Tag: Writing

My neighbourhood speaks to me

 

Earlier this week, in Writing from the red chair, I relayed how I have found a bench along Edmonton’s river valley on which to sit and write.  The view is fantastic:

 

As I sit here I can hear the city and nature as well.  In the bottom of the valley, slightly to the left, I can see the river flowing through the city.  I feel the air float by and I can hear bird’s wings as they fly overhead.

Yesterday was a wet day in contract to today’s sun, but the power of sitting here at the edge of the city right in the middle of the city is remarkable.  It is as though the city just wants to tell me all about itself.

When I first came upon this bench I stepped in front of it to enjoy the view and very briefly read the inscription placed on it.

When I finished doing some morning stretching exercised (ITP Kata) and a little meditation on the edge of the bench, I sat in it and talked to myself.  I sorted out that I needed to be able to write here, not just talk.  I resolved to get a notebook a I stood up and prepared to leave.  Then I realized that I had read the inscription on the bench incorrectly.

Here is what it says:

Art is the expression of man’s delight in God’s work.  
 

I thought it said:

Art is the expression of God’s delight in man’s work.  
 

The game my mind played with the words made this little message jump out at me.  I have been musing about how I create the conditions for my creative self to flow freely. It may or may not be ‘art’ per se, but that doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t matter if I believe in God, a higher power, a Spirit, a Creator or the creative Essence of my Self.  These words are powerful.

Art is the expression of our delight in the world.

Art is the expression of our world’s delight in us.

The words are attributed to Bill Lumsden, 1928-1997.  I have neighbours with the surname Lumsden, and while I have no idea if they are related, I can’t imagine that they are not.  I felt as though my very neighbourhood was speaking to me, asking me to look at things and look again.  Take the meaning of something and see if there is even more meaning.

And take great delight in what I find.

And share what I find for your delight.

 

 

Writing from the red chair

I realized last night, as I was falling asleep at 12:05, that I had not posted a blog yesterday.  Since May 1, my commitment has been to post every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  I have done that up until yesterday.

While I violated the specifics of my commitment, the intention was not broken.  I did write yesterday; I just wrote in a different place.  I think I just ended up outsmarting myself.

This last Sunday, while I was sitting on a bench overlooking the McKinnon Ravine in Edmonton, I made a decision to start writing to myself more.  As a way to talk to myself.  I also made a decision on Monday to go and get myself a little red notebook in which to do this.  A little red notebook that conjures a sacred red chair that I played in as a child under a big spruce tree.  A little red notebook in which I will write my Self’s wisdom to me.

Yesterday, I went to get this little notebook.  And last night I spent some time with it, following which I went to bed.  It completely threw me from my “blogging game”.  Totally, but meaningfully, distracted.

So I figure it is only fair to share with you what I was writing last night.

My little red notebook is when and where I choose to settle in and spend some time with myself, allowing the Essence of me to become more apparent to me.  My little red notebook is where I take the time to notice what I am noticing.  It is where I explore synchronicities and wonder at how the universe works.  Much of what pops up either in the little red notebook, or what I write in other places that are in the spirit of the little red notebook will show up in my blog.  I have made a decision to share more writing that is personal in nature, trusting that what I explore within me also has a place in the world outside me.

My intention is to more fully align my inner perspective with how I show up in the world.  The only way to do this is to very explicitly share my inner journey with the outside world, and writing here feels like a wonderful place to do this.  I trust that writing here, sharing what I write while I write it, will help me find others operating on the same ‘frequency’ so that we can join in our explorations together.

I will call this my writing from the red chair.

I was overwhelmed with fun today

A quick post to report that I am not posting anything book or Integral City eLab related today.  It has been a long day and I simply don’t have the jam to get anything very concrete in the blogosphere today.  I offer a simple reflection on my day – and the work that is exciting me.

This morning I worked with a group of 30+ multidisciplinary stakeholders that are endeavouring to work together to create design guidelines for new neighbourhoods. Today was our 6th meeting and we dove into a very detailed review of the work we have been doing.  It is time to see if the work they have accomplished is starting to do what they have set out for it to do.  We spent three, hard hours with the document and I have to say that I love the goodwill of this group of people from various walks of life who are typically in deep conflict working with a shared intention to create a city that serves citizens well.  Each of them are wearing their citizen hats well, working frankly and openly with each other with great respect and dignity.

My other piece of work today was to rewrite a number of the bios for the speakers at the Integral City Expo and eLab taking place September 4-27, 2012.  This is tricky work, taking what someone has written about themselves and cutting the text in half or more.  It was enjoyable to get some time to ‘meet’ the people we are hosting as lecturers, panelists and storytellers.  I am really looking forward to my backstage pass as an interviewer and harvester for the event.

The other thing I tackled today is what I call the platform for my platform.  I recognize that I need to have quite a bit of support to grow my work and its sphere of influence, and my works’ influence on me.  This ended up as a crazy mindmap that generated some fantastic clarity.  I want to engage people for the following roles to support me and my work:

  • an agent
  • an organizer
  • a publisher
  • an implementer
  • a ‘database’r
  • an analyst
  • a strategist

I am overwhelmed with fun today.  I have worked over 12 hours in a day, which I have not done in a long time, and I have not had a moment to build a ‘substantive’ post.

Tomorrow is a new day.  I hope it is just as fun.

 

Nest City on pause until October

I have spent the last three months posting instalments of the first three Chapters of my emerging book, Nest City: The Human Drive to Thrive in Cities.  These first three chapters constitute the first Part One – City Patterns (click here for a recap).  The two remaining parts of Nest City, which focus on how to organize for the emergence of cities and how to integrate our activities for emergence, will be posted beginning in October 2012.

Yesterday’s post articulated the roles I will be playing with for the Integral City eLab in September, which will shift my blogging attention for the next two months.  For August, I will be blogging about the speakers and ideas we will be exploring in the eLab.  For September, I will be blogging about the events and ideas of the eLab itself.

This is a wee reminder that Nest City will be on pause until October.  Also a reminder that the side trip will be full of juicy Nest City-related material.  The side trip will be worth it and  I look forward to sharing it with you.

August – guest blog about Integral City eLab speakers/ideas

September – guest blog Integral City eLab stories

October – back to Nest City blog

_____ _____ _____

Integral City eLab 2012 – Co-creating the Future of the Human Hive will be taking place September 4-27, 2012.  We will be exploring how to design prosperity systems for the human hive.  Please join us if you are interested!

 

My three roles at Integral City eLab

 

For the months of August and September I am taking a break from posting Nest City while I step up my work on an international webinar eLaboratory on cities:

Integral City eLab 2012 – Co-creating the Future of the Human Hive

Integral City eLab is 12 days of webinars from September 4-27 (Tuesday – Thursday each week) and an on-line learning environment to serve as an eLaboratory  to explore how to design prosperity systems for the liveable city.   Our intention is to create the space and place for people across the planet to share and learn of ideas about our relationship with cities.  We will explore big ideas and share stories.  Click here for information on the eLab.

I have three roles in the eLab:

  1. C0-host eLab webinars.   Marilyn Hamilton, David Faber and I will be hosting/facilitating/moderating the 36 eLab sessions.  Some will be formal presentations, others will involve extensive Q and A, while others are designed for participants to explore and share their experiences and stories.
  2. Blog the eLab.  Prior to the eLab I will be writing about the contributions our speakers make to our understanding of cities as whole systems.  During the eLab I will be blogging about eLab stories and making meaning of each day.  I will be creating pieces to head out into the world as well as creating a jumping off points for discussion among eLab participants.
  3. Co-create the spaces and places to make meaning.  With my fellow eLab organizers, we are holding the intention, and creating the structure for personal and collective learning about ourselves and cities.  We are holding this intention for the duration of the eLab and into the future that we can’t see yet.

So for Nest City readers, you will see a shift in focus here.  For the month of August I will be writing about the speakers that are engaged for the eLab.  For the month of September, during the eLab itself, I will be blogging each conference day about meaning I make of the day’s journey.  This will be a juicy side-journey that will provide lots of intelligence to put toward the creation of Nest City and nest cities.

I look forward to sharing the Integral City eLab with you!

 

August – guest blog about Integral City eLab speakers/ideas

September – guest blog Integral City eLab stories

October – back to Nest City blog

 

 

 

 

Monday to Thursday for 3 months

Back in April I made a commitment to myself to post pieces of my unpublished book, Nest City – The Human Drive to Thrive in Cities, here on my blog.  I called it a slow release, posting Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday every week.

It’s now August 1 and I have been sharing my writing publicly here for three months.  I have covered the first three chapters that constitute the first part of Nest City.  I have also covered the three chapters that were the tightest, the most ready to share.

My challenge now is that I know where I am going with this.  But not quite.  The irony of this is striking, for that is what I will next write about in Part 2: that we are entering a new era of organizing for emergence that calls on us to have a destination in mind (chapter 5), but recognize that we can never know exactly where we will be going.  This is an uneasy journey (Chapter 4).  The truth is, we will never know exactly where we will end up anyway.  The future is emerging (Chapter 6).  Our work as we organize ourselves, at any scale, is about tapping into known and unknown possibilities.

So as I start to flesh out these next four chapters here, publicly, I acknowledge that I know how the chapters will be organized and the ideas they will explore. What I don’t know is what exactly will come up as I write them. What new ideas will emerge?  What will I learn about myself as I write?  What will I learn about my city as I write?  What will I learn about city patterns as I write.

I fully anticipate that I will find things along the way that will cause me to reorganize my thinking and my work.  And then I will be in a mental scramble to figure out how to make my new understanding fit into the framework of chapters I have created. I may find that I have to reorganize the chapters as I am thinking about them.  My declared destination may even have to change.

I am in the middle of a learning journey that has a destination that may change along the way.  Learning always comes with tension, so my goal is to keep the tension in play always, and notice what the tension is and see where it is pulling me.  (It always pulls me somewhere I need to go, even if I do not want to.)

New ways of thinking, making and doing new things are always emerging.  I aim to notice.

Retreat results

Last Wednesday I headed into a writing retreat.  I popped back out into the world Sunday afternoon feeling satisfied with the time I spent with myself, exploring our evolutionary relationship with cities and the reasons for whichI am compelled to do this work.

Strawberry Creek Lodge is in a beautiful setting in aspen parkland – full of the genus populus, after which my company is named.  I love to spend time outside, so I took my tent and set up camp on the edge of a meadow, on a bluff overlooking strawberry creek a hundred feet below.  The view from my tent was impeded by the forest growth crawling up the bank.  Yet despite the visual obstacle, I knew what was on the other side – a beautiful view.

I learned that I need a good night’s sleep in order to be able think and write clearly.  In the end, I spent only two nights in the tent, bookending the summer solstice.  I learned that while I am writing, it is absolutely critical for me to have a good night’s sleep.  Waking up at 4:40 am and working from 5-8am before breakfast and then being so tired to have to sleep until noon is not a recipe for success with my body.  Sleep in split shifts is not helpful. I chose then to sleep in my room in the lodge and make treks out to my tent to think about my writing.

It feels good to just sit and write.   it was a great way to mark the transition into summertime.

My accomplishments:

  1. I completed and submitted my book proposal to New Society Publishers.
  2. I have organized a bit of a ‘plot’ to guide the next series of posts on evolutionary intelligence.  In July, I will introduce the intelligences for the city articulated by Marilyn Hamilton (Integral City).  In September, my blogging time will be consumed by my participation in the Integral City eLaboratory, an online conference.  You can expect many more details on evolutionary intelligences for the city.  Over the course of August, I will tease out the principles and practices that specifically create the conditions for a  social habitat  that allows for us to integrate our economic life with our physical habitat.
  3. A Nest City Manifesto is coming.  As I conclude the first piece of this book that has a hold of me, I am preparing a 30 page ‘report’ to share with readers.  I will share this freely (literally) with readers in the fall of 2012.
  4. I have updated some of the text on my website.  I have some things to keep adjusting, but I have recognized that it may be time for a refresh of the whole thing.  The truth is, I am not sure what needs to be done on this front.  Comments welcome!
  5. I have rearticulated my business plan and how I wish to spend my time – in my personal and work life – in support of writing and exploring our evolutionary relationship with cities.

Thanks for reading – I appreciate this opportunity to share what I am thinking, finding and writing with all of you.

Here are two great blogs that have shaped several decisions over the last few months: Chris Guillebeau’s unconventional strategies for life, work and travel, and Nina Amir’s How to blog a book.  Enjoy!

A wee solstice manifesto

I woke up this summer solstice morning overlooking Strawberry Creek, 80 km south of Edmonton, to begin a 4 day writing retreat offered by the Writer’s Guild of Alberta.  While I have a wonderful building to work in, I have chosen to sleep in my tent, rather than the building.   Very unusually for me, I was up with the sun today.  My morning practice of awakening my body is complete and I am ready for a day of writing.

I arrived last night, and it has occurred to me that one of the things I am writing is a manifesto for the city – a manifesto that articulates how we can organize ourselves for an unknown future by creating a habitat, cities, that serve us well.  It is not lost on me that I have left the city to write about the city, but this is not anomalous.  The city is always in relation with its region, and perhaps being on the edge of the city has a perspective worth taking in.  I suspect it has.

I wonder what I will see as I work beside Strawberry Creek?  What is my wee solstice manifesto for the next few days?

The purpose of my writing is to explore our relationship with cities and how we influence one another.  We create cities and they in return create us.  In this process, I recognize that as I write I will find people who are on the same exploration.  I write for folks on the same learning journey.

As I write, I will give everything away.  Writing here, publicly, I commit to hold nothing back.  I will share what I find, whether that be in the form of questions, new information and ideas, sketches, poems, links, guest bloggers, videos, and the like.  I will collect, synthesize and share.

I wish to bring people together to talk about cities and what we are building for ourselves.  I am formulating more precisely what I mean by this as I write.  Over the course of this retreat, I will:

  1. Finalize my latest book proposal for publication.  I will send this proposal to New Society Publishers by Monday, June 25, 2012.
  2. Prepare material in advance so I can continue Nest City posts every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday throughout the summer.
  3. Determine the “products” I can offer my readers for free.  As I wrap up part 1 (Chapters 1-3) shortly, there may be a synopsis piece I can create for readers.
  4. Figure out how to refresh this website to accurately reflect the work I am doing now.
I have a post complete and the bell has just rung for breakfast.  This is a day unlike any other.

 

 

 

My own work snuck up on me

 
 
Yikes!

That is the message I left in my manuscript to describe Chapter 3 – The Thriving Impulse.   Chapters 1 and 2 had been written and rewritten over and over again, leaving them in a state that seemed to make turning the text into smaller chunks for blog posts relatively easy.  I had to rewrite and reorganize things, but the frame was in place.

I am getting organized to start blogging Chapter 3.  Funny that the guiding text for Chapter 3, from John O’Donohue’s blessing, For the Time of Necessary Decision, is this:

For time gathers its moments secretly.

Time does gather its moments secretly.  I thought it was a scary chapter, though now when I look at it after a few months, the emerging outline seems clear.  My own work has snuck up on me over time.  I have a frame on which to hang the next series of posts:

  1. What is evolutionary intelligence?
  2. How does evolutionary intelligence shape the city?
  3. What are the protocols and practices for an evolving, emerging city?
 Phew.
 
 

Nest City in three parts

The overall frame for Nest City is John O’Donohue’s blessing, The Time for Necessary Decision.  The chapters of the book follow the trajectory of the blessing by moving from seeing patterns (Part 1), to the organizing patterns we create in cities (Part 2) and the ways to integrate our organizing patterns to achieve cities that serve us well (Part 3).

In the column to the right of each post, if you click on “Categories” you will be able to navigate to all the posts in a Part or Chapter of the book.  I have categorized the most recent posts that form Chapter One – The City Impulse, and I have sorted out the older posts into Chapters as well.  Please feel free to explore and comment.

Here is the gist of each Part (and group of corresponding chapters):

  1. Part One – City Patterns builds a broad foundation for my argument: cities build evolutionary capacity.  The foundational ‘impulse’ patterns are introduced, explaining why cities exist, how they are created and the underlying values that evolve within and with us as our cities grow and develop.
  2. Part Two – Organizing for Emergence explores the organizing patterns of humans as we create and live in cities.  We set plans to reach a destination.  We experience uncertainty along the way.  Then a whole new and unexpected future comes to pass.  The first level of city “nestworks” are presented.
  3. Part Three – Nest City integrates the three elements of destination, journey and emergence presented in Part Two.  This is a second level of city “nestworks”, cog-like features of the nest city: city making, civic practice, city emerging and a sweetspot at the heart of city nestworks.

The next series of posts originate from Chapter Two – The Planning Impulse and focus on the impulse within us to “plan” our cities.  Are our cities actually planned?