An Open Way of Creating New Realities
by Adam Kahane
 The advice in this excerpt from Adam's new book, Solving Tough Problems, is deceptively simple--in some ways no more than eloquent common sense. Behind this advice is more than a decade of intensive research and application involving some of the brightest and visionary minds of our time and some of the world's most intractable problems. The problem-solving model that has evolved through this work, and which incorporates the U-process developed by Otto Scharmer, will be the focus of a module led by Adam and two colleagues at the 2005 Summer Program.

"How can we solve our tough problems without resorting to force? How can we overcome the apartheid syndrome in our homes, workplaces, communities and countries, and globally? How can we heal our world's gaping wounds?"
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Shifting the Currents:
An Interview with Brian Bacon
 "The currents are moving, very disturbingly, in a direction that is leading us towards destruction. And those currents will only be turned around through the influence of leaders."
A Covenant of Peace on the Island of Aphrodite
by Mary Rothschild
Mary was a member of the Institute's "Healing Conflict Dialogue" in June 2003 and has continued to pursue her quest to understand and embody the transformative powers of dialogue and forgiveness. In this article, she eloquently reflects on a subsequent gathering in Cyprus, in the fall of 2003.
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 Stories & News

True Nature: An Illustrated Journal of the
Four Seasons in Solitude
 Creative process faculty Barbara Bash recently published an illustrated journal of four week-long retreats in a cabin nestled deep in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. Mixing Buddhist sitting meditation with nature journaling, the resulting visual and verbal narrative traces the enthusiasm and boredom, the agitation and relaxation, the breakdowns and breakthroughs of time spent by oneself.
Click here to see a sample page.

The Contemplative Auditor:
Norman Steinberg Takes the Stand
by Lyn Hartley
"What happens in Halifax relates to my work. Whenever I'm present, there is flow. I'm not attached to it, but a part of it. If I can be in my consciousness, people know. I've found this to be true when testifying at the parliamentary meetings. If you are really present, energy works through you."

Sun Tzu in Action
by Janet Graff
"We'd had enough of slowly reading and rereading passages from the ancient text, analyzing and reflecting and analyzing some more."

Welcome!
Emma Catherine Gail Merry was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, November 7. Parents Katie Condon and Tim Merry were inspired to settle in Nova Scotia after Tim, then residing in the Netherlands, attended the Shambhala Institute in 2003. Congratulations to these three new immigrants!

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Shambhala Insights
Doorways
by Judith Lief
"Although big transitions are hard to miss, most of the little transitions in life pass us right by. We jump from experience to the next, like frogs hopping across lily pads, and never notice how we get from here to there. In that way, we create an illusion of continuity, a pretense of solid ground. For us, there is no pond-only one solid green lily-pad world."
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Program Updates

2005 Authentic Leadership Summer Program, June 22-July 1.
An in-depth learning journey designed to provide new insights and solutions for your current organizational or community challenges. Strengthen your personal leadership capacities and learn how to catalyze transformative change. Make the strategic connections and relationships needed to take your project or organization to the next level.

For workshop and core program descriptions, a detailed schedule, and registration information, download this flyer.

Thanks to Corey Kohn and Eddie Boyce, who produced this downloadable video of the 2004 Authentic Leadership Summer Program:  Quicktime Movie : Windows Media


 Personal Leadership for a Complex World
November 22-24, 2004
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Fine-tune your personal vision, purpose, and strategic direction and cultivate your ability to listen deeply-to yourself, to others, and to what is emerging in your field of endeavour. Learn the skills that will generate a climate of possibility and innovation, even in the midst of change and uncertainty.

November 2004, No. 7
. see all issues .
Fifth Annual Authentic
Leadership Summer Program
June 22-July 1, 2005

Register by December 3 and and save C$570/US$475 off the full program fee.

Click here to see video clips from the 2004 program:

Quicktime Movie
Windows Media File

"The path forward is about becoming more human, not just more clever. It is about transcending our fears of vulnerability, not finding new ways of protecting ourselves. It is about discovering how to act in service of the whole, not just in service of our own interests. It is about rediscovering courage — literally, cuer age, the rending of the heart-to pursue what Adam [Kahane] calls 'an open way,' because the only progress possible regarding the deep problems we face will come from opening our minds, hearts, and wills."
— Peter Senge, from the Foreword to Solving Tough Problems
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To subscribe to Fieldnotes: go to http://www.shambhalainstitute.org/world/contact.html

Why Fieldnotes? This newsletter arose from the inspiration to make visible what is otherwise invisible — the rich field of connection, dialogue, and activity that is arising around the Institute's Authentic Leadership programs. This field now extends far beyond the programs themselves, in both time and place. This newsletter also provides a forum for people who are pioneering the emerging field of what could be called "authentic" or "transformative" leadership. It is published periodically, September through April.

We'd like to hear from you. The editorial team invites your feedback, letters, and submissions. We are especially interested to hear how you have been applying your learning and insights in your own field of work. The submission deadline for each issue is the 15th of the previous month. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and space. Please include your daytime contact information. We look forward to hearing from you.

Fieldnotes Team: Susan Szpakowski, Lyn Hartley, Masud Sheikh, Dinah Wakeford & Barbara Zielinski.

Appreciations. Many thanks to our volunteer editors, and to Barbara Bash for her beautiful masthead calligraphy.

Fieldnotes is a publication of the Shambhala Institute for Authentic Leadership, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The views expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of the Shambhala Institute.