Cultivating Curiosity

When I wrote my previous post, my plan was to write an update every two weeks. It took me a grand total of three months to get the first followup out.

Synerba

The number one thing that has been keeping me busy has been the founding of my own company. On November 4th I finally filed in the papers and Synerba was born. Figuring out taxation, accounting, and even insurances has been surprisingly appealing as I feel I’m really working on something that is my own.

Of course founding a company is merely a beginning. As planned, I’ve been working on a handful of facilitation gigs, but most of my income this year has been coming in from web development jobs. I don’t intend to do the latter in the long term but they offer a good safety net on the short to medium term. Baby steps, baby steps.

Oh, and before you go looking, the official website for the company is not up yet but I did roll out a simple site for my web development services.

Winter Dathün

While the company has been my main focus as of recent, I will orient myself to something else entirely over the upcoming four weeks. This Saturday I’m namely heading off a four-week meditation retreat, the Winter Dathün with Reggie Ray.

The thought of spending the next 28 days practicing from morning until night hasn’t really sunk in yet but I’m slowly starting to feel both excited and intimidated by the idea. I will report back when I return.

Until then, enjoy the holidays and have a great start for 2011!

During the past couple of months, I’ve been working with my coach to gather the clarity and commitment to get started with my own business. Last week we had our final meeting as I felt that I had achieved what we set out to create. He challenged me to start posting regular updates about my ongoing progress on my blog, and since then I have been waiting for the right moment.

Today I think the moment has come.

Pieces of the Puzzle

The pieces of the puzzle started started falling in place when I realized just how important authenticity and embodied presence are to me. I saw my meditation practice in a new light as a tool not only for my own development but as a viable pillar for my professional work.

For some years now I’ve been observing the work of Richard Strozzi-Heckler on embodied leadership. I find his approach to leadership to be very grounded in practice—he has even taught the US special forces—but with a deep commitment to authenticity.

Some months ago I decided to further study Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a controversial but very realized Tibetan Buddhist teacher, now deceased, who places great emphasis on cutting to the core of who we are and bringing that into the world. One of his former students, Reggie Ray, seems to carry his teachings forward in a particularly vibrant way, bringing in somatic practices from other traditions while still maintaining the great depth of the original teachings.

Then it hit me. Continue reading