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Walking on the Leading Edge: My “Edgewalker Journey”

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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

Choose Love Not Fear

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I want to share an article I wrote for our local newspaper recently, in response to the multiple terror attacks.

Choose Love Not Fear

How do people of faith make sense of the horror of terrorism attacks in Paris, Lebanon, Syria, Russia and so many places around the world? These are questions I am dealing with right now, especially because I have friends in Paris, and because I had a wonderful trip there a year ago, where my only concern was pickpockets.  The spiritual principle for me in this context is “Choose love, not fear.”  For me, God is love, and fear is an expression of not trusting God’s greater good.

When I find myself fearful, which happens more than I would like to admit, I try to remember to choose love, and not give into fear. The descriptions in the news of the actions of the terrorists in Paris did evoke fear in me.  It made me wonder if I would ever want to go to Paris again. Or New York.  Or London.  Or any other place that I imagine a terrorist might want to attack.  And I can easily slip into thinking of the shootings in theaters, churches, schools, and the Oklahoma City bombing.  Or closer to home, I think about the student who killed a professor in his office in the building next to where I used to work at the University of Arkansas.  It’s so easy to be afraid.  But that is not what spiritual traditions teach us.

In the Bible, every time an angel appears to a prophet or to someone like Mary, the angel says “fear not.”  Melinda Martin, a minister’s wife in Texas, went through her concordance and found that “fear not” is listed 80+ times, and other similar phrases such as “be not afraid” are used 30+ times. Some examples are:

“And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified (Matthew 28:5).”
“But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John (Luke 1:13).”

 

The Hebrew Bible offers this spiritual guidance:  “Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh (Proverbs 3:25).”  What an interesting phrase “Desolation of the wicked.”  A definition of desolation is “a state of complete emptiness or destruction.”  The etomology of the word is from Latin, desolare, ‘to abandon.’ But who or what is abandoned when a person or group willingly causes desolation?  Perhaps they have abandoned God, or feel abandoned by a materialistic society, or perhaps they have abandoned their own soul. I can read it this word as ‘de-soul-ation,’ even though this is incorrect etomologically.  It might be correct theologically.  Somehow these individuals have lost their own soul in the willingness to create terror and havoc among their human brothers and sisters.

Can my understanding from this perspective lead me to more compassion for people who commit heinous acts?  I wish I could say I was there, and I hope to get there someday.  I still find myself in grief and feeling empathy for the innocent victims of these acts.  Perhaps over time, or as I evolve on my spiritual path, compassion for terrorists and other perpetrators of violence will come to me more naturally and more quickly.

After 9/11, the Dalai Lama said, “Terrorism cannot be overcome by the use of force because it does not address the complex underlying problems. In fact the use of force may not only fail to solve the problems, it may exacerbate them and frequently leaves destruction and suffering in its wake. Human conflicts should be resolved with compassion.  The key is non-violence…I would also like to point out that talk of nonviolence when things are going smoothly is not of much relevance.  It is precisely when things become really difficult, urgent and critical that we should think and act nonviolently.”

In response to questions about the Paris attacks, the Dalai Lama has a very interesting perspective on how to take spiritual action.  He said during an interview, “We cannot solve this problem only through prayers. I am a Buddhist and I believe in praying. But humans have created this problem, and now we are asking God to solve it. It is illogical. God would say, solve it yourself because you created it in the first place.”

I am not an expert on international relations or on Middle East history or in any other field that would allow me to offer suggestions to leaders about how to solve this problem.  I don’t have the answers.  What I hold onto is the belief that humanity is evolving, as Teilhard de Chardin explains so eloquently, and that there is a very large body of evidence that we collectively are getting less violent each century, decade and year.  Steven Pinker, a professor at Harvard University, has documented the decline of violence from Biblical times to the present and says, “we are living in the most peaceful time in our species’ existence.”  It’s difficult to believe this if you spend a lot of time reading the news, but the fact is – violence sells.  However, it is not the way most humans conduct themselves in the world.

The news is not likely to guide us in seeing acts of kindness and compassion in the world, so its up to us individually and collectively to see and foster compassion where ever we can – to choose love, not fear.  Fayetteville has been designated as a Compassionate City by the International Campaign for Compassionate Communities. Compassion Fayetteville focuses on documenting daily acts of kindness.  “Seek and ye shall find (Matthew 7:7).”  “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).”  There are many opportunities every day to choose love not fear.  By paying attention to this choice, we can move towards more love in the world. That is the best way I know of, in this moment, to combat terrorism.  It’s not much, but it’s all I’ve got.

Dr. Judi Neal is the Chairman and CEO of Edgewalkers International, a consulting firm focused on workplace spirituality.  She is the author of four books, including Edgewalkers, and Creating Enlightened Organizations.

Liminal Time

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Doorway - janet deyI have never seen times as uncertain as these. I lived through the sixties, and there was an uncertainty, but there was also such a sense of hope and creativity. Something is different about the mood of humanity right now. There is so much more fear and dread. There are also more extremes. Look at the weather, sports, politics, terrorism.

Maybe the sixties were the warm-up act for what is occurring on the world stage today. The vision of a better, more peaceful, more sustainable world is not lost, it’s just buried under the news of Al-Qaeda’s leaders being killed, tornados and earthquakes destroying cities, and the economy going down the tube. There is a native American story about a grandfather telling his grandson about two wolves that are fighting each other. One is filled with fear and greed and violence and the other is filled with love and connection and gentleness. The young boy asks, “which one will win.” His grandfather answers, “The one you feed.”

The news and our daily conversations have been feeding the fearful, angry wolf. Our NGO work and our spiritual work feed the loving gentle wolf. We are in a liminal time where it is hard to see which wolf will win. Collectively we can begin to explore ways to withdraw energy from the fearful angry wolf and start feeding the loving gentle wolf.

Join me on June 21st, the Summer Solstice, as we explore the edges of liminal space and the bridging of world views. Call in number: 1-712-451-6100, participant code: 575735#. This call is free, although long distance charges may apply. The call is 7-8pm Central Time.

Photo courtesy of Janet Dey

Edgewalkers International

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The concept of Edgewalkers truly seems to be one that is embraced internationally. And this makes sense given the way we are increasingly becoming a global society.

Several years ago, I was in beautiful Mallorca, Spain running a 3 day Edgewalker workshop with  Kimberly Hunn. 14 incredible Edgewalkers from California, WashiSandra and Jesus with townsfolkngton D.C., the U.K., Switzerland, German, and Spain joined us on a journey of exploring leading edges and what it takes to live to the edge of all your possibilities. We began with a cross-cultural experience where participants walked through a local Mallorquin village called Andratx (pronounced “An-dratch”). They were instructed to interact and connect with people in the village and to observe themselves as they were “walking between worlds.” As you can see from this photo at an outdoor cafe, it was a very positive experience.
One of the most important things for Edgewalkers to do in order to keep their edge is to take time for silence and reflection. In each “Walking the Leading Edge” workship, participants are given the opportunity to walk the bridge between the everyday material reality into a non-material reality. I often talk about walking between the two worlds, but Tami Simon, CEO of Sounds True, told me in an interview that her experience is that there are not two worlds but one reality, with the invisible or spiritual world integrally interconnected. The bottom line is that it is important to take time to see and experience this interconnection between seeing only the physical or material aspects of reality and a form of seeing that allows you to know both the physical and non-physical aspects at the same time.
In Mallorca, we had the privilege as a group to go to the top of a mountain outside of Port Andratx where each participant could spend time in nature contemplating their own Edgewalker journey. This is something any of us can do, and should do, on a regular basis, but often in our busy lives we don’t take the time to listen to what is calling us from the future.
100_0262Nature is a powerful teacher, and I encourage you to take time by yourself on a regular basis to be in someplace that nurtures your soul and allows that inner monkeymind to settle down. When you let go, for a short while, of the daily to do list, and the thoughts about what you should do, and what you wished you had done, a deeper wisdom has room to rise up and be recognized.
This is Stefan, a German engineer living in Switzerland, who rode his motorcycle to the workshop. He has a deep spiritual life, and found that sitting on the mountain gazing over the Mediterranean created the space for a powerful, uplifting experience that will guide him in his journey in profound ways.
In our workshops, we are not always able to provide people the opportunity to be in nature, but we always provide time for one form or another or a short Edgewalker Quest. In London I facilitated an Edgewalker retreat (See details on the Edgewalker website.) In this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to walk through the city while holding a questions in their hearts and minds about their own leading edge. They will be asked to look for signs and metaphors as they walk through the city, basically becoming urban shamans.

A new kind of human is emerging on the planet today; one that would prefer to build bridges rather than walls. One that sees all the people on Earth as brothers and sisters. One that wants to live by deeper values and create sustainability for organizations, cultures, and all sentient beings. These Edgewalkers do not think of themselves as Spanish or Chinese or American, they think of themselves as Global Spiritual Citizens.

There is so much strife and conflict and need in the world, and we need Edgewalkers to serve as global leaders of positive change. Often an Edgewalker feels alone and not valued, frequently marginalized by mainstream organizations. But times are beginning to change and people are beginning to understand that we need totally new ways of thinking and being if we are going to be able to solve the personal, organizational and planetary issues that we are facing.

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For many years, the International Association for Spirit at Work  held an annual conference to honor organizations that have learned to bridge the worlds of bottom-line success and spirituality in the workplace. The leaders of these organizations are pioneers in Edgewalking. Over an 11 year period, we identified 47 organizations representing over 39 countries, that have an explicit commitment to nurturing the human spirit.

These international organizations and their leaders provide evidence of early signs of a new more sustainable and holistic way of doing business.

Edgewalkers Mallorca 3

Business is the most powerful institution on the planet. Therefore business has a huge responsibility in helping to solve the myriad of complex problems that we face in the world today. We have created an organization called Edgewalkers International to provide training, coaching, and consulting services to organizations that want to be on the leading edge of this new paradigm shift. Please contact us if you want to be involved.
I invite you to make comments below. What signs or examples do you see that provide evidence that Edgewalkers are emerging in many different countries? Why do you think this is?