“Look at these worlds
spinning out of nothing
that is within your power.”
— Rumi

I am delighted to tell you that “The Visionmaker: Gather Your Power” is gathering steam!

I am holding this program December 4th and 5th here in Toronto and it is filling up fast. We still have some room so if this sounds intriquing to you give us a call to find out more.

Here’s a description:

Personal power is your unique and individual potency-the combination of knowledge, gifts, skills, character qualities, creativity, experience and energy that each person has been given to make a difference in the world.

Visionmakers steward personal power for the inevitable encounter with their Destiny.

Understand and source your unique powers of manifestation. Many of us can name our flaws in a nanosecond. Can you name your gifts, talents, character qualities and contributions as easily?

In this workshop you will:

• Identify the special experiences that have equipped you for the journey of meaning you have been born to make;

• Recognize your aptitudes, the innate natural abilities you were born with;

• Marshal your resources- your gifts, talents, knowledge and skills that support you in generating your preferred future;

• Understand the character qualities that support you to act in ethical and humane ways;

• Acknowledge the important contributions made by four challenges that shape every journey-failure, conflict, loss, and success.

Understand how personal power supports your personal Destiny. We will employ a variety of traditional and modern techniques, including visualization, journeying, reflective practice, journaling and dialogue.

Gathering Your Power is foundational to every journey of heart and meaning. Please join us for this powerful experience.

© Patrick O’Neill 2010. All rights reserved.

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Tarek Fatah is a brave man.

Writer, broadcaster and political activist, Mr. Fatah has the gumption to suggest that the Muslim world would benefit from ” a liberal, progressive form of Islam.” That includes seperation of religion and state, absence of sharia law and gay rights!

Founder of The Muslim Canadian Congress, Mr. Fatah has written two books: Chasing A Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State and The Jew Is Not My Enemy: Unveiling The Myths That Fuel Muslim Anti-Semitism.

Both books have earned him praise and criticism. He has been attacked for his views, verbally and physically, by fundamentalist groups within the Muslim community.

Mr. Fatah argues that radical Islam is a result of U.S.-backed Saudi-based Jihadi groups that were funded by the CIA during the Afghan war with the Soviets.

In the Globe & Mail, he suggested, “Most secular and liberal institutions were destroyed piece by piece and what we are left with is the result of huge amounts of cash and weapons in the hands of the Taliban type, or Al-Qaeda groups that get their intellectual sustenance from the political teachings of the Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan Al-Banna and the leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Abul ala Maudoodi, both of who preached Jehad as an obligation for all Muslims if they saw another Muslim under attack.”

This, in part, explains the complex circumstances that gave rise to the dynamic between Muslim extremists and the West.

An opponent of Sharia law in Canada, Mr. Fatah and co-author Munir Pervaiz, told the The National Post, that the position taken by moderate Muslims is under attack by extremists:

“Despite threats of ostracization, excommunication and hardship, we believe it is the duty of Muslim Canadians to defend the separation of religion and state in Canada. It is our obligation to ensure that “one law for all Canadians” is understood as the foundation of equality that we Muslims desire. It is imperative that we ensure Muslim women, queers, religious minorities, the disabled and the marginalized are protected. As for non-Muslims, they must answer this question: Why do they tolerate hate literature that promotes jihad against non-Muslims and labels progressive Muslims as apostates?”

Tarek Fatah’s vision of moderate Islam is an important contribution to a much-needed dialogue on peaceful relations between communities.

Radical faith groups– Christian, Muslim and Jewish– have dominated the headlines for too long. People of all faith traditions benefit from wise voices promoting moderation, peace, and reconciliation.

© Patrick O’Neill 2010. All rights reserved.

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George W. Bush is back in the news. He has published his Presidential memoirs, Decision Points, and timed the launch to take advantage of the Republican comeback in Congress and the Senate.

This is very good news for President Obama.

The return of The Decider couldn’t have happened at a better time. We have a stark reminder of the glaring failures of the Republican administration, led by Bush for eight years. That the voting public fails to link the Bush years to the aftermath that has hamstrung the United States for the past two years is a text book case of collective amnesia.

These are the same people who brought you Iraq, Katrina, Water-boarding and the Financial Crisis. How quickly we forget!

Barack Obama is no savior. But he has managed to:

• arrest the economic free-fall through the introduction of economic stimulus legislation;

• reform the health care system;

• introduce financial regulatory reform measures;

• withdraw troops from Iraq, a war that needlessly cost thousands of lives and the American tax payer billions of dollars;

• increased troop levels in Afghanistan, a legitimate conflict;

• signed an arms control treaty with Russia.

Obama seems to have lost confidence in himself and embraced the harsh criticism that has come from a well-orchestrated campaign by the right. But he should take heart that George Bush has re-surfaced to remind us all of the disastrous “leadership” provided by the right.

President Obama needs to play offense not defense. The return of W could provide the momentum he needs to recover the game.

© Patrick O’Neill 2008. All rights reserved.

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Carolyn Acker is the founder of Pathways to Education, Canada. This initiative provides at-risk, disadvantaged high school students with the support necessary to graduate and has lowered the dropout rate in Regent Park, a Toronto inner-city community, from 56% to 11%.

In addition, Pathways has increased post-secondary attendance from 20% to 80%. She has led the replication of Pathways in five other Canadian communities.

Impressive numbers!

Carolyn is a passionate advocate for poverty reduction through education. She grew up poor. As a result, she understands the importance of education in breaking the cycle of poverty.

Carolyn started out as a nurse. But it was as executive Director of the Regent Park Health Center that she and Director Norman Rowen founded the Pathways program. Vexed by the high school dropout rate, they tackled the problem head on.

Carolyn writes:

“Shifting the lens from a singular focus on the school environment, to a broader focus on the community as a whole, inclusive of the schools, became a driving force behind the design of the Pathways program.”

That’s Visionmaking in action! Viewing problems from a completely different perspective leads to a breakthrough. But it takes more than seeing differently to create change.

Carolyn and her team designed a program that provides kids four critical supports:

• Academic: Tutoring in five core subjects four nights a week.

• Social: Group mentoring for grades 9 and 10; specialty and career mentoring for grades 11 and 12.

• Financial: Immediate financial support such as free bus tickets tied to attendance and a bursary for post-secondary education (up to $4,000 per student);

• Advocacy: Student-Parent Support Workers help connect teens, parents, school administration, teachers and community agencies.

I like Carolyn Acker and everything she stands for. She is a no-nonsense activist committed to making the country a better place through practical solutions to the problem of poverty reduction.

Carolyn deserves the Order of Canada and any other honor the nation can bestow upon her. And Pathways deserves to be replicated by communities across Canada and abroad as quickly as possible.

For more information about Pathways to Education, please visit pathways to education.

© Patrick O’Neill 2008. All rights reserved.

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David Richo has written an excellent book: How To Be An Adult, published by Paulist Press. I strongly recommend it.

The following material comes from The “Givens” of Relationships: Antidotes to Unrealistic Expectations. This should be required reading for everyone dating, considering marriage and married. It is, without a doubt, the best thing I have seen on the subject. David Richo deserves a medal for this:

“All factors in relationships pass through phases: intimacy, affection, sexual interest/energy, commitment to children and family, compatibility, self-disclosure.

Only at rare moments is the love in one partner the same as that in the other.

Priorities are continually changing for each partner. The integrity of the union may not always be a priority.

No truly loving relationship takes away–or can take away–even one of your basic human rights.

Intimate relationships survive best with constant permission for ever-changing ratios of closeness and distance.

What creates distance in your relationship, you may be using unconsciously to get distance.

The best relationship includes space for you to pursue individual choices and to be compassionately attentive to any threat your partner may feel.

No one can control or change someone else, nor is it necessary.

No one is loyal or truthful all the time.

No expectations are valid and not even agreements are always reliable.

Your partner may not always be a consistent, nurturant, or trust-worthy friend to you (nor you to your partner).

You are ultimately alone and ultimately able to make it alone.

No relationship can create self-esteem, only support it.

There is no one person who will make you happy, keep you facinated, love you as your favorite parent did, or give you the love you missed from your parents.

Most people in relationships seldom know what they really want, ask for what they really want, or show what they really feel.

Most people avoid or fear intimacy, consistent honesty, intense feelings, and uninhibited joy.

Beneath every serious complaint about your partner is something unowned in yourself.

Letting go of blame and the need to be right heals a relationship most efficaciously.

Jealousy and possessiveness, though not desirable, are normal human feelings.

“Goodbye” is rarely said clearly; most people ease away wordlessly and avoid full confrontation.

No one is to blame when a relationship ends.

The end of one relationship will always require a space before another relationship can begin healthily.

It is normal for memories, regrets, the wish for revenge, and a recurrent sense of loss far, far to outlast the ending of a relationship.

One of your (or your partner’s) parents is a phantom, but active, presence at the beginning, middle or ending of your relationship.

The powerful appeal of someone new may tell you more about your own neediness than about the charms of the other person.

A relationship is a spiritual path since it consists of a continual shedding of illusions.”

I’m back!

© Patrick O’Neill 2008. All rights reserved.

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