Revolutionary Agreements - Revolutionary News

Change is in the air. Awakening from the cool stillness of winter repose, we feel the warmth of the sun and the promise of new life. Along with Nature’s gift of Spring comes a renewed, positive sense of hope.

With our daily practice of these Revolutionary Agreements in our homes and work, we become leaders in this “positive revolution,” rallying with great luminaries like the Dalai Lama, who calls for us to create solidarity through an inner, spiritual revolution.

This Spring, while cultivating your own body-mind-spirit garden, take a few moments every day to join me in this grand vision: hundreds of thousands of us speaking these Agreements aloud in meeting rooms, classrooms, board rooms and living rooms to support one another to live our lives in Truth, Acceptance and Gratitude (T.A.G.—we’re it!).

When you are ready, I invite you to become a Revolutionary leader and facilitate a group in your own home, workplace, worship or community center, and to let us support you in doing so. Remember what Margaret Mead so eloquently said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” You are powerful and you do make a difference.

Bless you for your role in this Positive Revolution. With your partnership, we shall reap peace and joy in this magnificent, diverse, bountiful garden of Earth.

Agreements in Action
Your stories are the heart of the positive revolution. Keep them coming!

Lisa Trank, writer/editor, and founder of Many Hats Marketing & Public Relations, describes a personal incident in her business that created a powerful transformation for her. www.ManyHatsPR.com

Lisa had been experiencing some recurring communication issues with a colleague that had developed into a contentious relationship and was impacting the entire work environment.

As I sat and thought about this experience, I took out the Agreements and assessed the situation and my reaction to it. Did I want my relationship with this person to be one of conflict or one of acceptance, gratitude, and compassion? I realized that I wanted this situation to be different. I also realized that I had a choice and that I could make the decision to live by the Agreements in my business life.

The next time I met with my colleague I chose to see her as someone with skill, competence, and spirit; and as a partner, not an adversary. The commitment to see only the best in her transformed my body language, choice of words, tone of voice and energy. The result was an incredible feeling of mutual understanding and respect and the conflict simply fell away.

As I continue to apply the Agreements to my business, I have discovered that I am able to be more present with my clients’ requests and have greater clarity in making decisions. My business is growing in the direction I want it to go, and I am attracting the type of clients with whom I truly want to work.

The truth is, these twelve Revolutionary Agreements have infused my relationship with myself and therefore, my relationship with everyone and everything.

Bill Baker, Founder of Leading Edge Training Systems, is a personal and business results coach. He offers a touching story of his daughter’s painful loss and the blessing in disguise. billbaker@lead-on.com

Lexi was a quiet and reserved child. From the time she was only two, she showed a special love and passion for horses. “With her horse Remy,” says Bill, “she felt safe and secure. Around her peers, she felt less so.”

Her confidence increased as she rode Remy in state competitions. She made friends among her fellow riders at the barn, but still was not as close to her schoolmates.

Lexi blossomed, as young girls do, and rode into adolescence. As her body underwent changes, so did her focus; she still loved Remy, but was hard pressed to spend the time needed to work with him. Her parents gave her an ultimatum: “You must either commit to time with Remy and work small jobs to help with expenses, or sell him.” Before she had time to decide, fate stepped in and Remy was taken from her by a tragic accident.

Grief and guilt surrounded the family. Lexi poured out her heart by writing a eulogy to Remy. Soon after, she was knee deep in school social functions and a circle of new friends. “Peggy and I watched our teenage daughter, once so quiet and reserved, become the center of school social activity,” said Bill. Sorrow gave way to blessings – Remy had served a great purpose.

Lexi’s love of horses is still alive, although her priorities are different. For now, there’s school and friends, shopping and boys, community service and…just being fourteen.

Rachael Claret of Houston, TX, is the founder of ORGANIZEN, a company dedicated to teaching people organizing tools, systems and habits. She is also Chair of Curriculum Development for the National Association of Professional Organizers. There’s no place like home and Rachael demonstrates that beautifully in the loving way she involved her children in creating their own guide to relationships. www.organizen.com and www.napo.com

Rachael manages to run her business from home and attend to a growing family of 3 young boys, Jak 6 ½, Ryan 4 ½ and little Ari, 9 months. She is giving extra copies of the Revolutionary Agreements to her friends and has initiated a marvelous learning tool with her three sons. Here is the Claret Family Mission Statement:

We are here to LOVE each other;
To learn about love FROM each other;
And to teach love TO each other.

The older boys’ inability to write did not prevent them from providing signatures in their own unique ways, drawing renditions of themselves on the family mission statement. Ari, of course, had some help scribbling his ‘mark’.

Thank you Rachael, Jak, Ryan and Ari, for sharing your mission of love with us. You are quite a T.A.G. team for Truth, Acceptance and Gratitude.

Seeing The Best, Brings Out the Best

Laurie Weiss is a psychotherapist, professional development coach and management consultant. She is the author of numerous relationship books, including "What is the Emperor Wearing: Truth-Telling in Business Relationships," which is now incorporated into an online course called The Integrity Course. Laurie shares how she uses the Agreements in her coaching practice. www.TheIntegrityCourse.com

When I’m coaching my business clients, I have a great number of different strategies I can draw on. If appropriate, I sometimes tell my client about others who are implementing specific Agreements and then ask, “How might using this Agreement be helpful to you?”

One of my business clients was concerned about losing productivity at work. At closer look, we discovered that the root of the problem was at home. His insistence that his wife support him by acting in ways he deemed “right” was draining his energy. I suggested that he use the Agreement“to see the best in myself and others” and requested, “Why don’t you talk with your wife about only what she’s doing right for the next week?” He did so, and the result was nothing less than transformative. Both his relationship with his wife and his productivity at work experienced a dramatic turnaround.

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May 7, Ft. Collins, CO: Sponsored by Terri Norvell of The Inner Prize and Jenice Cutler, author, Diary of An Awakening. 6:30 p.m.
For details: jenicecutler@comcast.net or 970-282-1232

May 26-28 Denver, CO: Denver Convention Center (Mannatech National Convention) Workshop May 26, 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.; booksigning during lunchtimes at Expo.

June 5 12:30-1:00 p.m.: Join us for "Living Dialogue" with Duncan Campbell: Tune into station KGNU:
88.5 FM Boulder
1390 AM Denver
89.1 FM Ft. Collins
or online at www.kgnu.com.

May 29, Boulder, CO: Columbine Unity Church, 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. services at which Marian is a guest speaker.

Revolutionary Agreements posters are popping up all over! Let us know where you see them. So far, they’ve been spotted on the walls at:

Boulder Integral Healing Arts Center, CO
Longmont Justice Center, CO
Global Family Office in Santa Barbara, CA
Office of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution, Santa Barbara, CA
Ventura County Church of Religious Science Fellowship Hall, Ventura, CA

As the stories roll in we find ourselves in a place of hope and gratitude for all that you are in the world. Thanks to all who contribute. I am touched, moved and inspired.

There was a time when what’s mine was yours.
There was a time when we shared the chores.
And that worked.

What’s yours is yours and what’s mine is mine
And most of us have forgotten the time
When we shared.

We’ll need all the strongest hearts
To bring that which is apart
Back together.

We must share our thoughts and visions
That can free us from our prisons
Of being separate.

In our Circle ever growing,
With rich voices overflowing,
We practice the Agreements.