Sunday, November 27, 2011

What if you had no memory....think about it.....

What if you had no memory?  Kind of like deleting your e-mail, except you deleted your entire memory.  How do you suppose it would change your perceptions of life?  Kind of over the top question, you may be thinking........but it's not really.  Your perceptions are based upon your experiences and what you take to be real or "Normal".

So here is a the scenario I want you to think about.  For one day, you can push the delete button on all your memory except for who your best friend is.  Now in addition to being able to erase all of your memory, you are able to be transported to anywhere in the world along with your best friend that you know you can trust totally. 

You are going to visit four places in the world and the first is the border crossing at the US/Mexico border just south of San Diego.  You and your friend are transported and appear just on the US side of the crossing and the first thing you see are thousands of cars and people waiting on the Mexico side to come across to the US.  What would you be thinking?  Remember you have no memory so you have no idea what the scene actually is.  Your first question might be, "What is this place?".  Your friend replies, "It's the border crossing".  Your next Question might be "Border, what is a border?" and your friend explains what it is.  How strange would that be to you?  You might ask, "So what is the difference between a Mexican and an American and why does there have to be a gate and fence and police?", and your friend answers "One was born in the US and one was born in Mexico.  People want to come to America for the opportunity for a better life. Most people in Mexico live in poverty and America has to protect it's borders".  "Protect it's borders from what?".  Can you see how bizarre having a line in the dirt would seem to you with no memory of what was "Normal" to you?

Next place you visit is Tahrir square in Cairo last week as demonstrators were being attacked by the Military.  You appear and see Military personnel beating civilians over the head and limbs with batons.  Mayhem is everywhere.  What is your first question?  "Who are these people?", "Why are the people in uniforms hitting the other people?"  How bizarre would it be to hear that all of these people are from the same country but the ones in Uniforms are the Military who took over the country 9 months ago while the civilians protested the Dictator that had been in power for years, etc. etc.

Next Place is right outside the White House the night that it was announced that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by Navy Seals.  You appear and people are celebrating and waving flags and standing in trees and on fences, so you ask the obvious "What's going on here?".  Your friend sighs because they know how difficult this is going to be to explain.  But they start with "This is the White House, the capital of the United States, which is the most powerful country in the world and the people are celebrating because the President of the Country just announced that Osama Bin Laden has been killed by the United States Military in a covert operations half way around the world"  Your response is "Why would they want to kill someone half way around the world and why are these people celebrating?".  Your friend tries to explain that Bin Laden was a terrorist and launched attacks against the US on American soil ten years ago.......which causes you to ask follow up questions like "why did it take ten years for the most powerful country in the world to find one man?" and ultimately you ask "What is wrong with all you people?  Depending on where you were born your life is substantially better or worse?  You hit unarmed people over the head for occupying a public park? And you celebrate Killing another Human being?"

Now I will leave the fourth place up to you to ponder what questions would come up, but my point is this.  We take for granted that this is just the way life happens and we accept it for the most part and adapt.  We totally lose touch with who we truly are as divine beings that at our essence are created from Love and Love is our natural state and that through that Love we are all connected.  We totally lose touch with the fact that when we judge or do something that hurts another, we are hurting ourselves.  It's not your fault, but it is your responsibility................don't believe it?  Then what do you believe?  Life happens to you?  Well how is that working out?  Take 15 minutes a day, get quiet, get still, fall in love with Life, align with Life, drop out of your head and into your heart and see what comes to you.  I promise it will be Divine.    

Monday, November 21, 2011

It's not your fault, but it is your responsibility!!!

How can it be my responsibility if it's not my fault?  It's not your fault because you have been conditioned to believe for the most part that "Shit happens" or that life happens to you.  It is your responsibility because you participated in creating the "what" that is part of your experience.

Have you ever noticed how when there appears to be a problem, you are there experiencing the "problem".  The experience ranges from just observing the problem all the way to being so immersed in it that your whole whole life seems to be coming to an end!!!!!  Well, even if you are just observing that there is a problem, you are part of it, you are participating in it and you have chosen to do so.

Think not?  Okay, don't take responsibility then, and in the words of one of my favorite people, "how is that working out for you?"  Let me ask you this, Is the economic situation a problem for you?  Are you the least bit worried about it?  Or, does Congress' behavior cause you any concern?  Are you down right pissed off at Wall Street for ruining the Economy?  Are you upset with the 1%'s?   Well, if any of these issues is bothering you and seems to be a problem, you participated in creating it to some degree.......but its not your fault.  Feel better?

It is your responsibility though.  Now, if you feel the least bit of angst about taking responsibility for any problem, that is only an indication of the conditioning you have been under all of your life.  The really good news is that the solution is just a thought away.  Yep, just a thought away.  One of my favorite facts of life is "You get what you are, and not necessarily what you want".  Do you take responsibility for everything that happens in your life?  Or only the good stuff?  Are you deliberate in your thinking?  Do you look at outcomes that are not aligned with your desires and ask, "How did I contribute to that?"

The manager I referred to in my last post was responsible for the lack of her people performing to their potential because she bred mediocrity by rewarding something less than what her people were capable of delivering.  It comes down to two things;

1.  Do you aspire to be above average or to become your full potential?

2.  Are you thoughts oriented on short term results or long term results?

The first one is pretty clear, most people are mediocre in delivering what they are capable of, so above average is slightly above mediocre.  Ugh!!!  The difference in being long term oriented versus short term is the difference between delivering a result and delivering a sustainable, progressive and lasting result.  Look at Wall Street, they delivered a result and were paid immense bonuses based on that result which drove the global economy into the ground.  And make no mistake, they delivered the result because people acted upon their proposition.  Might have been institutions that bought from the bankers, but everyday people participated by delivering the demand for shoddy investments vehicles because all they wanted was return.

A long term thought process for the Manager from the last post would be having candid conversations about her people's performance and developing a deliberate multi pronged plan for influencing those individuals to begin making the effort to deliver what they are capable of.

Make it your responsibility to be deliberate in how you think about things, life, work, family and find the solution within the problem, it's always there.

 

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Life is not about creation, It is about alignment!!!

Creation comes from thoughts and since most thoughts are repetitive and or reactionary there is not much creativity happening there.  We didn't come here in this physical time space reality to react or repeat thoughts that do not serve us.  When your thinking is repetitive think of yourself as an artisan, or someone that creates the same things over and over.

As an example, a manager of people that is not being successful in improving her people's performance focuses on the fact that her people are not making the desired change.  "It doesn't matter what I do, they won't change and do the work the way I tell them".  The manger becomes apathetic and resigned to not being effective.  She may even commiserate with peers that are having the same problem.  Day after day not much changes and the same results are achieved from the same repetitive thinking.

Creativity comes from alignment.  Alignment with our true selves and with Life.  It is knowing that we can not willfully birth creativity into our experience, but we can allow it when we align with our higher self and  Life.  When you are aligned, creativity manifests through you as an artist rather than an artisan.

The same manager as referenced above can become aligned by asking some simple questions and then resting with them to see what comes.  Not willing the answer, because she will miss it.  Questions like, "What does this mean for me?"  "What am I to take from this situation?"  "What would it look like if it were different?"  By being curious about the situation and realizing that the solution always resides within the problem, the solution will present itself to the manager.  Sometimes in the most unsuspecting manner, but when she is aligned with her true self and Life, it will be glaringly clear to her.

It might be the urge to go to the book store and when she does, a new book on influence is staring right at her.  It might be the urge to go to her own book shelf and see what book grabs her attention.  It might be the urge to google "persuasion" or "influence" or "change" and she is taken to the perfect website, or blog that sparks her creativity to develop a new plan for working with the situation.

And what is the key word in the previous paragraph of might be's?  Urge!!!  And what is an "Urge"?  Intuition, it's our Higher Self giving us a nudge in order to enjoy the unfolding of our divine creativity.  The Divine creativity that is not allowed to come forth through repetitive thinking.

Now here is the thing.  If you don't allow it to come through you, it will knock, and continue knocking until the knock becomes a sledge hammer manifesting itself as some malady or relationship issue or some traumatic issue that brings you to your knees.   You know the kind of experience that causes you to say "what the hell is happening?", rather than "what is my higher self trying to tell me?"

Life is about alignment, and not 100% alignment, that would be boring!!!!  You create your angst and frustration, and you need to own it, just don't pitch a tent in it and call it home!!!!