Memorial

Your soul is a sunflower
that has grown to such a height,
you can no longer contain it.

As it bursts forth, your sun seeds fall
back into the hearts of loved ones,
to be cherished and tended with care.


A very dear friend died last Saturday. His name is Robert Rice, and he was one of the finest men I’ve ever known. If the word gentleman had not already existed, it would have been invented to describe Robert.
He was enormously talented. He had danced with the Merce Cunningham dance company, and kept dance as a vibrant part of his life. He was an accomplished painter whose work was always rigorous and beautiful. Perhaps his greatest talent, though, was as a teacher. The classroom was an exciting place for Robert. It was a magical blending of energies creating a transformation environment.
It was his courage that made him so good at everything he did. At one point he was having considerable success selling beautiful paintings, but he knew that he had taken his technique as far as he could. It wasn’t teaching him anymore, and he wasn’t excited about the prospect of the next piece. So, he just stopped. “Well, I’m not working like that anymore,” he said to me one day. “I’m going to go in a whole new direction.” And in order to do that, he made a new level of commitment to his work: he rented a little cabin with none of the amenities (electricity, for example), and he lived like a religious hermit for three years. After he’d been in his hermitage for about a year I saw him and he joyfully declared, “Oh, I’m making paintings that are so ugly! You have to see them! I’m really happy with the direction the work is taking.”
As teaching colleagues we met up in a meeting one day and he dropped into a chair beside me. “These people are so challenging,” he said. “I had my class prepared for this morning, and I started out directing them in a certain kind of movement, and they just didn’t want to do it. And I spent hours preparing that class.” I asked how he had handled the situation. “Well, I asked them what they wanted to do, and slowly they created the whole class. I followed their lead.” That ability to listen, receive, respect, and move with the creative energy of the moment is what made Robert such a terrific teacher, and an artist of life, itself.
As a friend, you could talk to him about anything. He was never judgmental, never overbearing. He was always tender, compassionate, and supportive. His spirit will live on in everyone who was lucky enough to know him and learn from him.
You can see his inevitably beautiful work on his website: www.robertriceart.com

This blog has taught me something I guess I've never realized about myself: When it comes to my work, I'm a perfectionist. I can't seem to get myself to just write something and send it out. Consequently, there are not too many blog entries, in case anybody is actually reading them. So today's blog is my first step to freeing up my own creative writing process for the sake of blogging more freely and adventurously.
Each entry is accompanied by a piece of my visual work in an attempt to bring writing and visual art together, within the Coaching arena. Some may say that these things have nothing to do with Coaching. Coaching is about achieving our goals, breaking past our limitations, and learning to be our own cheering squad. Well, nothing teaches those things like a commitment to art. I know firsthand that artists have to learn to deal with rejection, competition, and the realities of a challenging market place.
Being an artist is a little like internet dating, in that you are forced to put yourself out into the world, expressing your most personal feelings and ideas. You constantly feel vulnerable. You know that there are thousands of other artists out there (in the Bay Area: over 40,000 artists!) vying for attention and selection, and you know that your work is only going to appeal to a few viewers. You just hope and pray to reach the right people.
This is just one of the reasons that I based my Coaching on the creative process. Everyday I seem to learn another parallel between Coaching, Living, and being a committed artist.
Now, I'm going to hit the POST button (okay, I will check for spelling errors) POST!

Creativity as a Healing Force

Creativity as a Healing Force

In 1989 I was invited to be on the Community Advisory Board of an upstart non-profit called Health Through Art: Signs of Recovery. I thought I’d volunteer for a couple of years, just to get the project started. Instead, since then I have become increasingly involved, and am now the only original Board member still on the Community Advisory Board.
The Project has evolved by conducting focus groups every two years, asking people in Alameda County about the burning health issues in their communities and neighborhoods. Then the Project distributes a brochure with the results of those focus groups and a call for art submissions meeting the themes named by the public. Winners receive $500 and their work displayed on billboards, buses, benches, BART stations. Consequently what began as a billboard campaign to combat addiction and racism, has become a multi-media force supporting healthy choices, non-violence, an end to racism, sexism, and all physical and social disorders contributing to unhealthy lives and environments. This is a unique and challenging task.
The Health Through Art Project takes on the challenge of transforming billboards from inner city blight to inspirational messengers of wellbeing. Beyond ad campaigns, billboards are powerful tools of manipulation in the formation of public attitudes. Sexism, racism, addiction, and consumerism are the stock and trade of billboard campaigns. Subtle messages, images, and situations sell unhealthy products and attitudes, for the sake of a profitable return. All that, and the professional skills of the advertising industry make the HTA vision an ambitious crusade.
Over the years the Project has provided such uplifting slogans as: “The best thing about a person you can’t see from the outside”, and “Stay sober, you’re life is riding on it.” One five year old gave us the benefit of his wisdom with a happy face surrounded by a circle of peas and carrots; “Surround yourself with good stuff”, was his simple, Zen-like slogan. I never saw a single person look at that poster without smiling (and now neuroscience is beginning to recognize that a smile has the power to heal the mind). Ever since the discovery of endorphins, even scientists have started to realize the healing power of images, prayers, and intentions.
The Health Through Art Project is always in need of financial and volunteer support. I can tell you that you will always meet good people at events, board meetings, and office visits. You can see the history of winning designs (which you’ve probably seen on an AC Transit bus or in a BART train, if you live in the Bay Area), and learn about our distinguished awards by visiting the Project website: www.healththroughart.org. Perhaps you know of a venue for the HTA Roving Art Show, or maybe you’re looking for a worthy volunteer project. Call 510 549-5990. Donations are tax deductible.
I believe in this project so whole-heartedly that I invite all my friends to our events, I hope to meet you there, too sometime.

Happy New Year!

Just in case you have forgotten or abandoned those new year resolutions you made in January, Chinese New Year allows you to reconsider and redetermine your priorities. So today's the day to set one new goal or one new habit. Tomorrow is waiting to receive you, this is the day to
Fall in love,
Take a stand,
Make an impression
Be a star!