Monday, June 27, 2011

Resistance and why it is good for you!!

Steven Pressfield is the author of "The Legend of Bagger Vance", a great Movie as well. He is also the author of two non-fiction books, "The War or Art" and "Do the Work" that are masterful at describing Resistance. I love a passage from the "War of Art", The counterfeit innovator is wildy self confident. The real one is scared to death.

I love that!! The real innovator is scared to death! Why is that and why would that be a good thing? Because the real Innovator is doing their purpose, their work for themselves as opposed to doing it for acceptance, recognition or acknowledgement from anyone else. For most people their actions are driven for making someone else happy or for being recognized for the accomplishment. I'll give you that this is a generalization but its also very true.

How many people that you know are you absolutely certain that they Love themselves wholly? How many people do you know that compromise their integrity to themselves for the sake of maintaining the status quo'? Seriously, How many? Okay an easier question, How many people have you seen completely implode their reputation, their "life" of so much potential because they did not Love themselves and bowed to resistance? What about Tiger Woods? Anthony Weiner? The Governator? Just take those three Dudes, would anyone in their right mind thinking in their right mind make such stupid mistakes? In a word Nope!!!! Their out of alignment actions were a result of resistance. And they caved, they were not scared enough to make an authentic choice. And I want to be clear, I'm not judging them, they just happen to be great examples.

Now on the other hand, take Thomas Edison. Do you think he was worried about what anyone thought when trying to come up with the incandescent light bulb.....those 2000 times before he actually figured it out? I don't think so, he was immersed in the process, and resistance had no room to latch on to his creative process. I'm sure he struggled at times, and you know at times he was scared to death, but he loved himself enough to keep going by what he was driven by. He Loved himself

So with that, let's go back to loving oneself. And you may have read or heard this before, but before you can be loved by another, you must first love yourself....and the good news is that it is the most natural thing that an individual can do. At your essence, you are Love, you only need to allow it to be part of your experience. So why is that so difficult for so many people (and it is)? Because we have been conditioned to think that love is something to be earned and that is external to us and its not. You can't be loved!! You are Love, and when you allow Love to be part of your experience, you experience the connection with all that is and those that are close to you. Do you think Love just goes away when a relationship ends? No!! Love does not stop, it is enduring.

You don't get what you want, you get what you are!!! Want to be loved? Be the Love that you are. The most important person you can be Love with is yourself and to do so, you only need to allow it as you are. Your relationship with the Love that you are is more important than any other relationship you have. Be the Love that you are, Love yourself, take time everyday to rest in that blissful state and just see what happens. Simple not easy.....but well worth it.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

How are you viewing life today?

For that matter, how do you view life everyday? It's kind of a big deal, you know!!! Are you taking control and being deliberate creating the life you desire? Or are you kind of going with the flow of what comes your way, not too unlike a ball in a Pin Ball game?

Now to be clear, the control that you have is over your thoughts, how and where you think and the resulting perspective. And those thoughts and perspectives that you hold right now are paving what you will experience in the future. What you are experiencing right now as your physical experience is a result of thoughts and perspectives that you have previously held.

What's the Rub? Spend as much time in a perspective of confidence and curiosity and be pleasantly surprised by the resulting manifestations. If something catches you off guard, don't resist it, don't despair....just find it interesting and let it go. Move on to a higher vision. Don't pitch a tent in the valley of discontent and call it home, Move on.

Revel in the life you find yourself in right now, and if its not what you want, change your thoughts about it........"Isn't that interesting, I found another way of not getting exactly what I want", then move on to finding a different way of getting what you do want by paving the road with calm, confident and progressive thoughts that support your desires.

It's really that simple, just not that easy depending upon your habits of thought. Just remember its never about the other person or the situation, its about you and your thoughts about the situation or the other person. Take responsibility for your thoughts and what they are creating, and be the Love that you are........and you will have the life of your desires!!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Rory McIlroy.....US Open Champion!!!

Conratulations my man!! Very impressive performance yesterday from the 22 year old from Northern Ireland. He won going away....but for me more impressive was how he handled it. His fellow countryman Padraig Harrington made the comment that Rory would break Jack Nicklaus' Major win total of 22 which is a ridiculous feat in itself. All the pundits were calling him the next Tiger Woods, and one European player called him the the next Seve. All this being said about a a kid that has won once here in the States and once on the European tour.

Think about it, your 22 years old by 46 days and your peers are heaping all of this praise on you before playing the 4th round of perhaps the most difficult golf tournament in the world. Where would your head be? Holy Cow!!! Let the young man enjoy himself. Well with all the hype, Rory executed beautifully keeping his thinking where it should be, on each shot and not the hype. Not an easy task but well accomplished.

Resistance was kept at bay for Rory. And this accomplished after two months of it getting the better of him on the back nine at Augusta during this year's Masters. He had no fear combined with great decision making, not the least of which is where he was thinking.

Think about Tiger's domination in Golf prior to his surrender to resistance. His infidelity in his marriage was nothing short of Resistance being very creative in coming into play for him. Steven Pressfield in his book "War of Art" talks about the craftiness of Resistance. And says it is more difficult to kick than crack Cocaine, which it is, Tiger has yet to recover....but I suspect he will. Can't wait to see some of the epic back nines in Majors between Rory and Tiger.

So what can you and I take away from Rory's performance? Our lives should be taken one shot at a time, be in the moment, be aware of where we are thinking and be deliberate in moving toward our Bliss. Embrace Resistance for what it can be, our ally. The greater the Resistance, the greater the outcome when we win the battle over it by changing where we think. Move from emotional thinking to cognitive thinking.....we already know everything we need to know, but we can only access the wisdom and intelligence and Love that we are when we come from the calm and confident place of our True Self.

Well Done Rory, Well done!!!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Rory McIlroy.....Post round interview

Rory continued to set US Open records today with a solid 68 extending his lead to 8 strokes. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this young talent on the course but his post round press conference was even better.

For those that don't necessarily follow Golf that closely, Rory at age 21 this past April, led the first three rounds of the Master's Golf Tournament, probably the most widely viewed Golf event in the world. I don't recall if he had a 3 or 4 shot lead when he teed' off on Sunday, but ended up shooting an 80 and faded into the day until he finished and faced the questions in the press tent. The same questions about collapsing or however it was positioned that he faces at every event he plays in since that Sunday in April. And he never waivered from answering the questions, handles himself extremely well each time he is posed a question about the Master's Sunday, way beyond his years.

Today after his round which was stellar, he lengthened his lead, he was asked how he deals with the nervousness out there in the moment on the course. I'm paraphrasing, but essentially he described changing where he thinks, from the emotion or angst of the situation to the process of making a good decision (moving to the frontal lobe). He talked about putting himself into the Shot and being in that moment only (which essentially changes where he is thinking) and not worrying about how the shot is pulled off or is executed, he focusses on the process......I love that, if it will work for Rory, it will work for you and I.

Perspective and changing where you are thinking....Rory is poised for a major and I will enjoy every moment of it tomorrow watching on Father's Day!!!!

Rory McIlroy.....tearing it at the US Open at Congressional

22 year old Rory bounces back after leading the first three rounds of the Masters this year to fire a disappointing 80 on Sunday to set a number of records for the US Open. Lowest 36 holes total ever, and the first man to hit 13 under. Did I mention he is 22 years old.

How did he do it with Golf being such a mental game? Perspective. He has one of the most beautiful swings in the game, but how does a 22 year old get his head straight for a major, especially the US Open where the USGA sets the course up to test your mind on every shot? Well he went a spent a few days in Haiti seeing what was happening over a year after the devastating earthquake from last January.......that will put things in perspective.

And what did he do after his morning 5 under 66 yesterday? Grabbed a bite to eat and went and saw Hangover 2.....then a quite dinner with his Pop who made the trip from Northern Ireland. After all it's just a Golf tournament.

Need to change something, change your perspective......best to Rory, I'm going to enjoy watching him. Tiger, maybe a new perspective will do you well!!!

Be Well everyone and happy Father's day tomorrow!!!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The way you think things are....is just that

The way you think things are is just that.....the way you think they are. But that's real right? That's your reality and your experience of it is real, right? Until you change the way you think things are, that is what your reality is, but more accurately that is what you take to be real, which is your intention. So what if it were different?

What if you woke up and found that your family that you grew up in was not your biological family. Your parents that you have always "known" as your parents were actually a couple that adopted you at birth. Would that change your perspective on your life? Would your being somehow change? Would you look at your family different?

Likely, your love for your family would not change, but you might begin to think about your biological heritage, like who your biological parents are?, what they are all about?, are they alive? Do you have any siblings that you don't know? You would be changed by all these aspects of your heritage that you don't have answers for.....or you wouldn't. But it's up to how and what you think about these things.

So how much thought do you put into what you think about the things you take to be real? Now, I'm not proposing that you get paralysis from analysis, but if your not getting what you want, maybe you should begin thinking about what you take to be real.

Take for instance someone that has a job that they don't feel they are getting opportunities to advance in. How often is it that they blame the lack of opportunities on the organization and or their boss? And how often do they not do anything about it? They just stay in their job and neither look inward to see how they are participating in their situation or simply move on. Not a good place to be, but make no mistake, things are the way they seem to be because that is what the person thinks.

Now, my advice to people in this situation is always the same. Don't move on to another job until you get your thinking aligned about this job. If they just move on to another gig, they eventually will manifest the same or a very similar scenario.....because they have not changed and we get what we are and not necessarily what we want. Same thing for a relationship, its never the other person, its what we think about the other person, about ourselves and about the two of us together......but mostly what we think about ourselves.

Things are exactly the way you think they are, so if things are not pleasing or do not serve you, simply change the way you think about them......or simply stop thinking about them all together. You can do that you know?