MindfulVOTES Update #5

Does it matter? 

MindfulVOTES Update #4

Inspiring Minds 

MindfuVOTES Update #3

READY, SET, DEBATE
Watch the 2012 Debates - Mitt Romney & Barack Obama
Debate-Watching Resources: Visit the MindfulVOTES Debate Watching page to download these important resources to help you keep track of the candidates and their responses to the issues that matter most to you. Resources include the following items and we’ll add more as we find them:
  • League of Women Voters Discussion Guide
  • League of Women Voters Debate Watchers Notebook
  • League of Women Voters Candidate Report Card
  • MomsRising.org Bingo Card
Download the Debate-Watching Tools HEREWant an alternative to the Conventional Debates?OccupytheDebates: The Occupy Movement is presenting an alternative to the “scripted” conventional debates. Through live dialogues over UStream and social media they hope to bring more people’s voices to talk about the issues that matter to them most.

What’s Next?

Many people have asked about “next steps” for taking action on the MindfulVOTESmessage. Throughout October, there will be four national debates: 3 Presidential and 1 Vice-Presidential. We believe the practice of mindfulness in voting will happen best when we engage one another in respectful conversation, exploring our values and connecting to the issues that matter most to us. To that end, we’re encouraging:Self-organized Debate-watching Parties. Keep it simple. Invite a few friends, colleagues and fellow practitioners over to watch the presidential debates. There are several opportunities to come together. We thing the Town Meeting style debate is especially important:•    October 3- Presidential Debate – Domestic Policy•    October 11 – Vice Presidential Debate

•    October 16 – Presidential Debate – Town Meeting

•    October 22 – Presidential Debate – Foreign Policy

Debate watching parties can seed connection and community for our most important action:

 

Mindful Circles

Imagine hundreds of conversations nationwide bridging our politics and our practice.
  • How would our collective thinking shift?
  • How would our committment deepen?
  • What values would surface?
  • What actions would arise?

MindfulVOTES is far more than an online campaign. It’s about Mindfulness That Matters(sm).Here is where we move beyond the virtual to meet you and your community where you live. Mindful Circles are small circles conversations (ideally 12-15 people in a circle) that create a forum to bring forth the values and practices of mindfulness and put them into action to create the society we believe in, and that is possible.Interested in hosting or organizing one or more Mindful Circles in your community? Become a Leader if you’re an individual, or a Partner if you’re representing a community or organization. Join the growing number of Leaders that will be given access to an event-organizing toolkit and  trained on calls in the basic MindfulVOTES facilitation skills, principals and agreements, all critically important for the nonpartisan, compassionate community-building approach of unleashing a MindfulVOTES movement. Partners are invited to offer space and spread the word amongst their networks.

Bring forth Mindful That Matters. Now. Get Involved.

 


Brief History of

US Presidential Debates

Al Jazeera News shares a glimpse into some of the opportunities and pitfalls of Presidential debates and the impact they can have on elections.

*|YOUTUBE:[$vid=gVRccdvYI6I, $max_width=400,$border=N, $title=N, $trim_border=N]|*


                  

Take Action at

MindfulVOTES.org
  • Pledge to VOTE: The easiest thing you can do is take the pledge. Pledging commits you to and intention and builds the energy of action.
  • Become a LEADER: Go beyond the “click” and lead others to vote mindfully. One out of every 15 people is a mindfulness practitioner in the US.  Organize and facilitate a Mindful Circle, bring partners on board and recruit more leaders. Actions big and small add up. Together we CAN have an impact.
  • Be a PARTNER: Your organization, institution or group is where communities come together. Leverage your networks to inspire, engage & transform how politics are done in America.
  • REGISTER to Vote: Find out if you are registered properly and on time.
  • DONATE to MindfulVOTES: Big impact calls for bold investment. We’re just getting started and we need your support to expand our reach and connect as many people as possible.
Full Update 

Brief history of US presidential debates

 

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are preparing to face off in their first televised debate.  It is a major stepping stone in the race to the White House as both men try to win over undecided voters.  So what can the candidates learn from past debates?  Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane looks at the question.

angel Kyodo williams

angel Kyodo williams, is a spiritual teacher, activist, artist and founder of Center for Transformative Change. She is the author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace.
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MindfulVOTES Update #2

DAY OF ACTION

                                   Tuesday, September 25, 2012

                           National Voter Registration Day

In 2008, 6 million Americans didn’t vote because they missed a registration deadlineor didn’t know how to register. In 2012, we want to make sure no one is left out.On September 25, 2012, volunteers, celebrities, and organizations from all over the country will “hit the streets” for National Voter Registration Day. This single day of coordinated field, technology and media efforts will create pervasive awareness of voter registration opportunities–allowing us to reach tens of thousands of voters or more who we could not reach otherwise.Transformative Change and MindfulVOTES will be in Berkeley and San Francisco registering voters. Will you join us? If you’re not in the Bay Area, FIND AN EVENT NEAR YOU!


L.O.V.E. Let One Voice Emerge

L.O.V.E. – Let One Voice Emerge

L.O.V.E – Let One Voice Emerge” is a non-partisan campaign to reach out to the largest group of non-voters in America — nearly 20 million unmarried women — and to support the important work of The Voter Participation Center and their partners. The Voter Participation Center’s mission on behalf of the Rising American Electorate (unmarried women, persons of color and young people) is to register and encourage these groups to the polls.

L.O.V.E. is performed by hit artists Fergie, Keke Palmer, Patti Austin, Siedah Garrett, Sheila E, Brenda Russell, Judith Hill, Lalah Hathaway, and Jenna Ushkowitz.

http://www.lovevoting.org


Take Action

  • Pledge to VOTE: The easiest thing you can do is take the pledge. Pledging commits you to and intention and builds the energy of action.
  • Become a LEADER: Go beyond the “click” and lead others to vote mindfully. One out of every 15 people is a mindfulness practitioner in the US.  Organize and facilitate a conversation circle, bring partners on board and recruit more leaders. Actions big and small add up. Together we CAN have an impact.
  • Be a PARTNER: Your organization, institution or group is where communities come together. Leverage your networks to inspire, engage & transform how politics are done in America.
  • REGISTER to Vote: Find out if you are registered properly and on time.
  • DONATE to MindfulVOTES: Big impact calls for bold investment. We’re just getting started and we need your support to expand our reach and connect as many people as possible.

Full Update 

MindfulVOTES Update #1

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE RNC & DNC?

Whoa!

That’s the best word to describe the experience at the RNC and DNC. Add to that “intense, unexpected, unpredictable, grueling, gratifying and satisfying” and you get a taste of what it was like to go from Tampa FL helping to setup and staff The Huffington Post-sponsored Oasis, hop to Charlotte NC for a respite over Labor Day Weekend with MindfulVOTES Ambassador Ruth King as a gracious host, then onward to The Oasis site for the DNC.

The truth of the matter is that our own mindfulness practices were a critical support in being able to navigate the many different currents, activities, personalities, agendas and moods of the two convention spaces. Arianna Huffington clearly had a vision for creating a unique experience alongside the conventions, and that was accomplished in spades. Both the interiors and exteriors of the spaces used for the Oases were transformed into living invitations to relax, eat, hydrate, and find your way to a yoga mat, meditation cushion, sleep pod, or just pass out on a comfy couch lulled by the pounding of the Charlotte downpour.

Huffington Post/Oasis Highlights:

No doubt the entire orchestration was held together by the many gracious volunteers, recruited and organized by Off The Mat, Into The World, our allies and the team behind our sister campaign, YogaVotes. We are especially grateful for the grace & grit of the powerful women behind YogaVotes: Kerri Kelly (Director), Jocelyn Corbett (Campaign Director), Seane Corn (co-founder), Suzanne Sterling (co-founder) Here are some highlights:

  • OTM co-founder Seane Corn interviewed angel Kyodo williams about coming to The Oasis and MindfulVOTES (video link coming)
  • Arianna Huffington and OTM’s Seane Corn & Kerri Kelly discuss the mission of The Oasis at RNC
  • angel Kyodo williams talks about volunteering for The Oasis
  • MindfulVOTES anchor team member Karen “Muki” Villanueva talks about volunteering for The Oasis
  • Meet the experts of The Oasis at the RNC
MindfulVOTES DNC2012 Sharon Salzberg

MindfulVOTES Team Highlights & Accomplishments:

We also had the pleasure of having MV Ambassador Sharon Salzberg teach basic meditation at the DNC. On the second day she taught, Congressman Tim Ryan, author of A Mindful Nation: How A Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit, joined in. The OH Congressman, who “presents us with an inspiring and hopeful view of our country’s future,” agreed to be an MV Ambassador, too. More highlights:

  • YogaVotes Director Kerri Kelly and MindfulVOTES’ angel Kyodo williams tag-teamed meditation & yoga at the DNC Oasis
  • MV Media Steward Zochi Alonzo Young brought Mu-i Tai Chi, a simple, accessible 10-step practice we learned from Norma Wong and take everywhere we go.
  • Karen “Muki” Villanueva taught meditation one-on-one and in smal groups to otherwise tentative beginners.
  • chandra thuy tran led a rockin’ social justice-rooted fearlessYOGA Warrior Flow attended by beginners as well as experienced yoga teacher and the feedback was awesome!
  • We distributed MindfulVOTES postcards, learning more about how to tell story.
  • and more
DNC convention passes

Off Our Mats & Cushions, Into…Play:

All work and no play makes for dull practitioners. We enjoyed several non-work wins, too:

  • We snagged credentials to the DNC and got to see Michelle Obama’s speech. angel furiously tweeted commentary on her & Bill Clinton’s messages.
  • angel Kyodo williams got to share words of admiration and a photo-op with Sandra Fluke.
  • We were fed (and over-fed!) by LYFE Kitchen, which supplied endless meals to both convention’s Oasis-goers.
  • The MV Team cut loose for a bit of party time after watching Bill Clinton’s speech, hosted by moderate think tank Third Way. Big thanks to the whip smart Nancy Hale.

A lot of Uptime and a Little Downtime:

We returned to our practice home at the Center for Transformative Change to early morning practice on Friday and a daylong of practice on Saturday. As luck would have it, two team members needed to take some downtime, hence our full report back was slightly delayed. But, they’re both on the mend and we’re gearing up for the big push towards election day. Will you pledge? Will you lead? Will you partner? If not now, then when?

Mindfully Yours,

angel Kyodo williams

and the MindfulVOTES anchor team

Karen “Muki” Villanueva

chandra thuy tran

Alonzo Zochi Young

mindfulVOTES team - angel zochi muki chandra

 


 

THINGS YOU CAN DO ON
MindfulVOTES.org
  • Pledge to VOTE: The easiest thing you can do is take the pledge. Pledging commits you to and intention and builds the energy of action.
  • Become a LEADER: Go beyond the “click” and lead others to vote mindfully. One out of every 15 people is a mindfulness practitioner in the US.  Organize and facilitate a conversation circle, bring partners on board and recruit more leaders. Actions big and small add up. Together we CAN have an impact.
  • Be a PARTNER: Your organization, institution or group is where communities come together. Leverage your networks to inspire, engage & transform how politics are done in America.
  • REGISTER to Vote: Find out if you are registered properly and on time.
  • DONATE to MindfulVOTES: Big impact calls for bold investment. We’re just getting started and we need your support to expand our reach and connect as many people as possible.

Full Update

The Oasis at RNC – Tampa, FL

The Oasis at RNC – Tampa, FL

Volunteers At The HuffPost’s Oasis: Meet The Experts Making The Oasis Happen

The Huffington Post’s Oasis has some incredible volunteers. From certified massage therapists to yoga educators, these gracious individuals are responsible for making the Oasis exactly that: a peaceful space to unplug and recharge….

Full Article

Mindful Leaders at the RNC & DNC

[UPDATE 8/26/2012: We have reached our initial goal. Thank you for your generosity. Now, we need to take it to the next level. Join us!]

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