Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Start where you are


Hi again and welcome to the continuation...

I have been thinking all day about the need to start where we are. I realize that in certain states of being the concept of excitement is so buried in the background while worry, anxiety and fear make their home in the foreground. So how do you connect with your excitement when life seemingly is throwing crap all over you?
I can share a couple of ideas that you can implement no matter which stage of healing and integration you may be at. I don't believe that at anytime we are victims and if we are to move most effectively forward, complete responsibility for life as you/I/we know it is a good place to start. I understand the stretch and also the urgency, so no excuses. To clarify another way, feeling like a victim is a state of consciousness and by that definition you are always response-able to change it. Also I'm not in judgment of that state, as I have been in it many times and found it sucks. My mission in writing these blogs however is to connect some ways that can energize your life from a place of responsibility and what Dr. Donny Epstein would call Transform and Awaken energy and possibly help shift you into that from a low energy state which he calls discover - In his words "While you are there you better discover something!" because it isn't fun, and we all know it. (for more info and my mom's wealth of real life experiences with Donny's models and insights into his work check out : http://reorganizationalcoaching.blogspot.com)

Okay let's talk about a couple ideas I'm working with and have used with great results:
The first concept is truly just common sense and I'm a philosopher by nature so the logic of this I find comforting. It is as the title says: Start where you are. I know it sounds obvious but the act of doing it is something else entirely. I also don't claim to know anything here except the living feedback I receive by putting these ideas into action. So here is an example of what I mean:
When I was in high school I cared mostly about enjoying myself as much as possible amidst the stress of teenage life and a growing uncertainty about my future. I was bored in school and found that passion was mostly an idea when it came to studying something. Then I was introduced to The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman and it inspired me. I began to see having a spiritual path as an important facet to a successful life. For me at the time I realized there was a deep excitement there, somewhat uniquely different in its quality. I just felt turned on in a new way.

What I am leading towards is this; in my senior year I was to make a choice about what to study in university. I knew that anything in the maths and sciences was out, due to my nagging failure to comprehend long division in the fifth grade! So I thought hey I'm interested in spiritual things there must be something like that... as I traced my finger down the page to "S" it dawned on me that there were no courses for the sudden onset of self-awareness syndrome!... And I was still going to college no matter what. So I looked again and saw philosophy. Well I have no idea what that is going to be like, and it is the only field I recognize that might be connected to that deep excitement. I didn't know I was tracking it at the time, but I was in a state of trusting my feelings and the brochure to U of Western definitely looked the most exciting!!

The point being that I just started right where I was. I knew that this wasn't my biggest dream, and I was nowhere near comprehending what that might be. I always thought there might be something wrong with me because there was no shot of lightning inspiration that told me what I was here to do. For some it comes clear and easy, for the rest of us there is a sweet journey. My sense is that if more of us just embraced the place of not knowing and engaged in the journey of discovering purpose, we would be much happier and fulfilled as a result... mind you it is not the beaten path, and taking that risk has both its rewards and challenges. I'd say the price is only your life.

The importance of compassion for self, balanced with skilled determination is something that just came to me. I had a bunch of life structure ideas I was going to throw out, and I've decided it should wait. I feel the need to say some words that might help draw us together and out of our shells. I've always been cautious about saying my piece and expressing myself, and to be doing this blog is definitely a stretch for me. It is one current example of how I am balancing those two concepts. Compassion for myself in a deep way, understanding that moving my passions forward is absolutely necessary for the satisfaction of my being. And skilled determination, using everything I can within myself and my current resources to make sure that I act on it. Also I know that there will be reactions to me doing so, and in the past I may have shriveled from these. Now in the transform energy and time in my life it is only fuel to move me forward. I invite us all to take a step up in our lives, come together in ways we have just imagined and ask ourselves what kind of future is really worth creating?

I have been so blessed to meet and be inspired by so many truly great human beings. We all have something uniquely special and glorious to birth into the world. I'm all for supporting that! Missy and I just heard this great prayer on a Christiane Northrup CD about Joyful living. It is cool and I invite you to work with it:
Dear God, please help me to believe the truth of who I am, no matter how beautiful it may be.

Thank you for reading and creating this field with me,
Chief ME

4 comments:

  1. Eric Fromm once wrote: "Ye Shall Be As Gods". It seems then that the act of prayer is talking with one's self. Self awareness is a good thing. Only in knowing ourselves can we hope to know others.
    Old Dutch

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  2. Xanon here.... Thanks Andre... warm fuzzies thinking of you, keep your light shining!

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  3. Congratulations Andre! Way to demonstrate transform energy and the active courage that it takes to make a difference in ourselves and our world.

    For me your music to date reflects your first trip around the wheel, each album is an exploration of one of the four sacred seasons - welcome to the main event & freedom through the game big guy! Check out the song at reorganizedhuman.ning.com

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  4. I commend your trust in yourself and the world for speaking your truth so publicly. I love the deep philosophy of "I have been in the victim place and it sucks'. Is there a more important basic self-responsibility tool for us to learn than that? I think not. And I have a small tweak on that elegant prayer....'Dear God, Please help me to know the truth of who I am, no matter how beautiful I may be'. Shine on, all beings. The future is waiting for you and your deepest intelligence.

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