This is Becky Mudge's response to a question on the participant's evaluation after completing the “Advanced Exploration.”

Question: Given your original personal goals for this process, evaluate your effectiveness to date.

“I have experienced myself as powerful, capable and completely in charge of my own well-being. I realize and do exercise my ability to choose in all situations. Regularly I still look back on things and see that I could have made a different choice. That is a muscle I will exercise all my life. I have gained a new found sense of calmness and peace that comes from recognizing the difference between control and influence. Things have shifted in some relationships due to my ability to know the difference. I more often use my energy for responding rather than reaction. The most glaring question for me this time is how important my self-care program is. If I do not take time for myself everyday, I lose the ability to stay centered. Self-care is like nourishment for the soul just as food is nourishment for the body.”

We would like to share David Beeler's answer to a question on the evaluation form upon him completing “What One Person Can Do.”

Question: Given your original personal goals for this process, evaluate your effectiveness to date.

You mean like, the powers in me, so it's MY effectiveness, not the course's effectiveness we're looking at. Bummer. Now I'll have to be accountable… The tendency to put the responsibility and, indeed, power outside of ourselves is so woven into our culture that it is insidious – one slips into it without even being aware of it. And yet, from time to time, I catch myself as my awareness increases. And in those moments, I find a burst of energy from a source deep inside. It tells me, “Ah, yes…” It is a powerful well from which to draw and I am reminded. I have not achieved all of the things I put down, but my life becomes better and richer (and more fun) as I continue to catch myself and go, “Ah, yes…”

From Sally Hennessey’s Participant’s Evaluation after completing “What One Person Can Do.”

Question: What parts of the conversation have been of greatest/least value?

Response: “ Several of the homework assignments were very powerful for me and I have incorporated them into my life – the listening 100%; reminding myself to do things with energy and enthusiasm; reminding myself to just come from a loving place around conflict with others; noticing the highs and lows in my day and knowing I can choose. Just operating at a more conscious level about so many things. I have also upped my self care routines a notch; being even more consistent about carving out that quiet time for myself. Also helpful were the insightful questions Hazel posed…during the phone classes; her challenging me to think outside my box and consider other possibilities.”

One of Carol Tucker's comments from her program evaluation:

"I was very pleased to find that the assignments were related to real life incidences, not to some issue to be researched and written about. I was amazed at how the assignments were able to elicit FEELINGS. So often I try to talk about feelings, but rarely have I been able to get people to feel things so readily. No doubt, the personal nature of the assignments had a great deal to do with the power of the connection."

An excerpt from an e-mail from Michele Lisenbury Christensen after she received a letter from the Center acknowledging her for completing “What One Person Can Do.”

“Over the past year, I have dramatically simplified my lifestyle and finances to make more room for what really matters. Being involved in “What One Person Can Do” was an important part of discerning the most important things. As the result of the honorship program I volunteer at the SPICE intergenerational activity center at Whittier School here in Seattle . The center aims to bring children together with seniors for a variety of activities. In June I lead four weeks of yoga classes for seniors – all poses were modified so they could be done from a chair. In July and August, I'm leading an intergenerational class – we have seniors in chairs, some spry seniors using yoga mats and doing the full poses and twenty kids from second through fifth grades making animal noises and wiggling with their yoga poses. They're amazing! I've been so touched by the way people of all ages have embraced yoga, and by the way my touch, eyes, words and instructions have moved and inspired them. This has been a tremendous challenge for me and a tremendous gift. I thank the Center for the inspiration and agreement! THIS is a meaningful life! I love all of you!

After receiving the permission from Faouzi Khatir, we are sharing his response to one of the questions on the participant’s evaluation of “What One Person Can Do.”

Question: “What parts of the conversation have been of greatest/least value?

“Greatest Value:

•  Regularity of conversations=discipline and gave me something to look forward to meet deadlines

•  The homework=stimulate thinking and goes beyond the duration of the conversation

•  The format=informal but very human and full of stimulating learnings from others + HUMOUR

•  The case study = for me that was like following a weekly episode of a soap opera (loved it!)

•  The CONVENER, great conversation driver (well done!)”

A comment from Danielle Lightbown's program evaluation:

"I feel that the most valuable part of this training is the retrospective part in looking back in my life and seeing that it all in fact has been my choice."

Colin Barnicle noted the following on his program evaluation:

"The greatest value of this training is the constant repetition of the fact that the power to improve our lives resides within all of us."

After completing "What One Person Can Do," Michael Cormier noted the following on his program evaluation:

"I took the course with bus drivers, custodians, other administrators, teachers and parents. We found that negative comments/discussions in faculty rooms decreased. It was truly inspiring. I personally found the course caused me to reflect on who I am as an individual and what I value. It also forced me to acknowledge that I am in control of my destiny and well-being and that I alone am in control of how others impact me."

P.O. Box 304 - Litchfield, ME  04350

207-582-2405

www.oneperson.net