Moments of Insight • Vol. 1 Issue 11 • August 7, 2020
A Note from Anna, our Founder & Director Send us a Letter We know we cannot be there in person Hey all, I hope you are holding up well, staying positive and testing negative. with you, but wanted to encourage you I’ve loved creating this Newsletter every couple of weeks. Before this, I rarely received a to check-in with us like we do when we hand-written letter from anyone I knew. But since COVID, we get sprinkled with them are together. You know how Anna each week. You all are sharing your art, writing, poetry, and letting us know how you’re usually asks us to state how the week doing amidst this challenging time - thank you! I wanted to share a couple of the has been and share something we've messages we’ve recently received. Once again, the tenacity and resilience of the human spirit never ceases to amaze and inspire. learned? We'd love for you to write it down and send us a note. Here is an excerpt from E.R. who is in the Federal prison in Sheridan and doing well despite his circumstances: Send us a poem or artwork
“At this moment, my state of mind is sound. Here at Sheridan the prison is operating on We would also love for you to share any a modified lock down: 22 hours in cell, 2 hours out. As of today, there hasn’t been any poems, artwork or insights you've had COVID-19 cases since the lockdown began on March 23rd. My spirits are high, my mind that we can include in one of our next is calm, and my health is good. I really do miss the camaraderie that develops during volumes of 'Moments of Insight'. Feel and after the (Insight Alliance) groups begin. I also miss witnessing the shifts in thinking free to share ideas of what you'd like us that occur when the light bulb comes on. I miss hearing the stories about moments a decision is made from a quiet state of mind and how this affects the outcome of a to include in this newsletter as well. seemingly difficult situation. Also, seeing the behavior reflect the calmness from within is most rewarding…... All letters, art and ideas can be sent to: The Insight Alliance …. I give the Insight Alliance all the credit for pointing me in the direction where to find PO Box 820214 such quietness, stillness and presence. Even as life happens, I can find that place…. The Portland, OR 97282 beautiful thing is everybody has access to that very place. Keep your head up my friend. Keep doing the work you do. It’s meaningful and needed. Take care and be safe….”
There are so many messages of hope I would like to share but then this would turn into a book! So, I’ll leave you with an excerpt from a letter I received from a dear woman at Coffee Creek:
“Hello! Just checking in with you from CCCF. Definitely miss class. The fact you send us newsletters and we can watch your webinars on the TV puts smiles on so many faces. I can’t thank you enough for not forgetting us. These are strange and stressful times, but I haven’t forgotten what you teach: my mind is my own. Others’ actions can’t dictate how I feel and I’m OK no matter what. I realize I can always find a reason to smile. The Insight Alliance is brilliant. Everything you do is beautiful. So, don’t ever stop. I’m strong and I got this. Peace”.
Here’s to your strength and your resilience. You got this! Warmest wishes, Anna
THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 01 'Life of a Song' from the Financial Times UK IMAGINE — JOHN LENNON’S SONG BECAME AN ANTHEM FOR TROUBLED TIMES
Coronavirus has done many frightening things to our world, but it has also reactivated something mawkish: the well-meaning celebrity singalong. This arrived in an Instagram post by Wonder Woman actor Gal Gadot, six days into her self-isolation, singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” with other famous friends stuck in their houses (Jamie Dornan, Amy Adams and Norah Jones among them). A few days later, her post had been watched by nearly 9 million people. Many more people commented, positively and negatively, online. British comic Joe Lycett even did a parody video within 24 hours, which began: “Imagine all the bastards…”
“Imagine” splits opinion. For some, it’s a moving peace anthem with universal lyrics. But not everyone’s a fan. Rolling Stone critic Ben Gerson wrote in 1971: “The singing is methodical but not really skilled, the melody undistinguished.” Journalist Julie Burchill dedicated a magazine column to tearing it apart in 2000: “[Its] lyrics could have come out of a stoned fortune cookie or maudlin Christmas cracker.”
“Imagine” was written in early 1971, a strange time in John Lennon’s career. Barely a year after the split of The Beatles, Paul McCartney had just filed a lawsuit to dissolve the YOU READING THIS, BE READY band’s contractual partnership. Lennon had just bought a new piano, spray-painted BY WILLIAM STAFFORD white, for his wife Yoko Ono’s birthday. Soon afterwards, he wrote “Imagine” on it. "Starting here, what do you want to remember? How sunlight creeps along a “Imagine” was inspired heavily by Ono, who used the word in many of her 1960s conceptual art works. The night Lennon met her in London’s Indica Gallery in 1966, he shining floor? What scent of old wood climbed a ladder to look at one of these, “Cloud Piece”. “Imagine a cloud dripping,” ran its hovers, what softened sound from words. “Dig a hole in your garden to put it in.” outside fills the air?
In a 1980 BBC interview, Lennon admitted that Ono should have been given a Will you ever bring a better gift for the songwriting credit. “A lot of it — the lyric and the concept — came from Yoko, but those days I was a bit more selfish, a bit more macho.” In 2017, the credit was changed to world than the breathing respect that Lennon-Ono by the National Music Publishers’ Association in the US. Ono recorded her you carry wherever you go right now? own version, against an ambient backing, in 2018. Are you waiting for time to show you some better thoughts? The lyric “and no religion too” was also influenced by a book Lennon was given, by US comedian Dick Gregory, about positive prayer. “If you can imagine a world at peace, with When you turn around, starting here, lift no denominations of religion… then it can be true,” said Gregory. Not released as a single in the UK until 1975 (to support the greatest hits album, Shaved Fish), “Imagine” this new glimpse that you found; carry eventually spent four weeks at number one in January 1981, shortly after Lennon’s into evening all that you want from this murder. day. This interval that you spent reading or hearing this, keep it for life - In Geoffrey Giuliano’s book, Lennon In America, Lennon described “Imagine” as “anti- religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic… but because it's sugar- What can anyone give you greater than coated, it's accepted.” Covers of it came thick and fast (the website Second Hand Songs lists 402 recorded and live versions). now, starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?"
THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 02 CONTINUED FROM PG 2. Lockdown Diaries (Inspired by the Willamette Week) Unusual versions include one by US rapper Nas in 2006 (later deleted for not having its Lennon sample cleared), and one by jazz legend Herbie Hancock for 2010’s The Imagine Project. Bringing together Pink, Seal and Jeff Beck with Congolese band Konono No.1 and Malian singer Oumou Sangaré, it won a Grammy.
“Imagine” has long been a clarion call for world peace. Former US president Jimmy Carter once said to American network NPR: “In many countries around the world… you hear John Lennon's song ‘Imagine’ used almost equally with national anthems.” Brandon Its final lyrics have a strange resonance in a world ruled by Covid-19: “I hope some Insight Alliance Teacher day you’ll join us/And the world will be as one.” Time can only tell if its sentiment of 1. Occupation: Supervisor/bio hazard tech. hope and unity changes society as much as the pandemic which has inspired it, once I'm an essential worker again, to be sung. 2: Age: 38 3. How Many people do you live with? 1 and From ‘The Havana Lectures’ a 1/2(my daughter is mainly at her BY FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA boyfriend's house)so it's just me and my “Everything that has black tones has duende.” And there is no truth greater. girlfriend. 4. What have you been eating? Whatever I These black tones are mystery itself whose roots are held in the mulch we all know and can get my hands on - I'm a foodie. ignore, but whence we arrive at all that is substantial in art. Black tones, said the 5. What have you been watching, listening popular man from Spain and the contemporary of Goethe (who defines duende when to or playing during quarantine? Peaky speaking of Paganini), are a “mysterious power which everyone feels but which no Blinders, Cursed, Umbrella Academy and philosopher can explain”. lots of movies. My Parent is a Serial Killer podcast So then, the duende is a power and not a method, a struggle and not a thought. I have 6. Have you picked up a new hobby or heard an old guitar teacher say that “the duende is not in the singer’s throat, the resumed an old one? Did a yard makeover duende rises inside from the very soles of one’s feet.” That is to say, it is not a question (still not done...) of ability or aptitude but a matter of possessing an authentic living style; that is to say 7. What's the weirdest thing you've done so of blood, of culture most ancient, of creation to act. This “mysterious power which far? Date night challenge- me and my everyone feels and no philosopher can explain” is in short, the spirit of the girlfriend used each other as human earth. canvasses.
8. When was the last time you were closer The true struggle is with the duende. than 6 feet to someone outside your
The arrival of the duende always presupposes a radical transformation on every plane. household? Everyday. It produces a feeling of totally unedited freshness. It bears the quality of a newly 9. What's your secret to staying sane? created rose, of a miracle that produces an almost religious enthusiasm. Who is really sane in this world, especially with my job?! All art is capable of duende. But the place that it naturally occurs is in music, dance, or 10. What's the first thing you're doing when spoken poetry because they require a living body for interpretation and because they this is over? Throw my damn mask away! are forms that perpetually live and die, their contours are raised upon an exact 11. What has quarantine taught you about presence. yourself? That I'm pretty normal compared to most of the world. Translated by Stella Rodriquez.
THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 03 ‘Don’t Make Decisions Based Solely on Sunk Costs’ QUOTE BY FREDERICK BUECHNER BY CHARLES KINGSLEY, TEACHER AT THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE Years ago I had a rather brilliant girlfriend who had a number of different "Joy is a mystery because degrees and at least one PhD. She was actually a little intimidating in her it can happen anywhere, intelligence, One day I was asking her how she liked her MBA studies and anytime, even under the most degree from University of Michigan. She said she found it largely a waste unpromising circumstances, of time. She then said that she could summarize her whole degree program in a few words: ‘don’t make decisions based solely on sunk costs.’ even in the midst of suffering, with tears in its eyes…” I remember at the time laughing and saying she spent a lot of time and money to come away with that little gem. But in hindsight I think that phrase and idea is absolutely brilliant. I think back on all the times I’ve stuck with something or someone or some place based on the time or money or energy I had invested in any of these. And when I could let go of the thought that I need to stick with it, I then found there would inevitably be new insights and thoughts that would be better than anything I had found on the previous path.
One example. Anna and I had been living in England for six years and realized we wanted to be back in the USA. I had lived for 15 years in Minneapolis and we had family lake cabin in Northern Minnesota I’d gone ART BY ADRIA WHITE, COFFEE CREEK to my whole life. So I suggested Minneapolis could be a good place to make a new home. It would be closer to the UK than the West Coast and more centrally located to get around to other parts of the US. And to my surprise Anna agreed. In the past there was something about the arctic winters and hot and humid summers that had felt to her like a big NO.
So I set about seeing what I could find in terms of a place for us to live. I talked to old friends back in Minneapolis to keep a look out and I would scour the internet for living possibilities in areas we would like living. And I couldn’t find anything, and yet I kept looking for months. I was surprised at not being able to find anything that felt right. We usually have no problem finding a place to live.
One day Anna and I were talking about the lack of progress on this hunt and the idea popped up of what about Portland? This was a totally fresh thought. After living here for ten years previously we thought we were done with the Portland life. But when this new thought came up, we both felt a wave of excitement and possibility. I looked around at our old neighborhood in SE Portland that we had previously loved and found a place that appealed to both of us almost immediately. We were packed up in the UK and living full time back in Portland three months later.
THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 04 CONTINUED FROM PG 4. Now the old me would have stayed invested in finding a a place to live in MN because that is what we had decided and what I had invested months of my time in trying to uncover. But as soon as we could drop that MN bound thought and be totally neutral about where we could live back in the US, Portland emerged and felt so right. In hindsight we can see why we were meant to be here. Anna has got her groove totally going with The Insight Alliance and we adore our history and familiarity and love of the Pacific Northwest. And we could only get there once we had dropped the sunk costs of thinking we wanted to live in MN. Trusting life and the Tao has proven so much more exciting and satisfying than whatever we had planned things to look like.
Or as John Lennon wrote in a song referring to a quote from Allen Saunders writing in Readers Digest in 1957, (serendipitously the year I was born):
“ Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans”
My Reflections on Racism BY SANDY KROT A POEM BY DAVID WHYTE
The killing of George Floyd sent shock waves across the US and all over the Put down the weight of your aloneness and globe. The killing prompted protests and disruption and some long overdue ease into the conversation. The kettle is dialogue. It prompted me to do some reflecting. singing even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots have left their arrogant Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a big fan of American football, aloofness and seen the good in you at last. especially my hometown team, the Seattle Seahawks. Recently I read a All the birds and creatures of the world are newspaper article quoting a retired player, Doug Baldwin who is black. He unutterably themselves. [Everything, remarked that he is frequently asked by white people, “What can I do to help everything,] everything is waiting for you. end racism?” Doug Baldwin says he replies by asking people another question, “Why are you asking me? The person you should be asking is you.”
I think Doug is right and I’ve been asking myself this question and reflecting. I want to share some of what I realized. Maybe what I share will encourage you to do some reflecting as well.
I do not want to imply in any way that I know what it is like to endure racism. I do however have some experience with discrimination. I entered the workforce in the 70’s and even though I held a degree from a prestigious liberal arts college, I was consistently directed toward applying for positions as a secretary or executive assistant. As a woman, I was viewed as a less competent professional and rarely as a potential leader. In the 90’s I was the first woman in it’s 75 year history to be inducted into the Tampa, Florida Rotary Club. Up until 1992, women were not welcomed as members.
THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 05 CONTINUED FROM PG 5. That said, whenever I have been stopped by a police officer, I have feared for my A QUOTE BY CONGRESSMAN wallet and my driving record but never for my life. I have never been threatened JOHN LEWIS or treated disrespectfully in a restaurant, convenience store, or gas station. I drove across the continental United States three times, twice by myself. I was “While my time here has come never afraid. to an end, I want you to know that
in the last days and hours of my life The other day, I pulled my car over to the side of the road to make a phone call. During the 10 or so minutes I was pulled over, several cars drove by. Many of you inspired me. the drivers waved. I never once worried that someone would call the police to You filled me with hope about the report a “suspicious” person was parked in their neighborhood. next chapter of the great American story when you What would my life be like if I did have to worry? used your power to make a
In my reflection, I have realized just how unconsciously ignorant and difference in our society. unconcerned I have been about racial injustice – leading to my silent, insidious Millions of people motivated simply acceptance. Yes, I knew racism existed but I wasn’t racist. (At least I did not by human compassion laid down think I was.) What could I do to help? the burdens of division. Around the country and As I continued asking myself these questions and reflecting, I also realized a deeper appreciation for the design of the human mind. The principles behind the world you set aside race, class, how the mind works, level the playing field. We are all part of the intelligent age, language and energy that makes life possible. No one is more or less a part of that nationality to demand respect for intelligence. We are all conscious beings with the capacity to experience reality. human dignity. And we are all gifted with the capacity to think. This crisis has put a spotlight on just how powerful the reality-creating capacity of the human mind is. These That is why I had to visit Black Lives principles allow all of us, all of the time to either recycle our thinking from generation to generation or to use our minds to evolve out of the problems that Matter Plaza in Washington, though currently oppress us. I was admitted to the hospital the following day. I just had And I observed in myself and in others, that the design of the mind gives us to see and feel it for myself that, instant feedback. When I think about others as less than or bad, I feel that after many years of thinking. It feels hostile and fearful. When I remember that we are all the same, doing the best we can given how we think in the moment, I feel that too. It feels silent witness, the truth is like empathy and compassion and love. still marching on”.
Because of the way the human mind is designed, we can always have new thinking and now more than ever we need new thinking. ART BY LALO ALCARAZ
I need new thinking. This is the biggest revelation of my reflection. I have a lot to learn. It is not enough to “not be a racist.” I am going to learn, without defensiveness, about the privileges that have been afforded me because I am white. I am going to stop being silent when I see inequality in its many forms. I’m going to be a better ally to people of color and those who are different from me. I must also look to learn from those who hold racist beliefs. I can not influence someone I don’t understand.
But mostly, I’m going to listen – listen without the noise and limitations of past ideas. I’m looking for new thinking. Won’t you join me?
THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 06 What if Ready is a Myth BY BARB PATTERSON, INSIGHT ALLIANCE BOARD MEMBER TSHIRT DESIGNS BY The best way to learn, to evolve, to see what it takes and to find your own voice is TODD DAVILA AT OSCI to begin. To start. To engage. As Steven Pressfield is known for saying, “Start before you’re ready.” DESIGN #1 Often in my work with solopreneurs and entrepreneurs, when checking in on a project they were excited about, I will hear some version of, “I’m getting ready to start on it.” “I’m researching.” Or “I don’t feel confident.” “I’m not sure it’s the right thing.” “I’m not sure what to do or how to do it.”
Many of us get paralyzed or feel stalled because we think there is going to be a perfect time to start. We keep waiting for the inner assurance that we’re ready. How we define ready varies. For some they believe that confidence will tell them they’re ready. For others they want to feel like they’ve covered all the “what if” scenario planning first. Others worry that they aren’t good enough yet, perfect enough yet or they want a guarantee that it will be successful.
What if the right time or ready is a myth? What if readiness is an illusion of the mind? What would you begin if you weren’t waiting to feel ready?
Just starting, can feel uncertain. It’s not always easy to hit the go button when there are so many unknown variables and no guarantees. However, what I’ve seen over and over again is those that are willing to start, to jump in, discover it is through engaging that we learn, grow and are fulfilled.
I speak to people every day who are waiting for certainty before they take a plunge or move in the direction of their dreams. I can relate. I have often stalled projects or a personal goal because I didn’t feel ready. Looking at things in hindsight I can DESIGN #2 see that “ready” is made up. It is an illusion of the mind.
All ideas, businesses, conversations, books, music, art begin with limited information. Meaning, they evolve as we move forward. We begin and in the journey of it, we learn and discover what is needed. We must be willing to act with limited information or guarantees.
There is a beautiful quote by W.H. Murray, a Scottish mountain climber and writer. “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creativity there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it; boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.’”
Or one of my longtime favorite quotes by John Burrows, “Leap and the net will appear.”
THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 07 CONTINUED FROM PG 7. Both of these speak to the fact that eventually we must act. We must begin if we want to create or build something new. We must put paper to pen if we want to “ANOTHER write. We must put brush to canvas if we want to paint. And for those of us in WORLD IS NOT business, we must be willing to get it wrong, to learn along the way or start before we’re ready to see our new ideas take shape. ONLY
It is in the act of engaging with our ideas, our hopes and dreams that more is POSSIBLE, revealed to us. In the process of the unfolding and emerging we rise up; we get more SHE IS ON HER clarity and we hone our skills. It’s through the countless adjustments, u-turns, start- overs, that we build momentum. Traction happens in the moving forward not the WAY. ON A hesitation. QUIET DAY, If we can’t put our certainty on being ready or getting it right, where can we place it? I CAN HEAR This simple yet profound question and its answer is often the very thing that gives us the courage to begin; to take the plunge; to step into the unknown. To begin HER BREATHING.” before we’re ready. When we discover that we can put our certainty in our innate resilience; our ability - ARUNDHATI to figure things out as we go along; and our ability to ride the waves of insecurity or ups and downs, we become more willing to get in over our heads. ROY
In the last two years of doing my podcast, Real Business Real Lives, I’ve interviewed over 90 guests. While their stories are unique and the work they do is varied, there were a few reoccurring themes. In one way or another many of our guests share how impactful it has been to realize they have way more going for them than they thought.
The creative potential of our minds and our deeper intelligence, our innate natures, gives us everything we need to navigate and move through our work and our lives.
Solopreneurs and entrepreneurs shared stories where they discovered they do well in the unknown, they are adaptable and resilient by nature. Countless times, my guests would share, in their own words how they’ve realized they are ok no matter what. Their wholeness, their well-being is not dependent on things going the way they planned or on feeling confident.
Their wholeness, their true nature, is constant and cannot be impacted by circumstances. As my friend Anna said in her interview, “No work, no project, no decision I make, will make me more whole and complete than I already am.” That knowing has given our guests freedom.
Freedom to act, to begin, to start before they are ready. It has given them the courage to stay the course, to adventure into unknown territory to follow their hearts.
This becomes the foundation we stand on. Ready no longer is a qualifier for moving forward. We begin, we start, we follow our nudges and our inspiration and let the unfolding begin.
THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 08
I read an article from the Veterans