Canyons, Napping, and Outsight

Blogging here's a bit like yelling into a canyon - I think somebody should hear me, but I'm never really sure! Or maybe it's like journaling, and it's really for my own benefit. Anyway, a warm shout-out to those of you reading this.

I mentioned in my last post that I was having a lot of fun working with the APLP team at the East-West Center, and promised to write about that. Among the many fun bits, here are three:

ONE: My colleagues can be pretty inspiring. Christina and I co-directed APLP this year (G15!) and working with her was something akin to sharpening pencils: we were always seeking the finer point of what we were designing and delivering, and this process generally felt really good. There's great pleasure in spending the time to get things right (or right enough). In these first weeks of January, Christina and I are reviewing the first semester of G15, and the sharpening continues. I hope to always have co-workers who are as focused, open, and funny as Christina. Hoping the same for all of us, in fact. Seek out people like this!  

TWO: APLPers can be pretty inspiring. When we were all together in G12, I had a sense that our diversity was unique and that we were learning a lot because of it. Now, as an instructor, I see it very clearly. There are few places where adults from such varied backgrounds come together and forge common learnings and outcomes. It takes a lot of patience and discipline on the part of all (or most) involved. Watching successive groups struggle to create a shared identity that is flexible enough for everyone's differences is energizing. It makes my small part of it seem worthwhile, and makes me want to do better.

THREE: The Japanese Garden. This past year, I discovered its great napping opportunities. Not sure why it took me so long.

Regardless of the fun - I do still miss you all in APLP-land, and wish there were a way to bring you back for a visit.

Cheers - Gretchen

PS - Read this article recently about how we as leaders (or anyone wishing to make change) must intentionally make ourselves uncomfortable by taking action outside of our core areas. Acting beyond our "comfort zones" can help us gain new learning and skills (what the author calls "outsight") through action. In fact, that is one thing that working with EWC - and having to get up in front of a class and deliver - has provided me: multiple opportunities to feel uncomfortable, and perhaps develop outsight. Have you had similar experiences lately?

See the article here: http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00319

How it should end...

Two Gretchens (really!) hike Innstidalur - hot springs are still 7 hours away...

Aloha G12!

Last year, at the height of (my) summer, I went to Iceland with some friends to run a half-marathon at midnight. The race ended at some hot springs, and we all got in for a midnight steam bath. All races should end this way!

The next day, we went on an epic hike, which also ended at some hot springs. We spent three hours lazing about in very hot water, every so often getting out to cool off in some very cold snow-melt. All hikes should end this way!

On the way to the airport for our flight back to Boston, we stopped once more at some hot springs, for one last bath at the well-known tourist place called the Blue Lagoon. It's filled with blueish-white clay that everyone rubs all over their skin as they sip cocktails. It's quite a sight: all sorts of people, completely covered in clay, walking through the steamy water, with sunglasses on and drinks in their hands. All vacations should end this way!

In a year filled with a ton of travel and a fair amount of adventure, Iceland competes for "top adventure" with snorkeling in jellyfish-infested waters in the Gulf of Oman, and - just a few weeks ago - participating in a Native American sweat lodge ceremony in the mountains of North Carolina. (The jellyfish stung, however, and the sweat lodge was extremely hot - I got burned.)

My niece and me on Christmas Eve

And so once again we are at the start of a new year, full of adventure-potential. Once again, I'll divide my year roughly in half between Boston (where my family is) and Hawaii (where my job is). In between, I'm considering walking the Camino de Santiago - a pilgrimage route in northern Spain. It's been on my mind for well over a decade, and this may be the year! Or, it may not be. Regardless, the best parts of life continue to be spending time with family and friends, new and old. Hope to see some of you this year, too!

(Also - it continues to be a lot of fun working with new generations of APLP - I'll share a bit more about that in the next post.)

My warmest wishes for good health and much love in the new year,

Gretchen

Hi from SE Asia

Hi! I haven't made much progress on the headstand, yet. But I gave myself the whole year to work on it. If you've figured out how to do one, I welcome your suggestions!

My life's been pretty dominated by work these last couple of weeks: I've been in Malaysia with Nina and Scott and the G14 GISTers. EWC has a big training project there, and we'll be back a couple more times this Spring. I'm now in Bangkok, and tonight I am meeting up with Nam for dinner and a stroll. Last night I had dinner with some alumni (Nok, Trevor, Junita - some of you know them). A fun part of this job is getting to spend time with interesting people. The travel's alright, too, but sometimes it's too much. That work-life balance thing can be elusive, can't it?

I'm not really sure what to write about, so I thought I would share some things that I've come across over the last month, that have really impacted me.

• One of those was an article in The New Yorker, but Teju Cole. Unmournable Bodies took a  refreshingly critical look at the Charlie Hebdo events, and put words to some of my thoughts. I like this quote: "We may not be able to attend to each outrage in every corner of the world, but we should at least pause to consider how it is that mainstream opinion so quickly decides that certain violent deaths are more meaningful, and more worthy of commemoration, than others." 
• Another thing: I saw a movie this month called The Act of Killing. Have you seen it? It's a really, really amazing film - a documentary, actually, but almost not. The subjects are former Indonesian death squad leaders who are unrepentant about their role in the violence of the mid-1960s. They basically make a film about their actions. It sounds macabre, and it IS, but it is also incredibly moving. And the film has been used by Indonesian rights advocates to open up dialogue about this era.
• OK, I haven't only been paying attention to grim stuff! I've been watching a bunch of films, one right after the other, on the long flights I've been on this month. I recently saw The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, about a bunch of British retirees who move to India and grapple with a world that's new to them. Have you seen it? It's very funny in places and I was laughing loudly on the plane. I am looking forward to the sequel that comes out next month (The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel).

And speaking of next month (er, this month, actually) - Yuan will be the hostess of the blog in February. I'm looking forward to her updates.

Warm Alohas to you all!
Gretch

(Some pictures from Kuala Lumpur: Nina pointing out some words of wisdom, and the Jalan Alor food street.)

It's 2015. That happened quickly!

Aloha!

My niece and I were supposed to go pet some stingrays at the aquarium today. But the icy New England roads have us housebound. Stingrays, penguins, and turtles will have to wait. Instead, I am writing to you, and marveling about how it seems like just yesterday and at the same time forever ago that Ahila asked me to be the G12 January 2015 blogger.

Alas, here we are. And Happy New Year! I’m sipping coffee at my kitchen table in Cambridge (Massachusetts), slowly conjuring up the past two years. My gray-and-white cat, Mini, is looking out the window at the dreary winter scene. The heaters are clicking away softly in the background. Days like this, I sure do miss Hawaii!

As you may know, I actually do get to spend quite a bit of my time in Hawaii. That happened quite unexpectedly. After APLP and GIST, I worked for EarthWatch, an organization that brings people on science expeditions around the globe. As their corporate educator, I traveled on expeditions to the Arctic, the Brazilian rainforest, Arabian riverbeds, and urban watersheds. I saw polar bears, caught and tagged songbirds, and traveled in houseboats on Oxford canals. It was all great fun, until the organization re-organized and there was no space for me.

That’s when the APLP team invited me to come to Hawaii for a few weeks. The leadership programs there keep multiplying, so extra hands were helpful. Eventually, “helping out” became a job, and now I divide my time between Hawaii and Cambridge (which is a very long commute). I still get some consultant gigs with EarthWatch, and I am also designing and teaching on-line courses for humanitarian relief workers. So, life is full, and interesting, and good.

Being in Hawaii and being on the “other side” of the APLP has been fun. I get to see the cohorts go through their own learning and (for some) transformation. I also get to see APLP alumni – including some of you! Working with the APLP team has been great. I didn’t quite realize while in the program myself just how much fun the team has together. I feel pretty lucky.

You're basically caught up on my last couple of years, at least work-wise. I turned 40 recently (!!) and celebrated in Hawaii with a skydiving adventure (with Nina!) and then celebrated again in Boston – with Alisha and Megan. I’m exciting about the new decade and what it will bring. And while January seems to be the month for planning, with everyone making resolutions, I just have one new goal for 2015: to learn to do a headstand.

Maybe I’ll have made some progress on this by the next time I write.

Mahalo nui loa,

G

(This photo of me with my delicious Laksa Penang was taken in Penang, last April, when I escaped a training for a night on the town.)