Yesterday we drove from Florence to Cinque Terre. I was the driver of the rental because I have the most experience with stick shifts. I had not planned to be the driver so I had not taken the time to look over the map and familiarize myself with the route and the names of the towns along the way. I relied on the map readers, the navigators to direct me. Each intersection had a number of signs … Too many to read at a glance so my co-riders had to provide the information I needed to make the right choice at each decision point. What I learned was that as the three of them talked to each other the information about what route NOT to take truly interfered with my ability to confidently make the next move. I finally had to ask my car mates to tell me only where we are going and to leave out any discussion of where we are not going. I was quite confused by the extra information. It was very interesting. What I thought about was what it must be like for first time PULSE participants when they get instructions. It is confusing to have too much information at once and it is comforting to know the general idea or route first and is very helpful and reassuring to have some return to the map and verify the next steps the way the PULSE practitioner verifies where participants are on the way to resolution. 

As we got closer to Monterosse the road narrowed and became winding. We climbed hills and then wound our way down again and again. When the sign read 16 kilometres to Monterosse the gas light came on.  My assumption as I took the wheel in Florence was that the tank was full. WRONG. Hills and hairpin turns and running out of diesel. YIKES. The other car and driver were following us and their tank was still at half full. We began to realize that assumptions about full tanks in rental vehicles are dangerous. That is one mistake I will not make again. We coasted into Monterosse and located our hotel. To our dismay there are no gas stations in Monterosse. The closest one is seven kilometres north. We parked. The owner of the hotel has offered to find us some diesel before we leave tomorrow. Today it is raining and we are travelling by train to each of the five little villages along the picturesgue coast. The villages are as beautiful as the images Jim M shared with me a few months ago. Each village is unique and yet the same.

This is a great adventure and it is fun to share it with all of you. We are in Corniglia. Lots of thoughts about PULSE and travel and only a blackberry to use to share them. More tomorrow.

Yesterday we visited the Uffizi Gallery here in Florence.  It was awesome to see the many priceless treasures, the statues and portraits, the tapestries, all interpretations of life in another time.  There are 50 or 100 renditions of Madonna and Child.  Each has a sameness and a uniqueness about it.  Each is an interpretation of a biblical event and yet each is seen and PORTRAYED through the eyes of the interpreter/artist.  I wondered about the differences.  Why was it that the facial features of each of these Madonnas was different?  It seems as if the artist portrayed, in each instance, his own interpretation of beauty which, I am confident, also portrayed something of himself.

Each of us sees beauty, goodness and truth through our own lens.  As we look at any work of art we see not only the work of art but the artist as well. So we are interpreters of interpretations as we stand and admire and begin to recognize the artist in the painting or the sculpture.  We see his technique or his style.  We see his preoccupation, his stance, his perspective and we are left to appreciate as observers of observers, adding yet another perspective on the life portrayed.

As PULSE practitioners we are artists.  Our participants are the subjects as they portray to us and to each other their version of events and circumstances.  They are also artists, painting the picture from their own perch or stance.  We are the interpreters, the portraitists, looking for the beauty, truth and goodness in what they have said, providing a PULSE interpretation of or focus on the situation, a new perspective … an appreciative FRAME through which to view their world.

The art in PULSE is in the listening.   In every work of art it is the artist who adds light and colour to what he sees or hears as significant.  PULSE artists work to remain true to the beauty, goodness and truth of the subjects of the masterpiece.  PULSE practitioners understand that their perspective is one of many and they greatly value the perspective of the subjects of the portraits, understanding that it is truly the only valid perspective, the one that must be honoured in the portrayal.  As they listen, PULSE practitioners focus their subjects on the truth, goodness and beauty in the work of art that is their conversation.

So the style of a PULSE artist/practitioner could be described as appreciative realist, an artist who uses simple, skillful, brush strokes or questions to focus attention, an artist who allows the beauty, goodness and truth of the participants to predominate in his or her rendition or interpretation of the circumstance. An artist with a simple yet complex approach that encourages individuals to inperpret for themselves, to take the beauty, goodness and truth from the past, see it in the present situation and to search for beauty, goodness and truth in their rendition of the future.

Thank you for listening and adding your own interpretation, taking your own meaning, seeing your own beauty, goodness and truth.  Today we go to Cinque Terra.

Yesterday, here in Florence I saw David. THE David by Michelangelo.  It is a magnificent work of art and the marvel of it is in the detail and the size.  It was wonderful and I enjoyed the experience tremendously.  I was even more touched by a plaster cast of a marble statue entitled Dancing Girls, more because of the personal attachment I had to it immediately and even more so once I read the details of the statue.  The two girls in the statue were among the daughters of Lady Charlotte Campbell of Scotland.  Being a Charlotte of Scottish heritage that caught my eye.  And when the girls names were a match for my two daughters I was even more intrigued.  My daughters are also dancers so the whole experience was interesting and made me smile and think about how we may all be repeating the lives of our ancestors in increasingly modern versions …

The other thing that happened that was astounding was that as we were leaving the Accademia, I literally ran into a friend from Edmonton, a PULSE Practitioner and former high school princial like me.  We were both surprised and spent a few moments catching up and looking for ways to get together when we return.  What are the chances?  What lesson is in a chance meeting like that?  Now I am on the lookout for familiar faces and it seems that everyone I see could be someone I know. 

It is so much fun to be away and see the world from another perspective.  Perspectives on your own world change too, sometimes almost imperceptibly … but they do.  It is a small world.  Being gentle and honest, open and specific and talking with people you encounter comes back to you and makes chance future encounters a joy.  Enjoy.

Today I am in Florence. Yesterday and the day before blended into one very long day. Twelve hours of travelling and eight hours of time change equals confusion for biological clocks. And yet there is so much travel these days. Business people aboard jumbo jets crossing the ocean like they were crossing the street. I have to wonder about the effect that is having on business decisions and relationships.

When the Africans were in Canmore a few weeks ago. I watched them struggle as they worked to reset their clocks to meet the demans of learning. Now as I adjust I am even more aware of how they must of felt. And I think to myself about how walking a mile or travelling across time zones in someone elses shoes is easier if you have infact had at least similar experiences.

Here we are talking about time zones as they exist in the world. The same can be said for the past, present, future time zones of the PULSE frame. Once awareness of the existence of time zones of understanding is experienced empathy is closer. Parties are better able to move to Empathy if they have been there before. Seeing the world as someone else might takes courage and  curiosity and is not as automatic as we may think. This is especially true if we have never had any experiences of our own to draw on. Hence the skepticism of first time PULSE conversation  participants and the conviction of those who have travelled the conversation time zones.

Thanks to Marjorie for posting this for me. More tomorrow. Today I see David.