My Favorite Websites & Blogs

After reading the newspaper this morning, I spent time checking out the most popular websites posted on Delicious. "Delicious is a social bookmarking service that allows users to tag, save, manage and share web pages from a centralized source. With emphasis on the power of the community, Delicious greatly improves how people discover, remember and share on the Internet."

I first discovered Delicous back in January 2009 and have since saved 119 web sites there. Reflecting on what they say about what is important to me is interesting and speaks to my curiosity and love for learning. Like the books I treasure and the time I love spending with the daily newspaper, the wisdom and creativitiy that is shared on the internet feeds me in a different way that has come to be an important part of my daily routine. I appreciate everyone who takes time from the busy world to share their thoughts and ideas with the world (and me). So here just a few web sites I have book marked with the number of times each has been book marked in parenthesis:

Image by ashley rose, via Flickr

• Social Work Blogs (5)
• Life in the Second Half
• Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus (0)
• Educational Origami (1,037)
• Almanac of Policy Issues: Social Welfare (10)
• The White House Blog (415)
• Twitter Reading List (263)
• Information for Practice (4)
• National Association of Social Workers (113)
• 26 Charities and Non-Profits on Twitter (257)
• The Innovation Diaries - The Hierarcy of Tweets - Analysing the Psychology of Twitter (233)
• 100 Awesome Blogs by the World's Smartest People (303)

My current favorite is Map the Fallen by Sean Askay. Here is a quote - note the word "connect."

"This Memorial Day I would like to share with you a personal project of mine that uses Google Earth to honor the more than 5,700 American and Coalition servicemen and women that have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have created a map for Google Earth that will connect you with each of their stories—you can see photos, learn about how they died, visit memorial websites with comments fr

Image by foxypar4 via Flickr

om friends and families, and explore the places they called home and where they died."

Wow.

These and other web sites have infuenced and contribute to my ongoing life-long learning process. I love to learn! Where do you spend time in the webosphere?

What? My life and paradox?? Yep!

Today I had the privilege of participating in a Courage and Renewal North Texas workshop led by Elaine Sullivan and inspired by Parker Palmer. What a wonderful time to step out of my noisy, busy, world for the whole day to reflect on "Paradox: Embracing Complexity in Life and Work."

Throughout the day, I discovered and unpacked new concepts such as

• Paradox
• Thin Line
• Polarities
• Tension of Opposites
  
• Formation

I struggled with and was inspired by hearing poems spoken in different voices and then reflecting on the meaning and discovery of the themes within. I created my paradox in art that revealed the bridge or "thin line" in my life experience that challenged me to be brave. I met amazing women who shared so honestly their paradoxes. I saw how Parker Palmer's vision of teaching works by watching Elaine "teach." Structure and pace. Focus and relationship. Concept and process. Making space for growth. Silence. Space. Letting go. Trust.

We each possess a deeper level of being however,which loves paradox.
It knows that summer is already growing like a seed in the depth of winter.
It knows that the moment we are born, we begin to die.
It knows that all of life shimmers, in shades of becoming that shadow and light are always together, the visible mingled with the invisible.
Excerpt from “Paradox” by Gunilla Norris

I tried to take a picture of my Mandorla but my camera did not meet my expectations so you are spared from kindergarten "show and tell."

Today's experience of renewal and focus was an amazing gift.

Quote for June 10, 2009

There is in us an instinct for newness, for renewal, for a liberation of creative power. We seek to awaken in ourselves a force that changes our lives from within. And the same instinct tells us that this change is a recovery of that which is deepest, most original, most personal in ourselves.

– Thomas Merton