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This is a message about change, and a request for
your help. I'd like for you to look at our "Annual
Report" online: www.6seconds.org/give/
Does it inspire you?
If so, I hope you will share it with others.
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I feel the seasons turning.

A new season is at hand – rather later than for my friends
in places where they have “real winter” - but nonetheless
the leaves are falling, and we’ve been keeping the
fireplace going to keep toasty. But that’s not the
season I mean.

I’ve been reflecting on two other “seasons” changing:
Six Seconds and my family.

Six Seconds:
Since our inception in 1997, and in the years before we
became an “official” organization, Anabel, Karen, Marsha
have held ambitious goals around contributing to a better
future. We see emotional intelligence as a toolset that
unlocks possibilities - foundational competencies that
facilitate a wide range of human endeavor.

We just posted a kind of "annual report" and a request
for support. It starts with an image and quote that,
together, show the essence of why I believe we MUST
spread emotional intelligence in these times of
confusion and turmoil.

I hope you will appreciate it, and if you do, I hope you
will invite others to see it and consider supporting
this work: www.6seconds.org/give/

The page goes on to illustrate some of the EQ projects
currently underway around the world. As I worked on
the page, I realized that the "season of Six Seconds"
is changing.

For years a small team has driven all of Six Seconds'
efforts, and now larger community is taking ownership
of this work. We have strong partners, new networks
emerging, a growing faculty, many new tools, and people
taking on components of the agenda.

Just in the last months there has been an upswell of
commitment in Singapore and Italy, around the US, in
Canada, Indonesia, Australia, England, Mexico, India,
Jordan, Belgium, South Africa, and beyond. The
ripples are expanding, and it feels like we're crossing
into a new stage of the organization.

All change takes both vision and sweat, and this
transition is no exception. It is thanks to a great deal
of work by many people, and there is even more work
to be done. The possibilities have expanded.

Again, please have a look: www.6seconds.org/give/


Family:
Emma and Max are only 6 and 4 years old, respectively,
so it's not like anyone's headed off to college soon...
But it feels different. Perhaps it's the "changing season"
from babies to kids.

We've been giving away all kinds of small chairs -
boosters and car seats and strollers. I'm seeing Emma
and Max playing differently, talking differently.

Yesterday, I watched them sitting in front of the fire,
Emma reading to Max. They both noticed me, but went
about their activity. I felt wistful and contented. I miss
being so needed, and I'm so grateful to see their
independence and strength.

With the blurry gratitude of nostalgia, those baby years
seem contained in a softness and intimacy, a kind of
perfection. They're recent enough that I also remember
the wild tears, the gross messes, the incessant demands...
But those are already fading. There is a warm glow left,
like the embers of the fire that I see when I turn off the
lights these early winter nights.

I feel happy sad. Hopeful, reminiscent, adventurous, and
grateful. I hope I can always remember the warmth of
those tiny people snuggling into my shoulder falling
asleep, the musky scent of their hair, the miracles of all
the firsts, and the sense of wholeness in our family.

And most of all, I hope and trust that the new season
will be equally full of wonder, challenge, love, and laughter.


Whatever season you are experiencing in the weather,
in your work, with your family, or in your self, I hope
you will take a moment and find some strength that
you'd like to carry forward, and some hope for the
new season.

Warmly yours,
- Josh

Joshua Freedman
Director of Programs, Six Seconds EQ Network
www.6seconds.org