Hey Guys! I’m spending the weekend doing some updates on thunkt.com! So if you’re tuning in, and seeing some things that seem out of whack, it’s probably because they are! Be patient with me kind masters! Order will be restored soon!
~ JustinG

Heya there Happy Campers!

Wanted to share a really cool experience I had recently when at one of our staff meetings. Now I don’t mind saying (mostly because all of 2 people read this blog) that I can’t stand our staff meetings. And they always have a habit of popping up on the busiest of days. But hey, that’s usually how it goes right? Just to see if we’re willing to lay our agendas down for something bigger than ourselves. But This particular week was a surprise! Jason Heriford was introduced to our staff. A local martial arts instructor, Jason has taken and developed a curriculum that helps people discover their passions. It works like this,

Everyone wrote down the answers to the following questions:

Question 1: What Breaks Your Heart?

Question 2: What Gives You Life?

Every little thing I could think of went on that page.

After about 4 minutes, I was looking around thinking, “Geez, nobody is writing anything down anymore, how much longer are we gon- Oh! I just thought of another!”

That’s the advantage of letting people really spend time on these questions. They are important questions! By the end I had quite a list on both ends. Under “What breaks your heart?” I had things like “abuse”, “obesity”, “misuse of arts”, and many, many more. Then under “What Gives You Life?” I had running, climbing, helping people find their passions, coffee-shop discussions, late-night creations, and many, many more. The next thing we did was put a check next to one item in each list that most broke or heart/most gave us life. I found mine, and checked them without much conflict or doubt in my mind.

Then came the hard part. The part no one wanted to do, sharing. I mean, sure it’s okay if someone else shares, but not me, I mean I certainly don’t want t- wait why is my hand raised? Next thing I knew, I was up in front of all my co-workers and peers.

“What did you put under ‘What Breaks Your Heart’?” Jason asked.

“Oh-no” I thought as I shared that what was number one thing for me was the “C”hurch’s misappropriation of art as propaganda, “I’m going to get fired for that” I thought.

“Write that at the top of this board.” Jason instructed me. Next was what gave me most life.

“Question Storming” I replied, “Just being in good dialogue where we stir up more questions than answers, because the questions lead to answers and the heart dwells on them, and the Spirit leads.” (Safe enough).

“Write that at the bottom.” was Jason’s reply. “Now!” Jason addressed the rest of the class, “I’m willing to bet that these two things are pretty closely connected, and this is where all of you (except Justin) get to be involved! All of you are going to help Justin by throwing out suggestions that would help him connect these 2 ideas together!” (I just got to write their ideas down) Now Jason had a set of rules that everyone had to play by, like don’t put any other idea down, etc.  But by the end of 10 minutes, I had compiled a huge list from all the recommendations most of which I never would have thought of even if I had a week to ponder them! And many of them are incredibly easy! Any way, all I’m saying is this is the power of collaboration! This whole process is the process of “Question Storming”: helping others (like myself in this case) find some steps to pursuing my passions! So, all 2 of you out there, lets start,

What Breaks YOUR Heart?

And remember, give it about 5 minutes of good pondering.

collaborative suggestions of how I can reach for my calling

[thanks to David Hackbarth for the header above]