"The Resolutionary" is a newsletter for people committed to improving their quality of life through sharing insights, tools and resources for conversations that build communities of agreement and resolution. ****************** This months format is different, but the content is the same. Please pass this along to a friend you think can use it. The piece below can be found on Amazon.com as an "e-Column." It is part of a series I have been doing called "Civil Unrest." Usually they are different from "The Resolutionary," but I wanted to get this one to you as a gift. To learn about the e-Columns that are available through Brown Herron Publishers check out http://www.amazon.com/BrownHerron LATER THIS WEEK I WILL BE SENDING A MESSAGE ABOUT UPCOMING APPEARANCES, INCLUDING A TWO-DAY PUBLIC SEMINAR I WILL BE TEACHING TO SUPPORT THE RELEASE OF "THE BOOK OF AGREEMENT: If everyone passes this to at lease one friend it will go a long way toward increasing the subscription. *********************** THE POWER OF PRESENCE
Permanent happiness means being with yourself without conflict. - Dr. Mansukh Patel
When I started this series of columns I was troubled with unrest about the state of the planet - deeply troubled with how we humans were trashing the miraculous gift we have been blessed with - the earth and the sacredness of life as we know it. About two weeks ago I returned from a trip. Even though I had a great deal to "accomplish" I found myself without my usual energy, and all of my income producing projects seemed to be evaporating around me. I was being forced to my knees and had no choice but to reflect on what was going on, both inside and outside. As I think about what is happening I am reminded of an event that took place in 1989. I was at a meeting with a group of new colleagues organized by a consultant I hired to help me figure out my next career step. We went around the table for everyone to say what they brought to the project. When it came my turn I said I brought my presence, listening skills, and the ability to see and provide what was missing that was needed to get us from where we were to where we wanted to be. My consultant rejected that as inadequate. She was looking for acts of "doing," holding them as much more important that qualities of "being." I was devastated. I had just come understand the power of being through my own soul-searching, and I had invested her with "authority." I have come to know that I was on track then, and it's great to be back in the truth of this place once again! The Events - 1.) This past spring I became involved with a group called the "Millionaire Eagles." It is a learning network that was conceived by Mark Victor Hansen, a co-creator of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series, and multiple New York Times best-seller Robert Allen, author of "Nothing Down." The program was started with the vision of helping to create people of "enlightened wealth" who would "raise all boats" and thus make the world a much more habitable place. The techniques are embodied in their new book "The One Minute Millionaire." As I experienced the materials in their program I realized that underneath the techniques (which I found of great interest theoretically, but not engaging enough for me personally) of how to make money in stocks, real estate, and "infopreneuring" the wisdom to generate real wealth has little to do with asset accumulation. Although assets do provide freedoms of a certain kind, real wealth is about integrity, presence, peace of mind and the network of relationships that results from the personal power of who you are. 2.) Both as part of my experience on the Board of Berrett-Koehler, and as a "Millionaire Eagle" I was introduced to a book called "Attracting Perfect Customers." 3.) During this period of time I was asked to read manuscripts for two new books. Brian Tracy, a renowned international public speaker and best-selling author has written a new book about goals. I took his advice and started writing down my goals daily. Initially I was writing about things I wanted, but inspired by a little known book called "The Secrets of Getting Rich" by Wallace Wattles and Judith Powell, I started to state my goals in terms of qualities of being. Over the past month I found my aspiration shifting from "having" to the deeper powers of being. I aspire to be: peace of mind; the power of manifestation; clarity of purpose and life mission; will and resolve; humble and reverent gratitude; and in relationship. These I translate to being Clear, Rich, Pointed, Present, Thankful and Connected. 4.) The other Manuscript was from noted author Harrison Own, designer of the internationally renowned "Open Space" process. His manuscript was about using principles of self-organizing systems and open space to create the context from which peace might bubble up - in each of us individually, and through extrapolation to all of us collectively. That certainly validated my own realization in many contexts over time that most movements do not start not with massive systemic change - change must start within individuals, and when that reaches critical mass institutions and processes shift to follow people's leads. 5.) During this time I have also had the privilege of being introduced to Dr. Mansukh Patel, a disciple of Gandhi's teachings, and the founder of "Life Foundation International." The essential principles that Gandhi advocated are Conscience, Character, Work, Principles, Sacrifice, Humanity and Morality. These are beautifully explained in the book "A Call to Action" Mansukh wrote with his Life Foundation colleagues Savitri MacCuish and Andrew Wells. In his book "IMAGINE...World Peace" Mansukh says that "permanent happiness means being with yourself without conflict" and that "external wars are nothing compared with internal wars." I take these as further evidence that it all starts at the individual level, and that, as I have known for a while, aside from all forms of industrial pollutants, human civilization is polluting the planet with toxic psychic energy of all forms. 6.) At my birthday in June, 2001 my friend Sasha gave me a book called "The Power of NOW: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment" by Eckhart Tolle. Once again, messages of: presence; being conscious of now; and the power, peace and clarity of the humanity that resides inside the BODY of each of us. What provides enduring satisfaction is not what our "culture" fills up our minds with as being needed, but with what we by our nature already are - loving, conscious beings fueled by compassion. He says: In the state of enlightenment you are yourself - "you" 7.) This summer my friend Rhona Post, a noted coach within DC government circles, gifted me with ten sessions of an integrative form of body work she was studying. This work was designed to get you to be more fully present in and attached to the power of the body. That certainly focused my attention on the experience of the present "embodied" moment you only experience when you fully inhabit your own body, compared to the past and present experience our minds usually churn up. 9.) Within the past few days, in response to the election results, someone sent a paper Stanford Professor and author of "Cultural Creatives" Paul Ray wrote about politics and political parties. He posits the fact that neither the Republicans nor Democrats, Liberals or Conservatives are able to capture the emerging group of disaffected "Cultural Creatives." No more right or left he says, how about four quadrants of north, south, east and west. And in the emerging north are found the concerns of the environment, global sustainability, and personal concerns of spirituality. It is time for the voice and presence of this huge force to become vocal and listened to. All of this somehow reminds me of the story of the indigenous fisherman who was found relaxing on the beach with his family. A zealous entrepreneur came along and tried to promote him into building a fishing fleet with a cannery and an exporting business. The entrepreneur drew a picture of the vision of a great enterprise and a large bank account. The fisherman asked why he should engage in building the enterprise, and what the end result would be. The entrepreneur said it would all be done so he could relax and spend more time on the beach with his family. I feel a bit like that fisherman. I was thrown to the ground by my own machinations of what I thought I should be doing. I think that over the past few months I have learned that it's much more important to step into your own being and what you are supposed to do or have will come from that. It's about listening to your own voice. I have written more than 400 poems over the past few years as part of my personal practice. As I promised my class at Esalen last month I have sent a sample to a publisher. Recently I have started the practice of listening to my own words. For years I have been consulting Runes, the Tao Te Ching, recently a Kabbalah Deck, and sometimes even the bible. Last week, in a moment of reflection, I consulted my own poetry. I randomly opened to the following page from June 2001. May that opening bring you some peace in a struggling world. Many blessings for you in the upcoming HolyDays.
When you stop striving, and reaching for goals In fact there is nothing, and no place to go Will provide nothing you can't already teach Serenity already lives inside you Serenity comes from accepting what's so If you can embrace "you are already whole"
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