Our second movie night of the year was a success.  We spent time discussing how to forge forward with a vision regardless of the obstacles.  Fueled by Diane's story and her tenacity to tell the truth and hold others accountable, attendees found a well of support to continue their individual quests.  We also reflected on how our world can change to be more life giving. In light of the oil spill off of Mississippi, and the coal mine collapse in Virginia, we realized these corporations have to do better to protect people and place as well as be held accountable as we evolve to cleaner, renewable energy.

Read more about what Diane Wilson's story and activism and hold others accountable for creating a better world for us and nature. 

TEXAS GOLD profiles the brave and ballsy actions that have earned Diane Wilson the title of “unreasonable woman”. 

Waging multiple hunger strikes, starting up a business bottling toxic water taken from a superfund site – which she creatively labeled and sold back the crude brew to the tycoons whose heedless business practices had polluted the water.

Because they didn't head her resistance she sunk her beloved shrimp boat on top of a toxic discharge site!

Eventually, she was convicted for trespassing after chaining herself to an ethyl oxide tower at her local Union Carbide plant and unfurling a banner emblazoned with “justice for the victims of the Bhopal disaster”.  All because the polluting corporations would not head her cry for protecting a vital natural resource, the bay!

This is more than a radical demonstration, it is about how one "unlikely woman" decided to protect what she loved...the bay she grew up on, her family, and her community's health! 

Fee is just $10, register today by clicking on here: Register Today

Our cafe with Joan Dwyer of All that Matters, on September 21 showcased Joan's story and through the journey of building a business, asking for help, and allowing others to step into their capabilities, she was able to let go and move to a new phase in her life.  She has earned a "Ph.D" on this journey and is ready to share with the world what she has learned from experience. 

We learned how she evolved her leadership practice to not only thrive in a holistic business but also to take this know-how and help others to grow their businesses.  This is her 15th year in business, and recently just received the best of RI Monthly for "Best Yoga Studio in South County" in two consecutive years.   

(This cafe was co-sponsored by All that Matters and The New England Holistic Chamber of Commerce) 

Even more, attendees further added to her story their own insights about the following:

• How much is too much, and how do you know when it is "good enough"?
• How do I attract people to my work without losing my integrity or "soul"?
• How can one become a touchstone to the community...and what does the community need?
• How do you align other's goals for the team or organization with your to achieve the balance?
• Wildcard:  Are you motivated by someone else's dream/ fear? What is your own dream?

Please comment below and we'll post the notes and audio here soon!

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About Joan:

Joan Dwyer is the co-creator and owner of All That Matters in Wakefield, RI, New England’s largest non-residential yoga and holistic education center. A student of the healing arts since 1975, she began teaching classes on food and healing in 1982. Joan was coordinator of the East-West Macrobiotic Center in St. Louis and, since opening ATM, has crossed the country lecturing on holistic health. Her enthusiasm for the subject is positively contagious. She co-leads ATM’s “40-Days of Yoga,” a transformative program in which people do the healing work of eating well, meditating, and doing yoga in community.

Joan draws on her decades of holistic education and business experience as strategic consultant, empowering new yoga studios and other clients to succeed. In addition, she shares her expertise on television, in magazine articles, and in workshops on “The Business of Yoga” at Kripalu and elsewhere.

Mother of five “healthy, brilliant, cool children” with husband David Dwyer, Joan is also an active supporter of community life in southern Rhode Island. She has sat on numerous boards – including the South Kingstown Chamber of Commerce and the advisory board for The Thundermidst Health Center – and, through ATM, she supports the local food bank and women’s resource center as well as other non-profit agencies committed to health. She is excited about helping make the world a healthier place, one person and one community at a time. Joan believes that inner peace leads to world peace – and that is all that matter.

 

We showed this film on Thursday, February 25 from 6:00 - 8:30 pm

Even though it was a stormy night, we had a great attendance.  Below are the highlights of our first Movie Night and joint event with WCSWANS to celebrate their 3rd year birthday. We started with a champagne celebration, light dinner, and popcorn supplied by Fresh.  We then showed the film (please see the film clip and director’s introduction below). 

One note:  the women in attendance were a diverse group in terms of ages, interests and vocation.  We had one full time artist amongst us, but we agreed the conflicts the women artist were up against, concerning trying to pursue their creativity and growing a family, was a conflict we all at various times in our lives have grappled with.  These tensions falling on our shoulders, making it seem personal.  The film helped me to realize it isn’t a personal issue, there are social, cultural and political influences and how can we at Soul at Work, support women in having both creativity and nurturing a family in our lives.  What can we do to honor the feminine energy that wants to both create and nurture?

After the screening, we started our café conversation and focused on the key issues the film brought up: 
Feminism:  Film does advocate that the personal is political, how women in the art world are not valued as men, and a host of issues that affect women and their dreams. How has your perspective of feminism been defined (altered or enhanced)?  What is next for you?
Work/ Life juggle:   Duality of “who you love” and “what you love”.  As each story unfolded, what did you think about how each woman balances caregiving and creating; economics and art; partnering and independence; how do you reconcile these tensions of seemingly the opposite.  What is next for you?
Can we follow our passions and have good relationships?  Declare your next act to serve your creativity and caregiving.  Think about this quote in the film:  “I need a wife too.”
Wildcard:  Explore another theme that resonates with this group. What is next action step given where you are?

Other topics included the following, but we didn’t run a café on them:
Goddess Culture: What if we had more visible and positive goddess images in our society?  How does that affect how you see yourself, relationships, work, and society?  What would the goddess culture do for you?
Media Representation of Women:  What is “body image” for you and how does the media’s interpretation of a perfect female form affect your sense of self?  How else can you glorify your diversity and imperfections to create a new social vision of women.  What is next for you because of this film?

Please add comment below on any or all of these issues and how you are moving forward to have both creativity/ dream pursuit and a family or helping other women to achieve both. {jcomments on}

A film by Pamela Tanner Boll and Nancy C. Kennedy,read more from the director and view the movie clip:

Our 2010 Soul at Work series is starting out with "Be Visible" and that means also declaring how you'll bring more Soul at Work and lead in your own terms.  Leading has always meant authentically but also about embracing the complexity of our times in a way that creates positive change! See here for a full list of activities, who is involved, and how you can save time and money by becoming a member of the Soul at Work network. 

Our first event is Soul at Work Unconference was on  Wednesday, February 3, 4:00 pm - 8:00pm  

An Unconference is a gathering in which the attendees create the agenda and lead the session content.  We started with 12 topics and widdled the sessions down to four.  Other topics are featured here online via a blog.  Our key topics inspired from the “Be visible” theme for 2010 Soul at Work, are:
1.    Authentic Self-Promotion, how to do it- face to face and online? – 7 dots
2.    Visioning 2010: Developing your personal vision – 4 dots
3.    Getting Paid – 6 dots
4.    Getting past the fear of starting a business or project barriers to being visible both internal and external. – 5 dots

If you are new to the concept of the Unconference, click here to learn more about this "attendees in control" process. What is an Unconference?

Below are the outcomes we uncovered at the Unconference

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For online conversation: (ask others to start an article/ post)

Group facilitation via web/ skype what are the practical ways to hold the “container” via these online tools.
Using social media
Online marketing

Below for online conversation as well, but others thought a workshop would be better to flesh out the topic details.
Time management (see post by Amanda)
“In the absence of the ability to astrally project, ho can we “be visible” and live manageable lives? In other words, so much I’d like to do or events to attend that I’d have to clone myself to be able to attend.  Because I can’t, how do a select what best fist where I am at today or is it more about values, aspirations, experience “return-on-investment” or the people I hope to meet. This question is closely aligned with the next topic of :
“Less is more”:  Given I can’t be at every worthy event or gathering, how can I partner to leverage my time & resources and achieve more!?
How to approach a mentor and create a mutually beneficial relationship?

The Unconference then proceeded into round one in which we broke out into 2 groups to discuss two topics. Here are the key take aways or seeds to put into practice on a daily basis.
Part 1: Our first round of conversation

Authentic Promotion

• Focus on a few:  Build relationship, have conversations, not about # of contacts you acquire at a given event or gathering, but about strong connections.
• Share & Caring:  Explore, discover, adapt, essence vs. titles when meeting and having a conversation with others.
• Be yourself, go for you essence vs. title; aim to treat others the same as well.
• Building a relationship focus your energy on building a relationship as you approach a person or potential customer.
• Try pull vs. push marketing—where you attract others rather than running to them with your grand product, service, or idea.  It is also sharing and educating potential clients about your service—not about “convincing”. There is a challenge of being authentic in a contrived environment (such as a ‘networking’ lunch) but the question is more about attracting, it’s not a #’s game as you focus your energy on a few.
• Referral when not a “fit”—if you do find the person you are spending time with just doesn’t need what you have to offer, offer a referral to meet an immediate need they may have.
• “Rethinking my passion”
• Energy exertion and the power of no (need more here)
• How does the role of fear play in being authentic—being vulnerable and yourself rather than presenting what you have to sell?

Visioning 2010: Developing your personal vision

• How can I define my vision? Through Collage or dream boarding.
• Get out of the trap of giving myself an “F” for the 10% not working rather than A for the 90% that is working.
• Your “vision” does not have to “live” in the future, rather see it has being here now.
• Process of exploring the vision: Questions and statements to start with--
• Finding vision out of a diversity of interests one is exploring…and not at vision yet.
• What is your tolerance for being out of alignment? Vision is based on your core values (which never change) and not your career (which may change).
• How not to be a receptacle for an organization’s stresses/ troubles/ ideas that deplete your values, etc.
• Remember, 80% of the time, an airplane is not on course and you can only see so far ahead.
• How do I want to be in the world? Who do I want to be in the world? What do I want to be in the world?
• And how does it feel to be you in the world?
• Isn’t there an essential vision that travels with us, that may change in expression but stays the same in pure form?
• What are you struggling for?
• Things to do to get you living your vision:
• Find one or two big clients for whom you can “do everything” and ask what can I let go of?
• Absolute commitment to the right thing
• Form or join a group who will help you develop a plan/ schedule/ or strategy to birth your personal vision—and who will hold you to it!
• Here is a workshop idea:  Running your business on the right side of your brain.  If I have employees can I still be a designer/ artist (Eva to follow up)
• Visioning exercises get assistance look at resources (Wendy Hansen of the Sassy Ladies)

Part II: Our second round of conversations:

Getting Paid:  Started with the question of “What am I worth?” so I have to believe in what I am worth and that my fee is my fee. Helping people is great but isn’t profitable if I do it for free too much. When pricing look beyond the hourly rate:  levels, options, packages that you are in control of the time and the client is focused on the outcome.

• Trust:  Trust doesn’t mean not getting something up front
• I don’t want to treat everyone like the worst case scenario, when writing up a contract or asking for fees upfront…but mutually understanding of my fees, expectations, and time frames for payment are important if I want to get paid what I need and desire.
• Set a price and if I have to discount it but state what the fee is so folks know what I value my service/ product at.  Regarding setting prices, you could also aim high and then discount if the client has a different price in mind.
• Create a “passive” income plan. Passive income needs to be greater than monthly expenses to equal “no more rat race” (getting and spending dance)
• Vetting, pre-qualifying, assessing a client before jumping into the work.  Has to be a sense of what will this relationship really cost me.
• Work backwards.  Value your effort- setting ‘how I work’ goals, think about what you want and work back from there to your price or what you want as income.
• Money = energy flowing it is an expression
• What if money were a relationship?  How would you foster it? Beloved friend.

Getting past the fear of starting a business or project: barriers to being visible both internal and external.
The session attendees focused primarily on the emotion of “fear” and what prevents us from speaking what we desire or need to start a business or a project or an initiative that is new.
Questions to start:

• Authentic risk taking:  How present am I in my own life?  Can I take off the mask I wear?
• Fear of being thought crazy?
• Is my fear all about what someone else thinks?
• Am I holding myself back? Toning down my enthusiasm, joy and vibrancy just to be accepted by others?
• When someone says “Just deal with it?” doesn’t that really mean compromise, judgment, circumstance, depleting. Yet sometimes the circumstance or people may not be ready for what I want to say or do for the better.  It does take judgment on my part to find the window of opportunity, align with allies, and read the tea leaves.  And it may be I take the risk of being ostracized—but that wont’ work if I want to work with others on this new idea/ project or business.  How can I get past “Deal with it” to “working with”:
• don’t be afraid of others, get past judging what could happen and be in the moment and conversation to engage others.
• Am I more concerned about reputation and what people think of me?
• ***Choose who you are*** often we choose who we “need to be” rather than who we “are” there is an essential distinction.
• THRILL:  an acronym to live by for myself and with others
• Trust/ Honor/ Respect/ Integrity/ Loyal/ Love
• Power how I embrace my influence and recognize others.