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description= I charge you all that each one of you concentrate all the thoughts of your heart on love and unity. When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love. -Abdu l-Baha;
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Text of the page (random words):
been said by others but if you re looking to brush up on your online communication this is a solid place to start i hope it s useful to somebody tags accompaniment service writing categories from life on beautiful messes and organic growth november 14 2017 0 a group of friends was discussing how a program grows in communities at varying stages of development and the term organic growth came up and needed some clarifying in the beginning growth is often a bit of a mess somebody tries something somebody else tries something else something catches on something else doesn t maybe people talk to each other about what they re doing and maybe not patches of activity sputter to life and die out again conversations happen or they don t people usually individuals but sometimes small groups do what they can in whatever ways seem to open there s not a problem with these initial messy efforts it s a beautiful mess after all seeing growth where there wasn t any before and it makes little sense to compare a community at this stage and feel terrible comparing with more advanced communities that have all kinds of structures in place teams focused on specific lines of action coordinators for educational programs committees thinking about quarterly cycles of activity annual calendars budgets resources all these things develop with effort and experience and time but sometimes in an effort to avoid comparisons and feel better about where we are we say things like well we re growing organically right now and that s not necessarily accurate organic growth of course isn t the same thing as frenetic growth it doesn t mean the same thing as without structure or without a plan anyone who has ever gardened or taken regular walks in the woods has seen organic growth in action a plant will absolutely adapt to the local environment as it sprouts and grows taking advantage of light moisture space and support wherever they may be found but there is still a structure and an order to this growth stems grow before buds leaves appear at particular intervals in relation to one another regardless of the circumstances roots go down stems up every individual is different and yet they all follow a comprehensive plan there is a framework for organic growth why does this matter because if we conflate organic growth with frenetic growth the opposite of organic becomes systematic when it comes time to grow beyond one or two or five little hubs of activity we re unable to step forward because the next steps are what we have viewed as the antithesis of our strengths we cling to freneticism in the name of naturalness not understanding that growing into structure over time is also natural systematic in turn doesn t mean rigid hierarchical forced or even complex systematic can mean taking notes after your children s class so that a substitute can help fill in when you re sick systematic can mean you and a group of friends get together over dinner once a month to talk about what you ve been doing and reflect on what you ve learned systematic can mean choosing your next steps on purpose having looked at the needs and resources around you rather than responding in the moment to real or perceived emergencies or panicking about growing in all ways at all times regardless of your ability to address each area of growth effectively sometimes in learning to grow from beautiful mess to systematic growth we forget the emergent and adaptive quality that is also at the heart of an organic approach we appoint someone to coordinate an activity when there is nothing yet to coordinate we push a particular line of action without stopping to consider whether there is a foundation that can be built upon we cut off an area of strength in order to adhere to an unhelpful conception of balance we insist on a single approach rather than providing a framework and seeing what emerges if complacence keeps us stuck in the stage of beautiful messes it s impatience that drives us to the other extreme organic growth requires a calm sense of urgency that s not particularly encouraged in today s society it s something i struggle with on a personal level myself often mentally swinging between everything must happen now and here is the exact method for achieving it and forget this i m just going to do what s pleasant and convenient regardless of the need it s consultation with others that helps keep me a little more focused and level thanks y all organic growth is about creating an environment that challenges and encourages it we weed we water we provide trellises or light or heat and the plant grows we know what roses or tomatoes or oak trees need but the circumstances are always a bit different on the ground perhaps the soil here is more acidic or the drainage is poor this valley is prone to floods in may this particular plant is prone to blight but the only way we learn these things about our local conditions is to get out there and start a garden and if we ve only read books about gardening n the past it s probably going to be a mess at first mud and tears and fits and starts it will be amazing when the whole world has gained so much experience that we can all move smoothly into true organic growth from the start until then we ll keep working through the stage of beautiful messes and into something appropriate and new doing our best to help our gardens grow tags garden growth organization service categories from life humility practice and capacity building november 13 2017 0 let me tell you a story i started playing the cello in elementary school orchestra i was lucky to go to school in a district that took the arts very seriously more so than the sciences even somewhat to the detriment of stem inclined students like my sister and so orchestra was an option beginning in fourth grade every year my teacher would recommend i take private lessons but dance and gymnastics were more important to me at that point so there was never time for one more thing still i had a decent theoretical and intuitive understanding of music thanks to my pianist father so i did fine in middle school i started developing joint pain gymnastics fell victim first followed by ballet i managed to keep up enough for theater but by my junior year i wasn t even engaged in that the same way so at 16 i started private cello lessons my teacher who had his pick of brilliant students agreed to take me on because i was interesting i could read music fluently in multiple clefs i could handle complex rhythms i was keeping up with the other members of my high school orchestra and as long as i did my technique had never been dealt with i was going to have to start over from scratch my first lesson i wasn t allowed to play a single note after bow hold exercises i held the bow in my right hand with both hands resting on my knees i picked them up and placed them correctly on the instrument drawing two wide loops in the air i put them back on my knees i put them back on the cello i put them back on my knees the next lesson i played open strings the lesson after that i played four note scales then eight notes then i finally had music placed in front of me suzuki book 1 the first song twinkle twinkle little star i started to cry just looking at it i had been playing the cello for seven years it was so humiliating my friends were playing bach and here i was playing baby music my teacher bless him didn t seem phased by this he explained that we d move through relatively quickly but that my technique needed to be addressed at a foundational level before we moved on to more complex things and that it would require hard work and practice and a huge dose of humility but never humiliation there was nothing to be ashamed of in striving to be better no matter what it looked like to someone on the outside i stayed after school every day and practiced by myself twinkle twinkle french folk song the song of the wind the happy farmer minuet in c my orchestra teacher commented that it was so nice to hear the old songs again i did move quickly practicing every day and i improved the next year i found myself a section leader my teacher moved to another country but i ve never forgotten the lesson in humility he taught me when he watched me cry to see a book of children s songs now i serve as a tutor of study circles which are intended to raise capacity in individuals and communities to serve their communities each of the courses these study circles goes through includes three related units of study and at least one practice both of these elements is essential for capacity to be built and neither is particularly effective without the other the thing is we all live in communities we think we must know how to live together after all haven t we been doing it as individuals for twenty thirty seventy years haven t our families been doing it for thousands who doesn t know how to be a community anyway a hermit maybe certainly not us but the truth is that while we ve often been getting by our technique is frankly terrible and we need to start learning at the beginning from scratch this is why people who feel at the height of their influence struggle with the ruhi sequence of courses book 1 called reflections on the life of the spirit includes three units two of which have a practice component the first is to read the writings carefully and with intent every morning and evening the second is to visit two baha is and study a prayer with them not even to pray but to study the prayer itself the same way the first unit teaches us to study on our own i have literally had people refuse to study with me insisting that it is a waste of their time as though looking at a few words together with fresh eyes were somehow a demeaning task when they were capable of so much more i ve had people agonize over whether visiting someone in their home even invited were an appropriate avenue of service whether it was patronizing to study a prayer with someone else whether there was any use in it whether they shouldn t just skip it and get on to the real acts of service the exciting ones for books down the line but of course if you can t study fifty words with a friend you can t facilitate the study of hundreds in a group if you can t will yourself to talk about spiritual reality you won t be able to teach an entire class of children to pray if you aren t willing to visit a friend in their home you will never work up the courage to build bonds of friendship with someone previously regarded as a stranger you won t build community in your neighborhood you won t build unity in your world it takes so much humility to understand that how we ve learned to be in the world may have helped us cope but it s on some level fundamentally broken that we need to re learn something as basic as friendship or neighborliness or meaningful conversation it s a real struggle to overcome the sense that we re meant for something better than this that we re not children after all that we already have so much capacity already if people could just see it but if we can set it aside and practice the basics until we ve really mastered them the resulting music is so much stronger and i know because i m still here trying my best playing away tags community humility music practice prayer service study circle virtue categories from life today i feel loved november 12 2017 0 i try and keep to universals so that anything i share here can be useful to anyone but today i m getting personal because a few friends knew i was struggling with some personal issues and took it to heart and some of those friends serve on institutions because i know the prayers of my local spiritual assembly are with me because i know the prayers of my regional baha i council are with me because i know the prayers of my auxiliary board members are with me because i know the prayers of my continental counselor are with me i m a bit of a pessimist by nature a bit withdrawn slow to friendliness slow to happiness slow to hope or to love but the love of the individuals the institutions and the community around me are so palpable at times like this i can t help but to be happy there is a unity here in my little midwestern region that i haven t known anywhere else and i wouldn t trade it for all the progress in the world categories uncategorized on reflection gatherings november 12 2017 0 reflection gatherings are one of the most useful tools i know of on this path of service i m on but i didn t always realize it even now i m pretty sure that i only have a tenuous grasp on what they are and have the potential to be since this isn t something that everyone has a lot of experience with i thought i would share what i know about organizing reflection gatherings that are meaningful and successful what is the purpose of a reflection gatherings reflection gatherings are intended to elevate clarify and unify a group s vision of their service they provide a space to think about the progress and challenges that they have experienced in the recent past understand what has been learned see next steps and plan ahead for the future they also provide context for what individuals have been experiencing and learning both through study and through consultation with others first thing to consider who should attend a reflection gathering there are many different types of reflection gatherings all of which draw on a different subset of people perhaps the best known example is the cluster reflection where all those participating in the community building process from a particular geographic area in the us this is usually either several neighboring counties or a metropolitan area gather along with those who are new to the process but would like to learn more about how to become engaged this could include tutors animators children s class teachers hosts of devotional gatherings study circle participants and junior youth local institutions such as assemblies committees and those serving in appointed roles and more some participants might even live outside of the cluster but travel to serve within it especially in early stages of development the main factor is their geographic focus but this isn t the only kind of reflection gathering next week i ll be hosting a children s class teacher reflection for my state participants include anyone teaching assisting with or learning to teach grade 1 2 or 3 of the children s class program of the training institute anywhere in the state of indiana sometimes folks from neighboring states also join and that s not a problem as we ve never run out of room this is a short gathering only three hours or so last week was a gathering for people all over our three state region who are focused on learning about engaging youth and young adults in the main sequence of courses while all of the participants were tutors they had different roles in this particular learning process some mainly tutor those study circles some primarily focus on visiting 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