Monday, March 24, 2014

There By The Grace of G-d Go I: Dangers of the unknown/undisclosed Self

On-air, tonight!

"There By The Grace of G-d Go I!"



Tonight, Saturday, March 29 at 6:30 p.m.

An excerpted reflection from “Hot Pants, Motorcycles and K Street

Spring, 1985
“Hitting It Big And Kissing It Good-by” has, recently, been featured on the front page of the Washington Post. And, I have been invited to speak at a luncheon hosted by the First Women’s Bank of Maryland.  My presentation topic will derive from that newsworthy article of the times.
Always, my entire adulthood, I am exquisitely able to make connections between what I have to offer and how that, somehow, taps into the world around me. I am to achieve this, again, for this luncheon, if I can figure out how.
The luncheon is to include thirty to forty key Washington women executives. I am to be the guest of honor and key note speaker.

My presentation will draw upon my four year study of women and relationship and personality addictions. I have just recently completed it in the Women Studies Department at the University of Maryland, College Park.
(In 1988 this research will become the foundation for my book publishing contract with Random House.)
For weeks I have been fretting about this speaking engagement; wanting to do it, wanting not to do it. My best friend, Marv Brooks, recently dismissed, prominent disc jockey of the WPGC Good Guys has been coaching me through my angst.
Now we are getting down to the wire; the luncheon only days away.
I have my costume prepared; a lovely designer fashion suit by Laura Ashley. An elegant blouse, patent leather pumps and a cameo pin of my mother’s to set out off my professional refinement.
However, as the luncheon date grows closer, my resistance builds.
Two days before, as near tears as I ever get, I lament my awaiting fate in making this presentation. (It would be healthier if I did cry more but knowing this is still years away.)
Mostly, I think I do not want to do this speaking engagement.
I am feeling compromised, feeling as if I am compromising myself.
It is twelve years since I left my “hot pants, motorcycles and K Street” life behind with glorious relief.  And a cache of teachable moments upon which I will intermittently reflect forever after.
Now I am faced with approaching a re-entry point. Everything inside of me screams not to cross over it, even the approach to it.
Spring, 2014
Almost thirty years later, my approach-avoidance tension continues still. 
I am, once again, approaching a re-entry point back into the heart of the D.C. fast track.
Once again, I am anxious; to do or not to do? That is the question.
Other questions hover over that one:
How to BE and DO with integrity and integration, if one even approaches that game? A tricky challenge lies within the Capitol Beltway, even for the best of us.
The saga of this quandary; approach-avoidance insofar as it relates, metaphorically, to K Street; will it, perhaps, last my entire lifetime without full resolution?
I ask myself this: questioning myself.  Questions, too, about you – and – “us.”
I wonder at this, with puzzlement,watching the red-bellied woodpecker, pecking away at my bird feeder. As I sit here at my desk in “the serenity of the New Horizons Harpers Retreat Center” with the tragedy of L Wren Scott tugging at my heart and my mind.
If nothing else, an incident such as this triggers contemplation. For me, there is much else!
I am trying to sort out what it is in me that is effected by this tragedy, hoping to clarify the point soon.
This shocking, horrific ending to what seemed to be a beautiful, got it all, life.
It brings into bold relief, who I once was, who I am now and how I got from there to here.

By Sunday, March 30 I hope to broadcast some of what I discover to conect the dots, from this, of me and the world around me. I hope you will join me on The Anastasia The Storyteller Radio Show.

Our topic will be: There By The Grace of G-d Go I!

For me, a most appropriate day, March 30, 2014; the one hundredth birthday of my father (deceased), the man who handed me the "lean in" legacy by the way he lived his life.

To be continued.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Radio Show Episode to Explore Overcoming Polarization Blueprint


Please read the following announcement for the Possible Society In Motion Radio Show to be aired tomorrow evening on Blot Talk Radio.

Thursday, March 20 at 6:30 pm.

Then, join Jack Slattery, my co-host, our guests and myself for a lively conference call discussion immediately following our on-air presentation.

You will be glad you joined us!


“Who would have thought that the simple act of doing a radio show would lead to the unearthing of a hidden formula for overcoming one of today’s most pressing societal problems; polarization?” muses show host, Anastasia Rosen-Jones.

Nonetheless this is exactly what has occurred in the brief one year plus several months this show has been on-air with Blog Talk Radio.

In this episode Jack invites Anastasia to share the profound transformative dynamics operating behind the scenes in her life, as well as the lives of others, that have led to her discovery in the time period of this program .

Find out how day-to-day interpersonal encounters uncovered Anastasia's surprisingly simple, but not easy to do, “Lean In Legacy Template” the new centerfold of the Possible Society In Motion Radio Show.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Getting to “awe,” one way or the other


Or, how a Sohbet/study group came to be like a “bus ride”adventure, destination – “awe.”

We want to travel
with you.
I don’t know about you but I do know about me – and -- Sue and New Horizons. We, individually and collectively, are changing so rapidly these days, inside and out, I cannot keep pace with it all. Let alone clarify it in my mind and, then, quickly write it out and post it for you, before the next thing arises.

So I am, once again, sorry. 

However, only CNN, or some such, could keep on top of what’s happening here and report it, moment by moment; instantaneously. But then you’d, also, have tons of non-events from New Horizons, dressed up as news without much substance; real people-depth meaning substance is what I’m suggesting here.

Honestly, I think we have quite enough of that kind of news these days.

But I can see “IT” coming; the “awe.” Just the other side of the mountain. So I want to alert you.

Some of “IT” is already here. I can see it in my mind’s eye and feel it in my heart and soul. When I allow myself to slow down and breathe, gently, gently, I can even feel “IT” in my body, in the moment.

That’s a challenging BIG “IF” these days. It’s hard to catch one’s breath in this over-drive world we live in and all that keeps happening and is instantaneously broadcast, as if Rome could be built in a day. I admit to being frequently tested by it too.

But what can you do?

Sue says I have a certain, special clarity of my mind, connected to the outer world, that helps me see stuff beyond the ordinary, somehow. She thinks it’s because I have come to see so many layers of reality, perhaps, due to my blindness and recovery term, added to my analytically-trained mind that is constantly aware and systematically observing people patterns and energies.

I don’t know what it is that makes this so. But I, too, recognize it. Often in the past, at times like these, I could see people patterns and energies moving. I could, especially, trace back to the beginnings that could/would eventually lead to "awe." Even if the end was not, yet, quite in sight. I could see “IT” on the horizon, a certain kind of awe, just ahead (or trouble, if we were headed that way).  

Maybe I got this from being with my father and Hollywood and a lot of days at Disneyland that taught me to see this way.

I must, too, not forget the influence of George Barris on my young adolescent mind. Standing, or sitting, next to creativity such as his, as the case may be; someone who could conceive of the Batmobile and the many other custom cars George has created, definitely expanded my developing mind. Even if today George would be unable to remember me, I can never forget the impact he had on me and how I have become.

But right now, I am not able to clearly see the beginning of these present awe-inspiring times. However, sure as I’m sitting here, awaiting the next snow storm, only hours ahead, New Horizons’ new Sohbet/study group is on its ways to “awe,” after only four meetings.

How can I tell you, now, in a few short words that a Sohbet/study group can be like a Bus Ride Story Adventure?

I cannot do it! No words yet.

However, I do assure you that the adventure is, now, unfolding with the right “chosen people,” in the right time and place.

So, if I were you, I’d be wondering how I could, also, get on board!

Think I’m being too cryptic? Well, truth be told, all that is wonderful in this world does not necessarily translate into immediate sound bites. Some things just have to be experienced with more than one or two of our endowed five senses, and with patience.

So you might want to find out, now, what you can do to join us for the Sohbet that is becoming a Bus Ride Story Adventure, or, if you prefer, a Bus Ride Story Adventure that’s becoming a Sohbet/study group.

That’s all for now, folks! Stay tuned for more.