Straight to the Heart
March 1, 2008
David Lock, founder-director of Arrows With Soul once asserted: “There are arrows designed to kill, arrows designed to penetrate and arrows designed to hit and ignite into flames!” Great imagery!
At Asian Journeys, we aim to walk alongside sojourners on their life journeys and challenge them to discover the spark of the spirit within which can rekindle their passion for their life’s vision and mission.
Such explorations take place as we journey together, exchanging ideas and trading perspectives in pursuit of truth. It can occur as we take our seats at the dining table and commune heart to heart. As some friends discovered many centuries ago on one Emmaus road, such deep conversations can lead to hearts “strangely warmed” in the midst of life’s apparent dark cold nights.
We are living in an era of unprecedented wealth and material blessing, especially those of us who live in the so-called developed world. However many of us drift from day to day, lifeless and listless, exchanging our time and energy for inflated money and an existence which daily extinguishes the “fire in our belly” and freezes our hearts?
“Hearts Aflame” was a slogan coined by my dear wife many years ago which won her a free trip to a retreat which had adopted her catchphrase as their theme. “Hearts Aflame” should aptly describe how we are living in a global city filled with great technological breakthroughs and immense opportunities, and not merely be a future aspiration. To do this, we need arrows that can pierce hearts and ignite fire within our soul.
We are pleased to announce that from March 2008, Asian Journeys started a partnership with Arrows With Soul, a local consultancy based in Singapore. We believe it is a special and strategic partnership for Asian Journeys and Arrows With Soul.
It is a special partnership because like Asian Journeys, Arrows With Soul is a think tank, teaching and action platform to engage individuals and communities in the marketplace in a holistic way. The emphasis is on teaching work-life integration with an aim to help transform disengaged staff into eagled-eye, entrepreneurial, passsionate innovators at work.
It is a strategic partnership as AWS has made a huge impact already in the world of work both locally and abroad. Locally AWS has been appointed by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports as a partner for the ministry’s national proliferation of the Personal Work Life Effectiveness message in Singapore over the past three years. AWS boasts of an outreach amounting to 10,000 people across the board, spanning the public, private and people sectors.
In May 2008, AWS will receive the Alliance for Work-Life Progress Rising Star Award at the WorldatWork Conference in Philadelphia in recognition of the potential impact AWS can make globally. A hearty “Congratulations” to David Lock and AWS for a well-deserved achievement indeed!
In partnership with AWS, Asian Journeys will certainly help advance the AWS message of building self-generating capacities in individuals and organizations by deepening their self-discovery of potential and purpose through selfhood formation and service-learning.
We look forward to an exciting partnership and greater synergy in jointly promoting Learning Journeys for individuals as well as corporations keen to grow themselves as learning organizations and indeed corporations who care through enacting their corporate social responsibilities.
May Arrows with Soul grow from strength to strength, piercing hearts and igniting many hearts aflame, both here in Singapore and beyond!
By Lawrence Ko
Executive Director, Asian Journeys
Associate Director, Research, Arrows With Soul