Very sorry that I have been late in opening this topic....
An intersting quote:
"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with
the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible
to the eye." Antoine de Saint-Exupery
What a lovely week this is - a week of seeing with your heart, which allows you to see what is invisible to the eye.
It is only when you move past seeing with just the eyes and mind that you can really see another human being at all, and can begin to be in true relationship, whether it is with another or it is with your Self.
Make sure to practice this live-with both internally and externally. Once you begin to open your heart to yourself, and your Self, you will know your deepest capacity for love and compassion.
On a very practical note, use your precise observation to see what shifts at home and at work when you see with your heart. What changes in the dynamic of your relationships? How is the 'other', whom you are seeing with your heart, changed? How does is your creativity, and the creativity that comes from your relationship, changed? Reciprocity???
We discussed an interesting and successful company built by John Mackey. Do you have any reaction to what he did and especially how it might be useful for you in your organization.
See you on the 14th.
Regarding the Whole foods case study:-
ReplyDeleteBelow are the few points which are very attractive about Whole foods:-
Idea of making grocery shopping as entertainment - I wish companies make working as interesting and entertaining.
Giving decision making responsibilities to team members, for ex:- individual employees were empowered to decide what products to stock in their section.
- Most of the decisions in the companies I worked flow from Top to Bottom, If it was done the Whole foods way employees feel
more belonged to the company.
Team members decide the future team members. - In our company we already do this and I'm happy that we do.
Creating an enviornment where team members are motivated to hire productive works, as additional benefits are provided for high productive teams.
Dontaing 5% of company after tax profits to Charity.
Unsupportive to Unions, similar to WestJet.
Below points not so good about Whole foods IMO.
Open book poliy gave all team members access to company's financial records including compensation information for other employees.
And Cap on the salary of executives in the company.
IMO, Even though above two policies does create a strong transparency in the company, they were likely to create constraints on the
future growth of the company. Infact, it is evident from the company's action to raise the cap from 8 times to 10 times and then to 14 times, that I is unable to really cope with this constraint.
Thought its not related to whole foods, below quote from the article sounds very true:-
In 1971, the US secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz, said: "We can go back to organic farming if we must - we know how to do it. However before we go in that
direction, someone must decide which 50 million of our people will starve."
I put a reminder in my iPhone calendar to use the Loving Kindess prayer each morning over the past week. I found that earlier in the week, it wasn't always easy to wish such loving kindness on myself, oddly enough. It was much easier to send this prayer to others that I love, which I did. By the end of the week it was a bit easier and seemed more authentic to wish this for myself. I guess I tend to more naturally wish good for others, over feeling I should have it for myself. This exercise helped me articulate this discrepancy, which I can now focus on addressing.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Whole Foods, I feel that John Mackey's contribution to the grocery industry is truly remarkable and highly creative. I have been an avid fan of Whole Foods from the moment I discovered one about 5 years ago. I often share my delight in shopping at Whole Foods with others, which I think is the mark of a powerful brand. Otherwise, I wouldn't waste people's time discussing it....
John was so clearly focused on caring for the food, the employees, the customers and the environment that it seems he was truly living and working and building from his Essence of creativity. Building from his Essence was obviously essential to deliver this reinvention or "return to roots" of the concept of growing, harvesting, shipping and presenting healthy food to consumers. I hope the Whole Foods growth story continues. Somehow eating a toxin-free fruit makes more sense to me.
I had the opportunity to participate in a mindfulness workshop with Thich Nhat Hanh. We practiced various meditations during the workshop and afterwards I started reading some of Thich Nhat Hanh's books. One of the books that I read is titled "True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart" (http://www.amazon.com/True-Love-Practice-Awakening-Heart/dp/1590301889). When we spoke about the live-with for this week, I immediately thought about this book and what I had learned from Thich Nhat Hanh. The importance of being fully present in a moment, particularly when you're with another person, so that the other person can tell that you are fully present. By being present, you can much more easily show love and compassion to someone else. This live-with is something that I've been trying to work on since attending the mindfulness workshop in early September, but I focused on it much more closely this week.
ReplyDeleteI paid particular attention to my interactions with people that I may normally argue with. Instead of being defensive to certain comments, I found ways to discuss things in a more level-headed way, which ultimately led to a better outcome. I felt as though I could more easily then send this person love, as I wasn't upset about an interaction we had - as our interactions became much more pleasant.
In terms of Mackey - I really like the way that he built Whole Foods and the values that the company maintains. I like the idea of having the transparent environment where people know other's salaries - it can be a tool for motivation and really provides a sense of ownership over one's career.
The Whole Foods Case Study is incredibly inspiring to me. Values based, financially successful, treats its employees well, and making a significant difference. I am looking for just such a company to work for - I'm hoping it's Google. Here is the 15 minute video from the Jolly Good Fellow at Google who talks about making Compassion Profitable. This TED talk resonated deeply with me.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tedprize.org/chade-meng-tan-everyday-compassion-at-google/
I hope the link works!
The case study of Whole Foods and John Mackey was inspiring and heart warming to me. It made me think of ways I could build my business in a positive and sustainable way as Mackey did. I find it incredibly smart the way he had his employees govern themselves and make their own decisions. It is motivating to me to be able to create my own day to day at work and feel like I am making decisions and that they are helping the company. I was very inspired by his caring way and community thinking.
ReplyDeleteThis week I exercised the love meditation/prayer. I have had a lot of hurt recently and I have struggled with forgiving some hearts. I did however think about the conversation regarding forgiveness and it lighted my thoughts a little. I was a little taken aback by a fellow classmate who passionately stated he was hurt. I wanted to hug him and tell him he was going to be ok but all I could do is cry when I got home. I cried because I was hurting too. But the prayer helped me appreciate everyone equally- even if it stung to think about sending love to someone who ultimately hurt me. But I kept seeing myself in my classmate and I just kept telling myself as if I were telling him- it's ok, you are loved and you can love. There was more conversation but that was pretty much the idea.
Also, I have practiced asking myself what I have learned from each interaction I have had with close relationships in my life. My ex-boyfirend brought me a wood carved turtle from his trip to Indonesia and at first I was put off. Really? A gift from a trip I didn't go on bc he broke up with me. But I held my tongue and appreciated the thought and art that this turtle presented. I love it. It was such a careful choice and he carried it all the way back for me. I am still sad I did not get to go but I appreciated the love and thought.
Another interaction I had is work related. A coworker and I do not see Eye to Eye and it is often leads to silent competitive battles. Instead of thinking what step I could take to get ahead I simply let it go. I focused on myself and allowed her to teach me some things that I really didn't know. It was so nice.
To conclude, it is so much easier to love than to hate. It takes a lot of strength to forgive others and also to forgive yourself for getting hurt. But trust your heart and let it heal.
This past week was an interesting one, in that, it feels like what has been taught, focused on, reinforced, is sinking in. I am noticing that I keep compassion in mind (except when I am awakened at 7:00 a.m. with a sales call!). I watched as I kindly communicated with people and their response (as I approached and once I made contact). Lots of smiles and “may I help you” and “thank you.”
ReplyDeleteI am really focused on not multi-tasking; and the VOJ continues to be quieter when I “just do it.” I am enjoying the reading and not as concerned that I do not remember all the facts … can go back and look them up.
Two creative projects presented themselves to me this past week. I immediately knew that I wanted to incorporate the “May I” and “ May You” meditation into one of them.
A very thought provoking week … something is sinking in!!!
With relation to this week 'live-with' tool, I focused on 'seeing others as teachers'. I realized that this technique combined with 'pay attention' and 'calm your VOJ' can provide unique views on our daily interactions with others. When stopped for a moment and think of the long-term impact of others on me and not only short-lived feelings and impressions, my observations became more balanced and less judgmental.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Whole Foods Market - I must say I have mixed feelings. Their idea of working for a number of equally important stakeholders, as well as courage and determination in setting standards and creating new market based on their believes and values was impressive and inspiring. I also have a great admiration for their organization structure and staff-centered philosophy, about which I've written in my previous post. Unfortunately, I feel that success and rapid growth (esp IPO and that inorganic in recent years), have made Whole Foods to compromise some of their believes. I wish that instead of centralization of the distribution, the management have found a third way to address the challenges with supplies. Saying that the company is not supporting local products any more to help 'struggling farmers in other countries' sounds like a poor excuse of large profit-oriented corporation rather than a company whose success is based on believes and values. And last thing - making shopping for grocery 'engaging, fun and interactive'... Regardless all the ideology (which mostly, I agree and believe in), for me shopping for grocery is still about bringing food to be eaten by my always hungry family and then, in a period of time that always seems to be too short – it's about bringing the food again.
About do what you love to do, in the private domain:
ReplyDeleteI have had a great week and weekend, I had my dear mother visiting from Europe for a couple of weeks to see us and her now 8 month old grandson. We or especially my wife was a bit cautious keeping the hopes up how it would be having her mother-in-law staying with us for so long. It however worked out perfectly, my mother stepped up to the plate and took on the baby, and helped out in so many ways, which gave us more time for ourselves:-) but also gave us time for ourselves, do all sorts of stuff which we had put to the side for so long, but also gave us so much more time together all of us, enjoying each others company and loving it.
I think why it worked so well was that we all could do what we loved to do, spend quality time together all of us, get some time to do ourself, be with the little one. We just made sure to communicate what we wanted to do, shared the tasks, and be clearly express our thankfulness and thoughts along the way = great teamwork.
My mom was the 'happiest grandma on the block', and my wife was so positively surprised how well it all worked out and that they now are so much closer than before :-)
After reading through the other posts, it looks like I am not the only one who found the loving kindness activity to be very useful. I actually came home from class, printed out the words and taped up the page in my kitchen. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so I was able to frequently look at those words and remind myself of the Live-With. It really made a difference. I actually feel like my relationship with my husband was much more harmonious this week. I also applied the "just like me..." concept when making phone calls to deal with a very frustrating and stressful issue in my life, and while the issue still has not been resolved, I think the combination of these two tools helped. I was able to stay calm and get more information, rather than getting angry, which would have been counterproductive.
ReplyDeleteI found the prayer exercise we did on Monday to be very eye opening. While a lot of people expressed that they had a hard time sending love to the person in their life who was causing them problems, I had a different experience. I very easily sent this person (an ex-colleague) my hope for happiness and love, however it was coupled with a feeling of pity. I had the sense that if they could truly feel happy and loved that then they wouldn't behave so poorly in other parts of their life. This made me wish even harder for him to receive this prayer than anyone else, as he needed it more. Of course, this does not make me want to have this person in my life at all, but there is a sense of compassion that I can feel for him (from afar). I am going to try this exercise with other people in my life who I would like to offer a sense of forgiveness to.
ReplyDelete“Seeing with your heart.” I hear those words and I think of compassion. I don’t, however, think of compassion for self. But last week’s visualization exercise -- of thanking those people who are our enemies -- surfaced in me a sense of what I need to do to take care of myself in a particular situation. I’ve examined some very personal feelings in this situation (and this week). I’ve chosen the path of action – acting with my heart after seeing with my hear – and I feel liberated. I’ve shaken the tired, old feelings of emotional overload and am moving ahead. I’m taking a moment to mourn a loss but the fact I’m moving ahead feels terrific.
ReplyDeleteRelated to the conversation we had last night about leadership, I thought you all would enjoy this video:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
:) Kathy
RE Seeing with the heart. This is just a small thing but that's what we did this entire vacation. Our T-Day plans for SF fell through at the last minute and we had to come back home and spend our time at home. It was wonderful! Everything we did was based on Seeing With the Heart, and fairly unplanned. Had fun with the kids, created a new living space on the front porch...actually, that truly came from the heart/essence. I spent time making a sitting space in the front of the house, and brought the chimnee and we had a fire at night a couple of times. My friend helped me create the space and I shared my recent idea: Porch Day Out in the Neighborhood. We will post on our neighborhood email group (which my husband recently initiated through NextDoor.com) that on a specific Saturday, either hang out on your porch or in your front yard OR take a walk through the neighborhood and say hello to folks. Our neighborhood is coming alive through this group! Meanwhile, my friend Janet just shared with me that getting to know your neighbors is Margaret Wheatley's advice for how to handle tough times such as we are in now: don't hunker down and close the blinds and become suspicious and fearful -- Get to Know Your Neighbors! So she is going to loan me all of her Margaret Wheatley books. See with your heart, make a bigger porch, get to know your neighbors, more Margaret Wheatley. That's what seeing with my heart did for me this week!
ReplyDelete