Ideas that Impact

2014: A Magical Year

15/1/2015

As part of the transition to the New Year, I review my calendar and write a letter of memorable moments from the past year. I crafted this year's review from my 2014 benediction. If you received an email from me last year, you may have noticed the 2014 benediction in my signature. What better way to review the year than through the lens of that wish.

A year to touch the truths found in life,

There are blue skies above the clouds

Magical Mozfest London

The sun will rise tomorrow

Step with peace in our hearts,

"Peace- it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of all that and still be calm in your heart." - unknown

with Dagmar Quentin, my sister of the heart in Berlin

by brilliantly talented artist and educator Brett Cook

From middle east crises to grave injustices in the US, peace in oneself was more needed than ever

Show up with the courage to expand our limits,

Utopias: Lost and Found from Kate Ettinger on Vimeo.

Creative collaboratorKyle Stewart and I cocreated a participatory art installation: Utopias: Lost and Found (see time lapse on the left) and a storytelling booth: Make Your Mark, Share a Vision, Start a Revolution at the Visionaries & Revolutionaries Day organized by the brilliant Bobby Fishkin alongside the Dissident Futures Exhibit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

From improv classes at The Groundlings and Upright Citizen's Brigade (UCB) to performing on the UCB stage in LA for graduation... creativity was stretched!

Play in nature

Muir Woods, Photo by Steph Denamps

Chrissy Field stroll when he caught the moon for me - photo by Kevin Kelly

Nick's Fire

Greet strangers with the warmth of old friends

Take digital sabbaticals

3 days off the grid in Craobh Haven on the west coast of Scotland

View Horse Riding at Lunga Estates, Craobh Haven, Scotland

Hiking on the West Coast of Scotland in Argyll & Bute (lost around Lochgilphead)

Building a do-it-yourself (DIY) single lens reflex (SLR) camera (ace gift for all ages!)

Share vulnerability to deepen trust

Storytelling for Change Team: Make Change Make Sense

Show grace in moments of life as it is

Last Spring, I took on an interim position as full time co-parent, Tante Kate, for these two little loves... children are life's greatest teachers. Twas a humbling and love-filled 3 month stint!

An inconsolable 2 1/2 year old

A DIY Solar Plane/Boat Kit (for 10 yr olds) - Made by a determined 7 yr old & me

who would not move til mom came home

Sometimes thinking in the box can be fun!

After 3 months, we were OK without Mom.

Crisis over, time to leave

Discover magic in the ordinary folds of daily living

Explore the backstory of every day objects

Read about our adventure with this camera's film!

Bird's Eye View & Accidental Intimacies- travel meditation

Make a toast with every sip!

Celebrating with my 99 year old grandmother, I noticed she made a toast with each sip of wine, why not?!

I had a puzzling moment while traveling until I realized that automatic technology had outdone itself!

First Selfie with Aunt Ess (96 yr young)

Getting the hang, 2nd Selfie August

She's a pro now! December

Invite surprises

Master craftsman of picture framing, Harry Kurata of Yoshida Framing (San Francisco) with whom I apprenticed several years ago delighted me with this frame for my calligraphy by Thich Nhat Hanh!

live in truth, live in love, live in joy, smile

This winter, I brought a whisky, "Santa's Christmas Stocking" from Scotland to taste with friends. When I visited Harry, he brought out a Japanese whisky. It was the perfect heritage whisky tasting for this Hafu (half Japanese, half Scottish)

The ultimate surprise of the year came from creative genius and dear friend, Leigh McCarthy who lent me her Brooklyn flat for 3 weeks over my birthday. A gift that reignited my love affair with NYC, reconnected me with treasured old friends and brought me back to my first love- the theater... thank you Leigh- you are a creative inspiration & beautiful human!

2014 was an unexpectedly peripatetic year that lead me to the homes of family, friends & a few strangers-- thanks to all the people who hosted me this year-- Thank you! Merci! Danke! Gracias!

Make time for people not phones, Spend time with old friends

Embrace differences to claim the strengths of wholeness

Lead with love

One of the challenges of leaving the hospital setting to do work for systems level change is feeling very removed from tangible impact. In doing this review, I am reminded that perhaps, the greatest impact we can have is how we show up in everyday moments- from taking a minute to learn about the person who makes your coffee to creating space to discover the joy in unexpected moments.

Some of the most important and underappreciated ways of changing the world include tending to a crying child and making time to visit people who nurtured you when you were a crying child. t is our relationships that make us human. It is our relationships that make us human. I am inspired by the passion, joy, love, humanness and grace that my colleagues and friends share with life.

Presenting OpenQRS at UNESCO's Tech4Dev

All things "open source" panel UNESCO Tech4Dev Lausanne

UNESCO Tech4Dev Lausanne

8-i Team for 826 National: Lindsay Bourne, Kinnari Desai, Chris Geraghty, Mansi Kakkar, Erin Beitel, Jay Standish, Gerald Richards, Kate

Flourish in all that is yet to be.

A collage of moments from the year's unfolding. Missing many delight-filled memories for which I have heart pictures: Momofuku with LD, Frozen Lady with Tony & Shannon, Mike & Nat in London, seeing Liz in lalaland, late nights with Belle & G, vicarious visit to Botswana with Bette & Chris, the @CDEgger nudge, an unprecedented pastry party thanks to Megan, and more from a camera glitch... you know who you are!

Thanks to all for weaving into the tapestry of my memories this year!

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What's your question?

7/1/2015

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What's your question? You know the first question that you ask someone when you meet/greet them. In Australia, it's "how you going?" In the US, it's usually "how are you?" Though in San Francisco these days, it is more likely: "how's your start up?" I like to ask "what surprised you today?" People have to stop and think and it starts a different conversation- try it!

In the middle of last year, I noticed something new. When I spoke to colleagues and friends by phone, skype or email, their first question was "Where are you now?" This question shift was unexpected, because I have been on the move for the last couple of years as an ecosystem diplomat and for OpenQRS. Yet something about that movement shifted last year.

So, I took time to reflect on where I had been in 2014. I had the great fortune to work with and visit colleagues, family, friends and friends who are like family in 21 cities across 7 countries. I clocked in with 88 days in San Francisco, sometimes referred to as home; 50 of those were before March 1 and 5 of the remainder were spent on jury duty.

It seems in hindsight that 'no rest for the weary' was the theme of 2014, I averaged 1 week in a place and spent almost 1/7 of the year going to/from somewhere. I was in transit for > 280 hours! That is 7 weeks of 40 hour work weeks in transit by plane, train or car. And that doesn't include walking and commutes with Metro, Tube, Subway, UBahn, BART!

This exercise prompted me to reflect on the cost of transit time. Transit is not all a loss of work time. Long flights remain one of my favorite places to get work done-- though airplane mode laser focus is increasingly threatened by wifi accessible flights.

The question is prompted was: If I spend time this much time in transit, what do I not have time for as a result? There are lots of ways that we lose time: facebook, abyss of discovering cool things we didn't know about before on internet, driving, TV, commutes, games, etc. We can bring attention to these pockets of lost/hidden time. My friend Jan Stewart tweets #deepdive then meditates on her tram ride to/from work- an awesome practice.

I love life on the move; though in 2015, I anticipate longer stays. Most of all, I am excited to experiment with creative ways to spend transit time. Like this travel meditation video that I made for Adobe's #givethanks campaign, A Bird's Eye View & Accidental Intimacies.

So my questions to you:
   1) What question do you ask others?
                         ... Change it up in 2015 and let me know how it goes.

    2) What would your infographic of time spent in 2014 look?
                        ... Do you want that to be different in 2015? If so, what will you do differently?

P.S. This post was written in San Francisco where I have been since the 1st of January. And I don't have plans to go anywhere....yet.

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The tools that I used for this post: infographic adapted from a Piktochart; stats/map from Travellerspoint; Bird's Eye made with Voice ipad app.

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2014: A Magical Year

A year to touch the truths found in life,

Step with peace in our hearts,

Show up with the courage to expand our limits,

Play in nature

Greet strangers with the warmth of old friends

Take digital sabbaticals

Share vulnerability to deepen trust

Show grace in moments of life as it is

Discover magic in the ordinary folds of daily living

Invite surprises

Make time for people not phones, Spend time with old friends

Embrace differences to claim the strengths of wholeness

Lead with love

Flourish in all that is yet to be.

Thanks to all for weaving into the tapestry of my memories this year!

What's your question?

part of Kate's Mural

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