Once upon a time...

Hello again. The picture here was taken this evening on my walk home from St Mellitus College in Earls Court, where I take a weekly class. I couldn't resist the steam billowing out into the old-fashioned street lamp. The headline of this newsletter is a teaser for a workshop I'm offering in March. But more about that later. First, a little news...

This month we rearranged our home, indeed we are still in the process. Embracing our spatial orientation Rayna and I have envisioned much space saving, and even new room creation, and we are working towards that vision. The question arose for us of how much effort we want to put into a rental home, what shelving or structures does it make sense to build, what amount of reconfiguration falls within the bounds of our agreement, and what do we want to pay for.

Arriving here last Spring we brought with us from the USA the all-American dream of owning a home, as if that is the only dream of value. Knowing we couldn't afford to buy in London, we began exploring cities (it must be a city) in East Anglia and the Midlands. And then we paused. Is that really our dream, or one that has been inflicted on us? We suspected the latter, so as well as rearranging our home we are rearranging our priorities. A line of scripture echoes for us:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven...for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." —Matthew 6:19-21

Is ownership what matters, or is it more important to live where we are happy? Surely the latter. Location matters, not for any prestige, but right now for the community we are building here, and the still-remaining quirkiness of Twickenham, not quite completely taken over by chain stores, nor yet the upwardly mobile, indeed, some might say it's positively provincial. And yet, it is enough, and we enjoy it.

And while we are on the crusade of Enoughism, we are discovering many possessions we do not actually want or need, and finding new homes for them all. Charities abound in this area, and they're always happy to redistribute our unwanted toys, furniture and bric-a-brac. Not books though. Books are our weakness, or mine, at least.

The other major event this past month was my second Citizenship workshop, this time branded as "Emergent Agile Leadership". I worked with twelve brave souls exploring faith, resistance, service, discomfort, creation, justice and stillness. A couple of days later I received one of the most curious compliments I've ever received, written in a blog post: "Last week I attended Tobias Mayer's two-day workshop...I left without any clear learnings or even actions, absolutely nothing I can immediately take back into my workplace and implement. Shocking!"

I plan to do another one of these workshops soon, so if your curiosity is aroused, please let me know. I'll build a list of those interested before setting the date.

In March I'm also running a workshop that's close to my heart, "Storytelling in the Workplace". If you've taken one of my workshops before, and enjoyed it, I'd like you to know that this is perhaps my favorite workshop to facilitate. It's beautifully simple, and always full of delightful surprises. So come along. Details of these, and other upcoming events and workshops are listed below.

In anticipation of Spring,
Tobias

February Writing

28 February 2017