The hiking trail forks and you have to make a decision. You are most comfortable with the path to the right, as you have walked this way before. You actually take solace in the shade of the redwoods and the babble of the creek as it winds its way through the forest undergrowth. Two miles and your car will be waiting, home just in time for dinner. The fork to the left is steep, you would have to man up, chomp down a power bar, and dig deep for the remaining strength that is left after an already arduous hike. What way should you go? What path would you take?

Renowned mythologist-storyteller Michael Meade reminds us that the threads of any new story will be woven not by fear but by imagination and the ancient wisdom that connects “the solid ground of the earth and the unseen realm that sustains it.”

Intuitively, you recognize that the path to the right, although predictable, will leave you unconscious with the car and dinner as your endgame. The trail to the left, as steep as it seems, may afford you new vistas, seascapes, and waterfalls. After all, the day is clear, and the sun is only skirting the horizon.

Living into the imagination breathes life into the moment, allowing reconnection with that piece of yourself that still yearns for the “unseen realm.” -Sdukes

Posted in Mastery, Walking the Ridgeline | 2 Comments »

A father returns home from work.  The day is warm and lazy and as he walks across the lawn he sees his little girl playing alone near the wood stack.  As he walks over he sees her, hammer in hand, having the best of times.  He observes her lifting the hammer, letting it fall and with a smile of glee, she repeats this action.  As he draws nearer he sees what she is up to.  There is a string of ants parading in front of his girl.  “Smash,” the hammer falls again.

This little girl is only three years old, not yet conscious of life and death, right or wrong.  Her impulses compel her to “experiment” with these tiny creatures.  This is a good moment for the little girl and a bad day for the ants.

Does he intervene?  If he does, the ants’ will live and this little girl’s impulses will die.  If he does not, the impulses will live and some of the ants will die.

Posted in The Present Father | 1 Comment »

What does it mean to be a master? At a certain age, the life we are living becomes the life we no longer need to live. It is as though we wake one morning to a sun that illuminates the dust as it floats through the bedroom air and focusing on the particles and not the sun, we realize in that quiet moment that we are walking a very narrow line. If we look at the dust, we see our life, our times, our memories speak, and we hear that familiar cadence of our daily routine. If we dare to look at the shaft of the sun seeing in it infinite possibilities, we may glimpse a future that has little to do with the dust that has now collected on the furniture. In that moment we feel free; yet, most often we turn away to dress for another day to carry on a routine that we have perfected over the decades. We tell ourselves that we need stability, our work is important; this is what I do best. What happens to that glimmer of gold in the ray of the sun? When will that call be heeded?

Many folks in their mid-life find themselves in careers that no longer feed their passion, their life force. They cannot afford to look too closely at this truth because it would rock their boat, shake up their apple cart. Many do not realize that they walk a fine line between collapse and mastery. They are holding their breath. Anna Halprin states that, “Once you stop breathing, you stop moving.” Hence collapse. Slowly or sometimes quite suddenly, that very world that was clung to so tightly becomes the very world that turns around to bite you in the back. And then, what?

In her inspiring DVD, Breath Made Visible, Anna Halprin lives into the light. At 89, her life is defined by courage, the courage to follow her path into unknown territory while remaining steadfastly willing to adapt to the present moment. Anna Halprin is a master; she lives continually in the glimmer of gold in the ray of the sun. Her dust settled long ago.

Take a moment to poise as you cling to the ridgeline. Look down into possible collapse and then up towards new heights. Forge a new path by following the shaft of light as it illuminates your way. And, breathe, deeply. You are headed home. – Sdukes

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Joe owns a large construction company outside of New Orleans. Touched deeply by the hurricane, he struggled to manage his company’s adaptation to the rapid, economic shift. Bright, insightful, he consistently and humorously managed people and events around him deeply in service of life while in turn remaining steadfastly ambivalent about anything outside of his control. To cope, he relied heavily on alcohol and distance to escape the unmanageable. Years of this behavior evolved a corporate structure in which smart and reliable employees rose to fill the gaps he left behind. When Joe finally “sobered-up,” and came back to “work,” he realized that, for all practical purposes, he was no longer needed. In fact, Joe was now experienced as unwanted and disruptive.

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We know that all things come to an end. Imagine a happy moment with your child as she speaks to you of her excitement for her coming freshman year away at college. She sits in front of you and beams with joy, “I have worked so hard for this and now it is almost here.” You smile, your eyes meet; she has been seen, acknowledged. The phone rings, someone answers it, the moment has passed. For all practical purposes that joyful moment is dead and now only lives on in your memory. This passage of life is simply part of a greater cycle. The phone call brings new life and new possibility. It is her friends calling, and they are stopping by later and plan to walk for ice cream. You rise from the table and begin the dishes.

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The theological definition of inspiration is “a special or immediate action or influence of the spirit of God (or of some divinity or supernatural being) upon the human mind or soul,” (OED).

I experience inspiration as something that is reaching out, compelling me to listen while at the same time encouraging me to find a means for expression.

 However, it is not entirely correct to say, “it reaches out to me,” because I have to actively work to receive it, to allow it into me, and to then discern what is actually being offered.

 To receive inspiration, I need to act upon “that which is seeking my attention.” In a very real sense, I have to give this inspiration a body so that it can then begin to live within me.

Posted in Dr. Dukes' Musings | No Comments »

When working one-on-one with my clients, I am dependant upon the “other” to be fully present. I am also dependant on the “other” to enter into the shared experience in order for it to be fully energized. An open mind allows for this phenomenon to unfold. A closed mind: too much judgment, doubt, fear or laziness shuts down the field and disallows the ever, evolving context.

When communication does occur at this level, when the field is open, the entire universe of possibility within the organization, business, or professional pursuit is clearly available. Each moment unfolds naturally. The interrelatedness between me and my client becomes the context which reveals how the organization can evolve efficiently and elegantly. For the artist, his or her passion returns. For the professional, goals and objectives reveal in an obtainable format.

“The basic word I-You establishes the world of relation.”

Buber, M. I and Thou. p.56.

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Martin was in his forties, attractive and charismatic: the life of the party, the first to crack a joke at the water cooler, and a caring and loving father and son. It was tough being first generation American, but he did so flawlessly: he graduated from college, married the love of his life, bought a home in the suburbs and raised a family. Martin even made time on Sundays to drive to the old neighborhood to share a hot meal with his parents.

At least that was how it all began. Slowly, however, things began to shift, to fall silently apart. His wife became remote, his children were facing challenges in their adult lives, his senior management team was “static, weak and suffering from an expired shelf life.” Yet, Martin rose each day and donned a tailored suit just back from the dry cleaners. Immaculate he left the house, always. His predictable and secure world could not be mismanaged. As long as Martin was “in charge,” he would not have to feel.

This abruptly changed one morning as Martin was driving to work down the same road to the same office that he had driven to since landing this job ten plus years before. He felt a tug at his chest and then another tug. Trying to shrug it off, Martin took the prescribed left turn into the parking lot and parked his Mercedes in his reserved space, the one with his name blazed boldly across the asphalt. And, there he sat. Waiting. Watching his world slowly dissolve. It was in this space that Martin was forced to feel, because Martin now needed help.

A sense of calm came over Martin as he heard the diagnosis of “severe heart arrhythmia.” A bed was waiting for him at the local hospital. In this bed, alone, Martin awaited recovery from surgery. Stints had been placed into the side of his heart that received the blood flow back from the body. It seemed that Martin’s heart had little trouble giving blood but was severely restricted in its capacity to receive.

This is when I met Martin. And, his heart surgery became an enlightening metaphor for our work together.

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With awareness, subtle and indisputable connections can be brought to consciousness. In the course of working with my client’s, I establish the basis for a shared phenomenal world to come into consciousness. My client’s strategic relationships, the daily operation of their business, their vision for the future and the archaic patterns generated by past behaviors that continue to influence today’s performance all move into view and rest on the platform of our dialogue. This shared, phenomenal world becomes the context for the resolution of problematic processes and the platform for the development of new strategies and outcomes without disrupting daily production. This transformative process becomes the metaphor for growth and change. Through this dialogue emerges good design, which in turn encourages good practice. Good practice evolves into controlled outcomes, which then positively influence the fulfillment of objectives and expectations.

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Shared dialogue provides a basis for the recognition and full disclosure of that which is seeking transformation in the client’s world.

Held by compassion and understanding, this dialogue becomes the mechanism used to unearth sacred ground.

The content of the dialogue mirrors the essential dynamics operational in the client’s business, the performer’s dance, the professional’s production.

 The changes that evolve out of this third place occur through awareness, insight, understanding, and the transformation of thought patterns which generalize directly into the client’s world.

 If we transform it here in the shared phenomenal world, this third place, there evolves a multiplication factor that influences transformation in the client’s world, organization or business.

If we change it here, it changes there.

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