Web of Change

Back from an amazing, exhausting, exhilarating weekend at Web of Change 2013. I reconnected with old friends, met internet colleagues in person, and joined an amazing community of people working to make the world a better place. I was a little nervous about the hype of the conference (the words “life changing” were used), but I threw my cynicism into the opening bonfire, and let my heart open.

We discussed ways to improve our personal ecology and professional resilience, examples of the potential positive uses of big listening, and nerded out about building online tools for social change. We waterslid and kayaked in a dammed lake, danced under the stars, and dashed through the much needed rain.

Sunset on the courtyard

Steering the discussion

Hickory Creek

My new best friends

At the closing circle, Steve Andersen shared this poem about the experience:

Recharge Zone

The aquifer of my soul,
the deep, ancient spring
From which life and love and work emanate
Was drawn down, by the drought of daily life
The hot wind of conflict,
The La Niña of impossible choices.

With a parched heart I arrived in these hills,
My roots straining down through the soil,
Yearning for the sustaining water
no longer within reach.

Like countless before me I turned my face upward
scanning the horizon for sign of relief,
wishing I could feel the Texas firmament let loose upon me.

And you, you all, you rolled in like laden clouds scudding across the blue,
you all brought the rain.

Gently at first, then fiercely drumming with relentless joy,
Four days your life-giving drops fell upon me,
Warm, elemental, rivulets comingling,
Recharging the unseen reservoir of love
In my heart.

And now. Now I am ready. Ready to feel the sun on my body and know I won’t wither. Ready to bravely walk back into the desert of adversity with no fear of thirst. Ready to go into the world and let our brothers and sisters drink from the spring of love inside me.

The spring of love that flows anew, because you brought the rain to the hills of Texas.