SO HOW DID THE WORKSHOP GO?

You might wonder why I haven’t posted since the Next Step Workshop three weekends ago. I am sort of wondering myself. I think the weekend was such a remarkable experience that I needed to assimilate it all before I posted.

I believe that each of us was deeply impacted by the events of those three days. It’s such a treasure to experience events that allow people, young and old alike, to understand that we each are unique and special and have important things to contribute to the world.

For some of us, this might have been the first time we’ve heard these words and the first time others affirmed our expanding concept of ourselves. For others of us, it confirmed and validated what we are up to in our lives.

I’ve spent the last three weeks reading, thinking, and expanding the vision of the impact we can make in our communities in Central Oregon. There is so much support “out there” and so many like-minded people “in here” that together WE WILL BE THE CATALYST that "energizes our families, schools, and neighborhoods to see the potential in each young person” as Peter Benson talks about in his book “Sparks”.

If this is your passion also, for starters go online to www.Search-Institute.org and print a copy of the 40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents, and order Benson’s book Sparks: How Parents Can Ignite the Hidden Strengths of Teenagers.

We're looking forward to 3 Challenge Days at Redmond High School on January 6th, 7th and 8th, and 1 day at Elton Gregory Middle School, also in Redmond, on the 9th, 2009. What an exciting way to start the new year, don't you think?

Please share your thoughts and ideas. It really does take a village to raise a child.

Encouraging Teens to Find Their Spark

Encouraging teens to find their sparks is a community affair. It’s pretty amazing because adults can find their own sparks in the process.

Someplace I read the words

You were just waiting for someone to encourage you to be the “more” that you are, weren’t you?

How perfect for what we’re up to ……………… creating the space and place for people of all ages to discover that they are special, they are unique and that they have something very important to contribute to the world.

Participate in your community’s Spark Champions team. If one doesn’t exist, create one.

How?

First, go online to www.Search-Institute.org and print a copy of the 40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents, and order Benson’s book Sparks: How Parents Can Ignite the Hidden Strengths of Teenagers.

As you expand your team, ask each person to do the same. (I don’t lend my books out as I highlight, underline, and attach Post-It Notes to whatever I want to refer to quickly, and I don’t want to influence others as to what they feel is most important to them.)

Develop a vision of what you want to see happen in your schools and communities as you create your team. I created Serendipity West Foundation as a result of a seminar called Life Directions Intensive (http://www.peakpotentials.com/new/courses_camps/ld.html - please use Promo Code: 233754, if you want to explore this seminar).

One of the things we did in the seminar was to draw a picture of what our mission/vision would look like. I drew several pictures on the page, including one of a bunch of stick figures at a school participating in a Challenge Day, and another depicting a project the kids might create as a result.

I took this picture around to everyone and said “This is what I want to do and I have NO IDEA as to how to do it. Who do you know that I can talk with who might be able to guide me?” I explored many leads and ultimately met Arlene Gibson who was so aligned with what I was up to that she became my angel and my mentor.

And now we have scheduled our first four Challenge Days at Redmond High School and Elton Gregory Middle School the first week in January 2009. And we are hosting a Next Step to Being the Change Workshop next weekend, December 5,6, and 7th for 20 teens and 40 adults who want to be Spark Champions even though they don’t know yet about sparks. And Sisters Middle School and Sisters High School, as well as Pilot Butte Middle School have submitted their applications for Challenge Days.

OH, WOW. Do you know what that means? We will be DIRECTLY IMPACTING OVER A THOUSAND KIDS and many others indirectly, and our Spark Champions team will be their support them as they find their sparks.

WHOOPPEE!!!!!!!!!!

You can do this too. Let me know how I can help you.

Sparks – Something to Get Excited About

Thank you, Peter Benson.

Peter L. Benson, Ph.D., the creator of Search Institute’s Developmental Assets, has written a book called Sparks – How Parents Can Help Ignite the Hidden Strengths of TEENAGERS.

OH, WOW…………having read only the first 46 pages, I know that Benson’s insights support not only parents, but entire communities, to champion our kids as they search for their passion, their purpose, their spark.

And, truly, this is the mission of my foundation, Serendipity West Foundation: Awakening Teens to Their Magnificence and Power, Creating Bold New Futures. I’m just beginning to discover just how many other people have taken this on as their passion, their purpose, their spark.

Sparks? A spark is something inside that gets you excited. It’s something that gives meaning to life. And it’s not just teens we are talking about, it's everyone.

I found my spark late in life. My dream is to be a catalyst in creating the environment in all Central Oregon communities and schools that “energizes our families, schools, and neighborhoods to see the potential in each young person” - and the not-so-young, as well.

So many people – teenagers and adults – live locked-up lives. They meander through life, sometimes checking things off their to-do list, but often not knowing why they are here or why they matter. When you do this too long, you get a nagging sense that something’s missing, and what’s missing is discovering and expressing your spark. (Sparks – page 18)

As has been attributed to e.e. cummings:

We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside of us there’s something valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our touch, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.

So………………what is your spark? If you don’t know, actively seek it. Once you know what it is, I say GO FOR IT.

Have You Ever Written Your Legacy?

I have been in classes and seminars where the exercise was to write your legacy…what you wanted people to say about you at your funeral. I never felt empowered on those exercises, and whatever I wrote always seemed to be something I invented just to do the exercise.

I have the good fortune to belong to an organization called HUB, Humanity Unites Brilliance, an amazing organization with three weekly curriculums: Personal Development, Business Growth and Humanitarian Impact -- plus much much more.

Last Monday was a turning point regarding writing my legacy. I’ve had a lot of pieces in place, but it was during the HUB Personal Development Conference Call that I began to see how they fit together for me. I was so certain about what my legacy was to be that the words flowed easily. I spent several hours after the call and several more again the next morning putting together the words that described what I was to accomplish in the rest of my life.

Peter Benson, in a book called “Sparks”, says that sparks are the hidden flames in kids that excite them and tap into their true passions. Sparks, he says, have the power to change a young person’s life from one of “surviving” to “thriving”. My passion is to be the catalyst that causes us to create the environment where all the kids in the schools find their sparks and thrive, where they find their own passion and purpose, their own piece of the puzzle.

In my next post I’ll tell you what I declared my Legacy to be. Every time I think about it I feel so serene knowing that this is what I came here to do.

In the meantime, if you are interested in the concept of Humanity uniting with Brilliance, visit my site http://www.serendipity.hubhub.org/. Through HUB you’ll have immediate access to technology, tools and teams to support your personal and financial growth and, at the same time, provide life changing impact to the world.