I’m in full production mode these days. Last week and over the weekend I was in Adrian, Michigan with the Dominican Sisters; this weekend in San Francisco and the second weekend of The Mystery of Relationships with Angeles Arrien; and next week back in Toronto teaching The Five Transitions.

Phewww. I’m tired just reading about it.

Much to be excited about though.

The work with the Adrian Dominican Sisters is progressing really well. I have been a volunteer advisor with the Order since last December, when they invited me to help them with Congregational change and development.

We have been looking at sustaining their mission in the face of some challenges. The average age in the Congregation is 75 years old. As well, formation rates of new sisters coming into the Order are at a trickle, a common challenge for religious communities.

Those are daunting conditions.

Last weekend I led a future planning conference with 45 Sisters and lay people. It was fun, challenging and creative. Five Pathways have been identified to sustain the mission and preliminary plans of action were drafted.

All of it was done with remarkable clarity, courage and good spirits. A tribute, I think, to the character and commitment of all involved.

There was even a live podcast from the floor of the planning conference, featuring the Prioress, Sister Attacta Kelly (Irish Woman Extraordinaire!) …and yours truly. I know, what’s wrong with that picture.

This weekend is the second weekend of the Relationships program. Angeles Arrien and I will be exploring The Healthy Masculine and Healthy Feminine with our 37 participants at her teaching room in Sausalito.

Over the weekend, we’ll be looking at the two Archetypes that are resident in every person: the dynamic and receptive, masculine and feminine. We will also be exploring the shadow of the Archetypes, the Unhealthy Mascuiline and the Covert Feminine.

For those who are interested, and unable to attend, allow me to recommend a film we will be using as a teaching tool: Dangerous Liaisons. If you haven’t seen it in a while I recommend that you revisit it. Every line in the film is a lesson in the corruption of innocence through seduction, manipulation and the misuse of power.

Chilling!

Of course, we will be spending as much, or more time on the healthy aspects of both energies.

Next weekend is The Five Transitions, in Toronto. The Five Transitions that every person goes through are:

• Work

• Relationship

• Health

• Finances

• Identity

We are all in transition, whether we recognize it or not. The program will explore what requires change or strengthening in our thinking during transition; our unique array of gifts, talents and character qualities that we have as a resource; the values and principles that act as a balast in times of change; and the priorities that are most important to us.

Ultimately, transitions, when well met, provide a sense of being fully alive, engaged and empowered for life. A life without transition is dull, boring and tedious.

If you are in transition, this program will provide you with the knowledge, skills and support required to meet uncertainty with courage and grace!

I hope to see you there.

© Patrick O’Neill 2011. All rights reserved.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

A full moon poised above the sea
Makes the face of heaven radiant
And brings to hearts that are apart
The poignant pensiveness of night.
I blow out my candle but it is just as bright here;
I put on a coat but it is just as cold.
So I can only read my message to the moon
As I lay me down and long for dreams of you.

–Chang Chui-Ling

© Patrick O’Neill 2011. All rights reserved.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

My neighbors, a pack of coyotes that live on the ridge behind the house, are just returning from the nightly hunting expedition. They’re late today. It’s a little after 8:00 am.

Must have been some party.

These guys are noisy. They howl and howl and howl. I don’t know how many of them are in this pack but there are several.

We’ve had coyotes, on and off, for ten years. They arrive, push the foxes out of the territory, and make themselves comfortable. They have lots to eat and an easy lifestyle in these parts. The only danger for a coyote in this part of the city is traffic.

That’s right, we’re in the city, fifteen minutes from downtown.

In this part of Toronto, you could swear you’re in the country. Indeed, we’re lucky. We are bounded by High Park to the east and Lake Ontario to the south. The critters, and there are lots of them, come down along the waterways.

Along with coyotes and fox, we have deer, skunk, possum, the occasional porcupine, and of course racoons. Snapping turtles live at the pond and we are on the migration route for over 400 species of birds, including: warblers, shorebirds, sparrows; great horned owls; turkey vultures; and two red-tailed hawks that live in the back yard most of the year.

The Humber River, to the west, is like an animal highway running north to south. The salmon spawn there in the shallows.

Other than the racoons, a species given to verbal abuse of its young, the coyotes are by far the noisiest. OK. The hawks are bad too. They cry all day when their eggs don’t hatch. But who can blame them.

I see more wildlife in my city yard than I do in the relatively unpopulated Laurentian Mountains. We don’t have moose here yet, or bear, or wolves. But never say never.

Our coyotes are different than the western variety. These animals are a coyote-wolf mix. That makes them larger than their western cousins. They can weigh up to 70 pounds and stand about the size of a german shepherd.

Pretty big animals. I wouldn’t leave your kids out unattended. Nor your cats and dogs.

In traditions of the Southwest, Coyote is a trickster figure. Like Raven, Coyote is seen as an agent of the unexpected. When coyote shows up the message is “expect anything.”

Coyote is a teacher of balance. As Ted Andrews points out in Animal Speak, a comprehensive dictionary of totem animals, Coyote teaches us to meet the chaos of life with poise and a sense of humor.

Coyote is inteligent, resourceful and adaptable. They cooperate with the close-knit family unit to hunt and the males help rear the young.

I guess I’m in for accelerated learning about the difference between wisdom and folly.

Lucky me.

© Patrick O’Neill 2011. All rights reserved.

Be Sociable, Share!

•