4. Share inspiration

4.1 The Power of Now

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Eckhart Tolle has attracted much attention with his book "The Power of Now". Tolle talks about moving from saying no to what is happening in the moment to saying yes, to allow what happens because "it is as it is". In the video below, Tolle starts with a flower and ends with life's secret. Give yourself time to listen to the end. He wraps it up nicely in the end. Add a comment below on what you think of Eckhart's message. If possible, comment on someone elses comment.

What Tolle talks about reminds me of the first of John P. Miltons 12 principles for the Way of Nature, introduced in the previous lesson. The first principle is worth reading again:

"1. The Fundamental Truth: All Forms Are Interconnected, Constantly Change and Continuously Arise From and Return to Primordial Source

All material forms and all energetic, perceptual, sensate, emotional and thought forms are totally interconnected and interdependent. Also, all these forms, including the sense of individual self, are constantly changing and transforming. Fundamentally, all forms are in a continuous process of arising from, manifesting within and dissolving back into Primordial, essentially Formless, Source Awareness. At a deep level, all forms are transient and empty of permanent being. At the deepest level all forms, including ourselves, are a magical display of the Boundless, Formless Source that is our true Essence. We have the choice of either resisting this fundamental truth, and suffering; or surrendering into this truth - and dancing in the Flow."

4.2 Share inspiration with others

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A month into this course with individual blog comments and weekly telephone conferences, we will try a forum discussion on an e-circle platform. Use the website address, username and password sent to you via e-mail when you registered for the course. When you have logged in, click on the "5. Share inspiration" forum and make a comment or create a new thread. The theme for discussion is this e-course and what you are passionate about. What to you want to learn more about? What inspired you? What was less interesting in this e-course?

4.3 Listen on your way to work

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This morning I said to myself to listen all the way to work. I know the way be now. Two thousand times during these last five year have I cycled the same route, a one-way trip to China from Sweden. Focusing on the sounds surrounding me gave me a summer holiday feeling of joy in the midst of this year´s most hectic period. It blocked the continuous buzz in my head about items on my to-do list. It was as if I am not only greeted the familiar sounds, a bird there, a gust of wind in my ear here, but the sounds surprised me; the sound of a sports car from the 60s, a load of brick placed on the asphalt, shoes walking hard on the pavement. A sound map that brought me into the now.

What usual and unusual sounds caught your attention today on your way to work? Add a comment below. Comment on someone else´s comments.

4.4 The art of thinking together

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The heart of a dialogue is the simple but profound ability to listen, says William Isaacs in his book "Dialogue". We prepare a speech, but we do not often prepare ourselves to listen. To listen is to develop an inner silence, which is what exercises in natural presence is trying to achieve. When leading a group to share their experiences, the first step is to listen. Not just to what others are saying, but also to your own reactions to what is being said. Use the sharing of exerices itself as an exercise in natural presence.

Perhaps the simplest and most powerful way to practice listening is to stand still, writes Isaacs. By being silent in ourselves, we open up to be present. Ask yourself:

What do I feel in my body right now?
How does it feel?
How does it affect other people?
What are the different voices in me saying?
Which voices are marginalized?

William Isaacs writes that there is a spatial quality linked to listen. We orient ourselves through sound. Our sense of balance is related to the hearing, both are placed in the ear. We place our perception when we listen. Our culture, however, is dominated by sight. We are constantly bombarded by visual impression, and has accustomed ourselves to think in the same way. It creates an impatience with other rhythms. Sound travels much slower than light. To listen, we need to slow down. To listen well, we need to be alert to what is said and what is not said. While the eye tends to see the surface, your ear penetrates below that surface. Ear can perceive the invisible. What does not the tone and melody in a voice tell us how that person relates to life?

If the art of thinking together begins with listening, and listening is about becoming more present, your exercises in natural presence will help participants to listen better and work better together. Do you agree?

Ask around, search on the Internet, go through your bookshelves, and share your experiences on best practices, methods, exercises and tips of how to think together. Share your findings in this weeks Skype conversation and/or add a comment below.

4.5 Check-out

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We are approaching the end of the 3-hour exercise you are shaping. Here is a suggestion of program points:

Initial story (10 min)
Check-in (10 min)
Team-building exercise to inject enthusiasm (30 min)
Blind walk (30 min)
Sensing exercise (10 min)
Solo in nature (1 hour)
Share group experiences (20 min)
Check-out (10 min) *

How does your program look like? What does it contain? Add a comment. Comment on the comments of others.

(* Check-out is conducted in the same way as the Check-in, but with another question. An appropriate question to ask is: What did you learn from this exercise?)

4.6 Make three blog entries

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If you followed the instructions during this e-course, you have the framework for a blog. Now it is time to fill it with content. Create a new blog entry. Write the title. Under the title there is a menu bar. Place your pointer over each icon to see what they contain. From left to right in your menu bar, choose the font and size of your text. Then add a link and choose text color so that all links have the same color.

Share your best tips and exercises, stories and insights. The more you give the more you will receive in unexpected ways. Add a comment below with the web address of your blogg. Send us an e-mail if you want it placed on Allemansjorden.

Thank you for your time. Next week we will conclude this e-course, discuss how to take this further and present other e-courses. Then we say goodbye. For now.