Hey, everyone. Long time no water cooler. I’ve been a little wrapped up in my own world lately, but have also been thinking about whether I’m noticing long-term effects of bootcamp. It’s great to see that a couple of past bootcamp buddies are meeting on their own to continue the work!
My prevalent thought right now is that you need to be in sane circumstances to even reflect on this stuff. When you’re trying to avoid hot coals, you’re only thinking about the heat. I’m working on moving to saner circumstances, and hope to visit here more often.
To the new campers: Have fun! It’s a great experience.
Natalie, 
Eugene, and 
eugenechan are discussing.
eugenechan 6:11 pm on October 11, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Natalie: nice to meet you.
I hope you can make the time to reflect more as I’d love to follow your thoughts.
In a similar vein, my project is about finding the sanity fulcrum in my life. I’m beginning with the opposite assumption than what you laid out: life never gets sane so you never get to reflect.
The only way to reflect is to make time for reflection and that leads to better choices, priorities, self.
warmly,
eugene (chan)
Natalie 1:44 pm on October 15, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi, Eugene. Nice to meet you as well, and thanks for your observation. I think there’s a difference between standard busy-ness where you have at least some control over your priorities, and a level of insanity where you’re simply putting out fires all day. I’m ready to move out of fire fighter mode!
But yes; reflection is essential. I’m hopeful that my upcoming meditation camp will shock my system into reflection. And I so hope you’re wrong about life never getting sane . . .
Eugene 12:48 pm on October 15, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Natalie, so great to hear from you. I think finding micromoments of sanity is a critical changemaker skill. The structure I’ve been playing with to do this is weekly checkins over Skype with a colleague of mine in Montreal, Seb Paquet. As things have gotten busier for me, it’s been harder to keep that appointment, but I have found that it’s been more than worth it.
Echo-ing the other Eugene’s thoughts on visiting here more often!
Natalie 1:50 pm on October 15, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hey there, Eugene! I love the concept of “micromoments of sanity.” It’s interesting to hear about your hard-to-keep appointment; you must be getting something out of it to keep it on the schedule. I just did the opposite, which was to end a study group I’d hosted for over 19 years. Of course, I’m not a fan of routine, so it’s remarkable that I lasted that long, but clearly I was no longer getting enough out of it to keep it on the schedule.
Your comment makes me realize, though, why I try to keep Kahlo’s “social hour” at the local dog park . . . it’s my social hour, too, and my place for check-ins with my wonderful neighbors. There’s a micromoment of sanity. 🙂