Edgewalkers

Serving Those Who Walk Between the Worlds

Edgewalkers

Walking on the Leading Edge #7 – Evolutionary Leaps of Faith Continue… Patricia Campanile

Surrendering to my future by letting go of my past, was exhilarating, exciting and scary at the same time. Decision-making has never been one of my strengths. For me life is a smorgasbord, the sampler platter. My personality type likes to keep options open so I can experience it all. However, I continue to learn and trust through trial and error life experience that focusing on one choice is deeper, richer and often more fulfilling. I sometimes feel that saying no to a choice means losing something else. In reality saying no to one thing is an opening, a yes to another opportunity. Following my heart and listening to my intuitive knowing, my gut feeling and inner voice have always led me in the right direction. The challenge and discipline is to quiet and observe the mind that has it’s opinions, concerns, fears, what ifs?!

A heart centered journey connects the dots of Spirit, Divine co-creation and our own free will. Aligning my free will with my Divine will, my Higher, wiser Self is what I was, and continue to commit to. Cultivating the EDGEWALKER qualities of Sensing the Future and Risk Taking are a powerful team in supporting me in “Aligning with the Divine”.

This awareness, drawing on my sense of adventure and allowing the signs of Spirit to guide me, supported me in taking the next step on my Edgewalker Journey. As I was sitting on the beach in beautiful Kauai in 2007 getting ready to fly back to the Big Island I still questioned if I was doing the right thing. Not knowing what was coming next was a big “leap of faith”. It was difficult to ignore the signs – the open door invitation to return to the Big Island to visit my ohana (Hawaiian friends/family) and house sit for the Summer months on the beautiful Kohala sanctuary. I stepped into it willingly though with some reluctance, feeling gratitude for the grace and synchronicity that orchestrated my next step.

Being guided all the way with no specific plan but the one designed by the Universe, I stepped onto the “magic carpet” ride called “my life”, holding tight but with an open heart and mind. The adventure continues…

*Lessons:

*To make decisions guided by your intuition take time to quiet the mind, be the conscious observer, notice the mind chatter. Get grounded and connect with your body, your gut feeling.

*Have the courage to trust and make the commitment to honor what you feel, even if your mind disagrees or goes into fear. Say to the mind chatter Thank you for sharing” and turn your focus on your deeper knowing, heart and gut.

* Your life can be a “magic carpet” ride of Divine flow and direction, with ease and grace. It is a choice. Be open to letting go of the familiar. With curiosity, explore a new way for a new outcome.

Walking on the Leading Edge 3 – My Edgewalker Journey Continues

Sometimes the best mode of transportation is a “Leap of Faith”.  Mine continued on June 1, 2007 on a one way flight from Naples, Florida to Kona, Hawaii. When I landed at midnight I literally and figuratively felt like I was in the dark. I began to have second thoughts about my decision. What was I doing on the Big Island of Hawaii in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? I knew no one and had no future long term plan, no past possessions and no home to speak of. I was in the void,the unknown and at the same time felt empowered. I was curious, open to a new adventure and chapter in my life. Little did I know that my Hawaiian “ohana”, friends and community, were waiting for me with open arms and hearts to welcome me to the islands.

When I awoke the next morning in the beautiful home I rented I was surrounded by an abundance of nature I had never experienced before. Sounds of tropical birds and the smells and sights of exotic flora and fauna were a feast to my senses. Any uncertainty I had felt about my decision to come to Hawaii was dispelled. I intentionally rented a house near Kealakekua Bay, a favorite local spot to swim with the dolphins in the wild and one of the main reasons I was called to Hawaii. I have always loved and felt drawn to dolphins as I sensed they had a message for me.

I arranged a dolphin snorkeling swim on a small boat with my local guide Joan Ocean. To my amazement I had the opportunity to swim with about 30 spinner dolphins. As they were encircling me, looking me in the eye, I felt their energy, playfulness and magnificence envelop me. I was crying in my snorkel, overwhelmed by the feelings and love that I felt. As we connected I was also invited to swim and play with them. My “Edgewalker” qualities of playfulness and connection naturally expressed with the dolphins.

When I got back on the boat Joan shared that clearly I had been called to Hawaii which included connecting with the dolphins. She explained that dolphins, and the Hawaiian Islands, call to certain individuals when it is their time to change, shift, evolve. My “Edgewalker” quality of Self-Awareness allowed me to listen, hear, and act on that calling. The process of disengaging from my former life, persona and identity created a fertile environment for Hawaii and the dolphins to initiate me. Over the next 10 years I would transform spiritually, emotionally, and physically. The shift that began to occur from the dolphin exchange happened almost immediately. My entire body, my energy felt completely different after the dolphin swim. It was so intense that I had to take a few days off to relax and integrate.

The local Hawaiians say the islands either “chew you up and spit you out, or embrace you.” Little did I know that I was being embraced and supported to grow and evolve in ways I could have never imagined. This also included the difficult process of letting go of the parts of me that no longer served my life. Over time they got “chewed up and spit out”. I surrendered to the unknown, scary and full of possibility, one magical day and one precious moment at a time.

Lessons:

*When we are aligned with our true path, our authentic calling, LIFE supports us.

*Learn to listen to and hear your intuitive voice, trust it and act on it’s wisdom. It is never wrong.

*Letting go of the old is necessary to create space for the new.

Love in the Workplace

With Valentine’s Day just past, I am working hard to turn my attention from the chaotic and polarizing events in our country to something more positive. While Valentine’s Day focuses on romantic or “eros” love, our faith and spiritual traditions teach us that there are other forms of love, sometime called agape love, defined by Wikipedia as “the highest form of love, charity; the love of God for man and of man for God.” There is also philia love, which is translated as “brotherly love” and defined as friendship and affection. So I would like to write about agape and philia love in the workplace.

It’s rare to hear conversations about love in the workplace these days. Work is seen more as a source of stress, burnout, and soul-damaging interactions. But there has been a quiet conversation about love in the workplace taking place for more than a decade. In 2002, Tim Sanders, a Yahoo executive, wrote an article for Fast Company Magazine titled “Love is the Killer App,” later published as a book by the same title. He wrote, “The most powerful force in business isn’t greed, fear, or even the raw energy of unbridled competition. The most powerful force in business is love. It’s what will help your company grow and become stronger. It’s what will propel your career forward. It’s what will give you a sense of meaning and satisfaction in your work, which will help you do your best work.”

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, said in a 2005 commencement speech, “The only way to do great work is to love the work you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know it when you find it.”

These leaders spoke about love as giving individuals and organizations a competitive edge while at the same time providing meaning and purpose, which are the highest enduring motivators of quality work. High pay and benefits can be motivating in the short term, but lose their allure when the price is your soul. It might be easy for very successful leaders to talk about love in the workplace, but do their claims stand up in the focused light of academic research. It turns out that they do.

Raj Sisodia, David Wolfe and Jag Sheath, all respected marketing professors, conducted research on companies they call “Firms of Endearment.” They looked for companies that customers loved. They looked for companies where employees love to work. They define a Firm of Endearment as “a company that endears itself to stakeholders by bringing the interests of all stakeholders groups into strategic alignment….These companies meet the tangible and intangible needs of their stakeholders in ways that delight them and engender affection for and loyalty to the company.” The way they found companies to study was to ask people, “Tell us about companies you love. Not just like, but love.”

The research team identified 30 organizations that met the final cut based on humanistic criteria and then completed an investor analysis to find out how they performed on the stock market. They were actually very surprised to find that the Firms of Endearment returned 1,092 percent for investors over a 10 year period ending June 30, 2006, compared to 122 percent for the S&P 500. That was more than an 8-to-1 ratio. Some of the organizations included were Amazon, CarMax, Google, Honda, IKEA, Patagonia, Timberland, and Whole Foods. They found common themes among the leaders of these firms who shaped their cultures around the idea that they “are here to help others live their lives with greater satisfaction, to spread joy and well-being, to elevate and educate, to help employees and customers fulfill their natural potential.”

I had a class team of MBA students create case studies of organizations they admired, and one of the teams reported on Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. They interviewed leaders and employees in the company, and the company actually sent a case of ice cream cups to the class for their team presentation! The most memorable part of their presentation was the description of the Joy Squad. A team of employees volunteer to serve for a few hours each month on the Joy Squad where they create ways to bring more joy into the workplace. The focus of their events and actions was on creativity and playfulness, not on productivity. And the result was employees who loved to work for Ben & Jerry’s.

In the 1970s, I was an internal consultant to a Honeywell Circuit Board plant in Arizona. The plant manager, Chet Kendrich, loved his employees and talked about them as family, and they would do anything for him. A very large order came in for circuit boards, larger than anything they had ever filled, and Chet asked them to be creative and to work as hard as they could to produce this large order in record time. He promised that once the order was filled with high quality circuit boards that passed inspection, they could have the rest of their 40 hours off. He expected that they might be able to make it by 3pm on Friday, but they actually discovered new ways of improving processes, and were done by 3pm on Thursday. After a brief celebration with pizza and balloons, he let the employees go home. From that point on, the plant broke production and quality records almost every week, and other employees from the Honeywell system put in transfer requests to work at this plant.

As Valentine’s Day approaches, I encourage us to think beyond the eros – romantic love of St. Valentine, and to explore other ways to express agape – universal love, and philia – brotherly love, in our workplaces. In what ways could you bring more love into your work? What could your organization do to be more like a “Firm of Endearment,” and how might you make that happen? In honor of Black History month, I want to end with a quote from Maya Angelou:

“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you.”

Walking on the Leading Edge: My “Edgewalker Journey”

by Patricia Varley, M.H.S.A.

Hello Fellow Edgewalkers!

I am excited and inspired to share my 10 year “Edgewalker” journey from 2007-2017, where I took a leap of faith, stepped into the unknown and rode the global magic carpet ride, learning to trust myself and the Universe.

“Facilitating Evolutionary Leaps of Faith” defined my path, led me back to my authentic self, and a way of being and living that I could have never imagined.

Please join me in my weekly blog as I share the lessons, inspiration and messages from this transformational period of my life. They are also relevant and important to the current times of change and uncertainty, possibility and opportunity we find ourselves in.

As a certified Edgewalker coach, facilitator and Senior Associate, my  commitment is to support you in making the shift in perspective necessary to expand your consciousness, courage and invaluable contribution to the planet at this time!   Thank you for being who you are! Patricia Varley

Here we go….

“I was standing on the moonlit beach in Naples, Florida where I live in January 2007, witnessing a full moon eclipse in my birth sign of Scorpio. Eclipses are powerful at releasing and letting go of what no longer serves us. “Show me a sign!” I yelled to the transformational moon. I felt called to make a change. I was ready yet I felt stuck, unclear, lost, unsure of where, how, when.

As I went to sleep that night, tired and confused, I dreamt that the fire alarm in my rented townhouse was going off. I was between worlds, not sure if I was awake or dreaming. However I was too tired and chose to “stay asleep” and ignore the alarm. The next morning when I awoke all was well and no alarm had rung in the night. I went into my day.

My business as a speaker, trainer, workshop and retreat leader, executive, life and business coach often took me away for a day or longer. As fate would have it that day I was giving an all day training in nearby Fort Myers. When arriving back home after dinner I opened the door, turned on the light and noticed black soot covering my entire townhouse and all the possessions in it. I realized there was a fire that started in the kitchen in the ice maker making the smoke toxic and my home unlivable.”Next time can you show me a sign more clearly, easily and obviously (CEO)!”as I yelled to Universe and powers that be. Scorpio is about death and rebirth, the phoenix rising from the ashes. Talk about a literal sign! I got the message. I couldn’t not pay attention and stay asleep anymore to the signs of my life that were not working.

After moving into a friend’s house during the transition I had the unfortunate task of going through my possessions. Since the smoke was toxic I was forced to review all that was toxic in my life and really got clear where I was stuck. Attachment and identification with my possessions, titles, outworn relationships,money, behavior patterns and old beliefs that were no longer serving me were now obvious. Little did I know that 10 years later as I write this blog in January 2017 on Maui, Hawaii my entire life would change. The next days 10 years would be transformational, liberating, a magic carpet ride. It was the beginning of my “Edgewalker Journey” as I took the leap and began “Walking on the Leading Edge”.

LESSONS:

Pay attention to the signs in your life.

Be careful what you ask for and how you ask.

Focus on CEO – Clear, Easy Obvious