Networks

Introduction

As an Access Bars Facilitator, designer/fine craftsman, musician, educator and true lover of life, I believe in the crazy notion that it makes sense to increase the amounts of ease, beauty, joy, possibility and optimism in the world. (Do you agree?)

How did you find our Meetup group, and what inspired you to join us?

Since I'm this group's founder, the first part of this question is moot, but I think it's fair to share the part about my inspiration with you. One of the aspects I find most exciting about the whole process of personal transformation that Access Consciousness generates is the way in which new awarenesses open up all around us, as our innate senses of possibility develop. When I first stumbled onto Access, about two years ago, there were two other Access-based Meetup groups in the region, but something about them didn't quite resonate with my sense of "the 'WE' that Access can BE". Like a meal, cooked "almost" perfectly, something inside me hinted that if the recipe was just 'tweaked' a bit, the results could be more inspiring for everyone! Finally, this month, I decided to BE the change I've wished to see in the world, and have created this brand new space for possibility in New England. If this resonates with you, then how'd you like to join me in creating even more of it?

What does the word, "consciousness", mean to you?

Long before Access' consciousness-expanding tools & processes entered my frame of reference (a little over a year ago), my definitions of the word "consciousness" meant either the opposite of "asleep" and "comatose", or a Zen-like state of uninterrupted, flowing awareness of everything, and the empowerment that that brings with it. (In other words, a kind of equilibrium that's unaffected by the ebbs and flows of rhetoric, competition or other social posturing.) Martial arts masters Bruce Lee and Wen-Ching Wu, authors Alex Shoumatoff, Shakti Gawain and Guy Finley, musicians Robert Plant, Lenny White, David Amram and Joni Mitchell, and entrepreneurs Oprah Winfrey and Richard Branson, and of course, my friend (and Access Consciousness founder), Gary Douglas, are just a few of the many, many examples of this state of awareness that come to mind, whenever I hear someone mention "consciousness" .

If you could use your life experience to facilitate the development of more consciousness in others, which memory would you share, first?

During a surprise blizzard in the Spring of 1997, I picked up a Buddhist monk, hitchhiking along Route 22, in Brewster, NY. He had traveled up from somewhere in the Carolinas, hoping to meet His Holiness, The Dalai Lama, during a visit to Cold Spring, but had arrived penniless & hungry, two nights earlier than anticipated. During the first of the two nights he'd spent in my living room, I'd asked him how Eastern spiritual leaders viewed our much younger Western religions, and he'd answered as follows: "The house of The Infinite has a hundred billion walls... No two adjacent panels are exactly the same color, and by the time any of us has reached the age of 6 or 7, our foreheads are firmly glued to one panel. As we mature, it becomes incumbent upon us to decide whether we should _ASK_ our neighbors about the colors of their walls, FIGHT with them to prove the "right" color, or RISK the anguish of pulling away from our wall and, in so doing, gain a greater awareness of the whole."

Which aspect of your life would you most like to change?

While I'm sure that there are many areas I'll _eventually_ be able to look back and claim I've improved upon, the two challenges I'm most acutely aware of are the organization & prioritization of my tasks and physical space, and the inconsistencies in my awareness of both the passage and management of chronological time. The most confusing part of this is that, as a musician, my "sense" of time (i.e. my ability to remain aware of and be vigilant over the spatial relationships between sounds) is excellent. But my experiences of maintaining a consistent and persistent awareness of time's _passage_ -- and, therefore, my ability to align the pace of my activities with the rate of that passage (i.e. "managing time") -- are about as diametrically opposite one another as spelunking and kayaking are to drawing photo-realistic portraits, or performing neurosurgery (even though all of these skills require an ability to manipulate tools with our hands). So. . . What would it take. . .?

Link

My "Access" Practice

Additional Information

"Roots & Wings is the warm and welcoming physical site of the alternative healing and wellness practice I've recently joined, within which I see most of my clients and will be hosting most of this group's Access Consciousness classes and events."

What Doug Turet is saying about this Meetup Group

I get the feeling that this group is off to an AMAZING start! (But what do I know? Why don't you come and check it out, yourself?)