transform-200904

Read this newsletter online: http://transformativechange.org/docs/nl/transform-200904.htmlDownload printable PDF version: http://transformativechange.org/docs/nl/transform-200904.pdf

welcomeWhether it’s money or the environment everybody seems to betalking about green. They seem to be on opposite sides of thespectrum, money on the one hand, environment on the other. Butare they? In this country, especially these days, money has a bigvoice and spending is how we have our say. We thought we’d giveyou a chance to think about that in this edition of transform. — adifferent sort of homage to Earth Day. Are you supporting the earthwith your green?

Super Om, Courtesy of Students for A Free Tibet: www.studentsforafreetibet.org

seven deadly sins of change:a superhero's funding and field guide totransformationINcite with angel Kyodo williams

While then-candidate Obama wooed theelectorate into an oddly fleeting historicmoment with his steady call for us to all beAgents of Change, those of us that have beenstealthily exchanging our glasses for capes withonly tepid results to show for it know that weneed more than ordinary change to get us outof the one-step left, two-steps right shuffle oursocial justice agenda has been stymied by for

the past 50 years. We need the kind of change that leads to deep-rooted,broad-based, sustainable lasting change that can't be rolled back with theswirl of a pen or crushed under a wave of conservative backlash. We needTransformative Change.

We've been secretly biding our time in serene anticipation of the Fall of

what's newUniversal FormUniversal Form, the body movement we do every morning to before we sit, reminds some folks of yoga, tai chi or qi gong. That’s because it combines all three. We do a modified version of the original form developed

by Lawrence Tan, but it’s super effective and unlike ‘downward dog’ just about anyone can do it. Read more Universal Form at MLK Park:[New Day!] Sat May 9 | 11am

in SIGHTAn Indigenous Perspective onHow to Survive the NextHundred YearsAt Bioneers in 2007 Evon Peterblew away the audience with thistalk that radiates truth and

compassion. In this clip he touches everything fromcolonization and its effects on both people and theenvironment. What he says does much more than makeyou think about the earth differently, you also have tobegin to think about your place in it.

Watch YouTube videoAn Indigenous Perspective:Purchase Complete DVD

in TIME

Inner JusticeSave the Dates: 4th Annual InnerJustice Intensive | June 20 toJune 27 | Prep on June 19Weeklong meditation, Yoga,

Breath and Study Intensive for agents of social change.Earth Day Weekend : Spring Spruce | April 25 | 10AM - 1 PMGet your hands in the Earth this Earth day, whilehelping spruce up our beautiful garden. Snacks andrefreshment. Come for any or all of the time and bringyour friends.

4th Annual Inner Justice Intensive | June 20 - 27 |Prep June 19

seven deadly sins of change | the CENTER | April month 2009 http://transformativechange.org/docs/nl/transform-200904.html

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the American Consumptive Ways. With a complex mix of dismay andsatisfaction, we hold appropriate, compassionate empathy for the folksthat are the least buffered from even subtle turnabouts in the economicwinds, much less the comparative financial tsunami of the past sevenmonths. This is expressed with The Deeply Furrowed Brow of Concern.But understanding that our collective faces hitting the floor may be ouronly Wakeup Call, that concern co-mingles with The Subtle-But-KnowingSmile of Approval.

Yoda would be proud.

Even Time Magazine's cover pronounces "The End of Excess" with a pictureof a great big reset button along with the rhetorical inquiry: "Is This CrisisGood for America?" Well, of course it is. When you view your life and theworld through the lens of transformation, you recognize that any upset ortragedy is really an opportunity for another level of growth and deeperunderstanding. You run with it rather than away from it. The caveat isthat because the Grand Designer made a package deal of Free Will andthe Breath of Life, it's entirely up to us to either seize the opportunity tofind a new Way to become that which we all inexorably endeavor tobecome: a Whole Human. If not, we'll return to our previous incompletestate: driven by fear and panic, desperately and pathetically groping forwhat is familiar but no longer viable, if it ever was. When that window ofopportunity passes, the Universe has to conjure up another greatertragedy for us to get the message. Time's rallying cry calls for us to "makea searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and be entirelyready to remove our defects of character."

The Watchmen for Change are made up of Freedom Fighters, Organizers,Agitators and Activists paired with the folks that, like it or not, foot thebills. In a perfected partnership, they are our Supporters, Advocates,Advisors and Allies. Some of us pay with the currency of creativity,vitality, energy and soulforce. Others pay with hopefulness,steadfastness, wild cheering and dollar bills, y'all.

Together we are the Jedis of Justice. We are The Ones that We have BeenWaiting for to illuminate the Matrix and reveal the passage out ofBabylon. We are the Agents of Transformative Social Change. X-Agents forshort. (Yea, I know, but X-Men was already taken and it's chauvinistanyway...)

So what are our collective defects of character, the Kryptonite that sapsour power, woos us to the Dark Side and is an impenetrable barrier to amovement of truly Transformative Social Change that we both envisionand are beckoned by?

Here are Seven Deadly Sins of Change and their respective Virtuousbehavioral antidotes:

1. Release Lust: Bigger is not better. Hasn't the economic bubble splattaught us that? The organizations that have become the biggest are notnecessarily the best. The day of the 900-lb Gorilla eating up all theresources because they can should be over. It leaves the rest of thecreatures of the forest to fight amongst themselves for scraps. Realinnovation gets crowded out by behemoths. We all lose.Practice Chastity: Consume only what you need to sustain real, viablework, not just what will get you funding because its the buzz. Pass on the

Earth Day Weekend: Spring Spruce | April 25Awarding Collaboration: 1st Inaugural

Transformative Leadership Awards | April 30Congratulations to the Seasons Fund Awardees: CLUE,ForestEthics, Generative Somatics and Social JusticeLeadership, Make the Road New York, RockwoodLeadership Program, stone circles and to Finalists:Kindred and Miami Workers Center

in the CENTER27 Days to Change

Forty-three people around thecountry are participating in thisseason's 27 Days of Change.Whether here at the Center

virtually or actually, they've come through for sits,dharma talks, check-ins, talked about their experiencesonline and done a little yoga in between. Many of themare social change folks. And a lot of them are doing thison their own (a challenge to be sure) or with maybe oneor two people as support.

Read more...Vote! On Our New Logo

inner PRACTICEWelcoming What We Resist

If we practice and practice witheffort we get a chance to take along, hard look at ourselves.Whether that means we stop a

particular habit, or pick up a new better one, we get toknow ourselves and our (sometimes) strong reactionsto wanting to hold on to the way we already are.

Read more...

outer ACTIONTraining To Lead With Head &Heart

Rockwood Leadership Institute iswhere leaders like Todd Paglia ofForest Ethics has encouraged his

staff to go year after year in order to make sure thework they do is effective and aligned with their valuesof honesty, communication and human connection.

Read more... Learn More About Rockwood

social CHANGEGot Chaos? Funding Cuts andVolunteer Floods: Time to


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rest and pass the plate.

2. Release Gluttony: On the other hand, there's just too many of us.We've got an organization for every issue, identity and incident, eachscavenging for five crumbs. As a result, we're disorganized, disconnectedand still disenfranchised. We resist the natural cycle of organizationaldeath because we've tied our livelihoods up with our causes. We startorganizations to avoid corporate life but end up being slaves to thoseinstitutions, too. Creativity is curtailed and resources are spread too thin.Death, no matter how painful, gives way to fresh, viable life.Practice Temperance: Is your organization serving you or are you servingyour organization? Is your work changing THE World, not just your world?If not, Merge. Fold. Find your new path. Be Reborn in the next life. We'llall benefit from a nimbler movement, better-resourced movement.

3. Release Greed: Grantmakers have lost almost one-third of theirassets. Never mind that foundations are only required to give 5 percentof those endowments, most of which were ill-gained to begin with. Ialways say "when it's your house that's burning down, you don't use 5% ofthe water you have to save the rest for the fire that might come in thefuture. You use the whole damn bucket..."Practice Charity: Charity of common sense, that is. Raise giving to amere 15% of that monopoly money. Even with 30% losses, you'll be givingmore than double what you gave when you were flush and we'll all betwice as far along.

4. Release Sloth: When it comes to the task of being the change we wishto see, we're pretty damn lazy. Our movements are constipated, ourcoalitions siloed, our collaborations fractured, our organizationstop-down, and our personal practice is toenail-deep. We're tall onrhetoric, short on application. We want sustainability while we workourselves to exhaustion. We insist on Universal Healthcare and UbiquitousMcDonald's. We want green job access and plastic bag convenience. Westrive for environmental justice and allow "feed-animal" damnation.Practice Diligence: We have to PRACTICE what we're preaching for. It'sall connected and it starts with you: Eat healthy, Pray frequently, Lovedeeply. And to keep it all in perspective, Dance wildly.

5. Release Wrath: The lifeforce of our work is still choked by useless "usvs. them" ego-tripping and bad attitudes. These issues need to beaddressed at the roots. We'll never make peace with others until wemake peace within ourselves. Transformative Change is only possiblewhen the people doing the change are changing themselves.Practice Patience: Heal and Love Thyself. Start working out your issuesat your Inner Gym. Watch your mind and notice how it wreaks havoc onreality. Find ways to lower the volume on the internal noise that makesyou a walking time bomb of contraction and imbalance. Do Yoga.Meditation. Centering Prayer. Better yet, let them do you. Save yourheart, save the world.

6. Release Envy: Funders, you matter. So stop inserting yourselves toassert your Selves. While many of you live vicariously and combatboredom by dreaming up new projects, frontliners are busting their tailsout there and still they're relegated to using up to 40% of their energy toraise money for their work. Change will only take place through realleadership, partnerships and collaboration. Every good partnership isborne of knowing your role and contribution and honoring that of your

Prioritize and Organize

Got Chaos? According to the New York Times, oneupside to the downturn is the flood of volunteers, oftenhighly skilled, signing up to help non-profits. This is aresult of the oft-cited chaos in the economy, resultingin large numbers of displaced workers who are helpingout social change organizations while they search forjobs.

Read more...From Ranks of Jobless, a Flood of Volunteers

in the MINDMind Over Money

Last April several folks from ourcommunity did a Street Retreatfor three days. We slept on thesteps of the public library and

begged for food and change. A lot of us learned firsthand about our relationship and society’s relationshipto money and giving. And Lynne Twist shares insightabout the very Soul of Money

Read more...Street Retreat Reflections 2008

"the best workshop i've ever taken. radically changedmy work."fearless Meditation is our 3-part signature series thatteaches practical meditation in a social justice contextis offered for no charge for agents of social change:

fearless Meditation I: Fri May 1 | 7pm and every 1stFriday

Save the Date | fearless Meditation II: practice of thebreath | Fri May 22

in the BODYTree PoseBe like a tree! Root yourself tothe earth and to your work forchanging the world with TreePose. Tree pose helps withcultivating balance,

concentration, and coordination. It also strengthens thethighs, calves, ankles, and spine as well as relievessciatica and reduces flat feet.

Read more...Jo Kata: Moving from Center

Universal Form: 3 Minutes to Power and Peace is a shortmoving meditation to calm your body and ease yourmind. Fun & Free. Come join the crowd:

Universal Form at MLK Park: [New Day!] Sat May 9 |11am & Then every 1st Saturday

wellness & being well


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partners. Stop hating on changemakers because you envy their couragewhile fearing the direct experience it arises from. Funders should fundand let the people that work the frontlines work...not scurry, scrape andsuck up for funds.Practice Kindness: With yourselves, first and foremost. Tend to thewounds that excessive privilege imprisons and burdens you with. Lettingyour money or control of it front as self-worth leads to narcissism,self-centeredness and a profound emptiness that compels you to a never-ending search for fulfillment. Give your burden away...even some of thesacred principal. You'll be free to be you and not your money. I repeat:Save your heart, save the world.

7. Release Pride: The failure point of Pride, when it leaves good andturns sour, is "failing to acknowledge the good work of others." If youreally want change, enable people to do the work of change for real. Ifthis is a platform for your personal whims, but you actually fear what realchange looks like--yes, you'll have to give things up: money, land, status,control, privilege, power, privilege--stay home, watch reruns of ER andstop wasting your own and our time.Practice Humility: Fund what works broadly and deeply. But moreimportantly at this moment, fund risk. Fund bold efforts that areunknown, untested, untried. Fund creative solutions to intractableproblems and expect no guarantees in return. If it makes you nervous,fund it.

Together, we, the Practitioners and Funders, Agents, Activists and Alliesof Change need to be the "Real American Idols"(trademark pending), theSuper Heroes and Sheroes that take up our part day-to-day to do theordinary work of changing the world while doing the extraordinary workof changing ourselves.

I know we're up to the task of seizing the real opportunity that is athand--to live, love and lead from heart--one by one kick-ass X-Agent at atime.

angel Kyodo williams, is founder of Transformative Change (formerlyurbanPEACE). A social visionary and leading voice for transformativesocial change, she is the author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of LivingWith Fearlessness and Grace.

Want to read older stories or just keep up with angel? Be sure to connectto her blogs or join her fan page in Facebook.

Blog: new Dharma: live, love & lead from the heart

Facebook: Fan angel here

Web: www.angelkyodowilliams.com

angel Kyodo williams next public talk: Thursday | May 14 | 7:20pmCenter for Transformative Change

activists, allies & agents of change

The Roots of Forest Ethics

Grow-Your-Own-FoodREVOLUTION!

There's a rise in the number ofpeople going back to growingtheir own food. There are a lot of

reasons why including, saving money, having access tohigher quality fruits/vegetables, and connecting withthe Earth.

Read More...NYTimes: Banking on GardeningGreen your body and soul with Green

Smoothies! Check out recipes from we like it RawWell-Being List

april wallpaper

The ladybug symbolizes the ushering in off deep Springbecause after clustering together through the winter,they disperse in response to the increasingly longerdays. Considered a good luck charm that you can makea wish on and then blow it away, the brightly coloredvariety of the bugs are children's favorite.

Read more and download this image as wallpaper withor without calendar for your desktop.

Download with calendar... Download without calendar...

connect | share | supporttransform feedback

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Share your transformative storyhow are you changing the WAY change is done

Subscribeget your own monthly issues of transform.

Forwardsend this issue via email to a friend now

Tell-All-Your-Friends

Registration and other questions888.XSOCHANGE (new number! toll free)

[email protected]


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By integrating inner awareness techniques withcutting-edge public campaigning, ForestEthics'executive director Todd Paglia has pioneered agroundbreaking approach to environmentalprotection. Mr. Paglia’s philosophy of being ‘toughon the issues, but soft on the people’ has led to

creative and highly productive partnerships with many Fortune 500corporations—even those that were once campaign targets, such asStaples, Office Depot and Victoria's Secret. As a result, over 65 millionacres of Endangered Forests, the equivalent of more than half ofCalifornia, will be protected. Mr. Paglia lives in Bellingham, Washingtonwith his wife and two young sons.

Todd Paglia grew up among the trees as a youngster in Upstate New Yorkand over the course of his life there watched as the landscape grewdrastically different. The trees began to disappear. This is a lot of whatinspired him to do the work he does with Forest Ethics—a cutting edge,no-nonsense, and yet incredibly open, community-driven organizationthat gets companies like Dell, Victoria’s Secret and Staples to changetheir environmentally unsustainable ways. Forest Ethics pulls out all thestops to do what they do using a plethora of activists in places all aroundthe nation, and in Canada and Chile). They do everything from stagingtraditional protests, airing commercials, posting information on websitesand having folks everywhere divest from the targetted companies. To saythey are incredibly passionate about the work they do is anunderstatement. As Kristi Vance Chester, Communications Director states,“People here have given their souls to this work.”Read more...

Learn more about www.forestethics.org

resources for change…Here are a couple short clips on the importance of being green: apowerful speech by a young girl about the environment and one way thatsewage could be very useful and sustainable. You can also buy thecomplete DVD of Evon Peter's Bioneers Talk. All proceeds go to EvonPeter.

An Indigenous Perspective on How to Survive the Next 100 Years

13-Year-Old Girl Addresses UN

From Sewage to Charcoal

TIME - The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?

quote of the month“I think that people who want to change society have a double duty...Wehave to really look at how we ourselves are combative, punitive,self-destructive, greedy; we're passionate about changing that in theexternal world, even as we enact it in our internal world and in ourrelationships with each other.”—Van Jones, Van Jones & Green For All

Center for Transformative Change is the first nationalcenter entirely dedicated to bridging the inner andouter lives of social change agents, activists and alliesto support a more effective, more sustainable socialjustice movement.

Donate to the Center to support our work.Visit the Center's website.

Center for Transformative Change2584 MLK Jr. WayBerkeley, CA 94704 · USA+1.510.549.3733

Google the Center.


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Center for Transformative Change is a project of urbanPEACE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization whose mission to inform, incite and empower abroad-based, presence-centered transformative social change movement.

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transform-200904