Writer/Researcher Requests your Help

[Steve Lawler <practices@lawler.org>]

Dear Colleague,

Please excuse the impersonal quality of this e-mail.

I am writing to ask your help some research I am doing on Life Practices.

I am especially interested in those practices, which help you deal with others - in your family, at work, in your immediate community, in the larger global community, etc.
This is the only e-mail you will receive from me unless you choose to participate in this project.

Out of this I am working on an article for "Spirituality and Health" a magazine published out of New York City is now interested in this work and plans on running an article in its June issue. The magazine itself is inclusive and features articles by and about people from many places and representing many different paths.

I am in the finishing stages of my collection and editing work and will be featuring some of the contributions on a web site www.life-practices.net set to launch on 1 April 2003.

The editors are also interested in any practices that people have found in living with war and/or working for peace. If you have any, or know some one who might, please let me know their name and e-mail and I will send them an e-mail like the one you received initially.

So far I have gathered over 150 practices from people all over the world.
These are examples of contributions I have received so far that may help clarify what
I am looking for:
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" 'Water what you want to grow' is my motto. Whenever I see something being
done well I acknowledge it as soon as possible and in some tangible way. The
least that I do is to complement the person doing the thing well. What I try
to do more often is write a note to the person or give them a small gift."

"My life changed when I went from seeing mistakes as awful to seeing them
as the first chapter of a textbook on a new subject. I even had this made
into a sign that hangs on the wall in my office. 'Mistakes are just chapter
one in a textbook on a new subject' Now I get bothered if I don't have some
sort of royal screw-up every few days. It's like I am not trying."

"I learned from my grandfather to 'use the best materials you can afford.'
This has provided a model for my life's work. Even in my late 70's I am
still actively building things and more to the point of your book, I am
still building my life out of "the best materials I can afford."
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What I am seeking is a bit like folklore. Something with a story and an easy
to remember slogan or catchphrase.  I am asking you to contribute out of
your own personal experience not as an official representative of an
organization.

I cannot thank you enough for your interest and help.

I still have the hope that by sharing our wisdom and our practices, we will be able to make a difference in our world.

All the best,

Steve Lawler

Steve Lawler
47 Aberdeen Place, St. Louis, MO 63105 USA
Voice:        +1 (314) 753 7911
Fax:           +1 (314) 727 9792
E-mail:      swl@lawler.org
Web Site: www.lawler.org


Steve Lawler an ethics consultant and writer based in St Louis, Missouri
USA. He regularly gives workshops on issues of ethics, values and culture. He has
been quoted in a number of related pieces in publications including the Wall
Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor and Cape Talk Radio - Cape Town.  Lawler has worked with companies in the US and Europe - including Monsanto, Pulitzer Publishing,


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