embracing beauty – back to the beach today, as sun returns after yesterday’s rain. didn’t get out until 4pm and went straight to the sand. toes in deep, tevas in hand. a layer of tiny pebbles, washed clean by the rain, slows me down. couldn’t have been too crowded here today. the kids and lovers and volleyballers have left vast expanses of little raindrop craters intact. bare feet always take their pace from their sand. texture and temperature, dryness and debris. hot dry scurrying. cool deep digging. cold washed weaving and splashing. pebbled carefully picking, today.

a childs tiny imprints in the hard sand at water’s edge. the shape of prescious. possibility and power. a six-foot-something jock pulls off his shirt to dust and dry his girlfriend’s feet extended. one of those silver little fish washed up, brains and eyes chewed out. guess that’s what they mean by “vacant stare.” it’s shocking and i pass, then go back to make sure i really see it too.

when i return to the bike path, i see oil and sand in the asphalt. the pace of shoes and tires. it occurs to me that whole organizations run on sand as well, the glass of monitors and silicon of chips. matter, body, mind. beach, road, data. shades of inviting organization and the evolution of work, from startup circle, to hierarchical team, to wired network, to… the wholeness and soul of inviting community, marketplace and open space… on the way to flow, movement, spirit.

but what’s the sand of soul? what sets the pace of the inviting organization? must be ceramics — the energy of a good coffee break! working in open space. from beach to road to silicon, we take our pace from sandy earth. in today’s organizations, work can go no faster than the conversation, the clarity and connection that springs from earthenware mugs. might we someday make organization as mandala, and work with the expansive care and subtle precision of monks making sand art offerings?

somewhere along the way, heart fills to bursting, then opens and rests. the inner shape is familiar, but surprising. lotus flower. even as i wonder what it is that makes bodies so beautiful. bodies, beach, cityscape, earth… mind embracing beauty, embracing beauty… like sky.

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