Category: Grandmothers

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Com-plex-i-ty!

Posted on by sue boardman

And, yes… if you saw Sunday’s post, you may suspect that Tevye is back to dancing on the roof! I feel like that, too! Not in a bad way. Just in an awareness kind of way. Like metaphorically in my face!

I’m having flashbacks to my trip to Hungary in January of 1989. Partially, I suspect, because it’s what passes for cold around here and that’s a very kinesthetic reminder of our adventure, which included actual riding through the snow in a horse-drawn sleigh!

Then there’s the wedding coming up. My official tasks are leading the service and signing the license. Unofficially, I’m trying very hard to imagine how to get a bunch of families with wildly diverse traditions comfortable enough to actually – you know – celebrate!

And, yes… the world feels a whole lot like that just now!

So, frankly, does my body. Let’s just say that a collection of genetic mysteries seem to have found their home in me and they’re ready to be noticed! It’s a learning experience!!! And, I may just have found the bridge! Or, perhaps, the new/old perspective that brings the mysterious stuff into conversation!!! (Details to follow, one day!)

For now, some more things that I don’t recall from nursing school or seminary. Words like alchemist and sentences like, If one truly penetrates into the world of color, one comes to beings. (Rudolf Steiner)

And one thing I am sure of…

As my old friends on The West Wing would say… A Change is Gonna Come. (Season 6, episode 7).

I’m not at all sure that feels safe. Or comfortable. I do know it’s true. Around us, for sure. And in us, if we’re very brave. (Well, in us, kind of regardless!)

It’s not what so many of us learned. I suspect, though, that it is the way we were created!

Last night, after hours of election news, I dreamed of soup pots. Really! And I realized that part of my mission in this moment is to be a soup pot! A precious, cherished container where magic can, indeed, occur… if only we give it a chance!

And, I’m going to invite you to join me. Shortly! For now, though, a peek into the soup with my MetaMod Wisdom Cards! (You might want to notice my newly claimed & codified category called Somatic Signals!) Just click this link and the shop elves will set you right up!

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Of dreams, mixed messages… and choice!

Posted on by sue boardman

There was a whole lot of singing in my sleep Friday night… and no, it wasn’t me! Instead, it was Tevye, from Fiddler on the Roof. And you can probably guess the rest.

Dancing on the roof, undone about new things in his world. Bearded face. Deep voice. TRADITION…

And I suspect that, if Tevye were with us in this moment, he’d be even more perplexed than he was, back in the day. Let’s talk traditions…

Friday, trick-or-treat, and high school football, about two blocks down the street. With huge thanks, we delivered our candy to our dear neighbors for door answering help, even in the midst of their Shabbat observance.

Samhain, too… though I’m still learning that!

Saturday, my knee surgeon’s birthday. And All Saint’s Day. (We’ll be back to this in a couple minutes!)

Today, the observance of Reformation Day on the church calendar I know best . You know… Martin Luther “vandalizing” a church door, October 31, 1517. (That story turns out to be way more complicated, too!)

And, yes… tradition is a perspective thing, which is, quite possibly, another definition for the word, heresy. You’ve heard my favorite definition of that one, before… able to choose!

Welcome to the world of MetaModern!

For this moment, a story… the “old” chapel at Columbia Theological Seminary. November 1, sometime in the late 1990’s when I was on campus for one of my last DMin classes. Walter Brueggemann preaching. About All Saints Day! (Really!!!)

If you’re new around here, let me explain that Saints were NOT a big topic back then, in that bastion of Reformed Theology!

Walter said a lot, which was no surprise. I remember, all these years later, one sentence:

Saints are all those who believe for us, on days when we can’t quite believe for ourselves.

And, just between us, I think that is even more important, in the context of these days, than it was a quarter of a century ago.

Just this year, Walter walked on to the place where I suspect all the beings are “saints” of that sort. And, he teaches me, still…

Many things are true and they don’t all get along very well.

I’m not sure whether this is more real than ever before, or whether it’s simply more in our faces. In either case, it is a huge part of the reality of our lives.

Here’s another thing that’s true… a glimpse from my family tree!

On your left is my Gramma Begga, aka Saint Begga. An advocate for women when that was even more dangerous than it is in these days. And, to the right, her daughter, Saint Clotilde, known to some as the patron saint of the lame.

Then there are two great aunts insisting on being included in this moment. Alice and Mary Parker. Sisters. Hanged as witches with six other women, in Salem, on September 22, 1692. The last of the Salem Witch Trials.

It’s well worth mentioning that a big part of the reason I have access to these stories is that these women, and many of their generations, had the radical notion that women should be able to read and write!

I am consciously choosing to claim, even though other things are no doubt true as well, that we are, ALL of us, as Linda Hogan wrote, despite the tragedies, the result of the love of thousands. And, we are capable of choosing what to live!

I am also sure, that we have choices to make! Like voting, if you haven’t, already. And learning new things!

I’m learning new things, too – amidst my recent mobility challenges – which is why the upcoming journey formerly known as #Filters has a new nickname… #Magic!!! There will be lots more details, soon. Let’s just say that things got way more fun and I’m really excited!!! Here’s a hint…

ps… want to be ahead??? Grammy’s MetaMod Wisdom Cards are in stock now, and sure to get you on the road! Could be huge fun for family holidays!

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Found by an old filter!

Posted on by sue boardman

Way back in the day, when I was just out of nursing school and – you know – being a nurse, my son hung out in preschool/daycare. The family who owned and ran the center had 16 kids of their own, plus all the kids like mine. The resident teens helped with the Littles after school. And, they had a tradition that was new to me…

Side bench. It wasn’t punishment. No shaming or blaming. More like time-out, but for getting some space.

Well, today, I declared Side Bench Day for me! And, yes… the space is a much welcome strategy… body, mind, and spirit!

My #wip #Taliswoman painting was entirely on board. In fact, she volunteered to be in charge! Nothing that involved big arm & shoulder movements! (My PT approves, too!)

Rather, detail stuff. The things you didn’t know are needed until you’ve spent lots of time staring, noticing, and wondering. First try at a red thumb print. Red Thread, with a precious, empowering hint of pink. Touch up on the wisdom crow’s beak. An eye! More color in some of the roses.

Joan and David joined in with a timely reminder…

And, yes… this is the bit I so needed to hear:

Blackbird singing in the dead of night… Take these broken wings and learn to fly… All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise!

That, dear heart, is exactly how I feel just now. And, I’m ready!

ps… our class, #Filters… The Next Right Thing begins in January. Please stay tuned!!!

pps… ready now??? Let’s talk about working individually! Just click & ask the elves to hook you up with 45 min. My gift. Your questions. Next right things!!!

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The work on this day… and all the days ahead!

Posted on by sue boardman

As you’ve probably heard, on Thursday afternoon, a group of us got together in a Zoom room for a preview of the upcoming class known as #Filters… the Next Right Thing! It was a learning moment for me… and for the brave folks gathered.

There’s a saying in my head – I can’t find the exact quote – which goes something like this… If we, as teachers, aren’t learning anything new, there’s no chance our students are either!

It could well be Steve Glenn. Or Walter Brueggemann. Maybe it was Kathy, my 8th grade English teacher! Regardless, I’m claiming it as true. Here’s why…

Friday was my day for tech challenges. Actually watching the preview video and getting it trimmed, which seemed to take a REALLY long time. Then, getting the minute or so with the uninvited spinning circle, somewhere in the middle, removed, to prevent unnecessary viewer dizziness. You hear me…

And, a whole lot of musing about next right things. How to share the video with folks who missed the live event. How to up the odds that folks – like you – could manage to find space for this opportunity in the midst of our chaotic context.

(And, frankly, whether anybody would really care, besides me…)

Then, it happened! The magic of #Context… The big ah-hah! in my whole being…

This perspective, this model I call #Filters, is – in an utterly true way – my NO KINGS work!!!

It’s my “open my mouth and sing” work in this world.

Not simply because literal marching feels way too mobility-challenging just now, but because it is, inherently, NO KINGS work!!! It’s based in the radical MetaModern notion that lots of things are true and they don’t always seem to get along very well. And the even more radical notion that we – YOU and I – get to choose for ourselves, and NOBODY gets to mandate their personal choices for everybody else!!!

One thing we CAN choose is to open up new doorways – space for new perspectives that help us claim our work… the places where we are called.

I can help!

Here’s what one recent participant had to say, in the midst of her experience:

My night sky was intense. It had clusters of stars. Shooting stars. Nebulas. Deep Prussian blue with a fair share of teal. I put a shape of a woman on there and she said CLOUD. Ok… so I put a cloud on the canvas. A crack appeared corner to corner. That’s where the filters let the wisdom through!

-FM

The next move – the making space for the crack where the wisdom appears – is YOURS!

First, though, me admitting that one of the “expert” beliefs which isn’t absolutely always true is the one that says I should only put one link here for you to click as your next right thing. It’s going to take a couple more than that! (I love choices!)

  • Click here, read some details, and sign up! This world needs all the NO KINGS work we can do! Perhaps, especially the kind that’s safe, manageable, and effective on so many levels! The first 22 brave souls who sign up will receive a FREE set of my new Wisdom Cards!!!

Pete Seeger was totally right! What a mistake it would be if you didn’t add YOUR voice to this journey!

ps… thanks to Bob Wolpert for posting the Pete Seeger pic where it would tickle my #Filters in exactly this moment!

pps… we start Thursday, October 23. (It’ll be a couple weeks before we get to actual painting… you’ve got breathing space!)

ppps… Canadian friends – email me (suesvoice@gmail.com) for a tariff discount code!

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Friends… and strategies for our time!

Posted on by sue boardman

I didn’t know it then… I didn’t even know the word… but she, the red giraffe to the far right, was my introduction to the notion of MetaModern!

We met, she and I, in the “old” chapel on the Columbia Theological Seminary campus during a prospective student weekend in 1986.

I was surprised. A bit uncomfortable, too. You see, I was raised with the notion that WE didn’t do stained glass… especially not the kind with – gasp – images! (There’s a magi with a gift in the middle panel, too, if you look closely!)

Now, there’s a whole lot of history and a great many power struggles behind that notion that WE didn’t do stained glass, though that’s not our big focus for this moment. It’s vocabulary time! (And, yes… if you’ve been hanging out for a while, you know where this is heading!)

Heresy!

Not in the old sense you may have learned, often having to do with women being burned at the stake or hanged. (And yes… several of them were my family!)

Instead, though, the meaning from the Greek…

Able to choose!

Which is where we come full circle to the whole notion of MetaMod, which basically means that many things are true and they don’t always get along very well. And, yes… it’s a #Filters thing!

Turns out, it’s also a survival tool for our time!

I’m betting you can do the math on that one, so I’m going straight to the #NextRightThing!

There’s a preview call on Thursday afternoon. (Yep, tomorrow!) A chance to wade in the waters of our upcoming #Filters class. To, literally, see what it feels like to claim your current vision of the place where you are called and to add some strategies to your Medicine Basket – or Soup Pot – to sustain and empower you on the journey.

I’ve been learning this stuff for decades and I had no idea I was learning it for such a time as this. I’m grateful. And called to share! Not just for the two grandteens I have growing up in this world, but for all our Littles who need us to catch on, now! To set out for the place we are called with fear, trembling, and determination!

The first next right thing is easy… click the button to sign up for the preview on Zoom. (It’s free!) You’ll want a cuppa and something to write on & with. Red Thread would not be amiss, if it’s handy. It’s time!!!

Register Now

Dr. Sue Boardman, Warrior for Concrete Passion & Very Large Hope!

ps… you are totally welcome to bring a friend to the Preview!

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Of fish and pools and courage – of filters and of things…

Posted on by sue boardman

Yep! I had a dream… very, very early this morning. Before we go dream-diving, though, a bit of context is in order! You see, I’d been on an adventure on Saturday. An adventure with my friend, Sam, (TheRealSamBennett.com) to a place many of us were taught not to go! To the place where we – gasp! – talk about ourselves!!! (More on that after the fish…)

Do you remember Dr. Seuss’s McElligot’s Pool? I do! That’s what I heard in my dream! Well, bits of it…

And, yes… the world has changed some, since 1947, when this tale was first published. Though, perhaps not all of it, as much as we had hoped!

Now, the original version isn’t quite the way I’d tell the story myself, but stories are rather like that! So, we might say, is the world! It’s a context thing! And, yes… it’s also a filters thing!

In case our fishing friend, Marco, is unfamiliar to you, he is, as one reviewer said, all optimism, even in the face of adult skepticism. Here are a couple of the narrator’s questions…

What if the pool is deeper than anyone thinks? What if it connects to an underground stream that flows under the town to the sea? Might not all sorts of fish then swim up the stream and be caught here?

And, now, a few words from Marco, himself:

I might catch an eel… (Well, I might. It depends.) A long twisting eel with a lot of strange bends. And oddly enough, with a head at both ends!

For this moment, though… back to Sam on Saturday!

We were talking about talking about ourselves. Really! As in, how to tell people what we do! What we do that matters so much that we’d actually wipe our sweaty palms on the seat of our pants, open our mouths, and be real! And, you, wise reader, have already guessed that I was thinking about my free #Filters preview call, happening on Thursday! (Yep! FREE!)

And, yes… there are parts of that which feel scary.

For this moment, though, I’m counting on you to play along, please. We’re going to forget any old voices which might be whispering inside us… things like, it’s not polite to talk about yourself. Or, don’t be braggy!

Or, maybe, we’re just going to intentionally ignore those voices in the service of OUR journeys to the place my old friend, Fred Buechner called…

The place where our deep joy and the world’s great longing meet.

Being on that road changes things. I know! And, long before I was conscious of it, I was collecting a magical soup pot full of perceptions and strategies and conscious choices to help folks just like you, and me, get to our versions of that place!

Our friend, Marco, said:

If I wait long enough, if I’m patient and cool, Who knows what I’ll catch in McElligot’s pool?

Here’s the thing, though… and, yes, I believe this with all my heart:

The world all our Littles are growing up in needs us, NOW!

So, this Fiercely Compassionate Grandmother, with recently claimed Rebel tendencies, is sending the third grader who still lurks inside me – terrified of being different – on a fishing trip with Marco, while you and I go future-fishing on Thursday!

I’m busting out my whole intuitive, perceptive, creative, determined self and one of the very most helpful things I know FOR YOU, because the rules most of us grew up with AREN’T ENOUGH!

Take a deep breath, please, and push the button for all the info. And sign up! We’ve got this!!!

Register Now

ps… yes! You’re welcome to invite a brave, open-minded partner or friend to join us! Just share this post with them, so they can sign up, too. (Or park a chair next to yours!)

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How many times???

Posted on by sue boardman

Yep! You know the rest of the question. In many ways, everybody’s least favorite question… How many times do I have to tell you???

Lots of people are writing about it these days. In my personal inner file cabinet, though, it goes in the precious folder labeled Developing Capable People. Not the question, itself, so much as the answer from my teacher, Dr. H. Stephen Glenn. Here goes…

As many times as it takes if you want me to know what you want me to know!

I used to think, 40 years or so ago when I was hanging with Steve, that it had to do with developmental readiness. With language skills and processing patterns. Even with tone of voice!

Now I know more!!! Likely with lots of help from paintings like my first #Legend painting, above!

You, wise soul, are probably ahead of me. It does, indeed, have to do with #Filters! Also, with our Maps of Reality. And, it matters!!!

Here’s an example… my new Good Trouble button:

What do you see? Really!!!

You probably know it’s a political statement of the open-minded, inclusive sort. It’s also a claim of personal power. Not power OVER, so much as power FOR! You see, in Hebrew, the word that means hand also means power! I see individuality, too. And creativity.

So, I made a bunch. Sold some at the Book Festival. Gave one away in the elevator, heading home from Physical Therapy yesterday, which is one of my favorite things! The woman I gave it to had tears in her eyes and said, “My world just got bigger!”

That, dear reader, feels like good work! That, and helping people like you claim YOUR good work and make a map from here to there… one Right Thing at a time!

NOW is a very good time for that!!!

And you probably have questions about this whole #Filters thing, so… we’re having a preview call! (I love questions!) It’s free to join in and you can, indeed, invite a curious buddy! We’ll do a bit of why this, now. We’ll talk about how the class will work and what you’ll need to be ready… including paint! We’ll even play with some Wisdom Cards! This world needs all the MetaMod folks it can get! All the calendar stuff, etc. is waiting with baited breath for you… just press the pretty button!

Register Now

ps… it really is time to be a Phoenix, rising out of the soup pot!!!