Peace is Every Step

[jenny goodwine]

Hi my lovely, never-to-be-forgotten-friends-although-I-rarely-post:

After some requests and after many months, I've finally uploaded a
little Youtube video of the song I played for the No Talent show
during the IIT, "Peace is Every Step." It was a song I wrote partially
a few years ago, and then added some more verses during the IIT, after
much inspiration.

Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufHpBwTQknY

I love you all and still think fondly on the honesty, vulnerability,
support, and fun that you/we all shared this summer. One of the most
important times in my life.


Keep in touch!


Yours forever,
Jenny Goodwine

[Peggy Archuleta]

Oh Jenny! How I love this song. Seeing your sweet face again and hearing
your beautiful voice makes me feel happy inside. Thank you!

Everyone,
I hope you've all enjoyed the kind of week that meets your needs and brings
you peace. My connection experiences this week have been very rewarding.
I'd like to tell you about one connection in my workplace.

I work closely with a team of 6 other women, educators from all the nursing
departments. Five of them are young enough to be my daughters. This group
has decided to take on a different 30-day fitness challenge each month, and
the challenge for January is pushups. Each day we send a group text stating
that we did our pushups for the day. (My pushups are the modified type and
can barely be called pushups!) These texts are always met with cheers and
encouragement. And that's how these women are about everything. They care
about each person's success in every endeavor.

I love this group of women. They are fun, kind, caring, nurturing,
affectionate, and so much more. It's wonderful to go to work and be part of
a group that truly values the quality of our connection. (And maybe they'll
help me build some biceps!)

So I'm celebrating a week of rich relationships.
And that includes my relationship with all of you.
Love,
Peggy

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[Katherine Winter-Sellery]

Jenny, just listened to the you tube, it's beautiful!!!  I am never quite sure who is still checking in and connecting (silently) with the group and it was nice to have you chime in and offer such a big part of yourself out loud.  Thanks xoxox

Mahadevi (and Peggy), I appreciated what you conveyed about the shifting of your mindset and how this has shifted your experience, I have had that experience too.  Such a reminder that "it" doesn't do me.

Marilyn it was exciting to hear about your course and wonder how it went this past Sunday, let us all know.  I was approached 'out of the blue' to offer an intro in NVC and am scheduled to do so late Feb -- although I've run my Effective Parenting courses that are Gordon, Rosenberg, Porter based for ages this will be new for me and so all ideas appreciated.  I did chuckle at the reference to 'the middle of Wyoming' .... and had a flash just how different that feels then my 67,000 persons per square mile "village".. I think I may have more folks living within a mile of me then all of the middle of Wyoming

In the ongoing spirit of sharing our experiences of connection (although not too many coming down the pipe) my 19 year old son left HK recently to go back to the US where he's in college.  It was so fun to have him home.  He is a HUGE connector so when he is back in town he is out with his buds most of the time.  As it got closer and closer to the time he was leaving he started to cancel some of his plans to 'hang out with the family'.  We all had a ball together.  He left a week earlier then school starts because he is pledging a fraternity and the ceremony was this past weekend.  I've had some stuff to work out around this whole thing as I was 'so not a sorority gal' in college and have so many negative judgments around fraternities and sororities.  I was debriefing over the phone with him this morning and wanting to know every detail of his pledge w/e which he was reluctant to share and finally told me 'mom, it's all secret' -- OHHHHH ok, just give me the broad strokes then ... well, he said, at one point the other 3 in my pledge class and I failed at one of the tasks and they said we didn't make the cut..... we were all blind folded and taken to different places and weren't able to talk to each other, I was so bummed and after some time elapsed they brought us all back in the same room together and told us that the lesson here wasn't about 'not failing' but that we would fail, it was impossible not to fail, and the fraternity was here to support us when we failed and to reach out to us and lend us a hand and let us know we were not alone and that we were all accepted, failure and all.  He went on to say he was never going to be the same, that he now had a whole community that he felt were like family for him, like he was part of something bigger. That nobody gets left behind.  They are there for one another.  

This has transformed his life.  He had felt out of place at school -- truly a 3rd Culture Kid -- looks American on the outside, but never spent more then vacations in the states in summer time, born and grew up in another country, but it is not his own and no matter what he did he wasn't Chinese (even asked me once -- I'm Chinese, right mom?), yet he didn't grow up in the country of his passport either, he is truly a 3rd culture kid and because he grew up with other 3rd culture kids he didn't realise it until he went to the US for college and then he felt alienated in America, like he didn't belong.

So this fraternity experience I was disparaging has offered my son this sense of belonging, connection, and through this a sense of place and safety.  Ironic really, how filled with negativity I was toward it and it turned out to be the very vehicle for him to find his sense of connection, home, place and safety.

x

Katherine 

  

[Amy Vossen Vukelic]

Hello Everyone!!

I sincerely appreciate all of these ways you all have shared Connection through the airwaves. Wow!!! I feel energized by the movement. 

My string to Connection shows itself through a commitment I made for January to allow my New Year's Intention become a Habit. The yoga studio I go to offered a package deal of Yoga, Intro to Meditation, and a Month-long Cleanse, so I registered with a sense of adventure and curiosity. My husband Paul also decided to participate in the Cleanse.  The intention I chose for 2014 is Follow-Through....completion. 

In my second week, I experience Connection within, more and more. My Head still leads the charge somehow, even though my Heart is constantly inviting and now asserting itself to become the "leader." Physically, that translates into a very sore neck!! Thank goodness for my connection with my chiropractor!!

Emotionally, without my default mechanisms, I feel more deeply connected to my authentic self, who keeps showing herself. Thanks to my first intro to meditation, Marc,I continue to treat my thoughts with love, as I gently push them to the side.  I welcome this chance to listen in a deeper way. 

My connection to others is present, too, as I offer a "soft gaze" to my actions. I am presenting a three-week intro to Compassionate Communication right now, and appreciate offering these chances to share my deep understanding of the power of NVC to connection. Sharing the concepts and energy of NVC helps me in my yoga, cleanse, and meditation....

Then, coming online to your stories creates a stronger connection to each of you. 

My appreciation for my time in New Mexico is ever present, and continues to feed me. Jenny, your song brought me back, once again, to the experience. 

Writing seems to be how I hear myself.....I entered another entry into my blog, and thought I would share it with you here: http://livinglifedownstream.wordpress.com/

In peace, Amy

[Linda Collett]

That is beautiful Katherine.  Thanks for sharing. I, too, have judgments about the fraternity/sorority world and found an appreciation for it from your son's experience.  

Blessings,

Mahadevi

---

From: Katherine Winter-Sellery <effectivep...@gmail.com>
To: Peggy Archuleta <parch...@cox.net>
Cc: jenny goodwine <jennyg...@gmail.com>; IIT <june-2013-iit-i...@googlegroups.com>

Sent: Monday, January 13, 2014 10:47 PM
Subject: Re: [June 2013 IIT] Peace is Every Step

[Peggy Archuleta]

Katherine,

WOW!

...”we would fail, it was impossible not to fail, and the fraternity was here to support us when we failed and to reach out to us and lend us a hand and let us know we were not alone and that we were all accepted, failure and all.  He went on to say he was never going to be the same, that he now had a whole community that he felt were like family for him, like he was part of something bigger. That nobody gets left behind.  They are there for one another.”  

 

I want to read that over and over.  It nearly brings me to tears.  Thank you for sharing this story with us.  I needed it today.

Love,

Peggy

 

---

From: Katherine Winter-Sellery [mailto:effectivep...@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, January 13, 2014 8:47 PM
To: Peggy Archuleta
Cc: jenny goodwine; IIT
Subject: Re: [June 2013 IIT] Peace is Every Step

 

Jenny, just listened to the you tube, it's beautiful!!!  I am never quite sure who is still checking in and connecting (silently) with the group and it was nice to have you chime in and offer such a big part of yourself out loud.  Thanks xoxox

 

Mahadevi (and Peggy), I appreciated what you conveyed about the shifting of your mindset and how this has shifted your experience, I have had that experience too.  Such a reminder that "it" doesn't do me.

 

Marilyn it was exciting to hear about your course and wonder how it went this past Sunday, let us all know.  I was approached 'out of the blue' to offer an intro in NVC and am scheduled to do so late Feb -- although I've run my Effective Parenting courses that are Gordon, Rosenberg, Porter based for ages this will be new for me and so all ideas appreciated.  I did chuckle at the reference to 'the middle of Wyoming' .... and had a flash just how different that feels then my 67,000 persons per square mile "village".. I think I may have more folks living within a mile of me then all of the middle of Wyoming

 

In the ongoing spirit of sharing our experiences of connection (although not too many coming down the pipe) my 19 year old son left HK recently to go back to the US where he's in college.  It was so fun to have him home.  He is a HUGE connector so when he is back in town he is out with his buds most of the time.  As it got closer and closer to the time he was leaving he started to cancel some of his plans to 'hang out with the family'.  We all had a ball together.  He left a week earlier then school starts because he is pledging a fraternity and the ceremony was this past weekend.  I've had some stuff to work out around this whole thing as I was 'so not a sorority gal' in college and have so many negative judgments around fraternities and sororities.  I was debriefing over the phone with him this morning and wanting to know every detail of his pledge w/e which he was reluctant to share and finally told me 'mom, it's all secret' -- OHHHHH ok, just give me the broad strokes then ... well, he said, at one point the other 3 in my pledge class and I failed at one of the tasks and they said we didn't make the cut..... we were all blind folded and taken to different places and weren't able to talk to each other, I was so bummed and after some time elapsed they brought us all back in the same room together and told us that the lesson here wasn't about 'not failing' but that we would fail, it was impossible not to fail, and the fraternity was here to support us when we failed and to reach out to us and lend us a hand and let us know we were not alone and that we were all accepted, failure and all.  He went on to say he was never going to be the same, that he now had a whole community that he felt were like family for him, like he was part of something bigger. That nobody gets left behind.  They are there for one another.  

 

This has transformed his life.  He had felt out of place at school -- truly a 3rd Culture Kid -- looks American on the outside, but never spent more then vacations in the states in summer time, born and grew up in another country, but it is not his own and no matter what he did he wasn't Chinese (even asked me once -- I'm Chinese, right mom?), yet he didn't grow up in the country of his passport either, he is truly a 3rd culture kid and because he grew up with other 3rd culture kids he didn't realise it until he went to the US for college and then he felt alienated in America, like he didn't belong.

 

So this fraternity experience I was disparaging has offered my son this sense of belonging, connection, and through this a sense of place and safety.  Ironic really, how filled with negativity I was toward it and it turned out to be the very vehicle for him to find his sense of connection, home, place and safety.

 

x

Katherine 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 10:22 PM, Peggy Archuleta <parch...@cox.net> wrote:

[Tanya]

Thx Katherine

Love this story!!

Tanya x

[Katherine Winter-Sellery]

Amy (aka dot connector), thank you for sharing and entrusting us with your story.  I took the time to go to your blog and read through it and even connect to the links and I feel like I got to touch part of your life journey, musical score and all!  Love ya sista and deeply respect all your transformations and work.

Peggy, I don't know what your day was like, but I heard in your connecting to my son's story of being embraced by his fraternity in failure it touched you deeply and that you could have used some of that on that day.  This is me embracing you now.  I hope you're feeling it.  I would like to think this iit holds that space for all of us.

There is one more story of connection I want to share.  This one is about my daughter Pia, 14 years old and a freshman in HS.  I returned from a trip and Pia told me, "mom, I'm not the same person I was before you left -- while you were away we read Slave in my Humanities in Action class and I will never be the same and I need you to read it so we can talk about it."  I read it over the xmas holidays and last night Pia came up and asked me if we could talk about the book.  It is a true story about Mende Nazer who was kidnapped from the Nuba Mountains in the Sudan, raped and enslaved for years by an Arab family who eventually shipped her off to London where she was enslaved by the sister of her "master" and she finally escaped.  Fought for political asylum, was rejected by the UK govt, there was an international uproar, she appealed, it was then offered and she now has become an international presence to fight slavery in Sudan.  Mende was 12 years old when she was abducted, so close in age to Pia.  Pia couldn't help but put herself in Mende's shoes and compare her life to that of Mende's, imagine Mende's sadness, her pain, her stolen childhood.  She connected so deeply to the story that it has literally changed her life, her perspective, her appreciation, her thankfulness and her concern for the Mendes' of the world.  I have been touched by how deeply moved my sweet pea has been affected by Mendes story and the powerful way in which she connected with her spanning continents, cultures, their differences seemingly so vast and yet it was as if there were no separation whatsoever.

x

Katherine 

[Bruce Campbell]

Wonderful connection and insights, Katherine.  Thank you.

Bruce

[Peggy Archuleta]

Hi Katherine,

Thank you for the compassionate embrace.  I am feeling it and grateful for it.  I love your story about Pia.  What impressed me the most was that Pia wanted you read the book and discuss it with her.  How wonderful that she trusts you with her transformational experiences.

 

Doug and Barbara,

I’m always amazed and awed when I see people who make their dreams a reality.  The courage, planning, work, and follow through must have taken a lot of time and energy.  I’m very excited for you AND for the people who become part of your community.  Were it not for all of my family living so close to me, I would be knocking on your cabin door right now.

 

Everyone,

I had an interesting connection experience today.  This morning I decided to do something rare for me...I decided to try to meditate for a few minutes.  Almost immediately the face of a gentleman at work named Chris came to mind.  It was quite a surprise, as I haven’t run into see him at work for many months and really don’t know him well.  This morning, Chris sent out an email to all the leaders.  That is also a very rare occurrence.  Thinking there must be a reason to connect with him, I responded to his email with a brief “How are you doing?”  Seconds later, he called me on the phone.  It seems that Chris, the director of radiology, has taken on quite a few assignments recently and is working hard to “keep all the balls in the air”, but he misses the more people-focused work he went into nursing to do.  We had a nice conversation, and I was able to give him some empathy.  I was happy that he felt comfortable enough with me to express his feelings.  It was a sweet and satisfying, and truly unexpected, connection.  

 

Thinking of you all fondly,

Peggy

 

---

From: Katherine Winter-Sellery [mailto:effectivep...@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2014 8:00 AM
To: Amy Vossen Vukelic
Cc: Peggy Archuleta; jenny goodwine; IIT
Subject: Re: [June 2013 IIT] Peace is Every Step

 

Amy (aka dot connector), thank you for sharing and entrusting us with your story.  I took the time to go to your blog and read through it and even connect to the links and I feel like I got to touch part of your life journey, musical score and all!  Love ya sista and deeply respect all your transformations and work.

 

Peggy, I don't know what your day was like, but I heard in your connecting to my son's story of being embraced by his fraternity in failure it touched you deeply and that you could have used some of that on that day.  This is me embracing you now.  I hope you're feeling it.  I would like to think this iit holds that space for all of us.

 

There is one more story of connection I want to share.  This one is about my daughter Pia, 14 years old and a freshman in HS.  I returned from a trip and Pia told me, "mom, I'm not the same person I was before you left -- while you were away we read Slave in my Humanities in Action class and I will never be the same and I need you to read it so we can talk about it."  I read it over the xmas holidays and last night Pia came up and asked me if we could talk about the book.  It is a true story about Mende Nazer who was kidnapped from the Nuba Mountains in the Sudan, raped and enslaved for years by an Arab family who eventually shipped her off to London where she was enslaved by the sister of her "master" and she finally escaped.  Fought for political asylum, was rejected by the UK govt, there was an international uproar, she appealed, it was then offered and she now has become an international presence to fight slavery in Sudan.  Mende was 12 years old when she was abducted, so close in age to Pia.  Pia couldn't help but put herself in Mende's shoes and compare her life to that of Mende's, imagine Mende's sadness, her pain, her stolen childhood.  She connected so deeply to the story that it has literally changed her life, her perspective, her appreciation, her thankfulness and her concern for the Mendes' of the world.  I have been touched by how deeply moved my sweet pea has been affected by Mendes story and the powerful way in which she connected with her spanning continents, cultures, their differences seemingly so vast and yet it was as if there were no separation whatsoever.

 

x

Katherine 

 

 

On Tue, Jan 14, 2014 at 10:29 PM, Amy Vossen Vukelic <amyvo...@aol.com> wrote: