Samuel’s point is that given that there are so many new social technology applications online right now and that so many new ones will continue to proliferate in the future, the only successful strategy for successfully using this technology is to stop trying to keep up with each new application that is produced. If Alexandra Samuel whose field is social technology can’t keep up, what hope do regular people not involved in the field have?  So give your self a break and surrender. Keeping up is no longer a plausible response.

“So where is the opportunity here?” you might still be wondering. With a different frame of mind, you can use this glut of programs to focus on what is important to you. Rather than solely looking at the big picture of social technology such as twitter, facebook, youtube and the other software applications too numerous to mention here, focus on the smaller picture. What topics are you specifically interested in? See what software your own communities are using. For example, I spend a certain amount of time each day on facebook checking out what my community of professional coaches is doing. I respond where appropriate and I offer information that I think will be helpful to my friends and colleagues on facebook. I also focus on specific videos from youtube and vimeo.com that relate to whatever topic I am blogging about. While it might be fun to hang out on youtube and watch a number of fun videos, I don’t have the time nor is it ultimately productive for me. I am focused in my visit to the site and thus make the site beneficial to my needs.

Barry Schwartz, Ph.D. author of “The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less” was quoted in the June, 2004 APA Monitor as saying, “The presumption is, self-determination is a good thing and choice is essential to self-determination. But there’s a point where all of this choice starts to be not only unproductive, but counterproductive–a source of pain, regret, worry about missed opportunities and unrealistically high expectations.” So rather than suffering with a glut of technological applications that neither suit my or my communities’ needs, I take the opportunity to narrow my choices based upon my priorities and my values.

How do you respond to a glut of opportunities?

What works for you in the face of overwhelm and too much?

When have you stopped an entrenched behavior regarding getting more of something and what was the impact of stopping on you and those around you?

Too many opportunities may be just the trigger we need to apply some self-care and additional focus on our own true needs. Take the opportunity to stop and to focus. Less can actually be more.

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Whenever any star permanently exits the stage of life, I feel a great loss. However, if I am truly honest, I also feel angry. Their absence leaves a hole that demands to be filled. This hole always reminds me that I can no longer lean back and let another do the work while I laze around in the background.

I could stop my exploration of my feelings here at anger. Certainly, most people would validate my awareness of my anger and compliment me on being so forthright. However, my anger is covering up something much more powerful. It is my excitement. I’m excited and I am fully alive when I act.

I don’t need a professional stage nor a paid audience to act. Acting is about awareness. It is about taking the stage with intention, being fully in my character and then acting in concert with the other players in the scene. Boal taught me that the world IS my stage and my audience is always awaiting and welcoming my appearance.

Boal lived his life with a fierce commitment to freedom, dignity and expression. He believed in the exquisite knowledge and power of people to act and direct their own lives toward the good. He founded The Theatre of the Oppressed in Brazil in 1971. His work traveled rapidly around the world. In The Theatre of the Oppressed people play and learn together. It is a game of dialog. To quote Boal, “We believe in Peace, not Passivity!”

Boal’s death is my cue to enter. He always exhorted people to “come closer”. I am now coming closer to you and thus to me. Act in Peace, Augusto! Bravo!

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If the Anglican Church is actively honoring and supporting the power of Lennon’s lyrics “to make us think” then perhaps Lennon might be wrong after all. John, there IS a heaven and it’s come to Liverpool!

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Pete Seeger turned 90 yesterday. In typical Pete style, he celebrated by having a birthday party/fundraiser for The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater at Madison Square Garden with 15,000 of his adoring fans. Onstage with Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez and 38 other musical luminaries he led the multigenerational audience in singing several favorite folk songs.

For those of you who have managed to escape his influence these past 60 years, Seeger is an indefatigable folksinger, songwriter and activist. A founding member of The Almanac Singers and The Weavers as well as a beloved solo performer, Pete sings songs promoting such progressive causes as unions, racial and religious inclusion, environmentalism and peace.

Bringing people together through song and common purpose, Pete is a national treasure. I grew up singing his folk songs: “Turn Turn Turn,” “If I Had A Hammer,” “Guantanamera,” “Where Have All The Flowers Gone,” “Wimoweh” and “We Shall Overcome” to name a few of his more well-known songs. These songs still remain as popular and relevant today as when he first started singing them six decades ago.

Pete Seeger has always seen the opportunity to teach, inspire and activate people through music. He has carefully nudged us along a path to peace, social and environmental justice, and dignity throughout his whole musical career. Always progressive, never willing to compromise his message, Pete consistently manages to sing open the hearts of his audiences. Once blacklisted for his radical beliefs, today President Obama sent his birthday greetings to Pete. Pete Seeger is a testament to speaking from the heart, doing what is right and never giving up hope. To quote Pete:

HOW CAN I KEEP FROM SINGING?

My life flows on in endless song
Above earth’s lamentation.
I hear the real, thought far off hymn
That hails the new creation
Above the tumult and the strife,
I hear the music ringing;
It sounds an echo in my soul
How can I keep from singing?

What through the tempest loudly roars,
I hear the truth, it liveth.
What through the darkness round me close,
Songs in the night it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I’m clinging.
Since love is lord of Heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?

When tyrants tremble, sick with fear,
And hear their death-knell ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near,
How can I keep from singing?
In prison cell and dungeon vile
Our thoughts to them are winging.
When friends by shame are undefiled,
How can I keep from singing?

Various people have written new lyrics to this hymn including Bruce Springsteen but Pete Seeger popularized this version in the 1950′s. In good folksong fashion, Pete learned the song from Doris Plenn who got it from her family in North Carolina. The song can be found in Sing Out, Vol.7, No. 1, 1957.

Thanks to lyricsdownload.com for the lyrics and history of this song.

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Connection is the engine that fuels the power of The Opportunity Game. Cultivate your internal connections (your personal aha! moments) and your online and offline interpersonal connections. These can spur any number of unexpected opportunities. A great example of connection leading to opportunity occurred for me earlier today. A student of mine contacted me for help in regard to a coaching issue. I answered his question quickly and easily. He gratefully responded although he also bemoaned the fact that there was no specific place to go to receive answers to the type of question that he was asking. Immediately, I saw an opportunity that would benefit me and other coaching students who had similar issues. I could resurrect an old online column that I had stopped writing a couple of years ago that specifically responded to these very sorts of questions. While my student was the one who made the initial connection, as a result of our conversation this afternoon, I will create an opportunity for myself that will be mutually beneficial. Acting on this opportunity will then create numerous other opportunities for me that I can’t even foresee today.

Exploration is another integral part of The Opportunity Game and contact improvisation. A master player of The Opportunity Game is continuously exploring him or herself as they play the game. It requires patience and fortitude to look within. Some players easily notice their strengths but find it much harder to own those areas which they find troublesome. Other players consistently look at what is lacking in themselves yet have great difficulty owning their strengths. Many players resist both sides at various points in the game. Having the courage to honestly explore what is true for you is essential in mastering The Opportunity Game.

I have found that for an exploration to be potent and meaningful, explorers must be curious. What is the purpose of the exploration? Will I meander along the route or am I trying to reach a specific goal? Just how curious am I being anyway? The quality of the questions that we ask ourselves and others will determine the efficacy of the responses we receive. Don’t cheat yourself by asking small questions. As the poet Rilke suggested to a novice poet, “Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers.”

As the video below shows, contact improvisation is an intimate activity. The Opportunity Game is also an intimate activity. How much you are willing to risk in order to “live into your questions” and create connections of beauty?

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