CFC Blog #299: Time

On April 26th, six years ago, my sisters and I lost our dad. As I've written about in my own writings, he was someone who always tried to be present with others. He was there for us every chance he could be, fully present with listening ears wide open. In Christina's blog below, she reminds me of the power of listening to understand rather than respond. And that even a seemingly small moment or interaction shared with someone else can be a valuable one, as one's time and attention can't be borrowed. Christina - thank you for your awareness and your expression of gratitude here.

- Amanda

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Christina PosaComment
CFC Blog #275: "I've gotten really good at being depressed"

When she sent this over, Christina said she didn’t think it was “fitting with the times” right now, since things are opening up and feeling “lighter/brighter”. That may be so, and in the same moment I have the opposing thought that there are likely still many beings working through this same experience she describes… but perhaps can’t find the words to express it. What I find remarkable is her thought of consciously accessing the same mental mechanism that allows thoughts to pass in their own time, and speeding it up, manually. It’s my hope that sharing these kinds of “shameful” thoughts, and working to find ways forward, together, continues to move more mainstream.

- Corey

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Christina PosaComment
CFC Blog #268: Wondering As A Part of Healing
CFC Blog #268: Wondering As A Part of Healing

I recently learned about Thanatology - the study of death and the practices around it. (So named after the Greek personification of death.) Death isn’t something I’d spent much of my life thinking about. It’s a natural thing, but only happens to other people - and I was young. When my grandmother and great uncle passed away last year, it was sad but okay - they‘d been in their bodies for 90+ years. It wasn’t until Francesca and I experienced an unexpected death (a miscarriage) earlier this year that death really became part of my everyday thinking. Rather than being morbid, I find these thoughts give me a sense of relief… to know the great mystery is an experience everyone shares.

- Corey Loftus

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Danielle PosaComment
CFC Blog #265: Disappointment Lessons

Muayyad wrote a piece back in September including a list of his personal and professional aspirations, deeply reflecting on how there is always room to improve and grow on an individual level and what that means to him. (Link to piece)

Now, Muayyad has written yet another self-reflective piece below where he highlights his assessment of one specific intention from his self-portrait through recent experiences. I love that Muayyad so willingly shares bits and pieces of this introspective journey, and what he personally does to strive for his goals and yearnings. And I can surely relate in that sometimes, it simply takes writing about the journey to converge all the thoughts together and see them more clearly and objectively.

- Amanda

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Muayyad Al-ChalabiComment
CFC Blog #258: I Am Enough

Speaking words out loud has always felt powerful to me, whether through mantra, affirmations, or song. I remember a Hypnotist friend of mine once shared the idea that it’s not linguistic happenstance that to “spell” means how to construct words, and also to cast magic.

I hope you enjoy this simple and powerful piece of auto-magic (auto meaning casting it on yourself). Thanks, Kurt!

- Corey

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Kurt PeloquinComment
CFC Blog #255: A Year in Review
CFC Blog #255: A Year in Review

To kick off the first week of January, I asked a small group of CFC members if they'd be willing to share about what they do to reflect on and/or prepare for the new year and a fresh start. My sister Christina and I had been discussing the rituals we partake in usually on the very last day of the year, so then I was curious to extend the conversation and hear others' intentional practices as well. Therefore as the first month of 2021 comes to a close, here are some of the thoughtful responses I received and am sharing with you below!

- Amanda

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CommunityComment
CFC Blog #251: Small Steps & We'll Play Tomorrow

One of my most prized possessions is a letter my Grandpop wrote to me when I graduated high school. It was hot off the press of his personal typewriter, made wonderfully unique by the imperfectly set letter here and there, and his flowing signature at the end. It contained so much of the affection and wisdom he didn’t, or couldn’t, express to me through words. I love Jack’s practice he describes here, an updated version of what I experienced. I find it so beautiful when one person’s practice not only helps their own transformation into a new stage of being, but also serves to create connection and deeper understanding for others, too.

- Corey

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Jack ElkinsComment
CFC Blog #247: The Way the Cards Fell

I have been lucky enough to work alongside Jayme (physically! ... before Covid) in Manhattan a couple years back, and to get to know her and see her beautiful work in graphic and layout design. Her efforts in this area have greatly contributed to making our CFC website more user-friendly, organized, and appealing to the eye. Now, she has even written a 60-second thought for our community!

Quick backstory on this - I had asked Jayme if she would share a grateful-themed anti pet peeve. She responded back with something truly moving and wonderfully-written, and I loved her personal story and the message behind it. So I asked if she would expand on it a bit more. And she immediately did! I hope you enjoy this blog from Jayme.

-Amanda

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Jayme MarkusComment
CFC Blog #234: "How Are You?"

One of the new skills I’ve been practicing since COVID is learning a third language. While I’m getting better at putting basic sentences together in Japanese, I’m still far off from making intentional choices that take the connotation and energy of each word into account, like I do in English. My favorite linguistic learning so far is how there are certain phrases to say in certain social situations. The call/response of entering a shop, or announcing you’ve arrived home are set phrases that everyone speaks and responds to, almost robotically. I love the American ones we have in English that Joe touches on in this piece. It reminds me that the words I say are but one small part of my communication, their true meaning is colored by the energy and emotion I transmit as I send them out.

Note: Joe mentions hygge, about which our friend Rob Rose wrote a piece on earlier this year. It’s linked here if you dig the idea and want to read more.

http://www.cvcommunityforchange.org/robert-rose-1/2020/4/17/cfc-blog-59-finding-hygge-in-our-work

- Corey

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Joe BruzzeseComment
CFC Blog #231: Embracing the Full Spectrum of the Human Experience

Bill’s beautiful piece reminds me of just how interconnected our world is. How crazy is it that one could witness birth and death in the same day? Hold space - as Bill describes himself doing here - for both deep joy and deep mourning within the span of hours?

I have been clinging to a phrase recently: “grief is ultimately love with nowhere to go.” While life is not a zero sum game, it strikes me how fluid experiences can be, how amorphous our emotions - especially at a time in history like this. It is often embracing this fluidity and having an open heart and mind (something I was thinking about two years ago when I was transitioning to grad school) that I know helps me weather the inevitable ups and downs of life.

- Lauren

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Eric HopkinsComment
CFC Blog #229: Justice / Just us

I, along with a couple other members of the CFC, recently received this poem LIVE (spoken out loud on Zoom) from our friend Kurt Peloquin, sent to him by the author (his friend). It had the remarkable effect of clearing my mental story, and RE-MINDing me of how much feels possible in my life when I make the conscious choice to ACT from a sense of belonging to a JOY-focused community.

Perhaps this poem might affect you, too.

-Corey

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Didier SylvainComment
CFC Blog #228: My Self Portrait

In reading Muayyad’s reflection on performance I’m reminded of the Boy Scout oath I would repeat at pack and troop meetings so long ago. It was something we learned by rote, fully memorized, and would repeat as part of the ritual of every gathering. Although most of us (myself included) did it as a perfunctory performance, I do believe hearing and saying them so frequently did wire us to hold ourselves to a higher standard. I’ve been in performance reviews where there were clear KPIs to hit, and it was a clear PASS/FAIL. What I like so much about Muayyad’s self portrait is his idea that what I’m good and bad at is a DYNAMIC thing, it’s situational, and NOT a linear progression. When I was younger, maxims sometimes seemed trite, but the longer I spend in this existence, the more I think they better encompass the fullness of the human expression.

- Corey

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Muayyad Al-ChalabiComment
CFC Blog #220: Wanting

The acronym FOMO (F.ear O.f M.issing. O.ut) started it all. Then came its counter state, JOMO (J.oy O.f M.issing. O.ut). Of course, these two states have always existed, but perhaps before the spread of these terms through social media (the very format that can easily create the first one) were never able to be expressed so succinctly before, nor were felt by so many. I can easily tag a number or moments in life when I’ve felt each one. What I find really fascinating about the human experience is times when you can have two feelings, or feel two emotions at the exact same time.

This piece captivates me, even after multiple reads. Christina’s ability to separate from space-time to consider all the particular wants she feels in such fine detail is remarkable. What is most notable is how she expresses when her feelings of Want arise, their opposite often also comes up almost immediately after. Sometimes all that’s necessary is a clearer thought of what we think we want to realize it isn’t what we really need. There’s something else. And something else. Of course, there’s also the added complexity of understanding if something is a Want or a Need, but I believe most humans have become pretty clear on that difference in these past number of months in a global pandemic.

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Christina PosaComment
CFC Blog #219: Stewardship vs Monetization

I remember years ago Pip and Brynne had me consider/brainstorm what easy-on and easy-off ramps might look like for community members' involvement in businesses or organizations. While listing a plethora of these easy on/off ramps, I then remember thinking about the importance and also the impact of keeping freedoms in place for the customer, and how just having that freedom affects the relationship as well as customer turn-over. JP discusses these notions in the podcast linked below... and challenges me to think about what becoming a steward of relationships really entails. He also inspires me to think about the significance of building society and humanity for resilience, especially amidst the unpredictable times we are living in currently. I personally think the global pandemic has been an eye-opener for myself and perhaps many business leaders and employees to more deeply ponder the value of having and nurturing trusting relationships in the workplace and how just realizing these relationships are an asset is a stewarding function. I hope you enjoy listening to JP's insights, as well as personal stories and interesting connections to his own life!

Thank you, JP, Brynne, and Pip for putting this together!

-Amanda

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JP RangaswamiComment
CFC Blog #216: Waking up with the World

Though I definitely don't wake up at 5:30am, I can feel and hear exactly what my sister joyfully experiences at the break of dawn on a daily basis. Her poetic words walk me through a calm yet lively morning. It's amazing how having the right start to the day can set you up to experience life with a refreshed mind and revived soul.

I’ve loved becoming a morning person myself over the last couple years. It’s become a time where I’m most conscious of my mindset, my physical body, my feelings, my spirit and my inspirations.

Christina’s writing also reminds me of the importance of cherishing good health for all the ways it allows me to experience this gratifying natural world that stretches vastly outside our windows each day. Thank you for sharing this powerful blog, Christina.

- Amanda

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Christina PosaComment
CFC Blog #215: The Well of Reciprocity

I am so excited to share a first blog from our good friend, Regina Anderson!

I often remind myself “you can’t pour from an empty cup” when I struggle to justify taking breaks or practicing self-care - and I love how Regina’s idea of “the well of reciprocity” uses a similar metaphor to talk about professional relationships - and with some practical ideas for pathways forward! The term “reciprocity” was what stuck out to me the most and reminded me of the Desmond Tutu quote the we tend to reference often:

"I am because you are, and you are because I am; that indeed a person is a person only through other persons."
This seems to be especially important in a workplace setting where you are working on a team trying to achieve a set of goals - and I love the image of a company having a culture where people are able to refill their wells when they feel like they are running dry. A kind of collective compassion. Thank you, Regina.

-Lauren

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Regina AndersonComment
CFC Blog #211: Podcast: - Joy X PS Kitchen

Pip, Brynne, and I had the privilege of sitting down (virtually) with April Tam Smith, founder of PS Kitchen, a few weeks ago to talk to her about the mission of the nonprofit restaurant she founded with her husband, Graham, only a few short years ago. I’ve gotten to know April very well - first through her partnership with Restore NYC and now through the Community for Change - but I love how every time I talk to her, I seem to learn new incredible stories. Whether you have been to PS Kitchen before and know April’s story, or if this is a new name for you, I am sure you’ll take away something new in this podcast (you may or may not learn how Graham proposed to her, and you may or may not want to have a tissue hand). Check it out below!

PS (ha!) - PS Kitchen was recently featured for their work during COVID-19, helping staff stay employed and help feed essential workers on the frontlines: https://abc7ny.com/food/neighborhood-eats-nyc-restaurant-donates-10025-of-its-profits-/6244682/

- Lauren

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April Tam SmithComment
CFC Blog #206: A Peek Inside My Crazy Mind

I jumped in quickly to write a lead in ahead of Amanda because, wow, I found this awesome!

Thank you for this gift, Christina…wow. (And the four Posa sisters continue lighting up the world!)

I have…

...just one COMPLAINT…

…the title…

I would love for the sequel – I want there to be a follow-up or two! - to be titled “Inside My Typical Mind” while this one "Inside My Crazy Mind” suggests that your mind is, in some fashion, many standard deviations away from our own in how it works!

What a gift this piece is, Christina! I thought of a quote about “our crazy minds” that resonated with me about five years ago and is one that I cherish so deeply on my journey:

“To the extent that you stand in your own shoes and love yourself with all your craziness is the degree you can understand the craziness and confusion of others… and something happens: you are no longer afraid of people…” - Ani Pema Chodron

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Christina PosaComment
CFC Blog #204: Decision Making

During one of the sessions at our annual Sundance gathering a few weeks ago, our friend Rudy Karsan offered up that he has only learned three things in his life. This caught our attention for two reasons. The first - if you know Rudy, you know he is so full with wisdom, and so to hear him say he has only learned a few things in his life made us all say, “wait…what??”

But the second was the #1 thing he learned - to trust his gut. To drill down deeper, Pip and Brynne recorded a podcast with Rudy on what he means by this - what is the gut? What is it made up of? How do you learn to trust it when it comes to making decisions, big and small? 

We are sharing the podcast, fully of Rudy’s wisdom, with you below! 

- Lauren

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Rudy KarsanComment
CFC Blog #201: Anti-Pet Peeve Montage
CFC Blog #201: Anti-Pet Peeve Montage

Twelve years ago this year, Coburn Ventures hosted our first Sundance gathering with a group of investors and ‘wildcards’ or uncorrelated thinkers from different industries. The 2020 Sundance gathering was held last week and it looked…a little different. We kept up a lot of traditions though - including a feature mini film from our friend Laton. Around the 5th or 6th Sundance, Pip started tasking Laton with making different video montages connected to different themes like disruption, change, or 'seeing what you can’t actually see.' This year, Pip asked Laton to make a video about anti-pet peeves - and it was too fun not to share with the whole Community for Change. 

Thanks, Laton! The link is below for everyone to join in. 

- Lauren 

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Laton SpahrComment