Category Archives: New Chapter

Theme: Body/Kinesthetic

Getting out of your head & getting it done!

Beth,

This month I know you face a lot of changes as you make plans for an
island life. It’s time to be physical and get things done! You will need a lot of energy for your tasks at hand: packing, organizing, etc. That being said, every other day I’d like you to spend at least 15 minutes to raise your heart rate.

This should be done before starting your day. Do this before turning on your computer, doing anything for anyone else or getting involved in your day-to-day life. Elevate your heart rate by any method you choose. Make the exercise something simple that you enjoy, i.e. walking, running, jumping, swimming, anything that you feel comfortable doing with out thinking about the activity. Something that is repetitive might work best for this. I’d like you to focus your thoughts on what you will accomplish each day while you are elevating your heart rate. This will get your blood moving and allow you to clear your thoughts and make a plan for each day.

Good luck!

4/1/2014

Just finding this blog today? Read the prologue for more details on what Living Chapters is all about. Check out the Chapter Summaries Page to get caught up to date.

chapter 9

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Spirituality/Existential

Preface: My Bias

I’m an atheist. I’ve been an atheist since my early teens. My arrival at this position was a combination of growing up in the Catholic Church and finding logical flaws in many of the arguments purported in Sunday Mass; spending a year reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelations as well as biblical scholarship; developing an interest in science, history, and philosophy; and my growing uneasiness with the idea of a personal, loving God existing concurrently with the reality of evil in the world. Over the years, my position has matured but the basic core of my beliefs has remained constant: there is a serious lack of evidence to support the existence of God. Or as Bertrand Russell stated, when asked what he would say to God if confronted with him: “God, why did you make the evidence for your existence so insufficient?”

That being said, why would I volunteer to participate in the chapter on spirituality? Despite my lack of belief in all things supernatural, religion and other manifestations of spirituality have always been a topic of interest for me. One aspect of religion that I consider important to the development of a person (though it is not the exclusive dominion of religion) is quiet meditative introspection (i.e. prayer). That is not to say that community is not as important, but whereas prior chapters (September excluded) have been more outwardly expressive, I wanted this chapter on spirituality to be more internally reflective and self-examining.

The Task: The Trinity

Reflection through study: I’ve provided a selection of religious texts for you to read to provide you with a diverse though extremely limited introduction to religion and how people of a spiritual worldview translate their feelings into words. Even though this is not a comprehensive survey of world religious texts, I’ve tried to represent both Western and Eastern religious traditions and I think these are all important texts to read. (I encourage you to read further.) Write and reflect on what you are reading.

Week 1: Old Testament – Genesis (read Chapters 1-11)
Week 2: New Testament – The Revelation of John
Week 3: Taoism – Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Week 4: Buddhism – Silence by John Cage (read Lecture on Nothing & Lecture on Something)

*A note on my selection of texts: In regards to the biblical readings, excluding the Christ story, Genesis and Revelations are, in my opinion, the two most influential Books of the Bible. The Tao Te Ching is the most important text of Taoism and espouses an interesting theme of action through inaction. I chose John Cage to represent Buddhism, not because I couldn’t find a sufficient Buddhist text, but because I thought you might find it interesting to reflect on how an artist (musician) whose life and music was thoroughly influenced by Buddhism translated his spirituality into thoughts and words. I also encourage you to listen to his works to capture the full experience.

Reflection through mediation: All religions involve some type of introspective practice. Whether it is reciting scripted prayers or quiet mediation, reflection on God, the community, and the Self are essential to spirituality. So your task is to set aside 5-20 minutes twice a day (morning & evening) for prayer/mediation. The form and location of this mediation can be of your choosing and it can change from morning to evening and/or day-to-day. It can be silent mediation in the traditional Zen fashion (as you did earlier in this project) or a recitation of the Rosary. Regardless of the form, this should be a twice-daily ritual. As John Cage wrote, “In Zen they say: If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, try it for eight, sixteen, thirty-two, and so on. Eventually one discovers that it’s not boring at all but very interesting.”

Reflection through participation: And so as not to make this chapter a completely introspective task, here is the community element. Community building and cohesiveness is an important aspect of religion, so your task is to attend one religious service this month. It can be a Catholic Mass or a Wiccan ceremony, whatever is available to you, and if possible speak to the participants about their spiritual experience.

Conclusion: Alpha and Omega

I hope whatever you cull from this month’s chapter (and this project in general) that it serves you moving beyond Living Chapters. Despite my own beliefs, I think there are wellsprings of creative and mollifying resources in daily introspective reflection. I don’t feel this type of mediation needs a supernatural or religious structure to be beneficial to an individual, but that is a path each person has to navigate for themselves. As Lao Tzu wrote, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Hopefully, this experience and this project will be an important step in that journey.

chapter eight

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Dear Beth,

Alright, so February is about the interpersonal. I feel like this is your forte – you KNOW how to connect with people.

But let’s try this anyway. I thought of this, that and the other, but have arrived I think at a very simple month for you (my favorite discarded idea, by the way, was to ask you to meet a bunch of strangers and throw a party for them!)

Ok, so, a month in two phases:

1. Listen. Interact. Be with the person you’re interacting with – and explore your moment of interaction by knowing that you ARE them.

What??… so let me be simpler, or try to be. I would like you, whenever you remember and it comes to mind, when in an interaction with another person, to take an attitude that this person is yourself. That simple – just think something like “I am listening to myself”, or “This is myself”.

It’s a creative visualization, i guess. Just thinking that you are who you are with.

You don’t need to go out and look for people to do this with. Just live your day-to-day, and when it comes to mind, and you’re interacting with someone, just think and hold the attitude – this is myself.

(There might be a reaction against doing this, from within, say if you are in a conflict with the person or something. See if you can override your personal needs for a time, and allow the identification with someone else to be stronger.)

Do that, and observe it, and let us know how it feels.

2. Do something about it. Once you get to mid-month or so, though you can start thinking about this as soon as you want, take some time to think about what this experience has felt like, and the people who you’ve conducted the ‘experiment’ with. I mean the people you’ve related to as yourself.

And do something for them! Go into the experience of ‘being them’ and them being you – and see what you feel there, in terms of something to do for them. Maybe it isn’t anything at all – maybe you feel they don’t need anything – and that is fine. Or maybe it’s that they need something specific that you can do. Do it. And let us know.

I’ll try to do some of this too.

That’s all Beth! I hope you have fun with this! And no pressure to get your head around trying to have a deep or crazy experience that is interpersonal. Just simply let go and see if it can actually feel like you’re swimming around in yourself…

2/1/14

Just finding this blog today? Read the prologue for more details on what Living Chapters is all about. Check out the Chapter Summaries Page to get caught up to date.

chapter six

Stories from Your Life (and meditations on romantic love…)

Dearest Beth,

I have been wondering for months what the hell I’ve gotten myself into and how to engage with something so intimate and something so not my business as your interpersonal relationships. But talking to you has helped me come to grips with this dilemma. Our conversations over the last month have been extraordinary. Because of these conversations, you have been floating around my daily life even more than usual. I hear something, or see something, or think of something and you immediately come to mind. But even though you wash over me as a presence, there are times when I wish that I had recorded our talks so that I could pull you to my side in a more physical way.

This month, for the chapter on interpersonal relationships, I’d like to see you blend your friendships with your love for collecting stories. I would like you to interview four people (feel free to interview more if you like the idea) who you love, care about, or are intrigued by. You may choose old friends or people you want to get to know better. It would be wonderful to interview and record people who you’ve talked to for ages just to see what it’s like when you move from spontaneous conversation to a slightly more purposeful format. And I think one of these interviews should be with your Mom.

There needn’t be specific rules as to how you go about your interviews. You could decide to be dead serious, dead silly, to talk about deeply personal things or to talk about your favorite foods or films. You could talk about the past, present or future. You could ask someone to read your favorite story to you or to sing a song. Whatever is important to you at the time is good. I do think you should decide on some key questions before you begin your interview. It would be nice to begin by asking that person something you’ve always wanted to ask them or something that you’d like to be able to replay in the future. If the conversation meanders and you get completely side tracked, that’s fine. There is no need to share these stories or interviews with anyone if you don’t want to.

I would aim for one interview a week.

Now you have much more experience than I do related to collecting stories and thinking about story telling. But I’ve come across a few beautiful stories or meditations on storytelling over the past few weeks and I’d like you to listen to them. (Can you feel the teacher in me coming out here?) Hopefully you will just enjoy these. And we can include these pieces in our future conversations. Maybe, maybe, maybe you could think about the idea of a “single story” and your family.

What Are The Dangers of a Single Story? By Chimamanda Adichie on the Framing the Story episode of the Ted Radio Hour

http://www.npr.org/2013/09/20/186303292/what-are-the-dangers-of-a-single-story

Hitchhiking as A Family from Dick Gordon’s The Story program

http://www.thestory.org/stories/2013-10/hitchhiking-family

Terry Gross interview with Maurice Sendak from September 2011. This link takes you to the last 5 minutes of the interview, illustrated by Christoph Neimann. There is a link to the entire interview on the page.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/01/03/terry-gross-maurice-sendak-christoph-niemann/

I am going to use this challenge to record some stories from my parents. I have thought about doing this for years and will now get off my butt and do it. At the very least I can immortalize the story of my Mom getting her mouth washed out with soap by her father.

In terms of romantic love, I would like us both to read Elemental Passions by the philosopher Luce Irigaray. I will be sending you a copy of this book soon! Now this book will in no way give you any kind of useful advice about creating, maintaining, or leaving romantic relationships. As a matter of fact, you may find this book way too oblique and even annoying. But I’ve found sections of this book strangely beautiful and I thought we could talk about love and try to untangle what Irigaray is saying together. It’ll be a slightly different interaction between us, but it would certainly make a car ride to western Maryland edifying as well as fun.

love,

Laura

11/1/13

Just finding this blog today? Read more about the Living Chapters project here.

chapter five

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Purpose and Meaning

I am constantly driven to find meaning and purpose in each step I take on this path called life. Many of the choices I have made revolve around the work that I do and building a career. I have recently followed a new life path, one influenced by work, but driven by the desire to live a deeply fulfilling, well-rounded life. I have finally allowed my need to live a more balanced life outweigh my desire to continue on a certain career path.

Beth, you too spend a great deal of time contemplating your choices and the way they direct your life’s path, always letting your intuition be your guide. I always know that when I call you to discuss a change that I need to make you will be encouraging, no matter how strange and scary it might seem. I can hear you now, “Wheatie, trust yourself. You already know what the right decision is.” Your path has also been somewhat directed by the work that you do. I am interested to see how this year of letting other people direct your life will impact the way that you make decisions in your future.

When considering my own purpose I find that much of my life is centered around my interactions with other people. As a teacher I am constantly fueled by what I learn from the students I work with as well as challenging them to think and create in new ways. I also choose to surround myself with a community of people that challenge me and help me grow. I think that our initial bond was created through our similar desire to learn from the people around us. Interacting with people on such a deep level pushes us to grow but can also hinder us if not balanced with time alone to reflect on knowledge gained.

The challenges I purpose for this month are about finding balance.

Part 1: A Walk in the Woods

I want you to start off this month by going on a hike. It can be as long as you desire but you must be alone and in the woods. The combination of the physical act of moving, spending time alone and being surrounded by the beauty of nature always helps me clear my head and focus my energy.

Let your brain clear out any issues that might be blocking your ability to bask in the experiences and interactions that have come out of the past couple months and consider what you have learned/what you have been reminded of while participating in the challenges of the Living Chapters. How has this knowledge impacted your sense or purpose and meaning?

Part 2: A Treasure a Day

The second part of my challenge for you this month, BB, is to create! I want you to spend this month using your creative energies to make something new every day. I also want you to share those creations with the people in your life that have impacted your sense purpose.

Here are the guidelines:

1. Make something every day.

This something can be as large or as small as you desire. I know that you may or may not have all the usual items that would be at your disposal in other living situations aka your basement in Remington, so I am sending you a package of goods that might help you through this challenge. Also, remember to use your master skills in the art of collecting to find items that may help your creative process.

2. Send or deliver the creations that you have made to people who have or continue to make an impact on your life.

You do not have to send/deliver an item every day and you may send/deliver more than one item to the same person if you choose, but you must be intentional in your decisions during this part of the process. Let your intention be fueled by your intuition, letting yourself naturally come to conclusions about who must receive which items and when.

I loved your quote from last month’s chapter… “Instead of figuring out a direct plan for my future, what I want to do is hone the skills that will help me arrive at it organically.” Use this practice in following your intuition through the creative process to fuel your ability to listen to your intuition in the next phases of your life.

3. Have fun!

Let this challenge be joyous and not tedious. If you aren’t feeling the project you are working on one day ditch it and start a new one. It will be more enjoyable if you are listening to yourself, especially if you are feeling that it is time for a break or to switch directions.

Note: This challenge does not include October 31^st. That day is reserved for tricks and treats.

10/1/2013

Just finding this blog today? Read more about the Living Chapters project here.

Chapter Three

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It’s Not Easy Being Green

Terms like ‘green’, ‘sustainable’, and ‘eco-friendly’ have become increasingly common in our day-to-day lives. We see them on packaging, menus, in TV ads, and in the speeches of our more progressive politicians. It may at times be dismissed as trendy, but overall this is a good thing. It means that as a society, the environment is on our minds. But as the terms become more commonly tossed about, they run the risk of becoming diluted palliatives, geared more towards making us feel better about ourselves than inspiring real change. Your dishwasher detergent may be phosphate-free, but your dishwasher still wastes a lot of water.

The fact is, leading a sustainable life can’t be simply a matter of informed purchasing. After all, the term sustainable really means never-ending, which in this context means a complete independence from non-renewable resources. Striving towards such a goal requires transformative changes in how we live our lives. In this month of Living Chapters, I encourage Beth to approach this goal through introspection and advocacy.

PART ONE

Take A Position, Make It Known

I’ll start with advocacy since it’s shorter. Beth has spent the last few years doing some impressive work around environmental issues in Western Maryland and on the Eastern Shore. In Western Maryland, she organized community events to discuss natural gas extraction, and on the Eastern Shore, created a series of videos and community events highlighting different perspectives on the health of the Chesapeake Bay. Both projects inspired much-needed dialogues in their communities, but lacked one thing: Beth’s own voice.

Now that she has spent time in these places learning about these issues, Beth has become if not an expert, at least a well-informed citizen when it comes to natural gas extraction (fracking) in the Appalachians and water quality in the Chesapeake. By now, she must have opinions about what should be done in these communities to move forward.

During the month of August, Beth will create two ‘opinion pieces’, one on each topic. The pieces can take the form of her choosing (written, audio, visual, etc) and must be shared in a public forum (newspaper, radio, gallery, etc). The pieces will be timely, responding to current events in the realms of fracking and Bay protection, but will be grounded in her experiences working with the stakeholders in both places. The pieces will be clear, concise, well-researched, and heart-felt. Should she choose a medium that requires jurying (for instance an op-ed section in a newspaper, or a curated show at a gallery), actual acceptance is of course out of her hands, but submission is required. They also must be posted to the Living Chapters blog and Facebook account.

PART TWO

Cap and Trade For The Rest of Us

The EPA first tested the effectiveness of a ‘cap and trade’ system for the abatement of acid rain in the 1990’s, by restricting the amount of sulfur and nitrogen oxide emissions allowed by industrial polluters. It proved effective enough that they’ve expanded the system to cover carbon emissions, a move that has been replicated internationally, creating a global carbon market and reducing emissions in many countries.

How does it work? Very simply put, the government established an emissions limit that polluters must adhere to (the cap). If a polluter manages to pollute less than the cap, the company earns credits, which they can sell to other polluters who cannot or do not meet the limits (the trade). The system rewards innovations that reduce emissions, but still allows some flexibility for industries to comply.

During the month of August, Beth and I (and any of you who want to join in) will participate in our own cap and trade game. This is where the introspective part comes in: this game will require close attention to the actions in our own daily lives.

Using the point system I’ve devised (below), we’ll tally our wasteful practices against our sustainable practices. At the end of each week, we’ll have the opportunity to trade credits, hopefully balancing our collective point consumption under the cap. At the end of the month, anyone whose points are still over the cap must donate the equivalent amount in dollars to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. There is no reward for having the fewest points; we’re all in this together!

A few notes about the point system:

1. The goal is to have as few points as possible. “+” points are bad.

2. I’m not a numbers person and this system has very little to do with any kind of accurate metric. It’s just a game. But if you happen to be someone that knows a lot about measuring embodied energy, please feel free to suggest amendments.

3. Additionally, if readers want to suggest other activities to be counted in the game, feel free.

4. Participants will have to track their point count daily in this Google spreadsheet.To join the game, email Beth at livingchapters@gmail.com.

5. I’ve divided the point system into four categories: Food, Air, Water, and Waste

FOOD

Eating a meal whose origins are unknown = +1 (vegetarian) +2 (with meat)

Eating a meal that is sourced locally (100 mile radius) = 0

Eating a meal at least part of which was grown or harvested by you or a friend = -1

Throwing away food (not composting it) = +2

Eating food that’s going to be wasted (either your friend’s left-overs, dumpster diving, etc.) = -2

AIR (assuming non-renewable electricity and fuel sources)

Driving a car = +1 per 20 miles

Taking public transit = -1

Carpooling = 0

Riding a bike = -1 per 2 miles

Flying in a plane = +5

Charging your phone = +.5

Charging your laptop = +1 (if a desktop user, equivalent to 7 hours of use)

Lights and other household appliances = +1 per hour used

Hanging clothes in the sun to dry = – 1 point/load

Converting your BGE/energy supplier to a partially or entirely renewable source (solar/wind) = 1 time applicable – 20 points (some energy companies now offer the option to pay a bit more and have your power sourced from these options). People can contact their supplier for more information.

WATER

Taking a shower = +1

Flushing a toilet = +.5

Running a dishwasher or washing machine = +2

Other faucet uses = +.5 per gallon

Re-using water (i.e. dish or bath water) = -1

Installing rain water catchment system at your home (or a friends) = -10 (one time only)

Using harvested rain water = -2

Bathing in a natural body of water = -1

WASTE

Producing 1 cubic foot of garbage = +1

Producing 1 cubic foot of recycling = 0

Producing 1 cubic foot of compost = -1

Creative re-use of anything (for instance, wine bottles, shopping bags) = -1 per use

The weekly cap for each participant is 56 points (8 per day) (note: this may be adjusted at the end of week 1 if that is way too hard or too easy). Credit trading will happen on August 10, 17, 24, and 31 (August 10 will be a ten-day point tally with a total cap of 80). Participation will require fastidious attention to all your activities (it may even require keeping notes). Hopefully it will also require all participants to rethink their consumption habits and make changes for the better. It may be difficult, but in the words of Jim Henson as sung through a frog puppet: It’s not easy being green.

Just finding this blog today? Read the prologue for more details on what Living Chapters is all about.

chapter two

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Theme: Logic/Order

For those of you just joining the story now, allow me to catch you up to speed:

After spending her early years in Dillsburg, PA, hanging out in cemeteries and recording lo-fi experimental music on boomboxes, our Protagonist Beth left her bucolic hometown to attend Western Maryland College in the slightly bigger town of Westminster, MD.

Not finding satisfaction there, she transferred to Goucher College in Baltimore, MD where she continued to explore her desire to build abstract sculptures out of wood and mirrors.

What’s that? You thought Beth was a photographer? Well, her switch from sculpture to photography was but one of the first seismic shifts that Ms. Barbush has undertaken to revamp her life.

Because Baltimore wasn’t enough for Miss Beth, in her third year of college, she jetted off to Scotland for a year, where she majored in Chatting In Pubs and Dark Beer Drinking, as well as taking some seriously excellent photos.

In her fourth and final year of college, and continuing the year after graduation, Beth lived in the darkroom. Well, technically, she lived with me in a ramshackle apartment in Charles Village with a Living Ghost and then a Dude Who Lived on Peanut Butter, but for all intents and purposes, Beth didn’t see the sun from the fall of 1998 until the spring of 2000.

Her college education complete, BB burst forth from Baltimore and flew out into the world on many, many adventures. She taught photography for a year in the miniscule Australian town of Jindabyne. She moved to Rhode Island as an AmeriCorps volunteer to do some amazing work with the RISD Museum. She nabbed a job with Art on Purpose and spent five productive years with them documenting all sorts of social change in Baltimore, including publishing a book. She spent multiple summers teaching at the prestigious St. George’s School in Newport, RI, which puts Hogwarts to shame. She ran volunteer photography programs in Cambodia and Tanzania. She took a position with the Maryland Humanities Council, where she has been fostering conversations about controversial topics.

Did I mention conversations? Did I somehow leave out the part where she became interested in audio? Oh yes, from projects with Art on Purpose to Remington Youth Community Radio, Beth started combining audio with her visuals. That includes a documentary project that she did with me in rural Japan…

In between all of this, Beth has squeezed in showings of her artwork in coffee shops, libraries, and honest-to-goodness art galleries, not to mention museums. She ran a program called Porch Art for local kids for many years with nothing more than her creativity and the junk she had accumulated in her basement and closets.

I’m sure I’m forgetting some things, but I’ve had a front-row seat to the flowing river of Beth’s life for almost two decades now, so you’ll have to forgive me some lapses.

“Where can I see all of these amazing projects?” you ask.

Nowhere. That’s the problem.

Here’s where I come in:

Beth was extremely modest in her intro bio, only touching on the surface of her past accomplishments. She, like me, is focused more on the future than on the past. The “Living Chapters” project, by its very nature, is a forward-looking endeavor.

But, as all good storytellers know, sometimes you have to take a few steps back to set the stage before proceeding.

One of my hopes for “Living Chapters” is that, through the combined power of her self-made community, Beth will be positioned in a fantastic place at the end of this year for wherever she may decide to head off next.

Because of the nature of her work, Beth’s accomplishments are not well-served by a paper resume. A portfolio would be better, but with Beth always reaching out to the wider world, a physical portfolio is not practical. For years, I have listened as Beth has lamented her lack of an online presence.

***

So, using my powers of Logic and Order, here’s my challenge to you, Beth: by the end of July, you will have completed an online ePortfolio hosted at the FREE site www.mahara.org

With all of your accomplishments, your professional life can be arranged in any number of ways: chronologically, community vs. fine art, visual vs. audio… The organization is part of the challenge. My only request in this area is that your AmeriCorps service, your major projects with Art on Purpose and Maryland Humanities, your international work (Australia, Cambodia, Tanzania, Japan), your teaching at St. George’s, selected fine art exhibitions, and your community involvement (Porch Art, RYCR, etc) be included in some fashion.

Here is the schedule I am setting up for you:

By July 3^rd: Create your account on Mahara. Also, you must post to the “Living Chapters” Facebook page the major divisions of your ePortfolio. It can be the names of the groups you have worked for, the types of projects, whatever you wish. (Divide those topics into four, because you will have a deadline on each of the following Wednesdays to submit ¼ of the ePortfolio to the “Living Chapters” community for review.)

By July 10^th: One quarter of the topics (the first of four, two out of eight… however you have divided your professional life) should be loaded onto Mahara and the link posted on the “Living Chapters” Facebook page so that your readers can see what you have done.

By July 17^th: Another quarter of the topics should be completed and posted for viewing. (You will have half of a complete ePortfolio!)

By July 24^th: The third quarter of the topics should be completed and posted.

By July 31^st: The final quarter of your ePortfolio should be uploaded. You will now have a complete ePortfolio to share with whatever future employers or organizations you wish to work with!

I am hoping that the pressure of having the “Living Chapters” community monitoring your progress will help to give you the motivation to complete this project that has been perpetually looming but perpetually being postponed. Also, I am hoping that using an open-source, web-based program will allow your community to give you constructive criticism as you build the ePortfolio, improving the final product.

Also, I just spent a boatload of money on a Master’s Degree. One of my final assignments was making a physical teaching portfolio to bring along to interviews. At the time, it seemed like a burdensome requirement, something that should have been taking the backseat to the more pressing needs of my daily lesson planning. But, after being forced to make it, I am glad I have it. My portfolio is a concise record of my life as a teacher, and it can speak for me when I am not there.

However, my portfolio is merely a physical item and I never had the time to build an electronic version. Therefore, as part of my participation in “Living Chapters” and also to help me on my current job search, I too will be building my ePortfolio and keeping to the deadlines listed above!

Good luck, and we all look forward to finally seeing Beth Barbush properly reflected in cyberspace.

Just finding this blog today? Read the prologue for more details on what Living Chapters is all about.

Visit the Living Chapters facebook page for more updates, images and day-to-day activities.

Visit the June Gallery for images and videos from the first chapter.

Inputs	Activities	Outputs	Outcomes/impacts
what do you have to put in to get to your end goal impact or outcome	what activities you need to undertake to get to your end goal impact or outcome	what is produced through those activities	the changes or benefits that result from the achievement of this goal
For example: Let’s say your goal is “Own a Boat” What inputs go into this, (e.g., money, research?)	For example: “Own a Boat” What activities need to happen, (e.g. sailing lessons, trip from Annapolis to St. Croix)	For example: “Own a Boat” (e.g. sailing culture becomes a part of your life, lifestyle changes, community changes)	For example: “Own a Boat” (e.g. increased skills/ knowledge/ confidence, leading to…new job, personal non-profit to help youth learn to sail, etc.)

Living Chapters

What would happen if you invited 12 of your most trusted friends to write the next 12 months of your life?