Image of Community

Getting ready to cheer on the flame.

It has been a long time since I wrote on this blog. Call it busyness, or perhaps just a lack of creative juices, but it does not mean a shortage of great memories and experiences the last little while. The busyness is mostly due to a variety of community events I have been planning lately. I somehow get suckered into that stuff all the time, but mostly because I just can’t resist. I love to create opportunities for people to connect and for people to come together and celebrate or take part in something in common.

The latest event was a pre-torch party when the Olympic Flame came through Banff. Whatever your thoughts are on the Olympics, this event was just pretty darn cool. Knowing that same flame had travelled thousands of kilometres and been held by hundred of people, all united within the same country was a really neat thing to be a part of. Seeing hundreds, if not over 1000 people gathered to watch the flame in a town the size of Banff was just amazing. There was so much energy and cheer in the streets. We were all bonded by that flame because we were all there to see it, no matter what it meant to us.

It made me think a lot about community, and its vital importance to our everyday life.

Photo by: Frederique Olivier

I don’t know if you’ve watched Planet Earth, but there is a segment in that about penguins and what they do to keep warm. Emperor Penguins in Antarctica form a close huddle, which moves continuously both in a circular motion and inward. Each penguin takes turns being on the inside and on the windward side of the huddle. By moving continuously, they all keep their temperatures up, and by taking turns on the inside, they have the chance to warm-up before returning to the outside of the circle. It is a magical thing to watch. Conversely, any penguin that is left out of the huddle is left to die. Only those who work together survive.

This is the ultimate image of community to me. These  events we attend and groups we are part of may seem silly and inconsequential at times, but in reality, they are part of a bigger picture. We need community in order to survive. In our day and age, we may not die due to isolation, but a large part of our soul will wither away without the sustenance of community with other people.

Looking at the latest devastation in Haiti and other places around the globe, it has become even more obvious how essential it is to find community with other people in the worst of times. And seeking community with others in the best of times prepares us for the worst. It puts people in our lives who are prepared to invest in us, to save us, if I may say, when we truly need it most.

Every earthquake, even the smaller ones in our own lives, can leave us exposed and vulnerable, but our community will be there to help us – we only have to let them in. In times of trial, despair, fragility and pain, seek community. We were never meant to live it out alone.

© Meghan J. Ward, 2010.

Real Adventure

I recently came across Yvon Chouinard`s (founder of Patagonia) basic philosophy of life, in his book, Let My People Go Surfing:

The basic tenets of that philosophy are: a deep appreciation for the environment and a strong motivation to help solve the environmental crisis; a passionate love for the natural world; a healthy skepticism toward authority; a love for difficult, human-powered sports that require practice and mastery; a disdain for motorized sports like snowmobiling or jet skiing; a bias for whacko, often self-deprecating humour; a respect for real adventure (defined best as a journey from which you may not come back alive — and certainly not as the same person); a taste for real adventure; and a belief that less is more (in design and consumption). Pg. 150

I found that many aspects of his philosophy describe my own. Considering that, it was hard to swallow his definition of `real adventure.` Go ahead – go back and read it.

I find this particularly sobering on a day when the climbing world lost one of its best mountaineers, Tomaz Humar. Living in The Rockies, I rub shoulders with some of these guys (and gals) that seem to be lucky to be alive. Every year at the Banff Mountain Film Festival I somewhat rudely joke with my own climbing partners that some of the climbers featured at the festival may not be back next year. But, it`s completely true, and these people would admit it.

The route up Grassi Ridge follows the left sky line

I thought I had a sense of adventure, but compared to these climbers, I may as well be hiking through a mall. Perhaps then, adventure is relative to the adventurer. My first stab at multi-pitch trad climbs this past summer was an awakening for me. There is nothing that compared to the level of focus and the mental battle I had going on some of those days, particularly on Grassi Ridge, a route up Wiwaxy Peak in Yoho National Park. Hanging a few hundred feet off the ground, I fully realized the dangers of what I was doing, and yet I needed, for self-preservation`s sake, to ignore them.

Though I try to tune out these dangers, my awareness of them also comes indirectly through my precautions against them. I tie the rope in a figure-eight knot and double it back, I grip the rope a certain way when I`m belaying, I put my protection in the rock on a certain angle, and I equalize my anchors. Each precaution represents an inherent danger to climbing – otherwise, we wouldn`t do these things in the first place.

Yet, there is so much we cannot control, and this is why I believe Yvon Chouinard defines `real adventure` as a journey from which we may not return.

Some, like me, pursue increased risk and adrenaline in adventure – and this is arguably `real adventure.`Furthermore, there are those who reduce even their precautions (climbing without a rope, being a prime example), and we may call this `pure (and perhaps stupid) adventure.` There is a good chance they will not come back alive.

Still, adventure, even at its most basic level, can be found in many places and situations. Some find adventure in a new job or starting a family. For many it is a matter of time and place. Something that wasn`t adventurous before becomes adventurous in the future. My great aunt and uncle even made an adventure of going to the hospital when their health turned for the worst, just to make it more fun for eachother. Likewise, as I get older, my threshold for adventure may weaken.

I turn back, then, to the end of Chouinard`s definition of `real adventure.` He defines it also as a journey from which you may not come back as the same person.

And this is 100% true of all adventure.

© Meghan J. Ward, 2009.

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Further reading (that I`d like to do, too):

Maria Coffey, Explorers of the Infinite and Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow

Steve House, Beyond the Mountain

The Charter for Compassion

I just wanted to bring this to everyone’s attention, because it sure caught mine.

Back on February 28th, 2008, Karen Armstrong won the TED Prize, and her wish was to create a Charter for Compassion that could be honoured worldwide. Over 150,000 people from 180 countries, including 18 prominent religious leaders, contributed to the process, and today on November 12, 2009, the charter was unveiled.

The Charter for Compassion goes as follows:

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

As of right now 4384 people have afffirmed the Charter, including myself. Will you? All you have to do is go to http://charterforcompassion.org and add your name. Watch the video on YouTube too – the message will really hit home.

Communication 101

It’s all about us…but it shouldn’t be.

What I’m talking about is the way we communicate (or don’t communicate) with others and how often we are at the centre of our own thoughts within a conversation, even if the topic of discussion has absolutely nothing to do with us.

When someone is sharing news with us, we may be thinking, ‘how will this affect me?,’ ‘how can I relate to this?,’ or perhaps ‘is this person mad at me? We may be spending more time thinking about what we will say next rather than listening to what our friend is saying to us.

When someone gives us constructive criticism or feedback, our immediate response is defensiveness and self-preservation. We must protects ourselves – the ego and the image – at all cost. Our castle has been attacked and so we turn to blame, excuses, and complaining to defend what remains.

When someone is telling us a story, our thoughts drift inwardly to an experience that was (somewhat) similar so that we have something to say back to them. For example, my conversations with other Global Development students often turned this way. People couldn’t help but want to up the ante and share what they did, what they saw, what they ate when they were in Vanuatu, China, Kenya, or Ecuador instead of simply enjoying someone else’s travel story.

Does this sound like you, too?

I learned recently by listening to an audio series called Shape Communication that if we want to reach our end goal, if we want to live harmoniously with others, if we want to improve as people, if we want to be part of an effective team, if we want to have good relationships and if we want to keep learning, we have a lot of work to do on the way we communicate with others.

It’s what we often don’t even realize that we are doing that gets in the way. Communication breaks down when we aren’t truly listening. We may think we are listening because we may hear the words the other is saying. But, if we don’t make efforts to remove our own filter, to broaden our worldview, turn off the chatter in our own heads, and stop preserving the ego, we may as well be listening to water boil.

Try going into a conversation with the mindset of learning something about that person and learning a new way of seeing the world. The only way this can happen is to stop seeing the world your way! Stop reminding yourself of the way you see the world by remaining non-judgmental and putting your convictions aside. The audio series suggests you listen, listen, listen…and then ask strategic questions. You’re not done listening just because the other person has stopped talking. From there, ask them questions and get to know them more! Show that you were listening by asking deeper questions and seeking more information.

There is a fine line, though, which is listening to and feeding peoples’ drama. If someone is complaining or telling you the same story over and over, listen with a neutral mindset, and then either help them find a solution to their problem or don’t say anything at all. Don’t feed the drama by asking questions, or giving the token sympathetic responses. Girls watch out for this! We love to get together and recite stories – especially those with drama (think coffee shop dates, phone chats, and girls’ nights).

Finally, communication is a two-way street. It is a mutual exchange, so long as both parties are heard and understood. Ask what others need from you so you are clear on what their needs are, and state what your needs are. This final step is key in creating good communication with others, and in avoiding those sagas that result when communication breaks down.