Innovative mediation, coaching, organizational development services for champions!
Innovative mediation, coaching, organizational development services for champions!
Jon Myers had relatively talented, albeit outwardly "normal" beginning. Born in Scranton, PA to Morey and Sondra Myers; Jon was imbued with a sense of doing well for the world, and also competing a great deal in academic and athletic activities. Jon's background, was also highly reinforced by having four grandparents, who lived back-to-back to one another on Madison and Monroe Avenues in Scranton, PA. Much of Jon's early life, was contained in a six block or so area, in that Hill Section part of Scranton. There was Jon's elementary school James Madison, #33 a rugged representation of Scranton. Jon considers it one the true learning experiences of his life, when around fourth grade, Madison merged with the Washington School, a school with a large African-American population. Jon can remember the day of this merger and how the playground came alive in a wonderful way, for the recess and lunch football games.
Equality was a deep value instilled in Jon, as his father Morey during the late 1950's and early 1950's travelled to the South to work on civil rights issues, evidently meeting the late great Martin Luther King Jr, himself. Jon played football for his high school, the Scranton Central Golden Eagles, at the behest of his father. Even as the kid of Jewish heritage on the team, Jon became a starter, in Northeastern Pennsylvania, a hotbed of high school football. Spiritually Jon's life began to take a turn in 1976, when Jon matriculated at Oberlin College, in Oberlin, Ohio. At that time, well before things like Blockbuster Video and the internet; different places were disparate from one another. One could not have travelled a greater cultural divide, than anthracite coal Scranton, to flower child Oberlin College coming out of the 60's still in 1976.
Oberlin played a role in opening Jon's mind further to people of different backgrounds, mindsets and perspectives. in 1979, Jon began to stumble onto his career path; when he and a friend spent the summer working in Los Angeles at drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers in tough parts of town. Jon's life and mind was opened up to the prospects of helping people as the cornerstone of his professional work. Jon was looking at returning to LA for a position after his graduation from Oberlin.
The winds of fate intervened in 1980. Due to circumstances beyond his control, the position that Jon was promised was no longer there and Jon arrived at a position in September, 1980 at the Charles River Academy in Cambridge, MA. The Charles River Academy was an alternative high school for youth with emotional and learning challenges. Jon began as a residential counselor, and his work with youth was so exemplary that Jon became the head residential counselor and helped lead the expansion of that program substantially in his three short years there.
During that time Jon also began pursuing part-time a Masters Degree at Harvard University in literature, with an emphasis on African American literature, in particular with a thesis on Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston, was a highly inspirational women who rose from a small all black town Eatonville, FL in the early 1920's or so, to arrive in Harlem around the time of the Harlem Renaissance, and struck up a lively relationship with Langston Hughes and others. Jon received a Masters In Arts from Harvard in 1984.
After leaving the Charles River Academy in 1983, with statement to the effect from his supervisor Dennis McGuire: "if you ever have the opportunity to hire Jon Myers, do, as you will find none better;" Jon was blessed to be hired by the Cambridge Housing Authority to develop a newly funded pre-employment program for youth living in public housing in Cambridge. As with the Charles River Academy, Jon was working with and indeed, inspiring challenging youth, with a wide range of racial and ethnic diversity. After just one year of Jon's leadership, under the supervision of Steve Swanger of Tenant Services, and working along with the late Ron O'Connor on staff, the program's funding was doubled by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and moved from one development then, Jefferson Park in North Cambridge to Newtowne Court and Roosevelt Towers in Cambridge. The program inspired and trained youth living in public housing for career-related things. The Work Force as the program was known, received the first of many awards in 1990 as one of ten programs to received a Ford Foundation Innovations award. After getting the program off to a great start, Jon left his role as program developer and Youth Programs Director, a he began to consider political office in Cambridge in 1986.
First Jon, did consulting work for then Employment Resources Inc. in 1986/87, one of the federal employment and training entities, serving mainly low and moderate income residents of many Massachusetts cities. Jon worked as a public relations consultant raising the visibility of the organization. A particular area of emphasis of this work, was to increase awareness among local and state elected officials, through a legislative breakfast for one.
in March 1987, Jon began his first run for the Cambridge City Council. It seemed like a near impossible assignment. Nine entrenched iconic Councillors held the nine seats, and eleven challengers jumped into the race as well. Jon's commitment was to bring service to the people of North Cambridge, where he began, in the neighborhood of legendary Thomas "Tip" O'neill. Jon finished first of the eleven challengers, and just missed election by 132 votes. In 1988, Jon became the Housing Director for Tri-CAP community action program in Malden, Medford and Everett, MA. Jon managed a staff of seventeen and a million dollar budget in serving thousands of low and moderate income residents of the three city area.
Running again, in 1989, Jon was elected to the first of three two year terms on the Cambridge City Council. Jon's has an abundance of accomplishments on the City Council. Continuing his commitment to children and families, Jon led the effort to establish a city-wide youth employment office, as well as an Office of Workforce Development. Jon also had two massive mediation situations, involving MIT, the City of Cambridge and the community. One was chairing an exhaustive public process to finally reach aa long-term home for the CASPAR homeless emergency center, which had been stalled for fourteen years. Additionally, Jon led the effort to resolve the South of Pacific street, rezoning, resulting in a seventy acre portion of the Cambridgeport neighborhood being rezoned. The result was the biotech boom, in the area between MIT and Central Square, along with a neighborhood park, and reduced density development nearest the neighborhood.
After voluntarily leaving the City Council at the end of 1995; Jon began the work to found Training Innovations Inc.(TII). TII was a non-profit geared to set up career related partnerships among businesses, schools and youth. Jon was able initiate and receive five years of Commonwealth of Massachusetts funding from 1996, through the budgetary crisis in late 2001, which carried through 2002. At this point, Jon decided, he did not want to be dependent on government funding.
A spiritual awakening: Finding his purpose
Ah...it is worth noting that also in March, 1996, the entire divine element of this situation kicked in. In March, 1996, Jon and his former wife, now deceased, began separation processes in their marriage. On more than one level, Jon saw this as divine intervention. Spiritually, the entire element of finding the hidden treasure of adversity began at this point. While each party brought their imperfections in the marriage; Jon was guided to spiritually seize this event, as a profound event for transformation in his life. Jon considers himself blessed to begin a substantial period of self-growth and improvement, which actually continues to this day. Jon did not begin this self-exploration, because he was a bad person, more the opposite, more that Jon, as most of us had much to learn in the way of maturity, respect and becoming a stronger, more compassionate person.
Also on a practical level, Jon was thrust into the relative horrors of our modern day divorce and family court system, in perhaps the most challenging place of all: Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Given the fundamental sense of family that was given to him, by four grandparents and two parents, within a six block area in Scranton, PA and his own commitment to children, youth and families, Jon could not yield to any prescription for his own children that was less than fair and caring. For more than twenty years on some level, Jon stood in and battled inequities on behalf of his children.
The results again occurred on more than one level: 1) Jon found his own inner strength and sense of sacred purpose by this amazingly challenging appropriate battle; 2) Jon changed greatly as a person, in terms of personal qualities, and really learned how to fight and battle in calm and appropriate ways, even respectful; and 3) Jon developed a Science of understanding around challenging personality types, and an educational sense of moving us towards a more decent society on many levels.
A key element of Jon's story is finding the relative horror that exists within our divorce and family court system. Divorce is treated as profit-making industry. The genuine considerations of children and families are secondary, and even prone to manipulation. Some, will say: "Well this is divorce, what did you expect?" Jon says: "No, this is America and you, me and we need to demand much more. When corruptive practices exist at place, where we need to be most gentle and concerned, with regard to the future of American families then there is a hole in the spiritual fabric of America.
The discovery of such a reality began the formation of Jon's life work. That work began to conducted over the next twenty-three years under unfathomably challenging and even painful circumstances. Somewhat unbeknownst to Jon, was the for the formation of an iceberg under and/or around his life. Jon sees this iceberg effect, as relating in part to his younger brother David Nathan Myers. David Nathan Myers developed a highly inaccurate and volatile perspective pertaining to Jon and their family roots, and was able to deceitfully shift family dynamics to be outrageously against Jon.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction
The net effect of this other worldly family dynamic, along with an ex-wife and the horrors of our modern day divorce system,, was to create a psychological prison for Jon. Jon was viciously and irrationally emotionally assaulted at those points of Jon's perceived vulnerability with regard to family status, finances, and most importantly his children. There was no running away for Jon. Given those things that Jon valued most; he chose to appropriately confront those pillars of unfairness and viciousness in the way of legal harshness and deep narcissism, if not even psychopathic behavior coming from his own family.
Jon was both harmed and falsely emotionally constrained for over twenty years. These cruel circumstances, marked the fertile incubation grounds for Jon's personal and professional growth. It was within these circumstances that Jon found his inner strength, and the whole sense of a science. Given Jon's deep commitment to inspiring youth, in his earlier career and deep familial roots, Jon had a burning desire to do what is right for his own children. This commitment comprised the inner light of the deep and hurtful emotional chamber in which Jon was captured.
Such intense circumstances provide the opportunity for a spiritual revolution within our own being. It is such a cavernous place, where Jon was blessed to find his inner light. While Jon, found his inner light and strength in an extraordinary way; he is inspired again, to help others find their inner light and strength. In 2002, Jon began the work in developing and creating Calm Interventions Inc. In seeing the fundamental harshness and virtually abusive nature of our current Probate and Family Court system; Jon decided that something needed to be done about it.
Jon's life and professional work, has consistently been about serving others, and working to bring about resolutions. It was natural then, for Jon to begin to found Calm Interventions as a response to the glaring hole in the fabric of our society, pertaining to children and families experiencing divorce and other related challenges. Compounded with his own families' emotional and psychological assault on him; Jon began to understand that the problems in America were not only related to divorce, or even our legal system; but that our very American integrity and psyche are truly wounded in some way.
In that way, the Science of Inner Strength is a call to what is best and right about America. The Science of Inner Strength is applied to companies and individuals and families and more. The Science of Inner Strength is about finding that sacred strong par of us and bringing forward positively and appropriately.
Jon Myers, The World's Best Mediator and Founder of the Science of Inner Strength loves teaching us.
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The Science of Inner Strength: Your spiritual vaccine: Learn how to navigate virtually any situation with your goodness.
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