CREATIVE THANKS GIVING Finding a way to give thanks in the right way for you. Gratitude is one of the illuminators of the universe. It keeps your heart open, brightens yours (and someone else's) day, and helps your brain, in it's cataloguing of all that you say, see, hear and do, better understand what you are thankful for. In Rick Hanson's lovely and helpful book Hardwiring Happiness, Rick writes extensively about how you can help your brain switch from its "Oh no, NOW we're in trouble!" default mechanism, to the "Okay now we get to handle this new creative challenge!" (sound of trumpets) mindset when facing challenges.  One of the ways he suggests to help yourself hardwire more happiness into your neural network, is to notice when you are having a good experience or feeling, and truly let yourself "have it" - soak it in for 20-30 seconds. The experience of having "goodness" will help you, when you come up against the tough stuff, remember and recall that you are capable, confident, loved, beautiful…and all the other things you and I tend to forget when we feel stressed OUT. One habit I have been practicing is to be grateful FIRST, then get on with ideating how to solve the predicament I find myself in.  Try it.  When they cut you off in the parking lot, say OUT LOUD (and work your way up to saying it without sarcasm) "Thank you!"  Or, when your partner forgets to…(fill in the blank), before you get all steamy(and not in a good way), say "thank you!" Honestly, you and I, we have no idea why certain things happen in the order that they do, so why get mad about it and continue to resist what IS happening?  Let it go.  Give it up to the universe.  Throw your hands in the air and give thanks. You and I - we are still alive!  We still have a beating heart to give thanks with! Find the way that is right for you to give thanks to those around you, in this moment. Happy Thanks Giving to you and yours - whoever and wherever you are. I give thanks to those of you whom I met at a conference, on the airplane, in the grocery store, on the street, on the phone, on twitter, FB or maybe I accidentally didn't see you at all, belated thanks for being here and thanks for being you. You make the world diverse, interesting, loving and challenging. All good. Take care in this holiday season…and GOAL SETTING PNODN Meeting Mercer Island Awesome session with the PN ODN group. Beautiful drawings and visions of the future. Get on board, go and draw yours again. RIGHT NOW! BULLETPROOF YOUR BODY PASCHA SCOTT & VERTETUDEWITH DAVE ASPREY & TEAM Have you tried Bulletproof Coffeeyet? Check out what Dave Asprey and the Bulletproof team are up to.  I know I said I would never go gluten free. Too late. DONE! Upgraded me. I feel #amazing SHOUT OUT STEVE KILLIAN & TEAM Point B has the great fortune to have Steve Killian on their team. I have gotten to work with him a couple of times in his F7 planning process. Super rockin' Thanks to everyone who helped to make the Lake2Bay II meeting amazing!

My Father is Li Gang

In China, a drunken teenager hit and killed a girl on roller skates.  The police chased and tried to arrest him and he yelled to the crowd (in Chinese of course ;-)  "You can't sue me!  My father is Li Gang!!"  That's the truth.  If you are a son of a politician, police officer, or some royalty with money and power in China, you are likely to get off the hook for any kind of wrong doing.

An attempt to cover the incident immediately ensued, but the phrase "My father is Li Gang" went viral. People in China used the phrase whenever they did something that they didn't want to take responsibility for or to get out of things they didn't want to do:  "You can't make me do those dishes, my father is Li Gang!"  "I know I stayed out too late, but you can't get mad, my father is Li Gang!" The phrase struck a cord with me as well, especially when I thought about how prevalent evasive behavior for wrongdoing is in big business, the financial market and some of our politicians.   Not many people step up and take responsibility for some of the big issues and the affect they have had on the US and global world markets or environment?  Evidently many people's father is Li Gang.

Now I'm not a political artist really, my work to date has mostly been about poking fun at the mass sheep like mindsets that I see in myself and others.  My job more often than not is to simply capture in pictures what we are discussing in vision and strategy meetings when I'm working as a strategic illustrator.  So I was surprised when one morning I got up and created this drawing.

Perhaps I just wanted to remind myself that despite how we might wish things to go, we really don't ever get out of taking responsibility for our actions.  Someone once said to me, "The law of cause and effect has long reaching arms."  And so it is.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for this reminder, thankful for you, and thankful that I don't need a Li Gang in this lifetime.  May that little girl's family find peace, though they may not ever see retribution.  May she live on in us, memorialized through the internet and our love.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Patti