Rebecca Ryan notes that thought is not the most productive form of work. She has spent a day playing with her family… And an amazing thing happened: I returned to work this morning with more energy than I’ve had in months. I had a clear idea of what was important (clients and partners) and what wasn’t (reading back issues of newspapers.) I finally took action on creating the office space I really want, instead of settling for the one I have. I’m renewed. It was like someone hit CTRL ALT DEL on my creative cortex. Of course this is known …
I’ve talked a little about teachings as gifts and recently corresponded with folks about the authenticity of various “Native American” teachers. For the real deal, check out Wisdom of the Elders, an archive of stories and teachings from Native American life that is being broadcast on public radio in the States and American Indian Radio on Satellite (which you can listen to online).
Now we get into the juicy stuff, as if the book hasn’t been juicy so far. Chapter four of “The Gift” is called simply “The Bond” and it is this chapter that took Susan Kerr’s interest by storm at the Giving Conference. The essential point of this chapter is that gifts create bonds and commodities create boundaries. It is characteristic of market exchange that commodities move between two independent spheres. We might best picture the difference between gifts and commodities in this regard by imagining two territories separated by a boundary. A gift, when it moves across this boundary, either …
I have an approximately $300 credit with WestJet for sale. It’s good until the end of April, and fully transferable. If you are interested, drop me a line (chris AT chriscorrigan.com) and I’ll make the arrangements to transfer it to you. Just to plug WestJet for a moment: I made this booking back in the spring for a conference in Edmonton which I had to cancel at the last moment. WestJet’s transfer policy is this: your credit is good for a year. Transfer it to anyone you like, just call us and let us know. The whole procedure takes less …
Following on from the last posting on the labour of gratitude, I’d like to take a slight deviation back to the introduction of “The Gift” where Lewis Hyde is writing about how we receive the fruits of artistic gifts: The spirit of the artist’s gifts can wake our own. The work appeals, as Joseph Conrad says, to a part of our being which is itself a gift and not an acquisition. Our sense of harmony can hear the harmonies that Mozart heard. We may not have the power to proffer our gifts as the artist does, and yet we come …