Who Do We Choose To Be?: Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity

Instead of coining a new word, what about those good old-fashioned words like lying, deceit, manipulation?

How can joy be available in moments of great suffering? All around you lives are threatened, unstoppable destructive forces are at work, everyone is stretched beyond physical limits to help, rescue, save. For the rest of their lives, people will recall the intensity and horror. And the joy.

Any incident is an extraordinary opportunity for learning, not only relevant to the incident, but also about the organization’s culture. How well did we communicate? Where did trust or distrust factor in? Were our values evident in our behaviors?

Living systems are learning systems.

This maelstrom of fake and manipulated identities is only possible because we seem unable to find any other basis for self-identification.

The two skills of the warrior are compassion and insight. Compassion is easy—it arises spontaneously from an open heart. Insight or discernment requires more skill. We have to choose our battles. Or wording that in less aggressive terms, we have to discern where we can be most effective. Good thinking is required. Understanding the opposition is re

Life’s surprises aren’t surprising—we just weren’t paying attention to the right things.

Globally, suicide is the second-leading cause of death in young people, aged 15–29. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that each year approximately one million people die from suicide, a global mortality rate of 16 people per 100,000 or one death every 40 seconds. It is predicted that by 2020 the rate of death will increase to one every

Developing a stable mind is the core work of training oneself to be a warrior. There is no other way to prepare oneself for the difficulties, tragedies, and insanity that will continue to escalate. We can’t change this world, but we can change ourselves so that we can be of service to this world.

As the ecologists have noted: nature bats last.