Wednesday, October 16, 2013

The Show Must Go On - Sustainability Begins with You


I picked a terrible time to run a campaign to 'bring the world home' and share my 'story of sustainability from south of the border.'

I’ve been back from Peace Corps Mexico for 7 months, and I felt finally ready to come out of my shell and get re-engaged in my ‘new DC life.’

So I launched my Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 5th – it felt urgent – and I gave myself a month to raise $15,000 in an all-or-nothing all-out effort.

But no one (perhaps only the special select few) in Washington wants to hear it right now.

They ask:  How can we help others if we cannot even help ourselves?!

Exactly. This is one of the messages of my book – and the workshops I’m developing to train leaders to cultivate resilient organizations and teams to create sustainable projects. 

It was a hard lesson for me to learn. It took a year, in Peace Corps Mexico, of challenges and mistakes, heat exhaustion and homesickness, cross-cultural confusion and miscommunication, parasites, corrupt politicians and naysayers, before I realized:

Sustainability begins with me.

The Pyramid Model of SustainabilityI had to let go of my ego, my idea of what Peace Corps service and even sustainable development was supposed to be and, ironically, focus on myself - make some friends, dance the Huapango, eat the móle (the sauce not the animal), conjugate my verbs correctly, and learn to function 'on Mexican time'…if I was going to have any hope of enduring and being of service.

That’s when this model emerged in my mind – the Pyramid Model of Sustainability. It became the basis for my work in the communities, and it’s the organizing principle for my book.

Once I got it, then I able to move to the Level 2 of the Pyramid of Sustainability - working por, para y con la gente - by for and with the people of my community to create change.  

So what about you? What can you do right down, during this shutdown, to make a difference in your own life and in your community?  It’s a time of fear – where notions of the way things should have broken down. 

How do you turn a breakdown into a breakthrough?

Maybe it's time to take-up yoga, commit to that exercise routine you’ve always set aside because of work demands, discover some new strength within yourself to cope, even fight?

Perhaps it’s time to gather your co-workers and plant yourselves on the steps of the Capitol.  Yelling (not at your TV) may be cathartic. How about those War Vets who’ve been protesting the all week at the WWII memorial, protesting the VA's shudown and lack of services?

Or take a day to volunteer at Martha’s Table, like my friend Chantelle, a furloughed worker from HHS, who was then graced by a surprise visit by the President. Here they are making sandwiches together?

Small actions can lead to sweet surprises.

Take one TODAY.

Because sustainability really does begin with YOU.




The Show Must Go On - Sustainability Begins with You


I picked a terrible time to run a campaign to bring the world home and share my story of sustainability from south of the border.

I’ve been back from Peace Corps Mexico for 7 months, and I felt finally ready to come out of my shell and get re-engaged in my ‘new DC life.’

So I launched my Kickstarter Campaign on Oct 5th – it felt urgent – and I gave myself a month to raise $15,000 in an all-or-nothing all-out effort.

But no one (perhaps only the special select few) in Washington wants to hear it right now.

They ask:  How can we help others if we cannot even help ourselves?!

Exactly. This is one of the messages of my book – and the workshops I’m developing to train leaders to cultivate resilient organizations and teams to create sustainable projects. 

It was a hard lesson for me to learn. It took a year, in Peace Corps Mexico, of challenges and mistakes, heat exhaustion and homesickness, cross-cultural confusion and miscommunication, parasites, corrupt politicians and naysayers, before I realized:

Sustainability begins with me.

The Pyramid Model of SustainabilityI had to let go of my ego, my idea of what Peace Corps service and even sustainable development was supposed to be and, ironically, focus on myself - make some friends, dance the Huapango, eat the móle (the sauce not the animal), conjugate my verbs correctly, and learn to function 'on Mexican time'…if I was going to have any hope of enduring and being of service.

That’s when this model emerged in my mind – the Pyramid Model of Sustainability. It became the basis for my work in the communities, and it’s the organizing principle for my book.

Once I got it, then I able to move to the Level 2 of the Pyramid of Sustainability - working por, para y con la gente - by for and with the people of my community to create change.  

So what about you? What can you do right down, during this shutdown, to make a difference in your own life and in your community?  It’s a time of fear – where notions of the way things should have broken down. 

How do you turn a breakdown into a breakthrough?

Maybe it's time to take-up yoga, commit to that exercise routine you’ve always set aside because of work demands, discover some new strength within yourself to cope, even fight?

Perhaps it’s time to gather your co-workers and plant yourselves on the steps of the Capitol.  Yelling (not at your TV) may be cathartic. How about those War Vets who’ve been protesting the all week at the WWII memorial, protesting the VA's shudown and lack of services?

Or take a day to volunteer at Martha’s Table, like my friend Chantelle, a furloughed worker from HHS, who was then graced by a surprise visit by the President. Here they are making sandwiches together?

Small actions can lead to sweet surprises.

Take one TODAY.

Because sustainability really does begin with YOU.




Friday, October 4, 2013

On Confidence ~ The Warrior vs. The Worrier



The other night at a party, over dolmades and champagne (realizing Goal 1 of my Vision!), a friend asked me:  How do you just go for things, Anne? You really put yourself out there. You must be so confident.  I have this great idea; but I have so many doubts.  

The truth is:  I have loads of doubts. On a daily basis I question myself:  Who am I to be writing a book?  Shouldn’t I be looking for a *real* job? Maybe I SHOULD have stayed in Mexico.

I have learned over time to notice that little voice, the Worrier, not the Warrior that I really am. I thank the Worrier for its concern. It’s trying its best to keep me in the safe status quo where ‘I belong.’  Then I go back to my vision and proceed forward.  Vamos adalante, as the Mexicans say, forward we go.

Your vision will serve you. If you have progressed through the visioning steps with mindfulness and sincerity, from conception of ideas, to formulating and sharing, to committing to action, your Vision becomes a force bigger than Doubt and Worry. You can glance at it from time to time if you like.  But you will find, without scrutinizing it and checking off boxes, you are REALIZING it.

Like me in Rock Creek Park last weekend.  I was running on the dirt path,  alongside the babbling stream, beneath the canopy of trees, in the oppressive humidity. And suddenly it hit me: I’m doing just what I dreamed of for my new DC life.  I’m back in on the Rock Creek trail, hopping piles of manure, dumping sweat, acclimatizing to life in the swamp, and feeling... happy. In the afternoon, I was meeting my sangha to discuss a new book we were reading on The Power of Meditation. And I was reviewing contracts for a new green roof.

In those moments, give yourself a pat on the back. Whether you have a coach or not, you learn to become your own biggest supporter. Celebrating accomplishments is part of the game.

And back to my friend’s question about Confidence.

Each blog story I write, complete, and post breeds more commitment and diffuses the doubt.  Sure, I still have moments, hours, days of questioning.  But I forge ahead despite it.  The Warrior says to the little Worrier:  Thanks for sharing; now kindly eff*@#%-off.   
Perhaps Confidence, or better yet, Courage is a muscle you build, a byproduct of again and again pushing through the fears and noticing:  my Vision is coming true!  

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

The Beauty of Transitions ~ Beginner's Mind



That’s what I’ve got, being back in the *first world*, hometown DC, after two and a half years away - Beginner's Mind - the sweet side of Transitions. Everything that was once old has a shiny new sheen, like the Greek medallion necklace that sat in my jewelry box in storage for these last couple of years. I pull it out and clasp it on; it’s dazzling, doesn’t even need polishing, ensembles well with the khaki blazer I liberate from dry-clearer plastic and a pair of brand new strappy ComfortOne sandals I never had a chance to wear before shipping off to the Peace Corps. 

What a change from Chocos. I feel elegant and ready for happy hour on the New U, which finally lives up to its name.  The neighborhood has exploded with life, trendy, spendy, way-too-cool-for-school youts, loud-talkers, hill-walkers. I really can't afford a teeny-ini cocktail in this part of town on a post-Peace Corps Volunteer salary of zero and a well-honed rural Mexican ‘codo’ (el cheapo) mindset.  I’m used to 15 pesito cervezas (a little over a buck a beer) at Rita’s bar, my local Rioverde watering hole. Though until I met Rita, I wasn’t exactly welcomed into the cantinas – for men and ‘mala mujeres’ (i.e., prostitutes) only.  So I was confined to drinking my cerveza and an occasional tequila in my Diaz Rincon, my tiny apartment on the edge of town.

That made my first visit to a bar in my Mt Pleasant neighborhood, my first week back home, something special.  Marx Café was packed that Friday night with men and women, young and old, gay and straight, Latinos and 
 Gringos and even a 100 percent Navajo man named Lamar I got to talking to. Sidling up to the bar and ordering a glass of Malbec from Manny, the Mexican-American bartender, I felt like a real grown-up.  But when the flaming cheese came out, and the entire bar broke into applause, that’s when I felt grateful I was home. 

And there are other little things I marvel over.  The rain!  Sweet, soft, tapping on my roof at night, and the canopy of green that envelops my neighborhood. My runs through Rock Creek Park along the soggy bridle path, across foot bridges, watching red cardinals dart through the forest, hopping piles of horseshit, listening to the rush of the creek, and drinking the moisture into my skin.

How long will these Beginner’s Mind moments last?  I want to hold on to them; but after three months back, I sense that walking-on-air-in-love-with-everything feeling fading. The realities of leaking roofs and stolen iPhones, parking tickets, gluten intolerance, and Whole Paycheck grocery bills snaps me out of my romance.  

And how much rain can I stand?! After the soggiest spring on Washington record, I’m almost pining for the desert again, the prickly pear cactus jutting into cloudless skies, the dull predictability of small town life.
But more than that, I miss my friends Rita and Sergio.  It hit me just how much when I jumped onto Facebook the other night to check messages; and there was Sergio, posting a new entry to his Historias Rioverdences (Rioverde History) page.  Comments were pouring in from friends South of the Border; so I posted my two pesos:  ‘Gracias, Profe Sergio, for your history lessons and antique images. Keep the stories coming. Viva Rioverde!’   

Within seconds there was a message back:  ‘We miss you, Anna!  We’re at Rita’s bar and everyone say hello!’

Huh, to be back in El Fenix with the gang of tomato pickers and muni bureaucrats and car mechanics connecting across the language and culture divide…

Every change requires a loss and a gain – an ending and a new beginning.  Thanks to Beginner’s Mind, on the good days, I'm appreciating the beauty in all of it.