Life is a growth school, ideally created to give us opportunities to learn each of the lessons we need to learn over the course of our lives on the planet. “Within your heart, all answers lie. Walk towards your fears and then you’ll learn to fly.”
“Well, in learning any skill—whether that is the skill of learning how to ride a bicycle or the skill of living a great life— there are four plateaus the learner must proceed through en route to a level of mastery. The initial plateau or phase is that of ‘unconscious incompetence.’ At this point, the student is not only incompetent but has absolutely no awareness as to why he is incompetent. In other words, at this phase, the student doesn’t know what he does not know. So, using the bike example, the student cannot ride the bike and has no idea what knowledge he lacks to ride the bike. Sadly, many people live the best years of their lives at this level of the beginner.”
“Now, if there’s a willingness to improve, some people rise to the second phase, which is known as ‘conscious incompetence.’ At this level, the learner is still incompetent with respect to the skill but at least he has become conscious of all he does not know and needs to learn. In the bike scenario, he still cannot ride it but he knows he must improve his balance, hold the handlebars in a certain way and use the pedals in a specific fashion in order to move the bike forward. Awareness is growing. And as awareness of what you don’t know grows, new choices can be made. And new—and better — choices cause positive changes.”
“Since awareness precedes choice and since new choices create new changes in one’s life, he would be making some giant steps forward. This kind of knowledge would then bring him to the third plateau, which is known as ‘conscious competence.’ At this level, the student has become competent. Yet he still must invest much energy in paying attention to what he is doing; he has not yet reached a level of mastery but there is no doubt he is doing well. In terms of the bicycle metaphor, the learner can now ride the bike nicely. But he still must be very conscious of how he holds the bars, the way he balances himself on his bicycle and the way he pushes the pedals.”
“Trust that you are exactly where you need to be. You are on the path that has been walked by many wise souls before you. Your experience is not unique. Just keep the faith and continue choosing to go deeper and deeper within yourself. All of the answers that you are looking for are within you. Yes, the books and teachers and seminars will help you. But remember one thing: reading the book of another person is a reflection of their truth. Hearing a speaker at a seminar means that you will hear their truth and their philosophy on the world and on life itself. That’s fine at this stage of your journey. Learning what others think will help you to figure out what you really think. But don’t make the mistake of believing that the truth of another person is necessarily your own truth. Don’t be too much of a follower. Be a leader. Leaders go where no one has gone and blaze their own path. This whole adventure is about being authentic. As you move to higher and higher stages on the path to self-mastery, you will develop your own philosophy about the way life works and your place within it. You will select the truths of others that resonate with the deepest part of you. You will integrate the wisdom of others that rings true to you. And you must discard those ideas that do not speak to you and fail to make sense. In doing so, you will forge your own authentic code and constitution for living your biggest life. That’s my definition of success—living your life in your own way. And authentic success is also about being in the process, in every moment of your days, of creating the life that you choose. You will not be living the life others have prescribed for you but living according to your heart’s truth. And in so doing, you will grow into a power that will make you a force of nature in the world.”
“Seekers on the path of awakening are like travelers leaving an old world and entering a new one. When you visit a new place, you need guides to give you direction and show you the way. At this stage, seekers turn to teachers, books and other types of learning resources. Many seekers journal for hours at a time and read book after book after book. Sometimes, a feeling of panic might even arise within you. You feel frustrated and afraid because your world is changing. There is so much to learn in so little time. Everything is in transition. By learning from many different sources you are playing the role of a good student. And you are more committed than ever in your quest for the truth about how life works and your role within it.”
The purpose of life is to return to wholeness. The process by which life supports that return is called recycling. There are four dimensions of your authentic self that need to be awakened for you to become whole once again. “As you journey home, you must awaken your mind and your body and your emotions and your spirit.”
Awakening the mind is only twenty-five percent of getting back to wholeness and restoring your integrity. Yes, you must awaken the mind, which means exploring your core beliefs, your assumptions and your fears. This can be done by learning and discovering the truths of other people through their books, CDs and seminars. Awakening the mind—what I refer to as The First Awakening—can also be done by journaling, patient reflection and by being silent so that you pay more attention to the way that you live and become aware of all that you do not know. The First Awakening is all about accumulation, knowledge, learning and being conscious of the higher choices available to you. This is the intellectual work that needs to be done by a student on the spiritual path. But along with awakening the mind there are three other dimensions to be awakened to return to wholeness and close any Integrity Gap: the body, the emotions and the spirit. You must awaken the body, for sure. A healthy mind without a healthy body reflects no integrity. There’s no wholeness there. So along with The First Awakening, you must perform The Second Awakening as well.”
There are a whole series of tools that are available to me. “Regular exercise, a superb diet, sunlight, massage, fresh air, plenty of water, vitamins and supplements, reiki, yoga …”
The Second Awakening—the healing of the body—is all about making sure that your physical dimension is in wonderful condition. And while you awaken the mind along with the body, make sure you awaken your emotions. This is the Third Awakening. It is important that you process through any anger that you have been carrying through life. It’s important that you forgive any people who have wounded and hurt you.
When you have not forgiven someone, it is almost as if you are carrying that person on your back—which is a very heavy load. And once you forgive them, you release them. You can finally move on with life. They are no longer pulling you down and you are much more free as a human being. Forgiving them is simply seeing that people in pain do painful things. I encourage you to understand that people who hurt other people have themselves been hurt. People who do not love themselves cannot show love to others. And people who do not have any self-respect have no idea how to give respect to others. Keep on remembering this and you will be set free.
When we awaken the spirit we nurture our highest self. This looks like different things to different people. To some, the spirit may involve prayer or talking to God. For others, caring for the spirit may be reflected by communing with nature or listening to moving music. For yet others, awakening the spirit involves service, volunteerism, and living for a crusade larger than oneself. Whatever modality or tools that you use, just remember that we need to begin the process of awakening all four of our core dimensions at the same time.”
“Remember, the thousand-mile journey begins with a single step. You don’t have to do all of this in a week or a month. Just make sure that every single day, you do something to awaken to who you truly are, no matter how insignificant it may appear to be. I deeply recommend that you make a commitment to yourself here in this room. Use much of the first sixty minutes of every day—your holy hour—to work on your Four Awakenings. This is an incredibly powerful way to live your biggest life and realize your destiny.”
“Rules for Winning Trials”; there were seven of them and I knew they would be helpful in getting everyone through hard times. They read as follows:
Rule #1: Remember that life is a series of seasons. Every human being will have to endure the harshness of a few winters in order to get to the glory of the best summers. Never forget that winters do not last.
Rule #2: Join the Hope Club. Big, beautiful and seemingly impossible goals are superb vehicles to keep you inspired as you walk through adversity. The legendary da Vinci’s words say: “Fix your course to a star and you can navigate any storm.” When you are reaching for great and noble goals that speak to the best within you, your desire to reach them will pull you through the tough times that you will encounter along the seeker’s path.
Rule #3: Keep in mind, at all times, that we grow the most from our greatest suffering. As we go through it, it hurts. But as we move through it, it also heals. When a jug of water falls to the floor and cracks, what was hidden within begins to pour out. When life sends you one if its curves, remember that it has come to help crack you open so that all the love, power and potential that had been slumbering within you can be poured into the world outside you. And, like a fractured bone, we do become stronger in the broken places.
Rule #4: Failure is a choice. Nothing can stop a man or a woman who simply refuses to be kept down. The book I mentioned—The Go-Getter—will be very helpful to you on this point. Read it often. Just make a decision from the center of your heart that, no matter what happens to you, you will keep walking the authentic path. Doing so will ensure you a life of real success.
Rule #5: During tough times, there is a tendency to let go of yourself. As you encounter adversity, have the discipline to maintain your routine. Get up early. Do your holy hour. Eat very well. Exercise. Spend time with nature and make sure that you do all you can to keep all four of your central dimensions—the mind, the body, the emotions and the spirit—in fine operating order.
Rule #6: Feel your feelings. When you are facing hard times, some people will tell you to “just think positive thoughts.” Such advice is not helpful. While I agree that you cannot move the car forward if you are staring in the rearview mirror and that living in the past is unhealthy, one must not rush to reframe a so-called negative event as a positive one. Doing so will throw you into denial. Feel through the feelings of hurt, anger or sadness that will naturally surface. It’s okay to be with them. It’s actually healthy to do so.
Processing through them allows you to release them. Just don’t get stuck in them. The key is really to strike a balance. Experience the feelings that arise so you do not end up swallowing them and allowing them to fester. At the same time, use your intellectual powers to see the silver lining that every dark cloud brings. This is not a scientific process and ultimately you need to do what feels right for you.
Rule #7: Remember that, no matter how hard things get, you are never alone.
The 5 Daily Devotions
1. Rise each and every morning at 5 A.M. Those who get up early are those who get the best from life.
2. Set aside the first sixty minutes of your day as your “holy hour.” This is your sacred time to do the inner work (prayer, meditation, journaling, reading from the wisdom literature, reflecting on the state of your life) that will help you live your highest life.
3. Display a standard of care, compassion and character well beyond what anyone could ever imagine from you. In doing so, you will be doing your part to aid in the building of a new world.
4. Display a standard of excellence at work far higher than anyone would ever expect from you. Abundance and fulfillment will flow back to you.
5. Devote yourself to being the most loving person you know and thinking, feeling and acting as though you are one of the greatest people currently on the planet (because you are). Your life will never be the same and you will bless many lives.
Let's open the windows for fresh air of composed and peaceful life!!
Related Posts:
Posts
0 Comments:
Post a Comment