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2011 Annual Review: Humility, Gratitude and WOW

Friday, February 3rd, 2012
WOW because sometimes there are just no words in the English language to explain the feeling of gob smacking awesomeness when a light that you have been working your arse off to find suddenly comes ON.

I have always found this process to be incredibly powerful. Each year I marvel at just how far I have come. Either I am moving fast on my interiors or I had a lot of catching up to do…or both. The opportunity to pause, gather, reflect, and vision is very nourishing at a soul level. You will see that this particular annual review is deeply personal and quite revealing.  As someone who works closely with people, I made a decision a long time ago to be sure that anyone I work with knows, without question, that I am very human, that I have my own insecurities, my own egoic fantasies and mythologies, and I am working as fast and hard as I can on my own journey to self mastery and personal power. One of my most favourite quotes is from the Course in Miracles, “In my vulnerability I become invulnerable.” Or…when I have nothing to hide…I am not able to be attacked.

This report is the equivalent of 7 pages of a word document. Not tooooo bad!!!

While I have written a review of the year for many years now, the inspiration to write this as a PDF for download came from Jonathan Fields. His report was a wonderful read. I recommend you read that too.

Make yourself a coffee or tea…., grab some chocolate (Lindt dark Chilli is the best!!)…and enjoy.

Click here to download and read And if you do find that you simply must respond, please do. In the comments below, or to me personally.
I would be grateful if you feel this would be something others would like to read to share it around.
In gratitude,
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The death of wisdom. Learning from experience is a faculty we fail to practice

Monday, January 30th, 2012

Bold statement. Usually not so true for positive deviants who have a tendency to suck the learning juices out of every experience.

Lets look at the facts. We no longer study history. Or those who do are kept in dusty corners of old Universities. How do I know this? There has been historical precedent to a collapsing economy, not just in the 1930’s but going back time and again from the beginning of time. There has been historical precedent for pretty much every version of war, going back to when man first sneezed. Even when we look at climate change, there is countless examples throughout history of humanity of the perils of treating nature and natural systems with disdain. Is any of the ‘expert’ voices out there referring to what history has taught us?

We do not have any eldership in our ‘modern’ day communities. Tell me how much wisdom has been passed down from your family elders in your life time? What have you learned from your grandparents, or even your parents? Where is the collective wisdom of our elders? Lost in a nursing home somewhere were we can’t ever find it. We think we are superior to our elders. That they know nothing because they didn’t have an iSomething, or connection to the internet. So we remove them from sight, and mind, failing to see the significant contribution they have to make. They know how to survive in hardship and depression, tools we may well need. What else can they teach us? What about how to grow old with dignity, how to make peace with death, how to read signs? (not the obvious ones) There is a beautiful movie, Bab’aziz, that has as its central story the gift of wisdom past from an old Sufi man to his granddaughter. What tragedy is the loss of this heritable wisdom in our culture.

We ignore wisdom of indigenous communities. We scoff in our arrogance, that they know nothing. But in their knowing nothing they survived and thrived for far longer than our little thrive moments which have been few and far between. How could anyone navigate across the vast Pacific Ocean in canoes without any instruments save for those supplied by nature? Stars, currents, wind, birds. Dumb luck, or some highly evolved navigation system that might offer us a few opportunities to learn from natural systems? What have they to teach us about paying attention to the instruments provided for freely by nature? Whole learning systems are literally dying as the elders die. Lost to us.

Our leaders of industry and politicians are far to wrapped up in the short term future to even lift a wisdom muscle that might involve considering the past. This is obvious.

But what about you? Do you take time to reflect, not just on your past, but on the past of your elders? History, ever given that a good look? Even simple reflection on the lessons you have learned from today, from your joys and pains, frustrations and humiliations? Do you use these as your school of daily wisdom?

As someone who occasionally delivers learning programs into organisations, I don’t need to see the studies on where real learning is gained. It always comes with experience. With getting our hands dirty, our hearts broken, our ego’s dented. Every day is an opportunity to learn. Even better if learning is facilitated through reflection, inquiry and some form of witnessing and reflecting back by another who holds the fullest expression of your truth as worth investing in. This is the work I mostly do that I love so. How valuable is this…better than a Harvard degree? Hell yeh. The school of the crucible of life.

Take a stand for your own wisdom. Cultivated over a lifetime, seeded by your ancestors, attended to daily. The world will thank you for it.

Tell me how you are cultivating your wisdom, or where you see communities learning from their elders in our ‘modern’ world.

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SOPA, The Year of the Dragon, WWIII – Black Swans and no this is not what you think.

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

2012 will be the year of people. Regular people. Mothers, fathers, youth. Tax paying, hard working, making ends meet kind of people. People from wealthy countries, not so wealthy countries, black people, white people, gay and straight people. People will find their inner dragon.

It started loudly as the Arab Spring, and then it shifted to the USA and the Occupy movement. In Europe the fastest growing political group is the Pirate Party, started in Sweden, made up of mostly 18 to 30 year olds against online censorship. It will move at the speed of light, in totally unexpected ways. Because people are waking up to the power they always have held as a collective.

The politicians and power mongers are not reading the signs. Their hubris and arrogance is making them the blind. They forget that money does  NOT buy everything. Never has, never will. The illusion is that money will buy votes, that money makes blind, mute, deaf slaves. But they have forgotten history. In their hubris and arrogance they have forgotten that people, the masses, us, do have a voice. We can say no. And when the workers of the system refuse to show up for work, the system breaks down. I am not speaking of unionism. And I am not a socialist. I am speaking of the power of people collectively protesting to no longer being slaves to a system that is being kept alive for the few. Of the travesty of greed and pride run rampant. Of the acceptance of evil as a normal day to day thing. Evil – like it being perfectly acceptable for some people to have all the gizzmo’s in the world made by hands of enslaved children. Or, evil like the rape and pillage of earth, making the local people’s environment toxic, and inhabitable.

Everyone knows that the system is broken. Broken. What people forget is the power they hold in their voice and action to stand up and speak.

I watched the great TED produced 13 minute video clip by Clay Shirky telling the truth about SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act).  His final words where that even if SOPA was defeated, it would return.

The fight would not be over. Be prepared for the next round.

Now here is the truth.

If any version of SOPA clears the American legal system, we are looking at WWIII. Not the usual war with guns and military, but the turning of the rest of the Western world on the ‘mighty’ USA. And lets face it, the USA already has much of the non-Western world as enemies. I am not sure anything less than this type of global uprising of people will break the bubble of delusion that holds the USA in their own minds as this place that is an exception to the rest of the world. A place where they can get away with the very things they accuse other countries of. (Like electoral fraud, invading soverign nations covertly, rendition, war crimes…the list is long)

(To be clear, there are very wonderful, magnificent, brave people in the USA, people working their arses off to stop this kind of behaviour. I am speaking of the country as a whole… of the archetypal USA full blown in its shadow.)

When nations like Australia, New Zealand and countries in Europe, the usual allies of the USA, see their citizens arrested in their own country by the USA because of ‘their’ ‘copyright’ laws, then all the hell of Pandora’s box will be unleashed. When corporate USA thinks they can control the internet anywhere in the world, they better think again.

Like it or not, the internet belongs to no one country. And no one company, despite Googles efforts to change that. The internet is the defining invisible force of our next stage of humanities evolution. It is the boundless, freedom finding, liberating energetic network that transcends ownership. It has its shadow, as does all things. (Fraud, legitimate piracy, the ability to shred an innocent persons reputation in seconds, for example.)  But for any country or company to attempt to ‘own it’ will create such wrath from the rest of the world.

There has been so much talk about 2012, about the Mayan calendar ending, about this time being the most important time in humanities history. Frankly I find this just a lot of distraction and noise, a place for people to focus their energy and make a shit load of money, continuing to encourage the type of fear that keeps people from thinking and seeking clearly.

History demonstrates that every single time in history has had moments of extreme crisis, where humanity reached a critical threshold. This is not the big one, it is simply another one. Can we stop the spin and get on with what needs to be done. We have too much work to do to spend any energy at all thinking this is the BIG time in humanity. All this does is continue to affirm our need to be ‘special’. This is a hollow egotistical need. It distracts us from our real purpose.

I suspect that what will knee-cap us will be the Black Swan. It will not be the usual suspects. Sure, the economy might fail. It has failed before and we survived. And god knows the financial system is in need of collapse in its current form. The EU might collapse and…people will survive. The Middle East might turn into a seething sess pool stirred on by the USA via Israel. Yep, this has been going on for the history of humanity. I am not glossing over the tragedy of all of these things that seem pretty certain to unfold.

Mother Nature will rise up and say enough, in her usual fashion, reducing humans to acknowledging that she has the kind of power that humbles us all. She is angry at being raped, pillaged, and treated with such flagrant disrespect. Her gizzards have been sucked dry, her skin scared and polluted, her oxygen poisoned. If she were one of our children we would be screaming foul to all four corners of the Universe.

But will anyone expect the world to turn on the USA? All of the world? I don’t think anyone sees that in the future. SOPA could do that. In an instant.

We are no longer working in linear time. The splitting of the atom changed all of that. We are moving at the speed of light, and at this speed institutions we thought impossible to fall can and will.

Interesting times, yes. We need wisdom (which won’t be found from our elected leaders), and is not something we have much of. We threw wisdom away when we made our elders elderly, and stopped learning from them. When we stopped being students of history, where the follies of man have been documented in one form of other for all of human time, and to which we have way too much arrogance to pay attention to.

The signs are all there. The cards have been played. Now it is up to us…how will we play our hand?

The perfect metaphor for this time is the lone man standing against the tank in Tiananmen Square. Each of us holds this potential, to stand up to. On this day, January 23rd 2012, the dawning of the year of the Chinese Water Dragon, we the people are called on to find our inner dragon. Lets hear the ROAR.

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The Four Faces of Power

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

Our journey in life is to learn to become ever more empowered, and to do this when the world offers us multiple temptations, seductions and distractions, or when we are betrayed, humiliated and shamed.

In my annual review (I will be publishing shortly) I have realised that my work is about supporting people and teams to manage their person power.  How do we build a base of personal power that is rarely able to be diminished no matter what the circumstances? This is where my work with people really counts. It involves and includes integrity, clarity, truth, insight, foresight, advanced listening and choosing intelligence (yes there is an intelligence to make wise choices), and many other things. Like radical self honesty. You know, the raw, real, hard stuff.

Pretty much anyone I know wants it…the ability to stay in their own power when their personal brand of devil comes a courtin’. And we all have our personal brand of devil.

I read a great quote yesterday…about being the kind of woman (or man) that when my feet hits the floor in the morning the devil says..”Oh crap, she is UP!”

So, lets jump into the four faces of power.

Power over

This is the ego run rampant. Our desire to be better than, to have superiority, to keep others small so we can feed our need to be BIG. Its ugly, nasty and the world is full of this. More and bigger guns/weapons/smarts/houses/cars/toys/things…..This type of power comes from pride, greed, hunger, vengeance (I want to hurt you because you hurt me and I will do that by showing you how much better I am than you…)
It can also be systems run rampant. (Systems designed by ego’s run rampant) The power over us as a collective in our money and value system, for example. Or our health care system. Our political system…education system…they are pretty much all in there today..
Power over can be overt, or covert. When we really dive deep into our psyche’s we all have some degree of hunger for power over. For example…when did you feel superior to anyone? Specific example..These things don’t happen to me. They happen to other people, but not me. (Illness, accidents, natural disasters…) Oh really, and those other people are what…not as good as you???
I have a very high power over detector. Often why people pay me. They know they can’t get away with their BS.

There are some instances where power over is a positive thing when handled with skill and care. A teacher needs to have power over a class room. Not to be a tyrant, but to ensure a bunch of rowdy 6 year olds do not run rough shod over her and the other children. This kind of power over comes from both power in and power with.

Power with

This is the principle of synergy. 1 +1 = anything greater than 2. Or, when two or more people come together in the right environment, the sum of the parts is always much greater than what one person has to offer as a solo. In truth nothing ever happens in solo, so this is a principle that we would all be wise to embrace.
If your relationships have negative synergy, then you need to seriously consider its viability. (Negative synergy means that 1 + 1 = anything less than 2.)
I play in this field with teams and clients in relationship with intimate/business partners…keeping everyone honest, real. It is quite extraordinary when power with becomes evident.

Power from within

This is the juicy stuff. When you are deeply seated in your own power. Your sovereignty, integrity, authorship. It is not a permanent state, just an FYI. Why? Because we are designed to evolve and grow, and as we do, how we manage power also evolves. Plus things happen that we do not expect, and our centre is thrown off. This is the deal…the reason why we want to be in partnership with people who can whiff from across the Universe when your power base has been eroded and will kick you back to consciousness lickety split.
Power from within is all about congruence…when head and heart and being are in alignment. To get to THIS place requires a level of consciousness that is rare. Many people state they want this kind of personal power, but in truth, they don’t. They have too much invested in staying in their woundedness. Or they are not willing to do the kind of work it requires to move in this direction.

Power as

‘Power as’ is an external force that influences us. The power of an archetype or a myth for example. The archetype of the mother, the hero, the warrior has ‘power as’ an archetype.
We give people ‘power as’. The policeman, the banker, the politician. In our times, the celebrity has ‘power as’. Or specific people like the President, Gandhi. There is also the ‘power as’ of God’s, deities, or even superstitions. Black cats, ladders.
Movements or institutions may have ‘power as’. Banks used to have ‘power as’, but that is eroding. The collective mind has ‘power as’. Mother nature takes our breath away frequently in her ‘power as’…
Often what we have given “power as” is unconscious to us. Many of us are unaware of our deep superstitions. We are under the influence of ‘power as’ archetypes without knowing it. Ruled by the victim, the child, the saboteur..wondering how we found ourselves in this same spot yet again.
We can also develop our ‘power as’. There is a caveat. To be real in our intention to have ‘power as’ and not power over. George Cluney has power as. I don’t know him (open to an intro..of course), but I suspect that he uses his ‘power as’ to do good things in the world. He can and will open doors. Are they the right ones for the right reason?

The more congruent you are, the more empowered you are, the more likely you will have ‘power as’.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this article…on what your personal brand of devil is, how he shows up, and where you lose your power?

This article was inspired by an article written by Tom Atlee.

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Year review – endurance running and swimming

Monday, January 9th, 2012

200 meters to go Gold Coast Marathon 2011

In 2011 I ran at least 3,380 kms in total. (I have run over 50,000 kms in the last 16 years.)

Swam  approximately 572 kms

I ran my 8th Gold Coast Marathon on very limited training (maximum run distance was 18 kms..for non-marathon runners, you usually train up to 37 kms in one run) and came in with a 3 hours 48 min marathon. I negative split my last 10 kms. (This means I ran the last 10 kms faster than the first 10 kms. Pretty good for a marathon. Very few people do this.) My Personal Best marathon time was in 2000 and was 3 hours 39. So to only go 9 mins slower on no training (my PB was also on limited training) is a good indication of how much I could do it I really put my head down, which I am not planning to. I want to run for enjoyment, and not for times. This time qualified me for any event as an age grouper (in my age group of course) on the planet. Boston, Comrades, 6 Foot Track. Since I have done 6 Foot and Boston, Comrades was it. June 3rd 2012 will see me at the start of this. I have wanted to run this event for many years, so I am excited to be part of the world’s largest and most enduring ultra marathon.

 

Swimming

Since I finally conquered the 200 fly in one continuous swim last year for my 50th, I have decided this year to focus on my 200 IM (individual medley) This means working on my back stroke and breast stroke. The goal is a 3 min 15. I have swum a 3 min 33, so we have about 18 secs to drop. I am also determined to get my tumble turns really sharp. The ‘slap the wall’ type turns that the elite guys do. Have gone back to the beginners book on this, unlearning to get this right. Give me another month.

 

Events

Mt Glorious 33kms in early February. The hottest event I have ever run in. Bloody hard, but made easier by running with 2 girlfriends and making a day of it. Suffered from heat stroke and leeches, all then followed with a beer chaser or two at the local pub.

Gold Coast Marathon 8th one down, 2 to go to get my 10th Tshirt.

Lamington Classic- 21 kms day one, 21 kms day two.

I don’t compete in swimming, only with myself. Although one of my swim squad members is hoping to race me in the 200 IM.

 

Lessons learned

*The Gold Coast marathon was another lesson in relaxation and letting go of all expectations and simply running within myself. I have always done better when I do this. I registered two days before the marathon. I had a lose race plan. Run at 5.30 pace. See how I felt at the 32 kms mark. In the end I couldn’t run this slowly. So ran between 5.15 and 5.20 pace. My average over the 42 was 5.20. It felt very comfortable.

As you age, the number of times that you show up for an event and feel good becomes more haphazard. I felt great, and I think because I had very mild expectations (to come in just under 4 hours, even by 2 secs) I was absolutely thrilled with this event.

*6 Foot track this year I made a few BIG mistakes. Also silly mistakes, as I know better. Last year I was relaxed, no expectations, and did not know anything about the course. I ran a very good time. This year I had my expectations up, and wanted to nail the very tricky downhill start and not get caught in the slow lane. Which I did well. But on the morning of the event, I had severe diarrhea (common) and did not replace my fluids with the right salts etc. And it was warmer than last year. So…too much pressure on me, not relaxed enough and the major mistake of not getting my fluids right before we started. This was a silly mistake for an experienced distance runner. By the 20 km mark I was getting serious cramping in my entire body, and I knew my systems where shutting down. I wisely chose to pull out. Only the second event in my 16 year history of running that I have ever quit.

*I have also started to drink a proper sports replacement drink after every session in summer. I get my blood tested for hormones and salt every 3-4 months and have been working with a wonderful GP who is a specialist in female hormones during menopause. She has also been working on my sodium, potassium, magnesium. Its a fine balance. I have to tune in constantly, as well as get the tests. Actually, the blood tests usually only confirm what I already know. The area of sports medicine for an endurance female running during menopause is a poorly researched area. I am my own study.

 

*I have really embraced the truth that my running/swimming is as powerful as any form of mediation practice. I train every single day, with rare exception, and the discipline is no longer an issue. It is automatic. My lifestyle. I love it. It is my stress release, my anger therapy, my social time, my time in nature, out doors, and on weekends, coffee time. That running in the forest is where a part of my spirit comes alive. There is a me that is a nature sprite. Fleet footed, especially on the downhills, moving with the wind, the trees, the birds, all one song. An experience beyond words. Or running by the ocean, something magnificent happens. That vast body of water called the Pacific is my spiritual, emotional, physical reservoir. I simply cannot live and thrive away from the ocean.

 

*I have also learned that racing, whether it be swimming or running, completely destabilizes me. Short run races, anything less than a marathon, so 5, 10, 15, 21 k, and my competitive self comes out. This is an unbalanced unhealthy part of me. It has an addictive element. As well as an obsessive aspect. I can beat that time, that person, run faster, do better. It is like a dark Alice falling down the rabbit hole. I get caught in the addiction, and my centre of gravity goes out the window. Knowing myself so well, I simply don’t do it anymore. Far better for me to play games with my own times in the pool, and stick to marathons plus. Here the dynamic changes, and it becomes about endurance and survival. Plus in my age group there are less candidates to get caught up in the whole ‘race to win’ game. I watch many people get caught in the trap of addiction to winning, or racing to be better than someone else. Once in this deceptive snare, people make decisions that are unbalanced. They will not listen to their bodies, they will push until they truly break down. They will train themselves into the ground. They will spend hours plotting, planning, crafting strategies. Racing and winning is the drug of choice, and while it might look healthier than alcohol, or drug addiction, it actually is still a serious addiction.

 

*Why do I choose goals like getting my tumble turns sharp, or the times down on my 200 IM?  It gives me something to focus on. It has me go back to learning, adjusting, fine tuning, mastery. Learning is fun. I like the feeling of achievement when I stick it. Swimming is such a technical sport. When you become familiar with a stroke, then you can begin the very fine tuning work that at first is not possible to discern. For example, I can now really distinguish the ‘catch’ part of my stroke through all phases in freestyle, and am beginning to be able to do this in backstroke. That kind of listening ability/tunability only becomes available after the more substantial aspects of the stroke are deeply natural. (see my three part series on tunability)

 

This is not unlike any form of personal development, and I see my sport as critical in my personal development. When our big noisy, clunky aspects of self are clearly seen then we can work on the ever finer levels of refinement.

 

*Finally, in our society today, since the end of WWII, we have lost our education in endurance. Few people in the middle and upper class know about endurance. Distance running is one of my schools of endurance. It teaches me to endure when my soft, indulged self wants to quit. I have never reached for a pain killer (or any other kind of medication) the moment I feel discomfort. Not because I am some sort of hero. But because I was taught from a young age to endure. (In distinction to suffer. Endure was to recognise the pain and hold your centre within it. To learn to respect it, mentally shift focus away from it, and to do the other things that would resolve the pain, like take a nap or see a health professional.)

Part of the reason our world is currently in a deep breakdown is because we have no endurance. We are soft, over entitled, over indulged creatures, seeking instant gratification and the avoidance of age, at all costs. Our children are protected from the outside, from dirt, people, any form of risk, to the extreme. Oversensitised, they get all sorts of allergies. The metaphor does not escape me. This is a big topic, one I won’t dwell on too long here…I think you get my point.

 

For 2012

Running…Comrades marathon (87km) South Africa, June 3rd. The plan is to be fit enough to run it and enjoy the experience.

Running..Gold Coast Marathon, July 1st. Just to finish, get the Tshirt.

Swimming..200 IM on 3.15

 

What are your physical goals for 2012?

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Working ‘with’ not ‘on’ your business. The Pattern Integrity of your business

Monday, December 19th, 2011

Part 3.

Anyone who has been on a team knows that add or subtract one person, and the dynamics of the team changes. Add one more child to a family, the dynamics change. Each team has its pattern integrity. Each relationship between two or more humans has its pattern integrity. Further, each relationship between human and other living things has its pattern integrity. By pattern integrity (see part 1 and 2 of this article) I mean a unique dynamic that is present and holds the integrity of that relationship. If the pattern integrity is not maintained, the relationship breaks down, or breaks up.

At the more complex level, an idea has a pattern integrity. When it is originally born as an idea or impulse, it has an integrity to it, like a seed has a DNA. If we do too much genetic, or in this case, memetic (memes are ideas) modification to the core DNA, we will end up with something very much out of integrity to the original idea/impulse.

This memetic modification happens more often than not. We get seduced by all variations of egoic distractions, like offers for money, fame, and the accouterments of ‘success’. Or by bright shiny objects of various forms. Before we know it, we wake up and our idea is nothing like what we held originally. To hold the pattern integrity of an idea, or a business, or a relationship requires focused effort and attention. Tragically, few people give relationships or ideas this kind of attention consistently.

A business has its own pattern integrity. (I hope you now realise that every dynamic has a pattern integrity…a tree, a spade, a blade of grass, an hour in the day)

Just as in part 2, we tuned into the unique pattern integrity that is you, we are now going to tune into the pattern integrity of your business, or your primary relationships.

In tuning in, it is also important to recognise that each pattern integrity has a beginning, and an end. To honour the pattern integrity of a relationship, we need also to honour that it may be at its natural end. This is dependent on the core DNA of that particular relationship. Endings do not mean failure. They mean endings of the pattern integrity. What is complete is complete. It is the incompletions that cause havoc and emotional/physical stress.

Lets consider an intimate personal relationship. You meet, and whether you like it or not (despite yourself) a dynamic field is already present. Just as two atoms at the quantum level create a field when in approximation of each other, two humans create a field. The integrity of the field is not something you can tamper with. It is a result of everything that has been present to this moment in your life, and everything that has been present in the life of the other. This is what you are tuning into when you tune into the pattern integrity of the relationship. The field can morph with time and changed circumstances, but the core DNA is very consistent. There is a purpose to the dynamic of the relationship that transcends human contamination. When that purpose is done, then so is the relationship. If we really honour the pattern integrity of the relationship, if we approach it with wisdom, then the pattern integrity will inform us as to the nature of the dynamic from moment to moment.

I have been working with a young client who created a project 18 months ago. It was an ambitious project, and from his point of view it failed. When we sit in consideration of this project, he now clearly sees that his original idea was then distorted through giving his power/authority away to people he felt knew better, and/or being seduced by shiny objects, to the point that his original idea looked nothing like its core seed. When he had to pull the pin on the project he suffered tremendous feelings of failure. The work we are now engaged in is to get ALL of the lessons from this experience. In my experience, when people get all of the lessons, they switch from being bitter and disappointed, to being in gratitude. Resentment, vengeance, disappointment, blame, anger..are all residual emotions from unreconciled lessons. The core impulse that this young client had is still resident. In time, and by affording this impulse its respect and honour, he may be able to maintain the pattern integrity of the impulse, and allow it to become expressed in the world in the form for which it was designed.

In my own life, as I use this “tuning in” tool, I listen to the pattern integrity of all of my relationships, with people and with my business. My business has its own dynamic, which is emergent, and therefore ever calling for refining and recrafting. To tune into its expression is a very powerful activity that deserves at least several hours of time a week. (What Michael Gerber from the E-myth talked about as working ‘on’ your business. Here I am suggesting a slight refinement…working ‘with’ your business. Working in partnership with the unique pattern integrity of your business.)

This time of year (late December) is a great time to pause and tune into the pattern integrities of all of our relationships, and with our business, our teams, our families.

To NOT tune to the things that most matter in our life is a tragedy. I urge you to take at least a morning, create a lovely space free from distractions, and tune in…be still, hold the pattern integrity of the dynamic you are tuning in to in front of you in your minds eye, and inquire.

what do you need from me right now to support your fullest expression?
what I am not seeing that you have been working tirelessly to have me see?
what is the truth of this dynamic (write it down, no editing)
what did I do well to support the pattern integrity in 2011?
what do I need to do better?
what would you like to see expressed in 2012?
is there any one thing that I need to do right now to support the fullest expression of the pattern integrity?

I will be taking the time to sit in these questions in reference to my two businesses over the Christmas New Year break. And will do the same with my primary relationships, including the relationship I have with my body. Care to join me?

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deScrooging Christmas, or any day..

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

Don’t you love the experience of being gob smacked by people surprising the heck out of you in the best way?

Today I met with a long standing client who is a senior executive in a big Australian Corporate. He is on his 3 months long service leave, and was in my area, so we made time for a coffee.

This morning he spent a few hours at his friends business, a service station (or gas station for non Australian readers). What did he do? He gave free drive through service. You know, what we all used to get when we went to a service station to fill our cars with petrol? Someone to fill our tank, wash the windscreen, check oil, water, air.

He was greeted with everything from delight, to deep suspicion? What is this for? Who are you raising money for? How much will this cost? When people got over their suspicion, some where able to accept this gesture with gratitude and delight. Others still couldn’t quite accept that this was a gift.

There is so much to explore in this action.

*My clients motivation for doing this? B is a highly creative entrepreneur working in a very uncreative traditional business. He has been in the same company all his life. He truly does not accept or live within the ‘business as usual’ model. And he has managed to get away with this for years. Smart enough to know when to keep a low profile, and when to clash the cymbals and bang the drums. He constantly seeks expansion to his thinking and often in the ordinary, not the exceptional. This action was a way to do that. It was also a way to help a mate. And to be an observer of reactions to the unexpected from total strangers.

*The metaphor he now has for his leadership team is powerful. Where are you working the drive through service? Or…where is the drive through service opportunity? In a business that has a narrow margin of distinction from other similar businesses, drive through service moments are gold. (in ANY business, drive through service moments are Gold)

*Then there is the parallel of a senior executive happily and willingly ‘pumping gas’. How much character does this take? How much ego hurdling? How many of your executives would not only volunteer to do this, but actually craft the idea to do this on their holiday? What does that say about their leadership and character?

There is the response/reaction from the commuters, off to their busy pre Christmas work/life.

*How over saturated are we with being manipulated, coerced, conscripted into, seduced… that we regard with suspicion anything that on the surface looks too good to be true? Truly our over marketed hype has created a deep weariness in us. Warning to all marketers, people are yearning for authenticity in messages. The remarkable Seth Godin is an advocate for this.

*People who are clean and clear in advance with their agenda’s are a rare breed. This is a topic I cover in Speak the Truth, my free 23 page ebook. (If you haven’t seen it download it now, no strings, no email address required…just a simple download here.) To show up in all of our relationships with a clear and declared agenda is so powerful, so refreshing. It took my client a costume (Christmas hat) and many repeats of denial to any hidden agenda for people to trust his intentions. Really sad indictment on our society.

*For many people, this simple unexpected act at the start of their day would have set up their day…when people do unexpected deeply thoughtful gestures for us, our heart sings and that energy can carry us through all sorts of bumps. How do we possibly measure the value of these kinds of gestures on our health, our well being, our productivity, kindness to others, our ability to reciprocate? Such a small, inexpensive act, with very significant ripples. We never know the value of a smile, in the very right moment. It has changed lives. Yet where do we measure this in our economy, and our bottom line? And why don’t we consider this? Happiness is after all what most of us most want. Happiness and human connection.

*The tragedy of people so burnt by life that they cannot accept the gift. How far have we come from the gift economy (see my article on this) that we have become Scrooged. Fear, contraction, hopelessness, scarcity, distrust have become standard operating systems for our  over consumed society.

There is a lot in this world that needs life support, blood transfusions, love and care. There is a lot of noise about collapse. Never doubt though that each of us can make a BIG difference.

We can begin with a heart felt smile and a genuine act of service to another. The cost is a bit of time and energy. The return, beyond measure.

Businesses can easily and affordably create drive through service experiences. To do so will put them in the class of exceptional service for their customers, a rare rare experience.

I bow to the mastery and inspiration of B. How lucky am I to work with such extraordinary people.

And to all of you reading this…where is your drive though? Can’t see it?…Hint…it is right in front of you with the very next person you speak to. At the least, smile…

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..the dance between evolution and equilibrium..

Monday, November 7th, 2011

 

The Certainty of Globalisation and the Science of Dynamic Equilibrium
or…the dance between evolution and equilibrium.

 

The often over used word, equilibrium, is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as “any condition in which all acting influences are cancelled by others resulting in a stable, balanced, or unchanging system.”

Equilibrium is not inactivity, but rather dynamic balance. The balance can be in the domains of physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual. Life is filled with fluctuations towards and away from equilibrium.

Nature exhibits an intrinsic drive towards equilibrium. The front door of your home is opened in mid winter and cold air rushes into the warm interior. Very quickly though, the imbalance disappears and the air temperature throughout the room stabilises. It has never been observed that one side of the room gets colder while the other side gets hotter, for no apparent reason. Just as gas molecules in a small container disperse throughout a larger container in ways that give each gas molecule equal space. You will not find gas molecules gathering in one corner of a container.

Greater forces overpower smaller forces. A too heavy object sitting on a too weakly constructed shelf will eventually fall through, and may come to rest on the floor, if the floor is strong enough. At the atomic level, the constant move to equilibrium continues, even when the overt appearance is of an object at rest.

Nature seeks equilibrium spontaneously, as nature is always most efficient and economical.

So, what has all of this to do with globlisation?

For most of the history of humanity we have lived as nation states, pockets of humanity, similar to the gas molecules in a small glass jar. Within our own ‘jar’ we have found our dynamic equilibrium. However, we have also been pulled by evolutions arrow in a constant quest to evolve.

This is the dance between equilibrium and evolution, and it has gone on for all of life as we know it, and will continue, long after you are I are dust.

Over the last 50 plus years, as borders have become more fluid, and systems such as money, trade, and energy have become less border dependent, our ‘jar’ has become bigger.

As I wrote in the article, Eventually we all pay, when I lose my manufacturing job in a wealthy nation state to cheaper labor in a developing country, I may suffer loss while someone else gets pulled out of poverty.

The world is in the middle of a significant process of dynamic equilibrium. We have one part of the room(world) that is cold, and another that is hot. This is not a permanent situation. Indeed we have been through many of these movements to dynamic equilibrium already, and will continue, probably at an accelerated rate, as Universe evolves. The big difference now is that for the first time we are dealing with the whole world, and not just little communities.

Our ‘jar’ full of gasses is indeed the world. Pollution in China affects the fisherman in Tuvalu. Low wages over ‘there’, mean someone loses over ‘here’. It is how things go when  dynamic equilibrium is in process. At some point, in the near future, world wide wages will balance out. There will be no ‘cheap’ wages to be found, which will require a different model than the one we have.

Then there will be other areas/factors that will fall out of equilibrium. Because this is the way nature works, especially when man gets his hands on things without being mindful of the precessional effects. This constant dance.. evolution.. equilibrium.. evolution.. equilibrium….

We are losing species, but while species die, (and possibly humans too), other species flourish. The earth and nature will do just fine in the whole…equilibrium will find its space, in the end. Until another evolutionary event comes along…and then the dance will resume.

The point is that we have to start seeing the world as a whole. We can no longer afford the luxury or indulgence of living in our little glass ‘jar’. And in this whole view, we need to recognise that we are in the process of finding equilibrium within globalisation. Don’t get too comfortable though, because evolutions arrow will find a new target.

Globalisation is in process, whether we like it or not. The real questions lie in how wisely we can support the process of dynamic equilibrium at all levels, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually.

Let me know your thoughts….

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Eventually we all pay

Monday, October 31st, 2011

Here in Australia we just had Qantas shut down for nearly 2 days, stranding thousands of people around the world. If you scratch below the surface of this action and zero in on the source of why the executive team decided to do this, it reveals the cost of a world in the middle of a transition to globalisation.

Complexity can never be looked at through a simple lens. As Bucky Fuller said, we have to start with the whole (synergy). Sure, if I were a passenger stranded in some place, with a limited time to get to a very important event, or to start my holiday that I have saved for for years, I would be seriously pissed off. And if I were a worker, imminently facing the loss of my job to cheaper labour overseas, I would be frightened.

But we simply cannot point a finger of blame while at the same time enjoying the fruits of the cost of this. Globalisation means jobs are off-shored. I get to buy my electronic gizzmo’s for a much cheaper price. Lovely. I get cheaper travel with airlines that have cheaper labour. Lovely. But at what price? And when do I ask that question? As I am paying for my next exciting techno gadget? Or when my whole livelihood is threatened? For as surely as my job may be under threat, somewhere in the world other families are celebrating their success in getting the very job we have lost. Just as blue green algae is celebrating a world with more CO2.

I am actually a fan of globalisation. It is a tide coming in that has its own momentum. To try to fight it is futile. Same as trying to fight the advent of the car. Sucks if you made your livelihood from horse buggies. (I do think we could transition to globalisation in a much smarter way than we are doing it now, by the way.)

The incident with Qantas is just another little signal in a sea of signals that change is moving faster and faster. The ability to adapt to change is ever increasingly becoming a skill of high value. Do you have this skill? Or are you the one resisting, being dragged kicking and screaming?

We cannot rape the earth of its millions-of-years-to-develop oil and gas, and not expect to pay. We cannot reach 7 billion people on the planet and not expect to pay. We cannot live lifestyles of obscene waste and not expect to pay. We cannot buy our clothes and toys cheaply from China and India and not expect to pay.

The question is, when will we pay? Or who will pay, and when? Qantas is a signal that its current workers are being asked to pay now. Today, or, in a few months or short years…they will still pay. No matter when, they will pay and they will not like it. Our dislike of things like a carbon tax is just about our reluctance to pay now. For somewhere down the track, soon, someone will pay. Will it be us, or our kids? Or both?

The tab will be tallied. This is unavoidable. Who pays and when, this we are bickering about. But make no mistake, it is simply a delusional delay.

Until we start to incorporate a different accounting methodology (integral accounting) that takes into consideration the all-in-cost of what we do, we are living in the delusion that we can get away with our many years of blindness, or sheer willful ignorance.

Part of globalisation at the spiritual level (now manifesting at the physical level) is the ever dawning realisation that we are all one.  Truly I cannot do anything in my little isolated world and not deny the consequences. We no longer have that luxury. The people in the Maldives are paying for us now. As are the people in Tuvalu, and Bangladesh. The Amazon…the list is long….and painful. Animals…species, extinction…and yes, some of us privileged westerners are starting to pay. The confluence of the GFC and climate change, our health system, over population, all of these things are now showing up in a perfect storm that will effect all of us, even the 1%. In different ways, for sure. But there is no ‘there’ we can run away to. My air is your air. My sea is your sea. A virus is spread in the same air and water…

Getting fit and eating healthy food after years of indulgence hurts, in the short term. Few people enjoy that initial transition. But most people who stick with it, actually discover a vitality they had not even realised they had lost. To choose consciously to pay the all-in-price for everything we do will hurt, big time. Big changes in lifestyle will need to be made. We all know this, at some level, and are seeking to delay the arrival time for as long as we can. I propose that on the other side, when we are living with full consciousness of ‘we are all one’, then we will discover a vitality and humanity that we have long forgotten.

In the current movie, “In Time” there is a quote, repeated several times, that for a few to be immortal, many must die. Will, the character played by Justin Timberlake, has a response. “No one should be immortal if even one person has to die.” Idealistic, sure. But anything less reduces us to the lizards that we have evolved from.

Your thoughts?

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Vocational arousal, dancing bubbles of joy

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

When you love your work, you spend your days in a heightened state of arousal. Pretty cool. What’s not to love about that?

The world is filled with people who have brought the system…”do as you are told, go to school, get the required education, get a good job, work for the machine.” Today we are seeing the youth saying… “Hell no. I start my life saddled with massive debt from an education that I was told I needed and now I can’t get a job?”

What is a job? And who would want one long term? A job has no vitality. It is a way to fill your day while you are planning what you really want to do. And often in the planning you become numb, totally swallowed by the machine. And you forget who you are. And what role you have to play that makes your eyes sparkle and your heart sing. So we have cities filled with zombies. The most aroused they get is through very ordinary sex, too much social media, or crap TV, magazines, gossip…

Bucky Fuller did the computer sums and discerned that it is probably cheaper to pay people to stay at home, to not commute, to not produce stuff that adds no real value but consumes earth energy. They then might have a chance to discover where they are vocationally aroused. And we would honour people for doing what was spontaneously arousable within them that adds value to the whole. We would honour those who love to do the caring roles that our current society regards as worthless…like taking care of children, the elderly, the physically challenged. We would not say that they are less value than the guy who gets paid silly money for trading bits on a screen. We would honour men who wanted to be stay home dads, and women who wanted to be stay home mums. We would celebrate the artists and artisans, music makers, poets, the masters and the apprentices. We would measure value by the joy in the eyes of the creative spirit, and the contribution they make to the joy and wellbeing of all.

How to navigate your way back to vocational arousal? Most of us have lost the map. And we have no idea where to begin looking. It is actually an inner journey. More like an archeological dig. Much debris needs to be removed, many things need to be unlearned. Exquisite care needs to be taken. Support of a fabulous guide is helpful. Time needs to be surrendered. Radical truth needs to be confronted and lived in. Views need to be expanded, for most of us are seeing through the lens we have been taught is the only lens. Whole worlds become visible.

Vocational arousal is life. It is the twinkle. The dance and the music.

This, or nothing…

Ah joy

Delicious dancing bubbles of joy

There is no ending

and

no beginning….

Only an eternity

of

light

With deep homage to Barbara Marx Hubbard for coining the term, vocational arousal.

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