Alliance - when you reach out and someone is really there for you, and you are really there for them. Knowing that we’ve got your back and that you’ve got ours. In alliance, you can really take a stand, speak your truth, and we will hold space for you, as you take each step on this long path towards freedom. You won’t be left out in the cold. You won’t be exiled - our deepest human fear. We’ve got you.
Viable - when you plant seed, it only sprouts if it is “viable.” The future that we plant now, needs to be viable, life-bearing and life-giving. We have reached the end of the pendulum of a culture that fosters death and destruction and we are the ones who will allow it to swing back.
Future - the horizon point that is always up ahead; the vision that is always in your heart; the song that you can just make out over the next hill. When you wake up in the morning and your child is still asleep in the other room, and you whisper soft words of love, guidance and prayer for her days to come - that the river down the road is still clean enough for her children to swim in.
To Stand for - to know where you stand and make your deeply held values known to others; to sacrifice your comfort and lean-in to your edge, for a purpose that includes your own self-interest, but stretches way beyond you to include the you that is us too.
To Stand with - to know where you stand; connect with others who are taking a stand; and stand together.
Generations to Come - the whole, magnificent, shimmering Web of Life, the essential elements of Life, and all conscious, living beings that are “downstream” on the river of time. When they arrive, they will inherit what we leave them.
Both the scientists and wisdom keepers say that the water that we drink, today, is the same water that the dinosaurs drank, and it will be the same water that the generations to come will drink. Let us take good care of our precious, sacred water. Water is Life. It is the only water we have.
Listen to Your Deeper Wisdom - the honest-to-goodness Truth that sits quietly, patiently, but persistently, under the busyness of the mind, and tells you what you are really here to do. Like an ax splitting firewood, in the listening, itself, clarity breaks open, and a quiet, wakeful mind is all that remains.
See the Invisible Path - in ancient times, the scout followed animal tracks over impossible-to-navigate terrain, so that the people could eat. This is just how it was - for all our ancestors. In our times, the “hunt” looks different, yet it seems that we are traversing equally impossible-to-navigate terrain. As social impact leaders and practitioners, we must get in the natural habit of activating our capacity to see the invisible path emerge in front of our eyes, where it previously looked like there was simply no path at all. It’s there. Don’t look. See!
Choose Your Path of Courage - as a member of AVF, we don’t expect you to know the answers to our most pressing problems and crises. In fact, we don’t know the answers either. We aren’t looking for answers. We are in the sacred business of finding pathways to foster an authentic web of relationships where you feel genuinely supported enough to go for it - to play all out - and choose your unique path of courage: the path that allows your heart to soften and the tears to flow. It’s the path that our great-grandchildren are calling us down. And, if you don’t have children of your own, it’s the path that the great-grandchildren of your nieces and nephews, godchildren, and even your pets, who you love dearly, are calling you down. So that, when you are on your deathbed, and the voices of the Generations to Come, of all walks of life, come to you, in your thoughts, and ask you, what were you doing when the life systems of our planet were in breakdown, you can say, “I dedicated myself to breakthrough, so that you could live too.”
Flying in V-Formation - geese fly thousands of miles in a V-Formation, in order to arrive at their destination - together. Our alliance is about tuning-in to each other at this level of synchronization, morphic resonance, and wakeful coordination, so that we all get where we’re needing to go, together. These deep principles of natural intelligence bring a distinct playing field into being for us to explore together.
Old-Growth Culture - inspired deeply by the deep wisdom of the Old-Growth Redwood Forests, our mission, at AVF, is to establish an interconnected root system of relationships, over generations, that grows more and more resilient with each new day; that has the capacity to withstand, and actually re-direct and entrain the dissonance, chaos, insanity and turbulence of the business-as-usual system, that is thrashing about on it’s last legs. The Old-Growth Root System is a highly successful model, that has much to teach us in the way of regenerating resilience, cooperation and vibrant ecosystem health.
Old-Growth Organizational Culture - seeing ourselves, our businesses, organizations and communities as Old-Growth Trees in the making. What choices would we make from this perspective? What do you see from this view?
Grandmother Time - a fundamental tenet of grassroots community organizing is that we value “grandmother time.” In other words, while businesses track sales on a minute-to-minute cycle of time - i.e. how many burgers were sold at lunch? And, governments track the yearly cycle - i.e. did the annual budget get approved? AVF focuses on “grandmother time” - i.e. how are our efforts furthering a viable future for the generations to come?
Sitting in Circle - when we sit in an AVF Leadership Circle, we see ourselves as a representative of the Generations to Come, and so we listen for that voice, within ourselves and within each other.
Resilience - is about cultivating your sense that “you’ve got this.” This means developing reliable pathways (aka systems) that you can walk on, every day, to rejuvenate your energy, hone your task management skills, and strengthen your capacity to consistently choose your path of courage.
Resonance - allows for you to fly in v-formation with your team - attuned to each other’s needs, skills and inspiration. Resonance fosters a harmonic quality that generates breakthroughs in creativity with precise execution. Your team becomes a highly-tuned instrument - thinking, feeling and moving as one.
Synergy & Synchronicity - open up a whole spectrum of possibilities in regards to engaging in coordinated action with peers in your field. The age of competition is on its last breath. The work of our generation is to learn together how to synergize and synchronize our efforts, like a symphony playing a breathtaking concerto.