Aviv’s Blog
To Lead is to Transform
Three Horses for the Year of The Horse
A Chinese teacher offered me an intriguing parable. He said, “In this year of the horse you get to choose among three types, the race horse, the dressage horse and the work horse. The race horse is an intense thoroughbred that can quickly accelerate to a wild run. The dressage horse is a gentle and graceful animal that can teach you how to ride. The...
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A Fortress of Courage
With Mandela’s passing a fortress of courage is gone. Therefore we must each be a little more courageous today–a little more Mandela. To Lead Is To Transform: When Nelson Mandela walked into the presidential palace for his first meeting with F.W. de Clerk he was still officially a prisoner. In fact he had been a prisoner for 26 years at that point. In his mind...
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Choose Three Words
Here we go… the world did not end on 12/21/2012, and a new birth of possibilities is in front of us all. The human story is one of resilience. If I had to choose one word to characterize the human spirit, it would be resilience. I am in the business of learning and co-creating the future. Every year, at the end of December I challenge...
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Mindful Living
Well-being, happiness, fulfillment, meaning and purpose are found in the small moments that create the significance of living. In this excerpt from the Rituals of Champions class we discuss the Mindful Living – how to live mindfully every day. © Aviv Shahar
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One Year Later – Three Lessons
The email below came this morning from the Davis Waldorf School Administrator, Kelly Brewer. It brought home three lessons: Lesson One: never underestimate the power of a small dedicated group of people to turn the seemingly impossible into actuality. Lesson Two: you never know what the impact of your work today may make possible in a year. Lesson Three: transformational breakthrough is always nearby, inside....
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The Enlightenment Paradox & The “New Normal”
Utopian Views of enlightenment envisioned an empowered and knowledge-proliferated society that would become problem free. It turned out that the opposite is the case. Whether our post modern society is enlightened or not is arguable but what is clear is that a whole new set of difficult and complex problems have emerged. Problems that quickly mutate and then go viral. In a globalized inter-dependent and...
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Capacity For Reverence
Reflections for Rosh Hashanah: Have you lost your capacity for reverence? Remember the feeling you experienced when your child stood on her/his own for the first time and then took their first steps? Better still, remember how you stood up for the first time? Remember the first time you noticed a butterfly, the tree outside, the rain? Remember how special your secret place was? How...
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The Dalai Lama Follows Me On Twitter
Yes, I know. The Dalai Lama follows 34,439 other people on Twitter or he did the last time I checked. I doubt the Dalai Lama really follows so many tweets. I think he would have to sacrifice his meditation time and other commitments. Still, it occurred to me that something important is going on here. What is the Twitter phenomenon? Is it the ultimate form...
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A Glorious Passing
Moshe Domb was a special man. At 92 he was an emblem of the greatest generation—hard working, curious and honest—a man of integrity and honor. Whenever we visited Sara’s family I enjoyed the banter with Moshe. He was stubborn. A man of principles. He fought and got wounded twice when serving in the Jewish Brigade of the Russian Army during the Second World War. He...
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A Four Year Old Wisdom
Here is a story I heard today from my sister in law about her grandson: Four years old: mother, I love you like the whole world. Mother: I love you like all the stars. Four years old: But mother, if we start competing in love, love will run away… And I thought wisdom was something you gathered through life and experience…
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