The Day with the Heart

Today was the day I'm celebrating now. Simple, yet profound; full of new people and knowledge, yet very light and natural/free. I feel myself empowered by this day. That simple. So, what was today on Friday?

I slept one more hour, taking the day off at work.
I woke up anticipating the day and smiling.
I drank a glass of water from the well.
I played the Ney and prayed.
I sent the invitation to the Hub Open Club meeting on Feb 4, 2010.
I went to the Conflict Resolution Deep Democracy module (1st day) with Stanford Siver.
There we went through the current conflict at work with a wonderful coach - Dima.
There was a lot of learning points of me. And I took away some quotes from Carlos Castaneda (below).
Then I ran to the Start-up Crash Test to get a sense of what's cooking in this area and meet good friends and new people.
I bought the brie cheese, and the Ukrainian bread.
Back at home, I'm sitting at the laptop with a cup of wonderful hot lime flower tea, enjoying these quotes of Castaneda:

• A warrior chooses a path with heart, any path with heart, and follows it; and then he rejoices and laughs. He knows because he sees that his life will be over altogether too soon.
  
• Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore, a warrior must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if he feels that he should not follow it, he must not stay with it under any conditions. His decision to keep on that path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. He must look at every path closely and deliberately. There is a question that a warrior has to ask, mandatorily: ‘Does this path have a heart?’
  
• A warrior must cultivate the feeling that he has everything needed for the extravagant journey that is his life. What counts for a warrior is being alive. Life in itself is sufficient, self-explanatory and complete. Therefore, one may say without being presumptuous that the experience of experiences is being alive.
  
• If a warrior is to succeed at anything, the success must come gently, with a great deal of effort but with no stress or obsession.
  
• Only as a warrior can one withstand the path of knowledge. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge, and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges. The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.
  
• The most effective way to live is as a warrior. A warrior may worry and think before making any decision, but once he makes it, he goes his way, free from worries or thoughts; there will be a million other decisions still awaiting him. That’s the warrior’s way.
  
• The self-confidence of the warrior is not the self-confidence of the average man. The average man seeks certainty in the eyes of the onlooker and calls that self-confidence. The warrior seeks impeccability in his own eyes and calls that humbleness.

The purity of my language

Beyond all the activities I’ve decided to go to the course on dramaturgy. Yesterday was the first class. There are several answers to “why?”:

• to learn on how to create and tell your story
• to learn to write in the way that keeps me evolving
• to have a stimulus to read more, pay attention to the feelings and outer world, and write/express it better

Lately I’ve started to worry about the purity and quality of my language. I’ve noticed that once I mechanically repeat some set phrases, I roll back, and don’t have an opportunity to move forward. It started to mean a lot to me on what words I use, how I speak. This all affects the inner world. Let alone the external world. Pushkin, the Russian poet once wrote that we never know how our word echoes in the world.

We in Ukraine, with almost 70% of population who speak Russian, have only one national language. This is good for the Ukraine, yet I would dream to have at least 2 national languages. For I realize that I became poorer in terms of language, making mistakes and mingling two languages (plus, adding some English words from time to time). As a result I have no real purity in the way I speak. And somehow it affects my personality. So, I’ve started to mind it, somehow seeing it as an opportunity – to grow as a person, be present and alive.

Are you missing life, lady Y?

Yesterday I put a list of practices for the coming months... and now I realize - I shouldn't miss life by doing it all...

I'm lost a bit, doing a lot of things at the same time, and nothing really deep and specific. But I'm trying to sit with it and enjoy this period anyway - to find the way, finally. Go for what I could't stop going for...

Besides practices I need to set my heart and ears and actions open - to go with the flow of life, and don't write the Divine Plan myself with enourmous efforts, but try to catch the wind and live this Plan of Divine nature...

Staying awake, being connected, going for real - in 2010

What does keep you awake? What is real for you? How do you love actually and live really? What is your source of energy? How do you stay connected to the source, your purpose, your Self, dear people, learning networks of friends, nature and the world? How do you nurture this intricate web of connections?

These are the questions I'm asking myself in the beginning of 2010.

Today in the video with Peter Senge and Russ Ackoff on Systems Thinking Senge mentioned that it's important to have practices in order to learn anything. The same was in Konya during the Rumi's Festival: one can't be Sufi without practicing Zikr (prayer). The same is with the IllustrationFriday that would make a topic for the week and invite designers from all over the world to dive into the weekly challenge - to make a pick for the week.

So, what are the practices that help me be real and stay awake?

• Living and being together with the street photographers in Lviv for several days - allows you to feel what does it mean to be awake, connected, fully present. Especially in the way they interact with people, whoever they are (homeless, old people, children, dogs or cats); finding the places that are not touristic, but very warm and with the human touch; avoiding glamour staff, going for real life, real scenes, real stories, real moments. Sushka from St. Petersburg, and Danya from Kyiv.
• Embracng every interaction as an opportunity to set connection.
• Asking powerful questions - everyday, in the dialogue with the self, and others. Lead conversations that matter - every time.
• Playing Ney, the Persian flute, who is crying of being separated, longing for going back to the roots, for re-connection (from the poem of Mevlana Jalaladin Rumi).
• Jumping into new experiences, going for real relationship, not being content with having knowledge or someone's story about them.
• Learning one poem that speaks to my heart - once a week.
• Playing piano music often (min: twice per week) that helps me open up my senses. Go for playing in the public - to feel the energy of the bigger audience and practice how to dance with it.
• Making one 2-3 min video-scetch per week - around themes that matter (from the street and not only).
• Reading one book ~ bi-weekly.
• Writing one post per week, and personal journal every day.
• Creating monthly insights for social entrepreneurs - within Hub Kyiv (certain topics).
• Organizing Hub Open Club session with real stories and experiences - every two months.
• Inviting friends for creating gatherings - once per month or so.
• Learning facilitation tools - one per week.
• Practicing facilitation - once per month.
• Skyping with friends from the global network - once per week.
• Travelling - once per 2-3 months.
• Growing spiritually...
• Having time for the self (every morning and evening - prayer and dialogue), for the family and bigger family (with Godchildren, and with my own family to be created yet).
• Going for outings that would stretch me and help me find my edges.
• ...

What are your practices? Look forward to learning from you, my dear reader.

What's cooking? The Hub Kyiv

Hey-hey! This is a note to say that the first steps for building the Hub Kyiv with a team of friends are being made: there will be the Start-up Picnic on June 19-21, 2009 in Kyiv.

More information can be found on our webpage, and more news at the Hub Kyiv blog.

We expect Bliss from ImagineChicago, Stine from the Bigger Picture, and Eleanora from the Hub Kings Cross, as well as people from Russia, Belarus, and other cities of Ukraine.

My Adventure in KaosPilot

All the diverse roads and people who I met on my journey led me to the Admission Workshop of the KaosPilot (KP) crazy and creative business school on March 30-April 1. This trip wanted to happen, it was blessed, even though it was quite an investment from my side. I can say now that it was million time worth jumping into it, although many people asked me twice every time I said I came directly from Ukraine only for these three days. Yes, I'm not normal in that sense, but I can recognize myself here.

New people, new personal experience of what KaosPilot really is, puzzles on a personal and team levels, supportive and compassionate attitude of the KP crew and facilitators (even though with stone faces throughout all three days, except the final intimate circle of feedback and reflections with Champaign and cheers), struggles of how to really show myself and the team in the best way (i.e. full potential!) within a short period of time, while being myself, who is not really going for showing off in life whatsoever.

It was one of the rules to keep it all confidential of what happened at the workshop, and I'll not go into details, but I would love to share some key insights, let alone strength and more passion about practicing facilitation skills for the Hub Kyiv:

• In order to be a leader I have to learn to lead myself
• Be proud of myself (even though it sounds strange, maybe - it'd be better to say be proud of my ancestors and of my future children and grandchildren ;)
• Go and practice: "yes... and" type of a reply in any circumstances
• Learn, learn, learn the art of putting the whole of yourself into a short presentation or comment or even word - so that people get to know your core from the beginning
• As it turned out it's easier for me to work in the team of smart people, for otherwise I waste my energy on the arguments about smart solutions and why they are important, rather than contribute to development of smart solutions
• Practice facilitation skills, and processes design, put your creativity on the floor to dance with the given to make a beautiful art-piece
• Remember: it's an art to empower, and it's so easy to disempower - be conscious about the context in which you allow your words/comments/thoughts to come
• Remember: it'd always be disturbing for other people to listen to another point of view from a totally different world, so disturb consciously, yet don't give up doing it
• Deliver my point of view and don't be shy of it
• Be more persistent to avoid people saying "third world" or "underdeveloped" country - it's not compassionate in the end
• Put the shit out of my head, if you want other people to treat you fairly
• Loosen up socially - go and meet people sincerely
• Start it all with high energy and music! Bring your whole self into the floor, be present now, and make the positive waves
• Free up my creativity

As I said the trip was really blessed, not only during the 3 days, but before and after it. Before I had a pleasure to meet with Ole and Natalka in Copenhagen, and then have one day of a trip - to Sweden, and through ferry back to Denmark. After the workshop I accidentally looked up and say Rowan from the KaoPilot Team 12, who lived in the UK and came home with the family for several days. So, I was invited to a great conversation and suppert in their house in Malling suburb. There was a great time... and at 2am I was at the trainstation to head home through Kastrup airport...

The photos will arrive soon.

It's really cooking here...

This is amazing to find out that something reeeeeally special is cooking here in Ukraine... Once you start it you suddenly realize that this is the right time for other like-minded people to kick-off with their ideas, and it's not a matter of one day, they also waited for this time, prepared for it, made the own journey of days, months, and maybe years...

Creative Cities: this is an international project designed by the British Council in order to help raise awareness about the changes that creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation can bring about in cities. It’s about improving people’s lives. The project covers a wide range of issues including: public spaces, arts and social activities, and policy-making.

BigIDEA: the social project of the creative team garage gang (gg}}gg) to create the new generation of civil society. The aim of this project is to strengthen communication among active citizens (young professionals and opinion leaders), inspire their creativity and start the process of social innovation - to bring ideas of social harmony. These will be the ideas of the new world. Watch up the video here.

I'm sure more is cooking... And together with the hub.in.ua team we are starting to map it all out - bringing the bright stories and ideas on the map of Ukraine, so that they are visible and inspirational for us and for others!

... and besides all it turned out that 2009 - is the European Year of Creativity and Innovation: In 2009 imagine, create and innovate! The year aims to raise awareness of importance ofcreativity and innovation for personal, social and economic development; to disseminate good practice, stimulate education and research, and promote policy debate and development.

So, together with the team, we are on the right track... just need smart and creative solutions to add some salt into the pot, and maybe spices... so that all the ideas are linked for synergy.