Clare Consultation, LLCListening as Leadership
In our polarized society, we need a starting place for rediscovering each other. I believe that we all share the essential things: love of family, courage in adversity, sustaining faith, hope for the future. Living stories [are] told from the inside out. Windows into the hearts and minds of people. David Hughes Duke I just got off the phone with a man in Georgia. He contacted me because we both have this… Read More
February 1 – Re-imagining Underway
February. The love month. The month my skin has historically hit its most green (being of “olive” complexion – or so I’ve been told). The shrimpy month perhaps made so out of some vague attempt compensate the rutheless grind mid-winter in the northern hemisphere can present whether rainy in Portland, sub-zero in eastern Montana or, this year, astonishingly dry in California and wildly cold where my Mama lives in Georgia. It was February, 2009… Read More
On the Cusp of 2014 – Change and What Endures
Soon the calendar will shift for another roll through dates, through seasons and all the moments we have no way of knowing from here. Each of us lives in our own contagion of this following that. The unavoidable change that is living itself can sometimes feel unnerving — or at least the anticipation of it, the impossibility I already mentioned of knowing completely any change before it happens. I’ve been writing this… Read More
Merry Christmas to All
…and to All a Good Night. With gratitude and finest possible wishes to each of you ~ MC –Red Lodge, MT
Neuroplasticity and Gratitude
I was never much of a fan of talk about the biological bases of behavior. Already in the mid 80’s, there were innovative graduate programs popping up to explore brain-based treatments more nuanced than conventional treatments like ECT, Labotomy and psychotropic medication. Nonetheless, I remained decidedly a proponent of the nurture side of things. This bias came in large part from working with kids in schools and seeing the folly, and really… Read More
A Mandan-Hidatsa Elder and Civilian Warrior Speaks of Fracking
Today is Veteran’s Day. Today we honor people who have placed their lives on the line to recover peace. Per Capita, more Native Americans serve in the U.S. military than any other ethnic group. In recent data out of the Department of Defense (2010) the contrast shows up in the fact that while Native Americans make up 1.4% of the total U.S. population, they compose 1.7% of the country’s military. Over 20%… Read More
Annunciation
[Posting from the UK – this second guest blog from Gary Ferguson writing here about the change in “making things fresh.” His are helpful words – a good, even vital reminder – here where we live on the outskirts of all the bluster and impulse in DC toward shutting down the government. Read and enjoy — mmc] A number of years ago, while teaching a nature writing class in Yellowstone, I had… Read More
American Work from the Ground Up
Labor Day is the American holiday designated to honor workers. Historically, the day arises from the American Labor Movement in the late 1800’s. The tradition continues — you likely noticed it last weekend – as a way of honoring the contributions of American workers to the health and wellbeing of our country. Also vital to the country’s emergence and continuing welfare is American Wilderness – a presence, a natural fact, that has… Read More
“He knows everyone in business.”
Every word was about kindness, about humility, or generosity of the most precious kind: of time and attention, of friendship and guidance, of wisdom. Last Thursday night, a man well into his 80’s retired … again. This time from a talent and career management firm called Right Management. I still don’t know enough about this man, Jack Stowell. My friend, Terry OConnor said, “Come as my guest. Jack wants to meet you.” … Read More
On Defending the Dream until it is Made Real
I am writing this week to remind myself and anyone who might read here that the passage of time does not make the circumstances of last week’s blog any less immediate – any less critical than they were. Racism and all other forms of social oppression are not gone. The violence – physical, emotional, intellectual, physical – continues daily. Please listen to this. Linten in yourself. Listen in the experiences and profound… Read More