Summer of LovingKindness Invitational

One of the best things about exploring the Internet is finding new friends without the barriers of time and geography. What do I mean by that? It's difficult enough for me to find the time for actual vocal conversations with people in my own time zone, much less those that are timeshifted around the globe. Twitter, FaceBook, and blogs allow me to connect with people everywhere and everywhen. On the Internet I also get to participate in larger communities of shared interests than I can find in my own conservative Bible-belt South Carolina back yard.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have uneasy relationships (at best) with organized religion, and particularly with Christianity. Especially the "believe my way or you'll fry forever" varieties, which are very common here. I'm also not big on self-help gurus of any stripe.

So I have been delighted to find people on Twitter who gently share their spiritual paths and experiences and invite others to engage. In particular, Mahala Mazerov (aka @luminousheart) has touched my heart with her kind words and open spirit. A couple of weeks ago, she created an open invitation to anyone who wants to participate in a project over the summer. In her words, she invites us to join her "for 2 months of creative focus on love and lovingkindness", i.e. the Summer of Lovingkindness Invitational or SOLI, in whatever way we wish. For more information, see her website http://luminousheart.com/.

See, here's the thing. Most of my energy goes to my job. I work for a largish corporation, and in Information Systems (computer application development) to boot. I spend my days in a cubicle, when I'm not in meetings or otherwise engaged in business stuff. On the surface, it's more like Dilbert than not. It is ripe ground for the application of lovingkindness.

So one of the ways I am going to participate in the SOLI is to write about lovingkindness in the workplace. There are many ways that this will be a challenging project, in the very best sense. I am looking forward to the adventure, and hope you will join me in my View from a Cubicle series.