The month of December has been busy, inspiring, shaking and even life changing. I have returned from my trip to the International Intensive Training in Nonviolent Communication. Before I stated that the books on NVC changed my life, now I will tell you for certain that spending 10 days with 60 people from around the world who believe in peace has changed my life even more. Spending time with Marshall Rosenberg was also life changing. He is just as inspiring in person as he is on my Ipod at a red light, driving the car.
I have traveled through at least 15 states in the past month. I started in Connecticut and flew to Chicago, Ill where I spent a few hours hanging out. Then it was off to New Mexico for the training. On the way back, I passed through Atlanta, GA and many others I just flew over. After my trip, I jumped in the car and headed to Rhode Island for the day to do some small claims court mediation then back to CT. From there, Rick and I hopped into the car and went to Richmond, VA driving through NY, NJ, Maryland, Delaware, where we spent some times with my folks. I was grateful to spend some time hanging with my dad and talking about philosophy and religion and the search for meaning in the world. My dad is one of the most intelligent people I have met and I am always amazed at his view of the world. I was also happy to spend some time with my mom and sad to learn her health isn’t what it use to be. Both my folks are getting older and that is a tough pill to swallow.
Rick and I then trucked our way through the Carolinas ending up in Greenville for the Holidays. This was a delightful time and I feel so appreciative I got to spend time with my nieces and my sister and her husband. In my younger days I use to live with them in a small apartment in New Jersey. I am always grateful when I get to spend time with them as I hold my relationships with them close to my heart.
Now, I am back in CT and getting ready to hit the road again to head to Rhode Island for a day, then off to PA for the New Years Holiday. I bet you can see from this just why I haven’t been posting much here at the site. I also have to admit, I haven’t felt the muses knocking at my door inviting me to write. I just haven’t felt the drive to correct Peter LaBarbera or Stacy Harp or any of the other anti-gay writers. I just don’t have the same energy for that as I use to carry. I have been thinking of taking this site down and at the same time, I have so much invested in time and energy to just erase it. I will be updating the rest of the site to now promote my consulting business. I guess it is up in the air where my blog will go from there. I am open to new strategies if you have them to offer….
I do want to write more about my trip to New Mexico to deepen my learning of Nonviolent Communication. I learned so much about how we currently communicate (and think) and just why it is contributing to violence on the planet. I learned new ways of looking at things that most of my gay rights activist friends might think are “nuts” (The right wing already thinks I am nuts) and yet I truly believe what I am learning could change the civil rights movement of gays from dead in the water to finally getting our needs met and still finding ways to respect those who don’t agree. I do believe it is possible. I have been writing that for years and now I am convinced.
Anyway, look for some upcoming stuff on my new fascination about giving up processed foods and switching to only organic stuff. No more chemicals in my food. Look for some more posts about conflict resolution and Nonviolent Communication stuff and when I have the drive, look for the usual Satyagraha view of anti-gay actions.
Until then……Happy New Year and I hope whatever you celebrate this time of year, that it is everything you want it to be.
Technorati Profile-----
