Life is EASY! 30 Sep 2016 3:23 AM (8 years ago)
One of the many reasons I LOVE Thailand is that life is SO easy here!
This Thai man makes the case so clearly and beautifully:
I am now leading excursions showing people new to Thailand how EASY life can be here, so that whether they want to live here or return again and again for travels and sabbaticals, it is EASY for them!
3 of My Core Values When Traveling 12 Sep 2016 2:17 AM (8 years ago)
Here are 3 of the Core Values I have when traveling:
#1 – Going Slow
Often times–especially if we’re Americans–we have just a few short weeks or less for a vacation, and we want to pack as much as fun and excitement as we can into that brief time. So we tend to travel with a feeling of a scarcity of time. This can have us focused in on ourselves and focused on getting–getting as much experiences and as many photos as we can in that short amount of time.
One of the things I am going to show you how to do, if you come and travel with me or if you take my Carpe Diem! World Traveler LINK course, is how to get more time for longer journeys and sabbaticals.
When you come and travel with me, it’s a requirement that we’re not in that scarcity mode. We’re not in that mode of taking and trying to just get as much as possible from the short time that we have.
There’s something that’s really magical that happens as we just trust the journey, take our time to go slow, to connect with what we’re feeling, notice who our heart is calling us to connect with, take the time to build relationships and being open to the invitations that we receive along the way.
This is one of the most miraculous things that’s happened to me on my travels. I don’t plan most of my own travels. Instead, I go slow, stay connected and follow heart-felt invitations. That’s something we’ll be doing if you come and travel with me.
I require that we’re not in that rushed state of mind. Now, it’s OK if we start feeling this scarcity of time as we travel, and I’ll just bring reminders for us to slow down and trust.
So if you’re interested in a change of pace and slowing down, de-stressing and learning to travel and live in this kind of a way, then maybe you’ll want to come and travel with me.
And if not–if you want to cram as much as you can into your short vacation time as possible–then there are probably some better options or tourist packages that are better for you.
#2 – Respect
Many times in American culture, respect is lacking in our interactions. Partly this is from our value of independence and individuality. We want to be self-expressed and speak up for ourselves, but often that comes at the price of respect for other people.
A lot of times when we pay someone money, we feel that “customer is king” and they need to give us what we paid for and if they don’t, maybe we’ll raise hell. That doesn’t go over so well in many parts of the world, especially in places like Thailand. They, as a culture in general, tend to value respect more than we do.
And it’s important to me when I travel to leave my old cultural assumptions behind, leave my expectations of how things should be or shouldn’t be behind. And really get curious about this new culture and this new people. What’s the beauty and the gift in how they live and how they move?
Here in Thailand when you pay someone money for something, the first thing they are going to do before even putting your money away, is bow with their hands in a prayer gesture and say, “Thank you,” in their local language.
There’s a sacredness to exchanging money here, whereas in many Western cultures, money can kind of give us a license to just treat the other person as a part of a transaction or even like an object. We have a lot of expectations and assumptions that go along with that.
These are the kinds of things we’ll be talking about as we travel, so if you’re interested in learning new ways of being with money, new ways of interacting in new cultures, looking for their gift and receiving it, this is something I love to talk about and share about.
So if this is of interest to you, then maybe you’ll want to come travel with me. If it’s not of interest to you, then I’m not the guy to journey with, because this is very important to me.
#3 – A Sense of Humility and Openness
This is related to #1 and #2. It’s about leaving behind our expectations and our need to be in control, and just opening to the gift and the wisdom of other people and other cultures. Trying instead to be in a place of not knowing. A lot of times when we come to another culture, there’s a lot we want to learn. We want to go to museums, we want to learn a language….
And yet one of the most transformational aspects of travel is when we just come to that place of wonder and not knowing and making ourselves humble. That’s when amazing learning and unlearning can happen.
If this is of interest to you, then listen to your heart and consider coming to travel with me. If these are not of interest to you, it’s great that we both know that, and we can choose to travel separately.
I’d love to meet you out here in the unknown. I welcome you to get connected and let’s create some magic together!
Michael Skye
NEW – Journey With Me in Thailand! 12 Sep 2016 2:11 AM (8 years ago)
It’s Michael Skye.
I have something I’m really excited to share with you!
Traveling the world for the last 7 years has transformed me, my life, my view of humanity, my way of relating to people, my experience of being alive, my self-expression, etc. And I’m so excited to share this with you.
I’ve led some safaris in Africa, designed to be transformational. And I have a new idea for adventures I can take people on, and today I’d like to give you a preview.
I’m here in beautiful Chiang Mai, Thailand, where I am staying with a friend who invited me to come spend some time with him. Much of my travels over the last 7 years have been gifts from people I’ve met along the way..
I talk a lot about the Gift Economy in my Carpe Diem! World Traveler course. …
If you haven’t participated in that yet, I highly recommend you do so… kind of like a revelation.
I have to keep traveling and to show people what I am experiencing, because it’s so beautiful.
So here’s my idea for a journey Thailand (and perhaps later, for other parts of the world as well).
This is an invitation to come and journey with me in Thailand for a few days, 1 week, 2 weeks. It’s designed to be a welcome into this culture that I love, this beautiful land, the beautiful people. It’s designed to be a soft landing and a welcome–not the kind a tourist would receive–but like someone who is coming home to family.
Designed to be gently transformative for you. It opens your heart further, opens your world view, opens you up to new ways of expression, joy, aliveness, compassion…
I am designing this journey to be a transformational AND sustainable.
Alowing you to return here with ease… staying for months or even years at a time, if you like.
Can be a second home for you, if you want it to be.
The idea is you turn your next 2-week vacation into a “Gateway Sabbatical”, where you spend your time in such a way that it opens up a whole new world for you, and makes it easy to return to this place.
While you are here journeying with me,
- I am going to give you an introduction to easy ways of connecting with the locals,
- Fun ways of learning the Thai language, as well as the way Thais speak English.
- Give you a special course for learning languages and connecting with locals with ease in a spirit fun and full of laughter.
- I’ll also be introducing you to my friends, and you’ll have a lot of free time to make your own friendships.
- We’ll spend a few hours a day together.
- I’ll show you how I do things economically
- You’ll get a sense of what it would be like to live in Thailand for months or years at a time,
- When it’s time to come back, it’s like you’re coming home, and you can easily settle in to a place you’ve visited before.
That’s the main idea. I invite you to send me your ideas and your questions.
You can schedule a time to come with your family or your own group of people. …
Or you can schedule a time to come travel with me, and I’ll invite more people to join us in a bigger group.
If you’re interested, feel free to send me more comments and questions.
Be sure to watch my next video where I talk about how I travel and my Core Values as I travel. I require that you agree to travel with these values. It’s important that we’re both on the same page, and you know what you’re in for.
VisionForce In 2016 5 Dec 2015 3:47 PM (9 years ago)
Thats the view from my hotel room high above Santiago, Chile a few weeks ago. I am here preparing my return to my work. Although I am getting ‘productive’ again after a 5 year sabbatical… I am not going to give up this life of international travel!
Currently my focus is on creating material and programs for men who are not inspired to follow in the footsteps of their elders or “get with the program” and be responsible members of society. I will be doing that largely through initiatives found at a new site www.riseoftheronin.com, including a new autobiographical book series called, The Ronin Diaries, and at least one daring, cross-cultural, transformational, rite-of-passage adventure deep in Brazil.
I currently intend to offer one co-ed iStand in 2016, the first in six years! I would love it to be a gift for the visionaries who have inspired me and given to me over the past several years of my sabbatical and others who desire to carry the work forward. If you are interested in attending or playing a part in some way, please send me an email.
Returning from My Five Year Sabbatical 12 Feb 2015 7:00 AM (10 years ago)
Finally I feel READY. After an epic 5-year globe-trotting sabbatical, I am finally ready to return to the core of my calling and my life’s work, my iStands, this time with a sense of ease and a more aligned, less heroic business plan. I’m grateful for all of my experiences on my journey and all the beautiful people I met, many of whom took me in as one of their own… there are too many to name! I was blessed with the opportunity to lead 2 transformational safaris in Africa; dance Tango in Australia and Argentina, and samba in Brazil; facilitate transformational workshops on 4 continents; swim with elephants in Thailand and a whale in Panama; attend an Ayahuasca ceremony in Brazil and a sweat lodge in California; learn to speak new languages; write (and nearly finish) 3 books and 1 facilitator manual; invest in 2 young African entrepreneurs; celebrate Carnival in Brazil, Song Kran in Thailand and a wedding in Turkey; start an Internet center at a secondary school in rural Uganda; romance very different and beautiful women from many cultures; eat grasshoppers, scorpions and kangaroo; sleep in a Maasai manyatta, a pine bark teepee, an indigenous jungle village in Panama, an African convent and on a sidewalk in Bangkok; fight backyard MMA in Santiago; explore fascinating cities such as Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro, Brussels, Buenos Aires and Berlin; explore traveling through Gifting and living for 3 years with no cell phone; explore my own hidden shame and experience many cultural taboos; kite surf in australia, wind surf in France, sail in in San Francisco and The Netherlands, and jet ski in The Nile and The Persian Gulf; live, break bread and travel with great friends and allies around the world… these were the kinds of things I’d sacrificed for years to get my work off the ground. I’m SO grateful for the wild journey, the deep learnings and the many connections… and now it’s time to get back to doing what I’m here to do. But this time with far less sacrifice… the whole world is my home now.
Let This Man Write YOUR Song 7 Oct 2014 10:30 AM (10 years ago)
I remember hearing about a tribe that has a beautiful ritual, and wishing it existed in more cultures:
When someone in the village acts in a way that hurts the himself/herself or the community, they call the person to the center of the village and sing for them their song–the unique song that he or she was given at birth.
In this way they remember the person, not for their destructive act, but for their beauty, their essence. And the person remembers himself/herself in this beautiful way.
Well, I have a good friend and talented musician who actually creates such a song for people–a song that speaks to their soul, and reminds them who they are when they’ve forgotten.
When I speak of forgetting who you are, of course, I’m not talking about amnesia, but about a kind of soul-level amnesia, where you don’t feel connected to your purpose, your vision is not inspiring, and you don’t seem to have the strength or will to keep walking your visionary path.
THIS MAN, Shawn Madden will write and record YOUR song in partnership with you:
Shawn Madden
A song that reminds you who you are, why you are here, and gets you humming on your life purpose again whenever you forget who you are or why you are here.
I hear this is a transformational experience for people. Check it out people!
How Not to Learn Entrepreneurship 30 Sep 2014 11:49 PM (10 years ago)
Morning coffee in hand, I walked from the convent this morning out into the sprawling hilltop campus here in tropical countryside of Western Uganda. I pass by the young man who makes the chapatis and greet him, “Chipati Man! Ay!”
After conversing I’ve got a new word for the day. “Olira” in the Rotoro language means Have you eaten?
There are many students studying in the morning sunshine all over campus. I greet some of my student friends, and then ask them if they’ve eaten. But for sure they’ve eaten! They wake at 4am here for studies. At 7am they take their porridge made from corn. Same routine Monday through Friday. Saturday and Sunday they sleep in until 6am or so.
Rugimba’s younger brother, also named Rugimba, calls out to me. I go and greet him, and remark how fortunate he is to study in the midst of such stunning nature. I see what he and his friend are reading, a book about Entrepreneurship. “Can I see?”
He hands me the book and I scan through it. It’s full of business terms and their descriptions, and that’s it. I learn their job is to memorize the information to pass the exams, and I feel a fire rising in my chest. This is no way to learn the joy of entrepreneurship! It’s the way to kill any possible passion for it.
I don’t want to criticize the way they are teaching kids here, but I feel I have to say something. I have to do something. I tell Rugimba there’s a much more fun and exciting way to learn entrepreneurship. And that’s by just starting a small service business, and then studying about entrepreneurship. This way everything you learn has the potential to help grow your business.
But talk is cheap. That’s why we’ve been working hard to get computers and Internet here at this school of 600 village kids, and when that happens, they’ll have the world at their fingertips–and they’ll have the opportunity to engage in business through the Internet.
Wait til these kids make their first dollar through a computer! Entrepreneurship will suddenly become exciting. Help us make this happen!
Honoring Jacob George: Soldier of Conscience, Visionary Peace Maker 24 Sep 2014 6:22 AM (10 years ago)
The Human Cost of War: IVAW Testimony ~ Jacob David George from First Unitarian Church on Vimeo.
Last week this inspiring young man took his life after Obama announced that we are going back to Iraq for more war. He was a 3-tour Afghanistan veteran turned activist, who was committed to riding his bike cross country until the wars end. He was a soldier for conscience and a visionary peace maker, walking his own path and standing for peace.
And he was a friend of mine.
I’ll never know all that Jacob had witnessed. What he endured. What he faced inside himself every day.
In fact, other than sharing a few emails, I only met him once–at the IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War) conference where I was presenting the Honor Window work with Thad Crouch.
Jacob had volunteered to fight after 9-11. I imagine he’d wanted to stand for our safety and freedoms, and to be a protector of his people. He was willing to risk his life to stand for people and values he felt were worth standing for.
But after three tours enduring and witnessing the human toll that war brings, when his younger brother was called up to go to war, he had a change of heart about these wars that wouldn’t end. Maybe it was when he looked into his younger brother’s eyes and saw a life that might be taken that he came face to face with the insanity–not know what we were fighting for any more, not knowing feeling it was worth the life of his brother? From what I understand, that’s when he withdrew from the path honored by the military, and began on a new mission. A mission for peace. A mission for human life. For his brother’s life. For the lives and souls of the men and women being injured on a soul level due to war.
He would ride his bike across the US–until everyone came home. A big commitment, and a bigger one than I was willing to make. I too was disillusioned by the seemingly endless wars. I too was angry that so many soldiers and veterans were turning to suicide or being left forever morally injured.
Jacob had ridden his bike to Austin from Houston, I believe, to be at the IVAW conference with his younger brother. He joined Thad and I at a lunch table and shared his vision, his poetry, his project and his newfound joy at being a kind of missionary for peace. Stopping along the highway to meet strangers, tell them his story and open hearts and minds. He was a missionary called by his heart to walk a path that many of his countrymen shamed. In the eyes of some, maybe he was a traitor, a quitter. In my eyes, there is great honor in leaving something, when staying would require compromising your conscience, your values. I honor his stand to walk free, and ride til the end.
I remember telling him about the iStand that Thad and I wanted to offer to Soldiers of Conscience like him. He was indeed a Soldier of Conscience–a man who took a stand to follow the call of their heart or conscience even when it disagreed with his orders. JFK and Einstein noted that our world has a chance to know peace when the Conscientious Objector becomes honored in society just the same as we honor our soldier.
Thad and I had wanted to fill our iStand with men like Jacob. A few other soldiers had told me this sacred honor ceremony and training had told me saved their lives, and we felt that lives were at stake. But to date we haven’t led one. In fact just prior to that IVAW conference, I’d canceled an iStand for Soldiers of Conscience like Jacob, because of poor decisions I’d made.
I never met Jacob again. I thought of him at times over the next few years, and I wish I still had the chance to give to this man, to honor him, to stand for him and with him. I know he explored many options for healing along his journey. I don’t know that I could have made the difference in his life, but I do wish he was still here in person. And yet, I honor his choice to go, to choose when his ride ends.
One gift I am realizing by the life and death of this young man… is a rekindling of my desire to find more Jacobs and to stand with them. To ride with them.
Please take a moment to honor Jacob by watching his video above, reading his story and/or sharing it. Here’s his web site: http://operationawareness.org/
Ice Bucket Challenge Here In Uganda? 18 Sep 2014 9:54 AM (10 years ago)
A few weeks ago, Clovis and I received the “Ice Bucket Challenge” from Thad Crouch.
But where we are in rural Uganda, there is no ice water, let alone ice or clean water. In fact the water we drink and bathe with comes from rain water harvesting and/or is pumped from the ground by hand daily. And even uploading video can be quite a challenge. So…
We got creative (see the video, especially at 1:03 of the video). To see PART TWO of our video, please donate $1 or more to our ‘What If’ Computer Center campaign on September 18th, and help us get good internet here at the school for our 600 students.
Everyone who donates will see Part Two: Michael & Clovis take the plunge! And if we reach our goal, we’ll make the video available to the public as well. THANK YOU!
PLEASE SUPPORT & SHARE OUR CAMPAIGN HERE
My First Day at Ave Maria! 7 Aug 2014 3:46 AM (10 years ago)
After the beautiful welcome to Ave Maria secondary school, Clovis showed me the campus and then I entered the convent where the nuns were not sure what to make of this crazy mjungu! I washed up and enjoyed a welcome feast of local Ugandan fare with Sister Rose, Sister Rose Junior, Sister Restatuta, Sister Oliver, Sister Agnes and Sister Mukaka.
The next morning after an early breakfast I joined my young friend, “Master Clovis,” for a discussion about vision and entrepreneurship with students from A-Level (post-secondary, pre-university). See clips in the video above.
These are mostly people from local villages in rural Uganda. Some have never been on the internet and some have never met a Westerner. University is often their greatest hope for achieving their dreams, but very few make it into university and even then a job is a difficult thing to find.
It’s always fun to introduce such folks to people like Bill Gates, Michael Dell and Steve Jobs, who made the computers and software in the computer center where they gathered. They assume all these men must have been great students and finished university, and are always surprised to discover that the were not and did not.
To bring it closer to home, I told the story of my younger brother who never finished secondary school, and the staggering sum of Ugandan schillings he’s likely to make this year–working for himself, using the internet. When they heard many of Clovis’ stories using his VisionForce education and inspiring vision to raise money for entrepreneurial projects over the years.[link], it hit even closer to home.
Still, I imagine that most of these students and faculty see the possibility of leveraging the internet to grow their school and achieve their dreams as a far out fantasy.
After this conversation Clovis shared an idea with me: What if we show the nuns, the faculty and the students that it really IS possible to get their inspiring projects funded through the internet? For them this will be like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, and they will have to consider that far more is possible for them than they may have ever imagined.
In the afternoon we ventured into the nearby town of Kyenjojo to access high speed internet at the cyber cafe… and take on the challenge of creating a miracle! That’s when we uploaded this video:
A Miracle In Uganda! WHAT IF?! 4 Aug 2014 6:58 AM (10 years ago)
Thanks to the generosity of a few VisionForce friends, I have just arrived safely in Uganda, where I was welcomed by long-time VisionForce ally, Clovis Ategeka! After a 12-hour bus ride from Kenya followed by a 3-hour drive into the countryside, I arrived at Ave Maria, the secondary school of 600 students, where Clovis is now Dean of Students.
As you can see in the video below, I did not believe that the students had gathered on the road to welcome me!
HELP US MAKE A MIRACLE!
Only about 50% of university graduates find jobs here. To have a chance in the job market these days, these students need computer skills, but 600 students must share only 3 computers!
You may remember some of the miracles Clovis created through the years with the help of VisionForce.
I have come at Clovis’ invitation to show the students and faculty how much is possible with vision, entrepreneurial thinking and internet technology, and I need your help!
Let’s help him create another miracles, and show these 600 students what is possible. We want to raise $460 in less than 48 hours! This will buy his school:
– 1 new computer ($340)
– 1 modem ($30)
– 1 month of internet access ($30)
– A 500 GB external hard drive ($60)
======
$460
More importantly, it will infuse an entrepreneurial spirit here at the school and launch their budding computer center and entrepreneurship programs!
ANY amount helps – $2, $5, $25 or more! Just send your contribution via www.PayPal.com to michael@michaelskye.com
ALL donors will receive some special videos and photos from the 600 students!
UPDATE: We’ve now received enough for THREE computers, thus DOUBLING the size of the budding computer center here! It’s not too late to send your contribution… THANK YOU in advance!
Have You EVER Been Welcomed Like THIS? 30 Jul 2014 7:24 AM (10 years ago)
I recorded this last week at of the key stops on our VisionForce Safari is Morris Thuku’s home and school in Elburgon, Kenya.
Watch this beautiful welcome we were given, and allow yourself to RECEIVE it fully.
FEEL your WELCOME to this world, to LIFE, to Africa, to Kenya, to your heart!
Have you ever received such a beautiful welcome? Tell me about it in the comments below…
My BEAUTIFUL MORNING in the Kenyan Highlands! 25 Jun 2014 2:25 AM (10 years ago)
Sharing a slice of my life with you in advance of our upcoming VisionForce Safari!
MONDAY – June 23, 2014
5:30am
Wake with dreams of a new book: “Stand vs Position” (insights flowing after workshop for South Sudanese peace activists in Nairobi last week).
They keep coming so I get out of bed, grab my laptop and get back under the covers (it’s chilly here at night).
6:00am
I want to run for the first time since arriving here, but 2nd day w/no water in this apartment which means no shower, so I pass on the run.
I lay dreaming of the upcoming safari…
7:33am
Receive a text from Farah, she’s got a “Plan B” for a better apartment for me.
8:03am
Call Dennis, my Kenyan motorcycle taxi driver. He says he’ll be here in 7 minutes. Without water for a shower and such, 7 minutes is all I need to get out of the house.
Dress, pack for the day (include toothbrush), head down to meet Dennis, take in the view of the lake and the clouds from above.
8:13am
Greet Dennis and his huge African smile. Jump on the motorbike and tell him “OK cowboy, let’s get this horse moving.” “What horse?” he asks. It takes a while to explain.
We ride through the brisk morning air, passing hundreds of Kenyans walking to work or the market on our way into town, as we talk about a problem he had with some Mzungu customers.
I advise him to stand for being paid for his time waiting–love empowering budding entrepreneurs.
8:22am
Arrive at the one cafe with decent wifi and order the usual: Denver omelette and a triple Americano, hot milk on the side.
Tease the waitress who was upset yesterday morning when she had to work instead of attend church. Church here is the highlight of the week for man time for celebration unlike many where I come from could imagine.
Go to bathroom to use their water and brush my teeth finally.
8:45am
Type this update as my food arrives.
9:30am
Meet an Australian woman who runs a large orphanage and a lodge nearby. Am OVERJOYED to learn that she has taken in the kids from the orphanage we visited 4 years ago, since closed.
There was a little girl named Ruthie there, who I just fell in love with. You can see me holding her in this video:
WILL YOU JOIN US?
As of this writing, we still have some room available for YOU!
Standing with you and for you,
Michael Skye
VisionForce.com
PS. I will leave you with the potent and wise words of Scottish Mountain Climber and Adventurer, W. H. Murray speaking of launching into one of his great voyages:
“We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money – booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:
“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!”
AFRICA: A Day In My Life – Moto-Taxis, Matatus & South Sudanese Peace Activists 23 Jun 2014 7:17 AM (10 years ago)
11:15am – Streets of Nakuru, Kenya
“I’m going to Nairobi to facilitate a workshop,” I yell over the wind. I explain to my friendly motorcycle taxi driver, Dennis, that I’ll be back in 2 days.
I hadn’t been in the country 24 hours when I’d been invited to co-facilitate a 2-Day workshop for SouthSudanese peace activists.
I’d said, ”Yes” without hesitation, because I know this is the kind of work I’m here (on the planet) to do.
12:15pm – Downtown Nakuru
“Seat number one,” I hear as a hand on my back pushes me towards the front seat of this dirty old taxi van called a matatu.
I take my seat opposite the driver and roll up the window a bit. Don’t need anyone snagging my laptop.
I take a deep breath preparing for a harrowing journey dodging potholes and on coming vehicles.
4:30pm – Downtown Nairobi
I feel all eyes on me as I pass through a sea of Kenyans. I’m a ”Mzungu,” or white traveler. I’ve got my big pack strapped to my back and my smaller one to my chest.
“Yaya. Where can I get a bus to Yaya,” I ask a random guy on the corner. He points me in one direction and as I thank him another man puts his hand on my back and turns me in the other direction.
As I follow the second man, I put my hand in my pocket to fish for a tip. I want to have it ready beforehand, so he and others don’t see me pull out a wad of larger bills.
5:15pm – Bus to Yaya
“You are banished from this house for three days!” comes the booming voice amidst sounds of an argument and a scuffle.
Kenya has suffered another act of terrorism, and the entire bus is listening closely to the rhetoric from the politicians on the radio at full volume.
“Mr. Speaker,” comes another voice in Kenyan accent. ”I rise firstly to condemn these acts of violence, and to offer my condolences to the victims and their families.”
I’m feeling glad that the bus has taken off, and surprised that I have learned so much peace and patience from traveling for the last four years–and that I’ve learned not to use the news media as a barometer for actual danger.
9:30pm – Bedroom
I finish a Skype call to an African American man around eighty years of age who has wanted to come to Africa all his life. I learn he’s booked his ticket and made his payment for our upcoming Safari!
I’m resting in my cozy bed provided by Robyn, who I first went with to Kenya in 2006, and her Kenyan partner, Irungu.
There’s a knock on my door. It’s Irungu. He was instrumental in bringing about peace in 2007 when Kenya was facing political turmoil and acts of genocide.
It’s time to prepare tomorrow’s agenda. It will be Day 1 of a two-day workshop for South Sudanese peace activists whose people are now facing civil war and genocide all over again.
I’m feeling excited, and inspired to learn from a man whose life has been spent in NGO sector and community organizing.
11:00pm – Kitchen Table
We’re still working on the agenda. We’ve never facilitated together, and we’re inventing this workshop last minute.
I ask him to trust me when it comes time for me to facilitate the conversations and exercises about Stand vs Position.
I’m feeling grateful for this opportunity and committed to serve the activists and this man who will lead the workshop.
I’m not used to being an assistant, and know it will be good for me.
8:00am – Conference Room
I pour a cup of coffee as the workshop is about to start. I’ve never faced what these people are facing. Will they accept me and what I offer them?
I’m feeling nervous and excited. I breathe deeply and remember Who they are for me, and Who I am for them.
8:45am – Conference Room
I’d suggested Irungu have people introduce themselves by saying who the people are that they’re most concerned for, and what they are standing for.
I know it will start us off with a heartfelt context of honor, but I’m not prepared for how it will impact me personally.
“The people I am most concerned about are the children, my family and all the people of SouthSudan,” says the South Sudanese man to my right. “I AM COMMITTED TO ENDING THE WAR.”
BOOM! I am hit in the chest with this feeling I call Honor. Just then it hits me… WHAT AM I COMMITTED TO? I’ve been traveling the world for four years, enjoying a life relatively free from commitment.
I realize there are two groups of people who I am most concerned for: my immediate family, and those who are standing for others.
When it comes around to me, I express this, and then I share how I am committed to ending the Wars that take place inside
of ourselves and inside of our families, and that I am committed to standing for the people here in this room.
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This was a very exciting day in my life… My books are coming along, and the safari is approaching…
Workshop for South Sudanese Peace Activists 16 Jun 2014 8:19 PM (10 years ago)
JUNE 17th,
11:15am – Streets of Nakuru, Kenya
“I’m going to Nairobi to facilitate a workshop,” I yell over the wind. I explain to my friendly motorcycle taxi driver, Dennis, that I’ll be back in 2 days.
12:15pm – Downtown Nakuru
“Seat number one,” I hear as a hand on my back pushes me towards the front seat of this dirty old taxi van called a matatu.
I take my seat opposite the driver and roll up the window a bit. Don’t need anyone snagging my laptop.
I take a deep breath preparing for a harrowing journey dodging potholes and on coming vehicles.
4:30pm – Downtown Nairobi
I feel all eyes on me as I pass through a sea of Kenyans. I’m a “Mzungu,” or white traveler. I’ve got my big back strapped to my back and my smaller one to my chest.
“Yaya. Where can I get a bus to need to Yaya,” I ask a random guy on the corner. He points me in one direction and as I thank him another man puts his hand on my back and turns me in the other direction.
As I follow the second man, I put my hand in my pocket to fish for a tip. I want to have it ready beforehand, so he and others don’t see me pull out a wad of larger bills.
5:15pm – Bus to Yaya
“You are banished from this house for three days!” comes the booming voice amidst sounds of an argument and a scuffle.Kenya has suffered another act ofterrorism, and the entire bus is listening closely to the rhetoric from the politicians on the radio at full volume.
“Mr. Speaker,” comes another voice in Kenyan accent. “I rise firstly to condemn these acts of violence, and to offer my condolences to the victims and their families.”
I’m feeling glad that the bus has taken off, and surprised that I have learned so much peace and patience from traveling for the last four years.
9:30pm – Bedroom
I finish a Skype call to an African American man in his eighties who has wanted to come to Africa all his life. I learn he’s booked his ticket and made his payment for our upcoming Safari!
I’m resting in my cozy bed provided by Robyn, who I first went with to Kenya in 2006, and her Kenyan partner, Irungu.
There’s a knock on my door. It’s Irungu. He was instrumental in bringing about peace in 2007 when Kenya was facing political turmoil and acts of genocide.
It’s time to prepare tomorrow’s agenda. It will be Day 1 of a two-day workshop for South Sudanesepeace activists whose people are now facing civil war and genocide all over again.
I’m feeling excited, and inspired to learn from a man whose life has been spent in NGO sector and community organizing.
11:00pm – Kitchen Table
We’re still working on the agenda. We’ve never facilitated together, and we’re inventing this workshop last minute.
I ask him to trust me when it comes time for me to facilitate the conversations and exercises about Stand vs Position.
I’m feeling grateful for this opportunity and committed to serve the activists and this man who will lead the workshop.
I’m not used to being an assistant, and know it will be good for me.
JUNE 18th
6:30am – Spare Bedroom
I’ve just showered and shaved, and am now ironing my shirt.
I want to look my best today, but living out of a backpack for 4 years leaves few options for dress up days.
I’m feeling a little bit of shame, wishing I could dress up right.
8:00am – Conference Room
I pour a cup of coffee as the workshop is about to start. I’ve never faced what these people are facing. Will they accept me and what I offer them?
I’m feeling nervous and excited. I breathe deeply and remember Who they are for me, and Who I am for them.
8:45am – Conference Room
I’d suggested Irungu have people introduce themselves by saying who the people are that they’re most concerned for, and what they are standing for.
I know it will start us off with a heartfelt context of honor, but I’m not prepared for how it will impact me personally.
“The people I am most concerned about are the children, my family and all the people of SouthSudan,” says the South Sudanese man to my right. “I AM COMMITTED TO ENDING THE WAR.”
BOOM! I am hit in the chest with this feeling I call Honor. Just then it hits me… WHAT AM I COMMITTED TO? I’ve been traveling the world for four years, enjoying a life relatively free from commitment.
I realize there are two groups of people who I am most concerned for: my immediate family, and those who are standing for others.
When it comes around to me, I express this, and then I share how I am committed to ending the Wars that take place inside
of ourselves and inside of our families, and that I am committed to standing for the people here in this room.
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This was a very exciting day in my life… My books are coming along, and the safari is approaching…
Michael Ivan Skye
VisionForce
PS. Did you get my last email about my trip to Africa, which begins in 21 days? It’s not too late to say YES and commit yourself!
This will be my third time rounding up a crew of Visionary Explorers to journey deep into the heart of Africa for a
Cross Training For Visionaries 25 May 2014 10:50 AM (10 years ago)
I’ve seen visions that my heart and mind will not allow me to let go of. I can never pretend I’ve not seen so clearly what I’ve seen. I must keep walking…
I’m into year five of a sabbatical from facilitating the dojos for visionaries we at VisionForce call iStands. In 2010 I realized I had so much more to learn, and it was time to let go. I’ve traveled around the globe a few times and my own inner world countless times. I’ve searched, I’ve questioned, I’ve experienced, I’ve let go.
I’m cross-training and developing my own ability to continue walking my path, so I can better support others on their paths.
There are unique challenges one faces on a visionary path. The practical tools, methods, concepts and trainings offered through VisionForce have been developed by visionaries for visionaries.
One set of challenges includes holding true to the vision you’ve seen–such as remembering your vision and remembering yourself as holder of the vision–when you may be the only one who has seen it, or the only one willing to hold fast to it in the face of all that comes.
Another set of challenges includes holding true to your own values and the well-being of the world around you, when there can be a tendency to force yourself or the world to change so that your vision can be realized.
In a world that currently tends to prioritize “results,” “productivity,” “making things happen” and “changing the world” to match one’s vision–or one’s idea of what “should” be–the holder of a vision can compromise himself, his values and also his vision in order to force external results.
The primary focus of the VisionForce work is not the realization of the individual’s vision in the world, but supporting and developing the individual who is following the vision of his/her heart. The development of the individual is first, and the visionary path is viewed primarily as a path of development and transformation, much like a spiritual path.
Our iStands are facilitated as part sacred honor ceremony and part inner-martial arts dojo, and meant to be both a rite of passage for a rising visionary entering the visionary path and a cross-training.
Whatever you currently do to maintain and build your skill, strength, capacity, wisdom and vision to walk your path, our iStands are a cross-training arena where you can go for experience and practice which augments whatever else you do to develop yourself.
I’m looking forward to the day I stand before the next group of visionaries at an iStand, but I’m taking my time and trusting all is in perfect order…
Consider joining me in Africa this summer, where I’m going to continue writing my books for a few months, as I fulfill my promise to myself and my visionary African friends of returning at least every four years.
VisionForce: For The Single Father 10 May 2014 7:05 PM (10 years ago)
VisionForce is an initiative that grows from a desire to serve and support those who feel a calling in their heart to stand for their people, their world, their values, their vision–in the face of anything: fear, doubt, judgment, grief, endless challenges and seeming impossibility.
It’s for the single father, for example, who has been cut off from his children and is being judged by the mother of his children and his children as well… and who still feels his heart begging him to know his children, to father his children, to be present in their lives, to show his unwavering and courageous love.
How does he cope with the mornings he wakes up in complete hopelessness, shame and despair. What does he do with his rage and thoughts of violence? How does he reconnect to the deep compassion, courage and vision of his heart in times of fear? How does he keep going? Keep standing? Keep facing? Keep staying?
How does he face and deal with whatever gets in the way of him standing for being the man and the father his heart calls him to be in this one brief life? How does he see through the walls of his own fear and judgment to see the mother of his children with his heart–and stand for her also? How does he walk with ALL of his people in his heart?
VisionForce is FOR this father. And ALL his people. He can come here to experience a kind of martial art for skillfully mastering the inner battles and peacefully navigating the wars raging within the minds and hearts of his people.
VisionForce is NOT about trying to help him chase or manage some image of him being ‘happy,’ ‘successful,’ ‘well-adjusted,’ ‘enlightened’ or ‘good.’ No. We’re about asking him what and who his heart asks him to STAND FOR, and we’re here to give him tools, skills and training to answer that call.
We’re not about helping him to achieve some imagined goal of a better world by forcing those he disagrees with to change their ways. No. We’re about listening to what his heart asks him to stand for, seeing the vision of his heart wants the world to see, and standing with him as he walks his path with heart.
Jesse Bloom is a single father who has been standing for all his people, and supporting other single fathers to do the same. His work is not therapy, not religious counseling, not success coaching and it’s not about manufacturing some outcome. No, it’s more like the work of a martial arts mentor in a dojo. He connects fathers to the natural guiding force of honor in their hearts. And it makes all the difference.
WHY AFRICA? My Heart Said “YES!” 9 May 2014 8:19 PM (10 years ago)
This post is Part One of my first person account of my first trip to Africa in 2006 with Robyn Emerson (that’s her and me goofing to the left):
I look out the window. Nothing but clouds below…
The smart and responsible thing to do would be to say, “No.”
Mother Culture was screaming it in fact. “No! Michael, are you crazy? You’ve been working so hard for so long, and you are starting to make some really good money! Don’t sabotage your success!”
Mother Culture was always right. Who was I to question her?
Of course if I had listened to Mother Culture, I wouldn’t be on this plane flying over the Atlantic Ocean right now on my way to Africa. I would be back in Austin, capitalizing on the success of my last event.
My “VisionForce Boot Camp,” a $2,500+ per person training for leaders, visionaries and entrepreneurs had just generated my business the most money to date, thanks to the new $2,500 to $10,000 per person up-sells on the backend.
Here I am with some of my VisionForce Boot Camp participants in May, 2006:
Several people had advised me that this was not the time to leave the business and the team I’d been working so hard to build and head off to some place in Africa for a month, volunteering my time and my work at my own expense.
And they had a point. After five years of creating and leading programs and events, and ten years before that researching and developing my ideas and work, everything seemed to be taking off financially. In addition to my live events, I had just finished my first physical product, the Visionary Mind Program, an online membership site to accompany it, and Visionary Mind Shifts, a free online course.
I was excited about how things were developing, and very proud that people were calling my boot camps and other programs “the most powerful experience of my life” time and time again.
But I was restless.
I was not content to facilitate events that just transform the people’s lives of people who could pay good money for them, and help them become more “successful” within the system.
I’d always envisioned myself working with young, spirited revolutionaries who were up to questioning everything and courageously “being the change” in the world.
I’d tasted and envisioned a life with far more adventure, growth and deep connection than selling workshops, boot camps, online programs, etc. could provide.
My vision of the VisionForce Academy had always been that of a physical academy, where young people could come for a number of years, and where deep and lasting alliances would be built and profound and lasting growth would occur.
The only reason I’d been packaging and selling my work primarily to middle class white American adults was because I didn’t think the young revolutionaries that I really wanted to work with could afford it. And without money, how was I going to build a powerful organization that could affect the scale of change I desired?
I turn and looked over at Robyn. She’s looking out the window of the airplane in a rare moment of peace. There are six of us all together. Robyn, her two daughters, two other teenage girls and me.
She’s been stressed the last several weeks, just barely managing to get all the money together, the flights purchased and everything organized for this trip. We pulled it all together, and now here we are at 30,000 feet.
A friend of mine, who believed herself to be a psychic intuitive, had told me that she had a really bad feeling and had a strong intuition that this trip was too dangerous.
I sensed there might be some danger in going, especially since my preconceptions about Africa had been mostly influenced by what I’d heard in the news and seen on television: AIDS, violence, famine, extreme poverty, misery, etc.
When I confronted Robin with these concerns she just laughed. We’d be taking four American teenage girls to Africa for 3-4 weeks, why did she seem so unconcerned?
And why was I trusting her? The past several months she’s been late, disorganized, overwhelmed and out of money. Is this a grand mistake?
But, she’s why I’m here on this plane. Even though she’s a single mother with two teenage girls, no degree, and no money; she’s working with young people in inspiring and unconventional ways–taking American teens across the world and into other cultures to connect with other young people their age and expand their worldviews. She inspires me.
No money, no “successful” organization, no degree, no one giving her official “permission.” She’s doing it anyway.
And this is my chance to just do it anyway—-to make a greater impact in my world, beyond transforming the lives of those who could afford to travel to my workshops and pay for lodging and the event. Africa!
YES!
One of her two teenage daughters looks over at me and lifts an eyebrow with attitude, as if to say, “Yeah, what?” I smile and return the look as best I can. This is going to be quite an adventure.
In many ways I still feel like a teenager myself. I can’t imagine having teenage children, although I’m old enough. I turn and look back out the window.
What would the African teenagers be like? How receptive would they be to me and what I had to offer them?
To Be Continued…
I didn’t know it then, but this trip to Africa would CHANGE MY LIFE FOREVER! Let me know in the comments if YOU would ever go to Africa.
And consider joining me as I RETURN to AFRICA THIS SUMMER for the transformational adventure of a lifetime!
Robyn and the girls in the Dubai aiport
VisionForce Safari 2014 – Meet Farah! 29 Apr 2014 1:14 AM (10 years ago)
I sat down with my new friend, Farah Mushtaq, to discuss plans for the VisionForce Safari this summer, and asked her if I could record our impromptu conversation. Listen to her speak of Africa!
I met this visionary woman by chance here in Chiang Rai, Thailand a week ago, and now she’ll be part of our adventure this summer. She started and runs a small orphanage in Nakuru and is involved in a number of other projects there as well. She’ll host us while we’re in Nakuru visiting our other friends and their school in Nakuru. Stay tuned for the “Hidden Camera” footage at the end!
Read more about our VisionForce Safaris, and download Our 2014 Brochure: https://michaelskye.leadpages.net/safari-2014/
Honor Window Facilitator Update 27 Jan 2014 3:57 PM (11 years ago)
In this recording I share recent insights which make the Honor Window and related coaching easier facilitate, more clear and easier for the person being facilitated/coached.
If you're interested in mastering this work and/or using it to build a profitable practice, or additional stream of income, then contact us here: support @ visionforce.com