email to the wrong person. I wasn’t holding it together at all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Sunday. That’s the day you died. I don’t really know yet what time: late afternoon? It was hot to be running. You drove to a beautiful part of Dallas, Oak Cliff, parked your car, and went for a run. Perhaps you were meditating or writing the next song of your play. You’d probably been doing that all day. Sometimes when I was with you, I knew you were deep inside the channel of mindfulness: I would slow when we walked. I would slow inside. This was your being. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Sunday was a slow day for me: I taught Sunday School, wrote, worked on my Crow Museum planning, took walks with the boys: all of my molecules were stable, everything in its place. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">In this last year, you appeared to me as a new friend: easy, natural conversations and deep ones, too. On spirituality, pursuits, dreams, loss. We talked about it all, as if it was the last year of your life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">I know how you liked your omelette. Your coffee. I know how you took care of ALL of the people we encountered. I know how you liked to drop into lyrical, musical theater dialogue at any moment. That was us together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">We met over a Lazy Susan. At Nest. You sold me (at a very high price) a re-purposed French wine barrel lid-Lazy Susan. You swept through the store when we met encouraging me to see and enjoy. You were a Master of Retail. It was easy to love you. I left with a wine-barrel lid Lazy Susan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">And then it warped. France to Texas humidity I suppose. Just as I expected, you replaced it fully and encouraged me to come back if there were any problems. You walked it to my car for the second time. You were a Prince of a Person. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">And yes, we both have our prince and princess-ly imperfections: we talked about them: our mountains we’ve crossed, the dark shadows we found. Yet, from that darkness you gathered so much seeing. And you told me so. You came to me at a time when I couldn’t see myself: you chose to light the world around me so I could. You are leaving <i>us</i> with so much: the poetry of your musical scores, so many treasures from the Nasher Store, the conversations that will never leave me, a friend, a brother. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">You went for a run and never came home. A tragic accident with a DART Streetcar. I can’t imagine and don’t want to. But it wasn’t so many things: it wasn’t cancer, or chronic illness, it wasn’t COVID-19. There is an edge of comfort in this. A tiny edge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">I will look for you, in the bright face of Venus I saw last night at sunset, in the play of birds in the tree, the swelling of wind. I like to imagine you are close to me, shoulder to shoulder, as Kabir writes. I will hold the words of encouragement you’ve given me this past year as my treasure of this life. Thank you for taking the time to care in this magical, deep way that you did. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Right before I found out you had died, I was in a different mindfulness class: my International Mentor Group for my Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. I was gathered with Jake from Nottingham, Holly from Sidney, Monica from Basel, Helene from Tallinn (Estonia) and Andrew from Baltimore. After an hour together in practice and connecting, the instructor let us know he was going to shift topics to the next item on the agenda. I had to leave early to prepare for my class at UT Dallas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">The topic was to be impermanence and loss. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">I would miss the lesson, but found it again, poignantly a minute later when the phone rang. I will miss you, Donald Fowler. Thank you for your extraordinary life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“Are you looking for me?<br />I am in the next seat.<br />My shoulder is against yours.<br />you will not find me in the stupas,<br />not in Indian shrine rooms,<br />nor in synagogues,<br />nor in cathedrals:<br />not in masses,<br />nor kirtans,<br />not in legs winding around your own neck,<br />nor in eating nothing but vegetables.<br />When you really look for me,<br />you will see me instantly —<br />you will find me in the tiniest house of time.<br />Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?<br />He is the breath inside the breath.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">― </span></span><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Kabir</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-43584416109301136462020-04-12T04:10:00.001-07:002020-04-12T09:03:55.414-07:00Dear Easter, 2021 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Dear
Easter, 2021: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Ring
the bells, Alleluia, He is Risen. Buy the suits for the boys, the fresh socks
and stiff shoes. New ties and a crisp shirt. You will search imploringly at
four or five stores at the Mall on the day before Easter with distant salespeople
who are tired, eyes glazed over: To them, Easter is just another holiday where
there are more clothes to put back on racks, more stuffed animals to stack. It
will run together for you, too. You will stress over the meal: the guests, the
house: it will come and go, and you will have forgotten what happened last
year: how the being in being together was the real Alleluia. And how precious
it was. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Don’t
forget what it feels like: this blessed permission of 2020: permission to “make
do” with what we have, to “be with” what is. To leave the shopping list shorter
because <i>so much</i> is non-essential. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">This
year, I bought the meal in one, safe swirl through Kuby’s in Snider Plaza: the
shopping strip of my Middle School years. We stood in line, 6 feet apart, my
friend and me. We were quiet in line, no one chatted on phones or texted: there
was silence in our togetherness: common humanity calls for a humble solidarity.
No one complained that the line moved at tortoise speed. We were grateful the
store was open.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
moved through the small, lovely German market as old as I am. Pimento cheese,
asparagus, twice-baked potatoes, ribs, smoked pork chops for my parents, cheese grits
(Grandmother reference), pickled okra (Grandfather reference) and Cherry
Strudel for breakfast (Dad reference). I stood on one side of a recently constructed
plexiglass screen: to protect me and the woman at the register. In 2020, we are
together in our division: together in staying distant, mutually committed to staying
well, and understanding how deeply serious the reasons really are. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">In
the car, we decided to drive on out to the farm: storm clouds dropped lightning
and we watched runners darting for home. I paid attention to it all. The
outings are special now. It rained most of the way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">At
Campbell Road I wished I was still exiting there for work: for the office I can’t
sit in at the University of Texas at Dallas. Soon, I say to myself, soon. We
press on. The rain lets up. Once on Parker Road, I tell Emilia I could make
that drive with my eyes closed: So. Many. Drives. On East Parker Road. The curves
are in me. And especially today. I notice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">In
my Parents’ driveway, the gravel crackles under the car. I sort out their
provisions and walk up to the <i>front </i>door: everything is different in
2020: even how I enter our family home. I ring the large white plastic doorbell
that replaced a bell I brought back from San Gimignano, Italy in 1992. The new
bell is louder. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Slowly
my father peers out of the window of this ca. 1910 Farmhouse: one that has most
certainly seen Pandemic before. He opens the door: “I need to go get my mask”. He
takes the groceries without gloves on, with one long forefinger. I walked in,
gloved and masked. My mother unnaturally retreats when she sees me: part surprise at
my arrival, part not knowing exactly who and what to fear. I witness reason over wanting,
sensibility over the human habit of embracing your parents at exactly the
moment you really need to the most. We stood uncomfortably: it is all unnatural. Front door, not
taking a seat in the warm kitchen I love so much. Lunch spread on the table.
But I had to go. Air molecules were wafting off of me and from whom or where no
one knows. Gently I took my elbow and touched her elbow. His, too. Blue eyes
piercing me with love. I felt it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
scurried to the car. Don’t forget next year, this little moment. How you wanted
to hug them, take them home with you. To the messy house with food you’re not going
to cook. To the four home offices you all set up in three
rooms: feeling the house shrink around you. In 2021, make it the "us" you wanted it to be:
in the clothes we felt like wearing, knowing that being together is the one
thing we couldn't have. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Next
year, God-willing: may "we" and "it" all come together. Plan an Easter day that is unplanned:
unscripted and new: shift the unbalanced time of planning versus being in the
opposite direction: because, when you don’t have either, it is the being you
want the most. You will want to sit in your parents’ kitchen for hours. To run
in the back door like you always did, unannounced, un-masked. <i>Did I actually
ring the doorbell to my parents’ home? </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Wake
up to all of this and know that in a Pandemic, with fear and uncertainty all
around us, it is the waking up that is the real Alleluia. And for this, Thanks be to God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Love, Me </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br /></div>
Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-65159920809140784492020-04-05T12:46:00.001-07:002020-04-05T13:08:06.924-07:00Dreading Monday? Shine your Little Light <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Anyone dreading Monday? Read on and breathe </div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Weekends are now the hallowed space: 5 pm Friday comes and I breathe a sigh of relief. Weekends are a little different than they were before, but for those of us managing the remote office and home schooling, <i>Monday-Friday 9-5 are a LOT different. </i>And, for those of us not home schooling they are a lot different, too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Today is Sunday and I see the crest of time in the horizon before I am back in “gear”: to be “on” for our museum team, prepared for my new online classes for UTD Employees and a wee bit ahead of my children’s plans to turn on Fortnight between online instruction. I could say it’s frantic and a mess, and I am choosing not to. Because how it is in our house, office, school is a choice. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, here are a few words from the home front that I hope will be helpful to you as we peer into Week Four of shelter-in-place. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Declare how it will be</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">: take five minutes and write about this week. Set your timer and keep the hand moving (this is a free write, pen and paper). Create a vision for what will be. You will surprise yourself how, once you’ve written it, the future can be what you see, not what happens to you. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Cut your screen time in half. </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">I’m doing this today: as much as I love the nearer-connection of Zoom, Teams and Webex (and promoted it last week), I am also noticing eye strain. Are you? By Friday of last week I was putting on my awful readers and leaning too far into my laptop. Our boys’ eyes were reddening too. I’m sure it’s part pollen, part Fortnight, part social media (for me) but we all know, this is new, and there is a limit. Listen to the side effects. Your body is telling you something. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Be the boss. </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">The calendar doesn’t run you. You run the calendar. Look out this week and take off what isn’t directly advancing your work. I know I need “think space” in next week and I found from last week I accepted all meeting requests and moved meetings to make it all “work”. We’re missing drive time, prep time, de-brief meeting time, desk time and breathe time. We, as the authors of this new world of Remote Work, get to say what the day looks like. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Lift up the laptop. </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">For that ½ of the week you are designing on zoom, the center of the screen should be at eye-level. Your neck might be telling you this, too. (See “listen to the side effects above). Chair yoga is a great anti-dote to your new neckaches. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Love yourself. </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Take a nap when you’re tired (children permitting). Take a mindful self-compassion moment: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Place the palm of your hand gently over your heart space. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Create a prayer/ phrase or mantra (a word or phrase to aid concentration) to say to yourself. Examples: “breathing in, breathing out” (Thich Nhat Hanh), “this, too” (Tara Brach) or I am here, Everything will be alright, Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I believe we’re leading two lives right now: </span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">There is the Self managing all of the suffering we are seeing and may already be experiencing directly. We are grieving the loss of our innocence and the old normal. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">There is the Self managing our Shelters: creating a new normal, keeping the work and school work flowing. Holding it all together, or as it goes for me: trying to. </span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And guess what? Both lives show up in one perfectly imperfect human. Give yourself permission to be with both: talk to a friend or family member about how you are in this fourth week. Write about it. Hold yourself in a space of allowing yourself to try things, fail and forgive. Two things I know: we’re all in this together, and we may be at this for a while. Shine on, Dear Friends. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For the past six years, I have worked with<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.dorrierunderwood.com/" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Dorrier Underwood</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>on how to lead in my work and in my being. I source their expertise here both in designing meeting and fulfilling goals. Additionally, my training in yoga and mindfulness have helped prepare me for this moment…and the moments to come. </span></div>
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Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-45280728309967591002020-03-28T06:39:00.002-07:002020-03-28T07:28:46.496-07:00The Art of Being Together in the Virtual World: Meetings, Classes and Meet-ups<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It was a week, wasn’t it? At five o’clock yesterday I closed my laptop with a sigh of relief. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">And then immediately opened it to offer a fifteen-minute Facebook Live Chair Yoga class. We have a new office, and its tether takes some tweaking. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">In this time of remote work and self-isolation, the work, for the fortunate, continues. An overlay of what <i>work was</i> to what <i>work is</i>…isn’t possible. This is a creation time for all of us: creating the culture at home we want as we work and go to school together, creating healthy meals that are manageable to prepare, creating how we are going to spend all of this time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Week before last, I was frantic. I found myself reporting my time and the work I accomplished daily for the first time in my career(s). Filling up forty hours in my home office is something. Since 1998, my office has been a mobile one: Arts District meetings, donor meetings, community partner meetings and events: lots of evening and weekend events. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Building the Crow Museum meant meeting the Asian-American communities in their community: for a "common unity". The "assignment" from my first chapters at the crow was 100% external affairs: I was on the road. The blur of my life and my work was forged over two decades ago: neither could be separated, until now. There is nowhere to go. The sensation of “quitting time” at 5 pm on a Friday is bewildering and new to me: I was giddy with excitement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I was also sore: my neck throbbing from the new angle of the laptop, shoulders strained from holding up my 10-13 (13) pound head in a different position. This new office is a tether that needs tweaking. Here are a few tips from what I saw this week: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">1. Set a schedule and plan to spend less than half of it on-line. I cut my on-line time in half from week one to week two and it made a difference. If you need any motivation, read “Death by Meeting” by Patrick Lencioni. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">2. If you meet someone on-line, really meet them. Use video: there are over 400 facial cues that humans express: and you don’t want to miss it. Make the speaker the largest picture on your screen. Be interested and connect. Use the camera to create your own eye-contact. Stay with your colleague/ team for the whole meeting and make the time count. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">3. Always check-in: whether leading or attending the meeting, take a few minutes (or ask to) arrive together. We are all arriving to these meetings from different places (including the dishwasher): help gather the energy, the attention and the focus in a warm way as if you are sitting down to tea (not a bad idea). When someone asks you how you are, really tell them. And when they tell you, really listen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">4. As the leader of a team of 20, I assigned a Buddy System. Each of us has a Buddy we check in with daily on text/ call and in the virtual room. “Saying hello” to your buddy is one of the ways we started the meetings this week. It is also a quick way to know who is missing and may need a check-in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">5. I also warmed our team up to talking: “pass” is always an option (if we are going roundtable on a topic or writing share) and I’ve been offering mood-checks (“on a scale of 1-10 how are you today?”) in the chat box. I asked everyone to place their numbers in the chat box: a way of showing up, being seen and heard and a way for me to assess where everyone is emotionally. I found the chat box is a way to engage without being confrontational. As leaders I think it’s important to acknowledge that work may continue, but it continues inside of a global crisis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">6. Hold time as precious: the format of video conference takes extra time: think time, response time, finding the right button to unmute time. Be generous. The questions will come. Use the chat box for questions, too. Keep meetings to about 45 minutes (Death by Meeting says 40) and if they go longer -give everyone ten minutes every hour for a bio break. Honor the time set for the meetings and stick to the agenda. In a world without shape, let the shapes show up in your leadership. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">7. Close with grace. Ask everyone to come off of mute. Thank them for their participation and try to connect with those you may not have heard from. Make the extra effort here to make the rounds (this is true during the calls, too). Your presence is their present and for those who live alone, this may be a very important portal to the human world. On one call I was on this week, the leader left the last 15 minutes for connection time, just as we would if we were at the coffee maker. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I am meeting with our full museum team every morning, and it is making a difference toward my joy and I believe it’s making a difference toward theirs too. We are more connected than we have been in fourteen months: this distance brought our team formerly working in three locations (museum/ warehouse/ University) closer than we’ve been. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">We are entering this new word with one word (and I referenced it daily): Gentle. Our human bodies are going through something we’ve never known and the only way to do this is with slow, gentle awareness. As if in yoga pose, what is too uncomfortable: adjust slowly. Listen and look: for the gentle adjustments you and your fellow humans need. As leaders, employees, mamas and dads, sons and daughters, be gentle with yourself. And breathe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">For the past six years, I have worked with<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.dorrierunderwood.com/" style="color: #954f72;" target="_blank">Dorrier Underwood</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>on how to lead in my work and in my being. I source their expertise here both in designing meeting and fulfilling goals. Additionally, my training in yoga and mindfulness have helped prepare me for this moment…and the moments to come. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-19106855869925972852020-03-28T05:58:00.001-07:002020-03-28T05:58:23.444-07:00A Week of Poetry: March 22 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">March 27, 2020 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have two lives:<br />One is aware of the news:<br />The numbers<br />Somber and alert.<br />Consciously concerned. <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />Responsive not reactive.<br />Sober. Listening.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The second is seeing what it is like<br />To be home.<br />With my husband and children.<br />In a new schedule,<br />Connected and together.<br />And I wonder if, at the end of all this<br />How different my choices will be.<br />In wonder. Watching.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">March 26, 2020 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shelter-in-place<br />They said.<br />Be still.<br />Be care full.<br />Stay inside.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I considered what it means to shelter.<br />To seek protection.<br />To protect others.<br />To hold and be the one who is held.<br />The body shelters the heart. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And place. What is my place?<br />My house. My mind. My heart.<br />The space my body fills. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I choose this too: place.<br />A place of joy or sorrow,<br />Worry or calm.<br />Or all of it.<br />In my little House.<br />And it is quiet here.<br />I’ll pray and I’ll hold you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">March 25, 2020 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And for a moment I forgot.<br />The cascade of color on the lake<br />Distracted me.<br />Or drew me.<br />Held me, as if to say, <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />I’m here. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I remembered.<br />A catch in my throat.<br />A worry.<br />And, my breath drew me,<br />Held me, as if to say,<br />I’m here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I remembered.<br />But when? And who? And how?<br />Am I safe?<br />And I see you here,<br />You draw me,<br />You hold me.<br />I’m here, too.</span></div>
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Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-40730555545588894922020-03-21T07:12:00.000-07:002020-03-21T07:57:11.330-07:00The Mindful Home Office: Family Camp<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>A note to the reader: Families in 2020 can mean many things: whether it is you, your partner, the family you choose and even a virtual tribe you create, I hope this essay helps you design the spacious landscape we all are needing. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After five days of working from home and anticipating next week’s start of on-line learning for our two boys, I am realizing there is work to do to help create inner and outer peace, calm productivity and joy. With the long stretch of a weekend ahead of us, we have time to prepare what I am now calling a </span><b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">work sanctuary</b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. Here is a simple guide to your contemplative future. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Set the Stage <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With the world turned upside down we can consider anything is possible as we design how and where we work in the home. I am creating a new desk space at the back window where I can work and watch birds, sky and home. I am encouraging our boys to stake out their desk space, too: setting aside with intention: <i>this is where my work will happen</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Prepare to Sustain <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On one of your spatially distant trips to the store, stock up your pantry this weekend with healthy snacks: apples and almond butter, tangerines, my mother’s epic “ants on a log” (celery, peanut butter, raisins); popcorn, oranges, nuts (in small portions) and grapes. Write up a list of ideas in your family meeting (next up). Meal prep needs to be easy and something everyone can help with, too!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The Family Meeting</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you haven’t already held a formal <a href="https://amylewishofland.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-family-meeting-and-art-of-being.html" target="_blank">Family Meeting </a>in light of the world events, it is time. Your kids are listening and watching all of this unfold-and they are especially watching you. What may seem fine on the surface may not be so, and connection and togetherness will be the balm our hearts need. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In your Family Meeting, set the time aside with the ringing of a bell, ask someone to lead, and design in a short (30 minute) agenda that might include mindfulness (3 minutes), prayer, sharing time (high/low of the day, mood) and topics like “building the shopping list”; “making a daily and weekly schedule”, “what I love about my life” and “what I don’t miss from our pre-COVID-19 life”. Offer skills of attention, awareness and deep listening. This is your family’s time and that means it is precious time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Be Happy Campers <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I worked at Brush Ranch Camps in the heart of the Sangre de Christo Mountains for several years and I learned that the best way to live, lead and survive is to live as a camp counselor. We all came together each summer for a purpose greater than ourselves: to create joy and growth in the mountains. In this sabbatical time of pause, we can do this too: each member of the family plays a part in our greater purpose: to run a happy, healthy, non-anxious home/ family office and school. You might: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Name your tribe <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Call your Family Meetings Tribe Meetings or Tribe Council <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Assign chores: Cabin Clean Up (cleaning rooms daily), M&M (Minor Maintenance), Kitchen Duty, Hoppers (clearing the table), Snack Duty (from your thoughtfully prepared snack list!) and even Nature Teacher, Art Teacher, Hiking Leader. Get creative, we may be at Camp for a while. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Design your Daily Life <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Create a Schedule You all Love: build in down time, fun time and outside time: every day. Ask your kids to write the schedule from the very detailed instructions we are receiving from the schools, balance serious with humanness: be perfectly imperfect. Here is a <i>sample</i> schedule<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">7:00-8:00 am Breakfast and Mindfulness <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">8:00-9:00 Cabin Clean Up <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">9:00-10:30 School work/ Session One <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">10:30 Snack time and Outside time <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">11:00-12:00 School work/ Session Two <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">12:00-2:00 Lunch, Rest, Play <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2:00-3:30 School work/ Session Three <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">3:30-4:00 Snack time/ Outside time <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">4:00-5:30 Homework/ Quiet time / Open <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5:30 on -open for evening activities (we are taking Family walks at 5:30 to recap the day) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This will take some practice: check in on what is working and not working and amend as needed: this is yours to perfect. Kids are used to and love structure: they will surprise you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ring the Bell<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Each Day assign a <b>Bell Ringer</b> to mark the time: when the bell rings at <a href="https://www.plumvillage.org/" target="_blank">Plum Village</a> in the South of France (Thich Nhat Hanh’s beautiful retreat center) the community stops whatever they are doing and breathes for a few silent moments. You can also set bells on phones at interval times in timer or in the Insight Meditation App. A relationship with time helps everyone focus and stay connected to the present moment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Create Space for Silence<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mindfulness will get you there: to a home office that is peaceful and intentional: begin with short sessions (2-3 minutes) in the family meeting and add in moments of mindfulness at meals, on walks and in your own work practice. Mindful writing (3-5 minutes keeping the hand moving) is also a helpful practice to get clear about where we are in the world and helps us source mood, emotion and the challenges we are facing. Set up a mindful corner in your home for Campers to visit anytime: it can be as simple as a cushion, a bell and a poetry book. Ask one of your Campers to create it!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Take Care of Yourself and Your Campers</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You know the instruction well from airplane travel: place your own oxygen mask first before helping others with their masks. Self-care and compassion (<a href="https://self-compassion.org/" target="_blank">Kristen Neff</a>) are paramount to the health and success of your co-counselors and campers. Share the work, communicate needs, express courage, acknowledgement, appreciation and love often. Camp Leaders needs to maintain a deep well of love and compassion for others: take the time to fill yours up: exercise, alone time, reading, resting, meditation and yoga are all wonderful practices of compassion for self. Let the present moment be your teacher (<a href="https://pemachodronfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Pema Chodron</a>) and your Family Camp will be a haven of work-life pause and possibility. Graces to you Spaces!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-19307433186535192162020-03-15T16:14:00.001-07:002020-03-15T16:14:24.760-07:00A Week of Poetry: March 8 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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March 14, 2020 </div>
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Coronavirus fatique.<br />It's a thing.<br />Five weeks ago it was Chinese New Year.<br />Taking a beloved festival away,<br />A wretched, wracking decision. <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br />Followed by the hurt of criticism and social media hatred.<br />"Xenophobic" -me, one who has been a stand for the Chinese community for over two decades.<br />Crushed. And. It wasn't personal.<br />I became Teflon. Stopped reading the feeds. </span></div>
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Fast forward to this week:<br />More calls to lead: to wrestle with the word<br />Postponement.<br />Cancellation.<br />Programs. Experiences. </div>
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The Dance of language: just the right balance, they said<br />of concern and authority.<br />The waiting for news and permission.<br />And now a full closure for an indeterminate amount of time.<br />Just the right balance between what we know and what we don't know.<br />Confident and uncertain.<br />Reassuring and worried.<br />Prepared. Well being first.<br />Compassion now. </div>
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And as I said in February, any risk above zero is risk.<br />What creates this? This ability to discern, decide, disappoint?<br />Love.<br />I become Teflon.<br />This is a business of humans being:<br />Being well, safe and loved.<br />Not one unwell if I can stop it. Not one.</div>
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March 13, 2020 </div>
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Mindfulness in One Poem</div>
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What are you worried about?<br />The World.<br />(Takes a deep breath)<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br />What are you worried about now?<br />The Country.<br />(Takes another deep breath)<br />What are you worried about now?<br />The City.<br />(Takes another deep breath)<br />And now?<br />The Town.<br />(Breath)<br />And now?<br />This Neighborhood.<br />(Takes a slow breath)<br />And now?<br />This House.<br />(Breaths, natural, repeated)<br />And now?<br />Me. My family.<br />(Takes a few more natural breaths.)<br />And how about now?<br />What are you thinking about now?<br />This breath.</span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">March 11, 2020 </span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">New friend to me: “Amy are you in Real Estate?”</span><br /><span style="background-color: white;">I said no...Asian Art </span><br /><span style="background-color: white;">But actually I wish I’d said </span><br /><span style="background-color: white;">“Yes, the Real Estate of our Hearts.”</span><br /><span style="background-color: white;">That’s what I’m in.</span></span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">March 10, 2020 </span></span></div>
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Today the sun caught me five ways.<br />Before 8.<br />It was a day of journeys<br />And remembrances.<br />Christened by a blaze of brightness <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br />Through my windshield. </span></div>
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The visor is never enough<br />To shade the power of a sun at dawn.<br />A hot foretelling of July:<br />Earth tilting the sunrise back up the meridian.<br />Long shadows be gone. </div>
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Her hotness held at bay for a few more weeks.<br />Her brilliance blocked as I turned this way and that.<br />She caught me at corners<br />Lurked while I sat.<br />Teased. Docile at dawn,<br />Untamed by 8. Relentless. </div>
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She caught me, this sun.<br />This day.<br />And I am so glad for it.</div>
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Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-40150792074229221952020-03-10T14:01:00.000-07:002020-03-10T14:01:07.924-07:00Poetry Week of March 1 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
March 5, 2020<br />
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The bright rye grass in the median<br /> And the cactus I always study <br /> At the intersection. <br /> But today it was he who I caught <br /> In the corner of my eye.<br />
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I looked at him squarely and opened my coin box. <br /> He walked over saying over and over again:<br /> Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. <br />
I hand him a few bills. And say, <br /> “Don’t be sorry, be safe.”<br />
<br /> As he walked backwards into traffic after the light turned green. <br /> His pleases haunting me. <br /> Desperation or theater?<br /> I can’t question.<br />
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And I move into my day begging for my own:<br /> Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. <br /> We just stand on different corners of our own lives. <br /> And pray.<br />
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March 4, 2020<br />
A poem by me and <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=1447752787&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARD6vAX9MFbXRqYe1nsCh7dNG7_mpJVFj9wiJQ-Loniyz0XQv6y-uje6dV1v5esmxwmieqDG-tGXDEEd%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/anne.m.stadler?__tn__=%2CdK-R-R&eid=ARD6vAX9MFbXRqYe1nsCh7dNG7_mpJVFj9wiJQ-Loniyz0XQv6y-uje6dV1v5esmxwmieqDG-tGXDEEd&fref=mentions" title="Anne M. Stadler">Anne M. Stadler</a><br />
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All you have to do today <br /> Breathe <br /> Rest<br /> Sustain<br /> Love<br />
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March 3, 2020<br />
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It’s better if we don’t know our age really. <br /> To just be in the skin of who we are.<br /> And what we know.<br /> What we know about what and who we love.<br />
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To ignore the “age” spots. <br /> The graying of the clippings at the hair salon.<br /> The shape of time and babies. <br /> To see no time in others, either.<br /> Young or old. Doesn’t matter.<br />
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What matters is the time we have. Not the time we’ve been.<br /> Not the distance of our years,<br /> But rather the connection of knowing.<br /> Each other.<br />
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Fifty years. That was the time between us -and it was nothing. <br /> Eclipsed by a greater love and seeing the hearts of each other. <br /> And knowing that time,<br /> Heart time <br /> Is timeless.</div>
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Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-4946928804954540812020-02-17T16:59:00.000-08:002020-02-17T16:59:15.019-08:00Poetry Week of February 9-15<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In a class today we talked of silence. <br />The precious space of sabbath.<br />We talked of chords and phones and tethering things.<br />That pull us from Peace. </span></div>
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The Peace that is more the understanding.<br />Beyond, past Understanding.<br />Greater than.<br />Knowing.</div>
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We must be fierce.<br />With intention to notice, to see and to listen.<br />Fierce to protect ourselves and</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">2/10/2020</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">One breath.<br />A moment to see.<br />A different side.<br />To me.</span></div>
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One breath.<br />A moment to see.<br />A different side.<br />To you.</div>
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One breath.<br />A moment to be.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">2/11/2020 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21;">Mindfulness in three perspectives:</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21;">Time, be with me.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21;">Body, I’m in you.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Heart, I feel you.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">2/12/2020 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I brought a few things to this mindful life;<br />The bell, the breath came later.<br />Compassion arrived as my teacher,<br />And I rolled in all of the people who loved me into being*.</span></div>
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Formed by grandmothers and godmothers, parents and teachers. Especially the art teachers.<br />They found me in the field of mindful presence.<br />And held onto me. </div>
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I brought poetry and writing,<br />Walking and wondering.<br />Sitting still.<br />Be still, I am God, he said.<br />I was finally quiet enough to hear.<br />Quiet enough to speak to his listening. </div>
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Quiet enough to know.<br />Silence is where we grow.<br />Silence holds a truth where we say what we see.<br />Silence is the teacher our teachers wanted us to be.</div>
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<span style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">*ref: Fred Rogers</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">2/14/2020</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Good morning, Love Birds.<br />Mamas and Daddies.<br />Brothers, sisters,<br />Best Friends.<br />Good Morning, Saint Valentine.<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />The one who said,<br />Love, Your Valentine.<br />One thousand,<br />Seven hundred and fifty years ago. </span></span></div>
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Love your Valentine.<br />The driver in front of you.<br />The driver behind.<br />The post person,<br />The gent who makes your latte.<br />With the little heart drawn in foam at the top. </div>
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Love, you, Valentine.<br />Take a moment.<br />Place your hand on your heart.<br />And breathe.<br />I’m here, you could say.<br />Loving you.<br />I’m here. </div>
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I’m here, Valentine.<br />In each little letter of each little word.<br />For you.<br />For your happiness and your peace.<br />For the way you say,<br />I love you today.<br />Say it loudly so even the ones.<br />Who can’t hear you or see you.<br />Can.<br />Love,<br />Your Valentine.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">2/15/2020 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Why the sunrise?” They asked.<br />“It calls me.” I replied.<br />A daily invitation to exist.<br />To write the day.<br />In words and actions.</span></div>
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A blank slate to encounter<br />The tender,<br />The suffering,<br />The wonderful.</div>
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A do-over. A do-ing.<br />Open for the business<br />Of this day<br />Of my life.</div>
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Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-8806820559767856872020-02-10T12:35:00.000-08:002020-02-10T12:35:00.860-08:00A Week of Poetry <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I offered a poem.<br />He politely declined.<br />With jade-like humility. </div>
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And so I think I’ll just <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br />Leave these words here.<br />In case a poem is the thing<br />You don’t know you need. </span></div>
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The glow of space<br />To hold a new thought.<br />A house for words, a house for play.<br />A poem is the little lark that bravely sings the day.</div>
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Pink blanket in the center lane.<br />Temperatures in the low thirties.<br />How cold were they to not feel it fall?<br />How far did they walk before they realized.<br />The one thing they owned was strewn in the middle of 5 lanes?</div>
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What can I do for the human I only see the remnant of?<br />The body this blanket sheltered has moved on.<br />And with luck to a real shelter.<br />No one needs a blanket in a shelter. </div>
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Pink blanket in the center lane.<br />A call to take the stacks of blankets out of the cabinet.<br />And hand them out on frozen mornings.<br />For the one who can’t feel it’s warmth.</div>
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In a class today we talked of silence. <br />The precious space of sabbath.<br />We talked of chords and phones and tethering things.<br />That pull us from Peace. </div>
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The Peace that is more the understanding.<br />Beyond, past Understanding.<br />Greater than.<br />Knowing.</div>
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We must be fierce.<br />With intention to notice, to see and to listen.<br />Fierce to protect ourselves and<br />The chapel that is our life.</div>
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Was it three minutes?<br />Or was it ten?<br />Just a portal on social media.<br />It was ten.<br />Ten minutes I might have been meditating.<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br />Making oatmeal.<br />Only 50% of the humans in the house eat oatmeal. </span></div>
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Now it’s twelve minutes and I’m still here. Loving you.</div>
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To the person on any Southwest Flight who finds my Texas Driver’s License:<br />It was a short relationship. The renewed card arrived and was put to use and lost before the Old One Expired.<br />So easy to get lost in the Story of Lost Things: The Great Distractor. </div>
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Do mindful people lose less? Or do they lose more, less concerned with keeping track. <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br />Do mindful people track less because they have less?<br />Minimalists Lose Less. </span></div>
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I am not a Minimalist. Three weeks ago it was my Favorite Turquoise Ring by Leo Feeney. I try to break my cycle of fret: stepping back to that day: the trunk to the dresser and now: no where. </div>
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There’s not enough Mindfulness to bring it back. Let it go: like the sands of a Tibetan Mandala. </div>
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But to the person who finds my Texas Driver’s License: feel free to mail it on back to Texas. I’m counting on the kindness of You, Stranger. In this bountiful world of common humanity I hope you will.</div>
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***</div>
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I brought my mood to the office today.<br />Bundled neatly. I worked on it overnight and on the drive up. Layers of worry about last week and next week.<br />Nothing present but a lack of presence. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I didn’t know how large the parcel got. <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br />I even tied it with a bow.<br />Walked in to my office and within a matter of minutes I unpacked it. Handed some to one and then another.<br />We sat in the hot tub of my mood.<br />Felt good for a minute and then it didn’t. </span></div>
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<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">
The breakthrough is knowing I choose the content of my knapsack of emotions.<br />I choose how I show up to my devoted, loving colleagues.<br />I choose the moment of mindfulness to recognize.<br />And grow.<br />To carry less to care more.<br />That’s what being a friend is for.</div>
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</div>
Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-5517428728358862612019-12-21T05:58:00.001-08:002019-12-21T15:52:27.568-08:00This Holiday Season, Humans Are Counting on Us <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It’s time to
talk about our problem with alcohol. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">In August of
this year Obi Ndefo was putting groceries in his car outside </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Erewhon Natural Foods Market in Los Angeles
after teaching a yoga class. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">As
he stood at the back of his car, a car swerved at 40 miles an hour and hit Obi
pinning him against his own car, reversed and drove away. Remarkably Obi lived
through the next few moments and is “in a new body” now learning to live without
his legs. His survival has been called a miracle. His resiliency is the evidence
of that miracle. The driver was arrested the next day in Los Angeles and booked
on a DUI charge. Obi holds no anger or hatred for the driver and has moved on. He
says “I don’t have time for negativity in my life. People are counting on me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Two weeks later, in the twisting mountains outside of Taos,
New Mexico, country singer Kylie Rae Harris crashed into 16 year old Taos high
school student Maria Elena Cruz. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maria’s
father, Pedro Cruz, is Deputy Chief of the San Cristobal Volunteer Fire
Department. He was among the first to arrive on the scene. Both young women
were killed in the crash. Kylie Rae Harris toxicology reports showed .28% blood
alcohol content. The data recorder on her truck noted she was traveling 102
miles an hour at the time of the crash. Kylie Rae, 30, from Wylie, Texas just
outside of Dallas, had a prior DWI conviction in Collin County and had been
ordered to install an interlock device on her car. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Last Tuesday on
a crisp winter morning in Dallas, Nancy Dennington, a 72 year old woman, just
returning home from her walk, was struck by a 30 year old in an Audi. The
driver, Ryan Crews, stood blankly staring at her while two of my friends tried
to save her life: comforting her with their words and blankets until the
paramedics could arrive. She died somewhere inside of those moments. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Crews is believed to have been
intoxicated from either drugs or alcohol. He failed a sobriety test and pills
were taken from him at the scene. Five years ago, Ryan received a DWI for
running a red light in the same neighborhood. Two years ago the interlock
device on his car was removed. His booking photo was taken by police in his
hospital bed. <span style="color: #333333;">Police plan to charge Crews with
Intoxication Manslaughter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; text-align: left; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
accidents from drivers under the influence kill about 30 people in the U.S.
each day.<span class="apple-converted-space"> While fatalities from DWI accidents
are down 13% in the last ten years, I sense our alcohol culture is on the rise.
A recent marketing campaign in Dallas offers locals and travelers <a href="https://www.visitdallas.com/campaigns/margarita-mile/index.html">The
Margarita Mile</a>: an experience where you can 1) download the app; 2) explore
the margaritas; 3) drink and check in and 4) explore the rewards. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">In our parking garage at work, a billboard promoted the new wine
bar where you can “Be Happy”. Alcohol is pervasive as necessary entertainment,
a path to happiness and the place to be. Messages to drink responsibly feel
lost in the small print. What is our responsibility in this space of popular
culture? </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I asked myself
this question the other night when I, with my two boys 12 and 13, and our small
dog came upon three teens smoking pot at the park across the street near White
Rock Lake in Dallas. “Is that what marijuana smells like?” my twelve year-old queried
(too) loudly. As I watched them head to their car, the cold foggy air thick
with the scent of weed, I weighed three options: 1) call 911; 2) call 311; 3)
do nothing. I did nothing. But this question “what was my responsibility in
this” weighs heavily as the air did that night. For Obi, for Maria Elena and
for Nancy. What did we see and not say? Who do we watch and wonder, “are they
safe to drive?” and how often do we dismiss the thought, turn the cheek and move
on into our “complicated enough” lives? </span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I posted a brief story on a neighborhood page, briefly. Within minutes the comments section was filled with a frightening tone of tolerance and a resigned complacency: "get over yourself" one person wrote; another said "it's just pot". The comments worsened and I took the post down. But here's the thing. I can't get over myself. And is it...just pot? Is that what Maria Elena's father would say? </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">
This holiday, let’s stay in that uncomfortable space a little bit longer. It
may be the gift we weren’t expecting to give. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br /></div>
Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-23666365775562301932019-12-01T13:06:00.001-08:002019-12-21T05:54:37.245-08:00Today is A Very Important Day <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One, I am back on the Blog. Nice to be here with you, thank you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Two, today is the first of December and the first Sunday in Advent: a four-week period of "waiting and watching" for the birth of Christ. It is also the month of Hanukkah in the Jewish tradition and the close of the year. Hallmarks of beginnings and endings are all around us. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And, three: I will be almost 50 in two years. Remember when Meg Ryan said through her sobs in "When Harry Met Sally", "I am going to be 40!" and goes on to say..."In 8 years!". While it's not possible Meg Ryan was so young, it is possible I will be 50 in two years. So I designed a two-year program of re-imagining, re-invention for this half-century on the planet. It is time. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In November I celebrated two years of sober living --from alcohol. I have studied and learned how to change a behavior and feel like I am ready to expand this sobriety to the other "comforts" in my life: food, spending, social media. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I am imagining this human, my human, in two years following this design of self-created seven agreements, I am calling these agreements the Secret Seven: </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">1. Continued Sobriety from Alcohol and weekly meetings </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">2. Daily exercise -30 min-1 hour any kind (walking/ yoga) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">3. Anti-inflammatory diet (no white items: sugar, gluten, dairy) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">4. Church weekly </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">5. Meditation Daily </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">6. Writing Daily </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">7. Financial Partnership with Scott and the Boys (weekly meetings and savings plan)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">This future human feels great on the inside and the outside. She is strong and powerful and embodies the commitments she's made to herself, others and the environment. This human tells the truth about herself and leads from her heart. Nothing is hidden. Nothing is feared: I will work on the mindfulness it will take to "be with" the challenges of these new practices. I feel like I've been training for this since 2011. I have everything I need to meet my future self. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">This is what it feels like to design a future: I am in this future, just a few hours into the first of December, watching and waiting. Attending. Listening. Sitting with the desire to comfort myself in all of the ways I know best, but this year, next year and the year after: consciously choosing something different: a new future. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br />I am trying this future on beginning with this day in this moment. It is time. </span></div>
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Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-45444597129036564182019-06-16T06:35:00.003-07:002019-06-16T06:46:35.839-07:00The Power of a Power Outage: Two Days in Silence <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">photo credit: Martin Valko </span></div>
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We had a silent retreat in Dallas last week: unexpected, air met heat met cool and the winds ripped trees like matchsticks. I was on the North Dallas Tollway with Edward and I was terrified. We saw stop signs flying, power lines freed from the confines of poles and trees turned on end. My eleven year-old told me to meditate.<br />
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It wasn't the scary moment that is interesting to me--I spent my elementary years in Tulsa (AKA Tornado Alley) so revisiting those days is not my preference. What is interesting to me is the silence we kept together while we waited for the power (and our lives) to come back on.<br />
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If it had been hot it would not have worked: silent retreats are best offered with a level of comfort: distractions of heat are left to the real professionals (think Thailand). But we had a beautiful few nights of cool dry breezes. Nature walked into our houses and stayed for a while.<br />
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No television. No cell service pumping ipads. No hum of the air conditioner or lights.<br />
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The absence of everything.<br />
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I found it lovely. I slept soundly. I listened for the creek frogs and the birds: the volume of both was amplified if not new and unknown.<br />
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Our city kept silence. Yes, we drove out looking for a cell tower signal to coordinate work and updates from Oncor, but in the in-between moments Edward found books, art and unfortunately the poison ivy found him on one of many "tree damage" nature hikes.<br />
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Neighbors quietly helped neighbors build growing piles of branches and leaves. At a Silent Retreat we call this "Seva" or service to others. We saw so much service to others last week. The choice to care rose from silence and the ability to look up and see the need. Generators were offered to those with medical needs. Those with power offered others refuge. On Lakewood Boulevard someone cut a tunnel through a very large downed tree and on Monday morning my car slipped through it perfectly. Thank you.<br />
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At a silent retreat we light a candle for morning meditation. Our city brought the candles out: civilization's first light. Homes and windows glowed with simplicity. We could mark the streets without power easily: little tea lights offered all we needed to see rather than the dozens of lights we turn on every night. We did more with less.<br />
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Silent retreats are dark: I am reminded of the Upaya Zen Center, Plum Village and Omega on night walks to my room: evenings are dark and bedtime comes early. White Rock Lake was stunning in its blackness: no cover of city light to reflect and absorb. Dark earth made way for dark sky and in the dark we looked more carefully for what we could see.<br />
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Yes--just like a silent retreat there were irritations: the melting freezer, the annoyance of experiencing how I kept flipping the light switches on, the garage door we had to manually operate. My patience was especially tested by the lack of traffic lights. I did a lot of breathing at those endless intersections.<br />
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All of them and none of these mattered, though against the backdrop of silence. They too, like the storm we all felt, passed and then I found myself back in the bliss of silence, knowing it was special and knowing it wouldn't last forever.<br />
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And on Tuesday it all came back "on": the noise of our lives: the call and response of email and text, the noise of lights and the sounds of the house. We were thrust back into the world as the world started working again. Hopefully the layer of last week is in us though: a reminder to stop, to look, to be grateful for what is, and to care. </div>
Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-6118476549924063802019-04-14T18:46:00.001-07:002019-04-15T06:39:52.585-07:00When It's Time to Write: What Creative Writing Creates <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've spent the last few years preparing for this year: the unsettling inertia of a privately-held public museum grafting into a major university system. Our arrival as the Crow Museum of Asian Art now OF the University of Texas at Dallas was comet-quick: we "closed" just over three months after the real negotiations began. True to form it was "Trammell Crow Time". Sometimes the hardest decisions need to be the quickest; I think shrewd real estate gurus know this. I am learning this.<br />
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In the one-hundred days since we became "UTD" I've had the opportunity to see the future: a welcome and necessary balm to the things we've said goodbye to: our sky-lined office, colleagues, the Pearl Art Studio and the way we were.<br />
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The familiar is always nearby. I've been dropped off at college before: twenty-five years and seven months ago my parents left me on the third floor of Scottish Rite Dormitory at UT Austin in a dorm room with a blue and white striped comforter that matched my sweet roommate's decor from Mount Pleasant, Texas. I cried in the bathroom stall hoping no one would hear me. I went outside to see if my parents really left. It was a quick goodbye: they were gone along with the way things were: the wood paneled Buick Century Station Wagon (The Party Wagon), Joe, Stu, Jonathan and the rest of the Six Pack. They became my past.<br />
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But at the University of Texas at Austin I saw the future: on the first day I met Brian, Ian and Hillary: new friends for the ages. I saw myself as an art educator. I fell in love with my museum studies class and the works of Helen Frankenthaler and Jim Dine with Sue Mayer. I studied in the Best Place on Earth to Study: The Architecture Library. I ate lunch in the Law Building looking for a husband (no future there--he was somewhere else!). My context had changed, and while it took a few more than a hundred days I became that future: curious, challenged and called.<br />
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I am that college freshman again: wandering the buildings at the University of Texas at Dallas: imagining what the founders of the Harry Ransom Center were thinking before it was built: before the Huntington Art Gallery and the Blanton Museum of Art. I am beyond the past of the Crow as it was and before the future of the Crow Museum of Asian Art as it will be. I have so much to learn.<br />
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Last week I tried to run out to the metaphorical front of the dorm to see if my parents were still there. They weren't. But even if they were, we are different now: the context has changed: 29,000 students are waiting for us to write the future and we have work to do. Through these moments of change and uncertainty I am using the tools I've practiced: mindfulness meditation, creative writing, breathing and yoga. It is as if I knew I was going to need new and serious, disciplined practices to take with me into this future: I am prepared and ready. It's all in where I've been that gives me the fearless heart to walk into where we are going: curious, challenged and called.<br />
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And so the work begins to dream up the next chapter. I see myself as a university art museum leader and educator both continuing to create unparalleled experiences in the Dallas Arts District location (which is not going anywhere!) and creating the new second location at UT Dallas. I see myself mentoring university freshmen who might be crying in the dorm room bathroom. And I've fallen in love with what the Crow can mean to this new world: this campus and the community: intercultural, inclusive experiences with works of art. We get to lead as a complex of museum collections: a museum that will respond with relevance and belonging to others who arrive on their first day on campus: curious, challenged and called. </div>
Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-33422751658890461822019-04-01T12:23:00.000-07:002019-04-01T12:23:02.826-07:00I Want To Tell You About A Petal <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
At the Dallas Arboretum there are hundreds of thousands of them: petals. Spritely extensions of a flower stalk: heads up, bright, illumined by spring light, in perfect form.<br />
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But I want to tell you about one.<br />
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One petal of one tulip, on one stem.<br />
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It's shape is lovely, part spoon, part moon: the curve of champions. It holds air and scent. Warm sun and the drops of dew and rain.<br />
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Petal as rain-catcher.<br />
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This petal is part sculpture, statuesque and lean; defies gravity in its own definition of elegant posture.<br />
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First glance might tell you it is white. It is not. It's a warm white, near pale blush like a shoji screen caught by the flicker of candle or day. On a palate, white with the faintest dab of cadmium orange. Barely white.<br />
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From the base of this petal, as if left by brush stroke, a new color breaks the tradition of this white: warm pink. As if the Artist drew the loaded watercolor brush up, flattened the brush and lifted off the page at just the right moment. I want to tell you about this color:<br />
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The edges of the pink are indeterminate: a cadence of shading, a gradation impossible to capture in anything but the experience. This is real magic, this stroke of color I found on a petal of a tulip today.<br />
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It was my first miracle after lunch.<br />
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I'll make sure there are more. </div>
Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-87610573757985523972019-03-15T17:02:00.000-07:002019-03-15T17:02:04.207-07:00The Time Away Form <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Recently my husband and I hosted 8 sixth graders for the Middle School Church Retreat. We also enjoyed meeting 3 college-age gentlemen who stayed with the boys in our home for the weekend as the “Retreat Leaders”. I was responsible for receiving meals from generous volunteers and making breakfast. I was excited about the weekend: drawing on my camp experience as cabin counselor, art teacher and girls camp director. I declared that our bungalow 2 bedroom home was being transformed into a Really Big Tent for the weekend. I was all in. </div>
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One of the boys left a “Time Away Form” on our front entry. The title caught my eye. A Time Away Form? I thought. Don’t we all need this. My wandering thought was wrangled by the footnote of responsibility. Ah, yes, I am the one needing to be aware of this young man’s exit for a basketball tournament –and ultimately his return. I am the one. Time away. Got it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But what if? What if we had our own version of a Time Away Form? What would it be Time Away from? <o:p></o:p></div>
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I find that if I self-schedule a weekend home without events (like the long week between Christmas and New Year’s) I am pulled like a magnet to the closets, the deep clean of the fridge and even the attic. I see others –too—pulled away from Time Away time as we line up at the Goodwill Truck depositing the things we thought we needed. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Time Away competes with so many things: technology, the feed of friends, the myth of busy, the dubious luxury of “social” media. Time Away competes with habits of comparison, competition and easy shopping. In the time before I get out of bed in the morning I can easily “lose” the quiet hour to any number of social media platforms. It’s that easy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Filling out and committing to a Time Away form is harder, but the reward is beyond bliss: the bliss of solitude brings greater well being, a sense of peace and balance I’ll never find in work email or Facebook. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />This is the practice: make your own Time Away Form: <o:p></o:p></div>
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Name: <o:p></o:p></div>
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Purpose of Time Away: Set your intention <o:p></o:p></div>
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Date of Time Away: <o:p></o:p></div>
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Length of Time: <o:p></o:p></div>
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Activity: <o:p></o:p></div>
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__Mindful Practice __ Reading __ Writing __ Napping __ Walking __ _________________ <o:p></o:p></div>
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Reflections on the experience: <o:p></o:p></div>
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You can also come up with your own guidelines for your Time Away Time. Decide how you will interact/ not interact with technology, your children, your friends. Set up a space for time away: make it yours, light a candle during your Time Away Time. This gift to yourself, as a gift of solitude and contemplation, makes it sacred. Honor your time with a beginning and an ending: a short period (1-3 minutes) of silence marked by a bell. Take these entry and ending moments to focus on the breath and be with the intention you’ve set. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Above all, be kind to yourself: your Time Away may last just 5 minutes. And the benefits of those 300 seconds will be the spacious well you can go back to later in the day. The more you practice the more you know: self compassion gives you what you need to give to others. Small dips are incrementally and infinitely beneficial. One day you will realize this sourcing is just the undercurrent –wholly part of who you are and as natural as breathing. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-19407073376766338272019-02-22T14:39:00.001-08:002019-02-22T14:39:51.643-08:00The Last 15 Minutes in My Office: When Transformation Asks Us to Let Go <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'm not leaving the Crow Museum of Asian Art. But today I am leaving our offices here. For good. We moved into this sprawling office (complete with the Center for Contemplative Leadership) twenty-three months ago. I had a private corner office with stunning views of the Dallas Arts District and we enjoyed a hall you could roller skate on or have a mean game of bowling. We never did that, but we thought about it.<br />
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This is my seventh office in twenty years at the museum.<br />
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My First office was at the Front Desk. I sat there for a year. This was one of my favorite offices I've had: direct contact with our visitors truly on the pulse of the museum activity.<br />
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The second was on the first floor just off of the then Japanese Gallery: a tiny house for five employees. Great views of Flora Street and all of the activity there. Once I looked out at saw a car that looked like my Isuzu Rodeo being towed on a Friday at 4:30. Turns out it was my Isuzu Rodeo. It was a long weekend until I could retrieve it. We laughed until we cried.<br />
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We expanded that space and created an office for the Director: in 2002 it became mine. (Third.)<br />
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Then we turned that space into the Lotus Shop: always growing and creating larger space inside of space. We moved up to the 31st Floor for our Fourth office home. It felt too far away and for a spell I was in the First Lotus Shop just off the front desk. It was tough to be so "exposed" --I was bombarded with too much information. It had a large sliding glass door that closed me in like a cell. This was my Fifth office.<br />
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Next, after the opening of the Performing Arts Center, now the AT&T Performing Arts Center we moved into their former preview space on the mezzanine of Trammell Crow Center. Office number six. This was a period of remarkable growth: a large shared office area with our first conference room and kitchen. Next we expanded to add a library and a larger conference room. It was a sweet suite and with each move we felt we grew up a little more.<br />
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And then, two years ago, with generous support from our Landlords, we were invited to take a large space on the 35th floor: the original Trammell Crow Office space that opened here in 1984. It's rumored my sprawling corner office was also Trammell S.'s office back in the day. Good karma. We loved it up here: Corgan completed a stunning renovation. LA-based artist Amanda Giacomini was commissioned to paint a mural of 10,000 Buddhas in her continuing series. We held a very sacred puja when we opened the office. Seven was heaven. Literally.<br />
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I learned about a new ecosystem: what the world looks like from the 35th floor. I watched traffic and tracked emergency vehicles to make sure they weren't coming to the museum. I watched Care Flight go back and forth from Baylor to Children's Medical. I studied the renovations of the Cathedral, the roof of the Meyerson and the construction of Flora Lofts and the Hall Project(s). It is a completely different world up here. I did a lot of work whilst in Suite 3550, too. This was the Design Center for our Big Vision to become part of the University of Texas at Dallas. I am sitting, here for just a few more moments in the room where it happened.<br />
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And Monday I will be in a new room in my Eighth Office. It will be a place of designing our future museum for the Campus at UT Dallas: a place of building new futures for the museum so much farther beyond what we have known--even as I sit 35 stories in the sky. Vision can happen anywhere. And it's not the offices you sit in that matter: it's the people you choose to spend those hours with and the dreams you go for.<br />
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So, goodbye Seventh Office in the Sky. May our inspirations that happened here carry forward for the next inhabitants. And I know that ultimately the sky never leaves me. </div>
Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5083902491817072715.post-49323503716680091142019-02-17T15:08:00.001-08:002019-02-18T09:01:54.380-08:00What the Moon Saw and Other Secrets of White Rock Lake <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When I was growing up my Mom had a book by Brian Goldsmith: What the Moon Saw. It was a book for learning concepts of "heavy" and "light"; "long" and "short"; "weak" and "strong" through a dialogue with the Sun. I always thought it was puzzling to think about what the moon "Saw" because the last line of the book was how there was one thing the Moon never saw: the Sun.<br />
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I don't think it's true actually, because the moon's light comes from the Sun. It was the first time I realized an author can say anything. And the Moon sees everything.<br />
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Today has been a sad day. For almost two weeks I've been watching the news story about a young couple that left their car just after midnight, with the doors open just a few hundred feet from the shore of White Rock Lake, and on the other side, just a few hundred feet from where we live. Weltzin (the young lady) filed a restraining order against her estranged boyfriend two weeks before they abandoned the car.<br />
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In the days following their disappearance the woman's sister posted flyers on the telephone poles on our street. I don't think I've ever seen a flyer for missing persons in our neighborhood. Their smiling faces: as once a happy couple, parents of children, haunted me.<br />
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It rained one night and the paper signs dripped away from the tape. Their images disappeared, too.<br />
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For a few days we saw "police activity" around the woods between our house and the lake. I started following "Help Us Find Weltzin" on social media: a page started by her hopeful sister. I watched the interviews of her mother.<br />
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Last weekend they took the rescue boats out into the water. What do they know? I wondered. I prayed they wouldn't find anything. It was a very cold and wet weekend. I tried not to think about the divers. Work no one wants to do: honorable, compassionate work.<br />
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This morning I heard the helicopters before I saw them. They hovered too long for it to be a passing interest. I went to the feed: "Body pulled from White Rock Lake. Rescuers Boat Capsizes During the Retrieval". Her sister wrote in big black letters on the "Help Us Find Weltzin" Facebook Page: "Please people stop speculating: IT'S NOT MY SISTER".<br />
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There were rumors of a fisherman. Not Weltzin or her husband Alfonso Hernandez. And now a few hours later: the body is confirmed to be that of Alfonso Hernandez. It's impossible to think about it, but it happened just over the "sledding hill" of our Lakewood home. And this discovery is just half and none of the mystery. Only the moon knows what happened on that dark night.<br />
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The Moon and the Lake have to see a lot of things that are unimaginable. I am sitting with this weekend--the veracity of truth. Yes, the lake is a beautiful organism: luminous at sunrise, a moment I have captured thousands of times. The Lake is an organism and organisms can't always be beautiful. To be alive is to live in truth. But those grasses are also the grasses someone stumbled through while no one was watching: the same grasses I walk often. Under the same moon.<br />
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This reminds me of a line from a Mary Oliver poem: "I don't know what a prayer is" and in this case I don't know to pray for the man pulled from the lake, alleged to have hurt her? To pray for their children and parents? To pray for her sister who spends her days fighting still hoping Weltzin will be found alive? I'll pray for all of them: sit for a few minutes for each of them: for the police, the detectives, the boat rescuers who went into the frigid waters today. I'll pray that those working to end domestic violence will be given what they need to keep working to protect the victims. I'll pray the restraining orders work next time. I'll keep on writing and breathing. And looking at the Moon. And Walking with the Lake. May she never be alone. </div>
Amy Lewis Hoflandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227746881302240541noreply@blogger.com1