Paradoxes

In this bloutcher (where Art, Life Change and Leadership intersect)

• Paradoxes
• The Coach's Studio; Where OutRaGEouSLY Creative Coaching Happens

Paradoxes

The dictionary defines paradox as a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true.

I have spoken before about being both lost and found at the same time. A paradox? When I am doing my art I am lost because I have a sense that I do not know what I am doing or where I am going. I push myself beyond where I have been and so I have no compass. Yet I am found because I know that this is the journey I am meant to be on.

But there are many more paradoxes in my life.

I seek coherence and practice disruption. That is the nature of creating art. In so far as art is language, it is also story, narrative. Perhaps in a very different language than we are familiar with, but language nonetheless. So we must always seek new forms of language that disrupt and reinterpret old language. Living in this paradox is also in the nature of growing as a human being. We grow more whole by disrupting our comfortable but incomplete selves.

In the process of creating art I both believe and am permeated by self doubt. I believe in what I am doing but am invaded by self doubt in my ability to pull it off. I don't think this is confined to art.

And so I succeed and fail at the same time. I try, fall short (fail), try again, and again, and again until I realize a small redemptive success. At least in my eyes. I believe success and failure are the ying and yang of creativity.

Sometimes I create by doing nothing. I daydream. I sit and wonder and stare, hands folded on my lap. I am very still. I am doing nothing. And ideas seep in. A pathway opens up. Imagination begins to play. It is all a wonder and magic. There I am doing nothing and creating at the same time.

I honor my antecedents by breaking with them. I study the work of the great masters. I am captivated, mesmerized, seduced by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Velasquez, Goya, Soutine, Kollwitz, de Kooning. I want to be able to do what they do. Of course, it is hopeless. I know I can't. I am humbled by their work. I breathe it in. And yet...something different comes out of me.

• So how about you? Where does paradox show up in your life? What form does it take? Think of at least one paradox in your life.

• Then let me know. Shoot me an email with your thoughts.

• Then we can think about why paradox is important in our lives and what role it plays and possibly how paradox sparks creativity, growth and wonder.

The Coach's Studio; Where Outrageously Creative Coaching Happens

We're live!

We launch February 29th

Check it out here!

And receive a special introductory offer.

We are working on a first come, first serve basis.

Or, if you have questions, shoot me a note by replying to this email.

Tagline 2012

My Bloutcher
Where Art, Life Change and Leadership Intersect

• Tagline
• 2012
• An Overt Promotion

Tagline

As you can see I have added a tagline to my bloutcher. Now granted this tagline still leaves a pretty broad canvas. It is, however, more descriptive than let's say "All About Chocolate" or "The Economy and American Humor" or "Your Mamma's Guide to Politics."

I've added this tagline because it hopefully weaves a string of cohesion through my various entries. Over this past holiday I eyeballed past bloutchers, asking myself, what holds the bloutchers together? Why do folks continue to read it and send me many amazing thoughts and responses? And "Where Art, Life Change and Leadership Intersect" just bubbled to the surface. So there you have it. This is where I spend most of my time--at this intersection. It gives me license to travel the open road. From your responses I sense that I am not on this trip alone. I hope we will continue to share the journey.

Let me know what your 2012 tagline is!

So What's Up in 2012?

I am going to be focusing on two things:

Coaching for Life Change Artists. I am very excited about this program. I have joined forces with my co-author Kathy Jordan and coach extraordinaire Donna Krone to create a totally engaging online training program for coaches based upon our book Becoming a Life Change Artist. This program has been a response to the many inquiries we have received asking for training on the tools, concepts and techniques in the book. So voila! Personally, I think this program will change the way you look at EVERYTHING. To see an overtly promotional description of the program check the PROMO section below. Let me know if you are interested or know of others who might be. We are aiming to launch on February 29th.

My Painting. This one has me frightened because it raises the question: What if my vision outstrips my talent? Well, to begin--my "talent" is still being developed. I am a student. Is this too large an aspiration for this stage in my development? My vision is to

create a three dimensional visual experience--using both sides of the canvas laced with words, images, annotations--that chronicles family history using the traditionally two dimensional form of painting on canvas. There is a principle floating around that says you should begin with the end in mind. Well, broadly speaking, I just stated the vision, the end I have in mind. However, I have no idea how to get there or what it will ultimately look like. Do I proceed anyway? Or, do I develop my talent further before undertaking such a project? So I look to another principle. I am a believer in the principle that you develop your talent by doing the thing you want to develop your talent in. You may do it badly at first, but you will never get to do it well unless you first do it badly. So I'm off and running, uneasiness in the pit of my stomach, but off and running nonetheless. Here are photos of sections of a couple of canvases I have begun to work on. Unfinished, for sure.

Overt Promo:

Are you a coach?

Do you consider coaching an art form? A creative process? An empowering relationship? An act of co-creation?

Then I am excited to extend an invitation to you to sign up for The Coach's Studio. This highly engaging, interactive, content rich program is design to help you help your clients see their lives and possibilities in entirely new ways. You will notice changes in your own creative growth as well. We will show you how to take many of the creative secrets of the Great Masters of Art and apply them to your coaching relationships and practice.

Along with co-author Kathy Jordan and coach Donna Krone, CPC, we have created this program specifically for coaches in response to the many requests we have received to develop a training program that shows how to apply the tools, techniques and concepts from our award winning book Becoming a Life Change Artist to their practice.

Don't take it from me. Nationally recognized author and executive coach Richard Leider has said of Becoming a Life Change Artist that it is "one of those rare books that change the way you think about, well, everything." We have now brought the same perspective to our online training program.

Here is what you receive:

• 9 topic online, self paced, interactive, content rich training program, designed to be completed over a 10 week time frame
• Access to the Life Change Artist Community Forum
• 4 scheduled teleconference calls with Fred, Kathy and Donna
• "Skills at a Glance," showing which creati ve skills and exercises to use in various coaching situations
• License, upon completion, to use all material with clients. Use of Life Change Artist Logo affiliated with your website
• Affiliate status so you can earn additional revenues by referring other coaches to the program
• A special rate to bring clients through the program
• A right to use The Coach's Studio pre-formatted workshops

Sound interesting? Well, here are the many benefits of the program:

Client Benefits:

• You can take your clients through parts or all of the program
• Clients will view change and challenge as a creative opportunity
• Clients will have a framework for developing their creative skills
• Clients will have access to fun, interactive exercises which move them toward deep personal insight
• Clients develop new imaginative capabilities and gain fresh perspective
• Clients are emboldened to take appropriate risks
• Clients deepen their appreciation of the pow er of collaborative relationships
• Clients connect with a deeper self

Economic/Practice Benefits:

• Coaches realize the savings and convenien ce of participating from your own office
• Coaches gain access to the collective wisdom of experts and the group
• Coaches can realize potential expanded revenue sources from existing clients, acquiring new clients, conducting group programs, affiliate fees
• Coaches can leverage marketing position as a Life Change Artist licensee
• Coaches have access to new and unique portfolio of tools, concepts and resources

Professional Benefits:

• Meet like minded professionals and fellow travelers
• Learn best practices
• Enjoy fun and highly interactive exercises
• Control the where and when through flexibility and ease of use
• Find collaborative opportunities
• Expand your professional network

Personal Benefits:

• Stimulates new levels of personal and prof essional creativity
• Enhances your personal confidence
• Connects your creativity to your spirituality
• Energizes you personal relationships

And what exactly is the offer?

We are making the full program available for a limited time period to a limited number of coaches initially at $398.50. This is half the full price of $797 when we go to a full launch. The program kicks off on February 29th. This special offer will end when we launch the program.

If you are interested or have questions please send me an email at famandell@verizon.net

My Life in 69 Seconds

My Life in 69 Seconds

So here's how it happens. Someone sends me a link to a video which shows different famous artists morphing into each other. I think it's pretty cool but don't do anything about it.

Then that in-between-time rolls around--between Thanksgiving and New Years--and I find myself reflecting about the year just ending, the upcoming new year, life, getting older, what really matters. You know it. You probably experience similar stirrings. And then the video comes back into my thoughts and I wonder what my life would look like in a flash. Not quite a flash, but if a video were to show my life, one second for each year I have been alive. The question I am asking myself is: Who am I looking at in each of these images? So here it is: My Life in 69 Seconds. Click here.

Here's my question for you. Assuming you have one second for each year you have been alive, what are the ways you might represent your life? Then assume you have unlimited time. How might you best represent your life? I'd love to hear what you come up with!

Thanks to Matt White for his masterful job of putting together My Life in 69 Seconds. Here's his link:

Happy, healthy, creating holidays and 2012!!

Cezanne Turns Leadership on Its Head

In This Bloutcher

• Cezanne Turns Leadership on Its Head
• Announcements
• Conundrum

Cezanne Turns Leadership on Its Head
Several years ago I decided to enroll in a drawing class. I had been very involved with sculpture but had virtually no drawing experience. I realized that if I wanted to grow as an artist I had to confront my lack of training in drawing. Actually, I was quite petrified since I thought my lack of drawing experience would expose me as a fraud.

The class was called "Drawing from the Live Model" and each session began with 90 second drawings of a live model who shifted positions at what seemed bewilderingly rapid intervals. The idea was to capture the basic gesture of the pose and not try to render the full form of the model. We then progressed in the same session to 5 minute, 10 minute and 20 minute poses, culminating in an extended 40 minute pose during which we were expected to make progress toward a recognizable drawing of the model, although we were discouraged from thinking we had ever "completed" a piece.

Our instructor would make the rounds, observing our struggles. When he stopped to critique an individual student's work the student would vibrate with anxiety as the instructor's blunt remarks revealed the inevitable truthfulness of his sharp eye and tongue.

Perhaps because I was a new student, he did not pounce on me right away. Several times he paused in front of my easel but did not comment. I went about my business, struggling to render what I saw before me: the model posing on the platform.

Then he struck. He stopped in front of my work for longer than usual. He folded his arms across his chest, shifted his eyes between my drawing and the model and extended one hand, palm up as though he were making an offering. "What are you trying to do?" came his question, clearly tinged with genuine puzzlement.

I tried to explain that I was trying to draw on the paper what my eyes saw. I realized I had a ways to go but if I were able to see the model clearly I would be able to draw it accurately.

My instructor reacted as though I had lit a match to Vesuvius. "No, no, no," he erupted. "Think Cezanne, follow Cezanne, understand Cezanne. For you, Cezanne should be the beginning and end. You do not see in order to draw. Cezanne teaches us just the opposite. You draw in order to see! Drawing is searching. It is discovery. Start over. Start with Cezanne. If you take anything from this class it is this: You do not see in order to draw, you draw in order to see."


That was a mouthful. And totally liberating. Cezanne and my teacher buddied up to cause nothing less than a revolution in my understanding of drawing and art in general. What possibilities this shift opened up for me! I now had permission to roam over the surface, to experiment, to explore different shapes, different relationships. As my hand embarked on this new journey, it became looser, more relaxed, more animated. Precision became less important than discovery. In that moment I felt as though I had rediscovered art.

So what does this story have to do with leadership? Over the years I have had many discussions with individuals who aspire to grow as leaders. Often these individuals would ask: "What would you suggest I learn in order to be a better leader? I need to learn in order to lead." My response would often involve a combination of some reading suggestions, a call to become a keen observer of other leaders and the encouragement to seek "stretch" assignments. I still believe that this is sound advice

But Cezanne has totally turned my thinking on its head. Now I share a different perspective. Just as Cezanne advised that you do not see in order to draw; rather you draw in order to see--I now suggest that you do not learn in order to lead, rather you lead in order to learn. I am not speaking here about technical learning--that's basic. I am talking about the deeper learning and insight that builds on wisdom and contributes to one becoming a more humane and effective leader.

Peter Senge has been a long time champion of the notion of the learning organization and the learning leader. Warren Bennis, author of numerous best selling books on leadership, speaks about ongoing self reinvention as a necessary quality of leadership in today's rapidly changing world. Management guru Peter Drucker wrote eloquently before his death about his belief that today's leaders cannot lead by knowing. The complexity of today's world does not allow one person to know all things. Therefore, Drucker believed that today's leaders must learn to lead by asking questions.

For a long time I thought one needed to develop an area of expertise before assuming a leadership role. I realize now, though, that there are at least two kinds of learning. The first is what might be called technical learning, the kind that is necessary to develop baseline competence in an area. The other kind of learning is even more critical and important. It is the development of leadership wisdom, acquired by constantly reinventing oneself as one learns the lessons of leadership. This kind of learning requires a far more rigorous, almost ruthless process of self honesty and discovery. The kind that Cezanne believe led to great art.


Announcements:

• Not too late for you and/or friends to sign up for The Life Change Studio at Esalen Institute in Big Sur that I will be co-facilitating with Nancy Fernandez Mills. Whether you are going through or anticipating going through life changes large or small this program will help you tap into new levels of energy, commitment and creativity. For a description click here.
  
• I am also excited to be speaking at the first Poetics of Aging Conference (November 16 to 19) in San Francisco. A really impressive line up of speakers. Check it out here.
  
• The International Positive Aging Conference in Los Angeles December 6th through the 9th has grown from a modest idea to an international phenomenon in just 5 short years. The conference taps into the amazing energy of people doing cutting edge work not only in shifting the paradigm of aging but in developing innovative programs and initiatives to create new realities on the ground. I will be leading a project entitled The Telling; Second Generation which chronicles on a real time basis these emerging themes through creative expression. Come and catch the spirit!! Click here.
  

Conundrum:

George Braque once said: "You can explain everything about painting except the part that counts." What did Braque mean? And can we apply this same thought to our lives?

Lost and Found

In This Bloutcher

• Lost and Found
• Announcements

Lost and Found

I recently gave a talk at the BIF7 Innovation Summit. The idea is that each of the storytellers had fifteen minutes to tell his or her story. The story tellers included such outstanding creative thinkers as Dan Pink, Richard Saul Wurman, Len Schlesinger, Sebastian Ruth. I spoke about the "Middleware of Personal Innovation," that is the core creative skills one needs to develop in order to transform their personal vision into reality. In my talk I referenced the personal experience of being lost and found simultaneously. I said, "When I am creating I am both lost and found and I believe there is no better place to be."

After the talk lots of folks came up to me and asked what I meant by being both lost and found at the same time. How can you be both?

When I am creating I am lost because I am working on the edges. I do not yield to the path previously taken. I am frightened, not knowing what will come next, what to do next. I am filthy from failed attempts, deep in the forest without a compass. I am Theseus without Ariadne's string. I battle despair, wrestle with the angels of doubt. I am a madman. And I see no way out.

When I am creating I am wondrously found. I am mindless of time, overcome by a strange, intoxicating exhilaration triggered by the tiniest of brush strokes, a spit of color. the struggle for truthfulness. I am where I belong, where I am meant to be, on the journey. Pursuing the questions. I am the cartographer of my own land, navigating an internal terrain of my own making--I am found, my coordinates always changing but traceable by the heat of wonder. I am found if not by others at least by myself.

And how is this different than the experience of engaging in life change? Personal reinvention? I do not believe it is different. We are all simultaneously lost and found--as long as we are on the journey, creating and recreating ourselves.

Listen to some of the great artists. They were on a great journey. And they also recognized the pain of feeling lost and found:

Paul Cezanne--It took me 40 years to find out that painting is not sculpture.
Henri Matisse--It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else.
Willem de Kooning--I work out of doubt.
Paul Klee--I paint in order not to cry.

In our best moments, we, like the great artists, are both lost and found.

Announcements:

• Becoming A Life Change Artist; 7 Creative Skills to Reinvent Yourself at Any Stage of Life has just earned the prestigious Mom's Choice Award. The award honors excellence in family friendly media, products and services. The esteemed panel of judges include educators, media experts as well as parents, librarians, performing artists, authors, producers, medical and learning professionals and scientists. That's cool! Congratulations to my co-author Kathleen Jordan who just became a second time grandma with the arrival of Addison Kelly Livermore, 6 lbs, 13 ounces.
• Get the word out: I will be conducting a 5 day workshop at the Esalen Institute with co-facilitator Nancy Fernandez Mills in breathtaking Big Sur November 13-18. The program is called the Life Change Studio and is appropriate to anyone currently going through a life change or contemplating one. Check it out here.
  
• If you would like to discover the poet in you, consider attending my wife Karen's Esalen program "Calling Calliope; Finding Your Poetic Voice," also November 13-18. For more information, click here.
  
• Also for anyone interested in and committed to changing the way society thinks about aging, please join up at the Poetics of Aging Conference November 16-19 in San Francisco. I will be speaking about What the Great Masters of Art Can Teach Us About Living the Second Half of Life with Creativity, Vitality and Meaning. This should be fun, informative and thought provoking conference. To learn more about it, click here.
• I will be doing an author's talk at the Andover Book Store on October 20th. Join us at 7 pm. Click here for directions.
• Please consider attending the 5th Annual International Positive Aging Conference in Los Angeles, December 6-10. This conference is chock full of interesting ideas, organizations, leaders from across the globe who share their innovative ideas for leveraging the creativity and talents of folks in the second half of life. I will be conducting a program called The Telling; Second Generation. It will engage participants in creative but mysterious exercises that capture the essence and challenges of aging. Learn more, click here.
  

Import Export

In this Bloutcher:

• Import Export
  
• Announcements

Import Export
If you walk down the nondescript Rue de Lancy in the St. Martin-Canal area of Paris and stop at number 54 you will find yourself in front of a shop owned by one Mr. Bhandari Lalit. There is no sign indicating the nature of its business. However, when you look through the window you are greeted by a random army of bric-a-brac, piles of fabric, purses, statuettes, banners, lamp shades, necklaces, bracelets, wooden boxes, etc. And when you enter the shop you must sidle along the narrow aisles in order not to knock the goods from their shelves. Mr. Lalit sits behind a pile of goods which threaten to topple onto his head. You get the sense that Mr. Lalit manages to barely scrape by. And then an immediate smile crosses his bronze face, his gray mustache bobbing with animated anticipation, as he greets you.

I did not know Mr. Lalit when we stumbled across his shop. My wife and I encountered him by total serendipity as we made one of our daily meanderings through the streets of Paris during our five week stay.

During the one hour we spent in his shop rummaging through his "goods" Mr. Lalit laced our time with an intriguing family narrative. Here is some of what we learned.

In his earlier years, Mr. Lalit held a modest position as a buyer with an import/export firm in India. He came to Paris in 1981 to explore the possibility of starting his own import/export business. Within three months of arriving he brought his wife and two daughters to Paris. They had two more children after moving to Paris, another daughter and a son, twins. Mr. Lalit's business did "okay." He began investing in small properties in Paris. A four flat here and another there. Today he owns several of these types of properties. Mr. Lalit says he is not a rich man, but as he put it: "I'm okay. When the kids finish school I will sell all the goods you see around you and spend my time between here, India and visiting my children. I intend to do something for society in India. Perhaps open a medical clinic. I think it is important to give something to society."

Mr. Lalit's children each attended elite colleges in France and placed in the top tiers. Then, one by one, they pursued their Master's and Doctorates at Columbia, MIT and Georgia Tech. Their son and youngest child is finishing his undergraduate degree at Ensae, a prestigious institute in the fields of statistics, economics and finance. He has already been accepted by Stanford and Harvard for a Master's degree. Each of the children has specialized in fields such as Mathematics and Finance, Mechanical Engineering, Aeronautics and Pure Mathematics. They all wish to stay in the United States because, in Mr. Lalit's words, "that's where the opportunity is." Mr. Lalit says the schools in France are free. In the United States they are expensive but they are the best in world "without question." He indicated that his children want to get a good education, good training and then start businesses of their own. I asked him where they got their desire to start their own business. His smile broadened as he said "they are like their old man."

My encounter with Mr. Lalit triggered many thoughts. I began to wonder how his children might fare regarding their entrepreneurial aspirations and then I began to think how the U.S. was going through such a wrenching time and how that might impact those aspirations.

We may be under the impression that, of course, the United States is the world leader in innovation and therefore the children of Mr. Lalit have made the right choice. But I also wonder whether the U.S. will remain the best choice for them. The truth is that we are not uniformly considered #1 in innovation and we risk falling further behind. There are many studies related to which countries are the world leaders in innovation. Different studies use different criteria. And while the U.S. comes out #1 in a Boston Consulting Group study, it falls further back in most studies. The U.S. is ranked #3 in the Legatum Institute study with Denmark at #1 and Sweden at #2. And according the the well respected INSEAD analysis the U.S. ranks #7 behind Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore, Hong Kong, Finland and Denmark. This trend is troublesome, especially since Thomas Friedman has suggested that innovation is one of the key ingredients of the U.S.'s "magic sauce."

It is also hard not to be swept up in The Great Introspection we are experiencing as a nation regarding our direction. When we look at the enablers of innovation--education, opportunity (perceived and real,) diversity, access to capital, ease of doing business--we find ourselves in roiling waters. Mr. Lalit believes the U.S. has the best universities in the world. Yet, we are faced with a vocal anti-intellectual, anti-science crowd that undermines the core values of education. Our public schools are in disarray and in need of innovation themselves. And just when we need bold, creative thinking and action we are at risk of shrinking from it. The long shadow of 9/11 has morphed into a new kind of xenophobia that threatens a vital source of diversity and ideas. We are who we are as a nation because successive waves of immigrants have contributed cultural richness and intellectual vitality to our nation.

Having said this I must confess we often confuse the enablers of innovation with where it actually comes from. After all, innovation comes from innovators. And innovators come from unsuspected places, such as small shops on nondescript streets in Paris run by the Mr. Lalit's of the world. Our challenge is to link and align the enablers with the suppliers. Let's just say, like Mr. Lalit, we as a nation are in the import export business. We import diverse talent and we export ideas and innovation. And if we are to succeed, we need to welcome the Mr. Lalit's childrens of the world and provide them with the supporting enablers so they, and we, can succeed.

Announcements

• November 16th-19th the Poetics of Aging Conference will take place in San Francisco. The mission of this cutting edge conference is to counter the mainstream understanding of aging as decline and/or disease with a more expansive, humanistic, and creative – that is poetic – vision and approach. I will be speaking on the 19th. Check out the conference and join us! Check out the conference here.
  
• I will be a Story Teller at the BIF7 Innovation Summit September 19-21st. This unique, high energy summit brings together folks who care about innovation--leading organizational leaders, doers, thinkers, writers, artists, consultants, in what Mashable has called "one of the top 7 places to watch great minds in action." Check out BIF7 Innovation Summit here.
  
• Think about treating yourself to the unique splendor and power of an Esalen Institute learning experience. Join me and my co-facilitator Nancy Fernandez Mills at Big Sur for a 5 day program of The Life Change Studio November 13-18. Regardless of where you are in your life this program will help you get in touch with your creative powers and be inspired by the possibilities in your life. Check out the program here. If you have ever wondered if there is a poet in you consider taking my wife Karen's amazing 5 day workshop, Calling Calliope, Finding Your Poetic Voice, at Esalen also from November 13-18. Take a look at Karen's workshop here.
  
• I will be presenting a special program "Living Your Next Phase of Life with Creativity, Vitality and Meaning" at a Fidelity Client Appreciation Event, Providence, RI on October 4th.
  
• I am also working with Rockland Trust, Hanover, MA to create a special retirement workshop to be held on October 19th.
  
• If you or anyone you know would like to hear me talk about my book (co-authored with Kathy Jordan) Becoming a Life Change Artist; 7 Creative Skills to Reinvent Yourself at Any Stage of Life, come to the Andover Bookstore, 89R Main Street, Andover, Massachusetts at 7 pm on October 20th. Spread the word! Check out the bookstore here.
• And finally but not leastly, we are in the process of receiving feedback from our piloteers for our Life Change Artist online training program. This program will initially be designed for coaches and then for organizational leaders and educators. So far we have been hearing "there's nothing like this out there!" If you want to be alerted as to our progress, just drop me a note.
  

Please spread the word on any of these events/items to folks you think might have interest in them. Also, if there is anyone you think might like to subscribe to my bloutcher please pass it on.

Still in Paris

In This Bloutcher

• Still in Paris
• Announcements
  

In 1965 I spent 9 months in Paris, studying philosophy before heading to graduate school in Chicago. The French were still using newspaper for toilet paper back then and men wearing berets carrying their baguettes were everywhere. Today the baguettes remain but the berets have been replaced by scarves, even on hot summer evenings.

Back then I took a six week trip into southern France, across the great Valadolid plains of Spain into Portugal. Franco was still in power and silly pointed hats of the guardia civilia could be seen even in the remote towns. I drove a deux cheveau which means two horses because it purportedly had only two horsepower and sipped petrol at the rate of 60 miles a gallon. The deux cheveau had such an odd appearance that it made you think a Dr. Suess character would pop out any second. Of course, you could read a novel driving at full throttle up the hills and if you got into a head on with a Vespa you would lose for sure. One night I pulled over and slept in a field because the stars were as large as grapefruit and I had always wondered what it would be like to sleep under a night sky filled with grapefruit. Some of the grapefruit flared wildly and fell to the earth in flashes of brilliance and I mistook them for a moment for shooting stars. I felt the night coolness settle on my cheeks and fell asleep with all kinds of possibilities awaiting me.

On the drive back to Paris I kept wondering how the city had changed during my 6 week absence. And then I heard the winds of time whisper: Oh, but you have--how you have changed. I looked through the rear view mirror, trying to catch a glimpse of the wind, but only the road stretched back as far as I could see.

I am in Paris at this moment and except for the toilet paper and the scarves and a few other unimportant details, Paris remains Paris remains Paris. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. And what about me? Did the wind speak the truth? I like to think I would still pull over and sleep the night under the sky of grapefruit and fall asleep with all kinds of possibilities awaiting me. The other day Karen and I took our shoes and socks off in a lovely park in the 15th arrondissement and felt the moist earth energy under the grass and then we sat under a shady Linden tree and looked at the sky inspired by a Corot painting (left)--or is it the other way around, or maybe it was a Sisley sky (right) but it really doesn't matter since the sky hasn't changed either between their time and ours.

I think that when you are in your 20s and you are in Paris for the first time you are not able ever to leave--you are always still in Paris.

I remember during the return drive from Spain and Portugal refocusing on the road ahead and whispering half to myself, half to the unseen wind: We are not as timeless as Paris. We are here, perhaps we never leave even when we are gone and then something else happens. I have been back to Paris many times since that first time. I better understand some things now, and other things I understand less well. That's a kind of change. The wind was right. I have changed from the first time. Or am I perhaps the same in different ways?

Announcements:

• Check out the BIF-7 Innovation Summit. I am excited about being invited as one of the Summit's storytellers. Now in its 7th year, the Summit has been named by Mashable as one of the "7 places to see great minds at work." The Summit is magic. It's intimate. It's assumption blowing. It opens up windows to whole new worlds. You should consider being there. Learn more about BIF-7 by clicking here.
• I will be speaking at Fidelity Investments in October at a special client appreciation event. I will also be doing a special program for Rockland Trust, also in October, for those who are considering what comes next in their lives.
  
• I also want to put in a special plug for the program I am doing with Nancy Fernandez Mills at Esalen, November 13 through 18, at Big Sur in California. This is a magical place and the program which will be a special version of our Life Change Studio promises to be highly engaging, insight provoking and transformative. Consider giving yourself a unique gift and joining us for the program. For more information click here. Also check out a workshop my wife Karen is conducting at Esalen at the same time. The workshop titled Calling Calliope; Finding Your Poetic Voice. Not only is Karen a wonderful poet, she has a unique ability to put you in touch with parts of youself that you never knew were there. Check out her workshop by clicking here.