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"You better lose yourself in the moment, you got it, you better let it go, you only got one shot" (eminem paraphrased)
Here is a good link to his new stuff: Hopefully meeting the the Michigan native shortly. "The souls escaping from this hole that is gaping"
Back to the blog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlFotbyAZU4
Even though we all agree that we are in a pool of souls that are connected. Whether you want to be, quantum physics tells us we are.
Ok, so I am connected to my neighbour that never washes and speaks in tongues that I can't synthesis and he oppresses his wife with a burka. (ban it) There is no repercussion, I can't change them, or why do I want to. Deal with it.
Lets talk about the game that is played. There is a game and we know some of the rules.
Lets talk sports as a metaphor.
In 1982, Jimmy Connors (it was only a matter of time) went into the US open final against the young IVAN LENDL. Lendl had a 41 match winning streak going in and had beaten CONNORS 6-1 6-1 in the tournament before the US open, Cincinnati.
Lendl crushed Mcenroe in the semis and then faced CONNORS. Apparently Connors was a 10-1 underdog.
That is the set-up. Now the reality. There is an old philosophy that says that if you attack your opponents STRENGTH..Not his weakness...His strength...if you have the guts to attack that, and risk humiliation in the process, it may pay dividends.
How does a Frazier deal with Ali's jab?
BREAK DOWN YOUR OPPONENTS STRENGTH and he or she is lost.
That's what Jimmy Connors did that day, and then did it again the following year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87CtC_zD2Dk
Once you break down your opponents strength, they flounder. They are a flounder.
So how does that interact and work for us in a world of consequences and love. IT doesn't seem very nice.
As long as you honour your opponent from your heart, you are ultimately giving them cause to grow.
If you need to get ahead in a one vs one environment. Model your biggest rivals attributes, understand every nuance, watch for the let-up and break it down in the battle.
The battle may be just over some ridiculous tangent, but you know that you have the strength to go there.
You may only get one opportunity to be the next Eminem or the next Drake, seize it, be it, be prepared for it. If not ..mediocrity is calling on your doorstep.
Take a deep breath and be the outcome, live it and own it. Don't choke it.
The good news is there is always a way out of that, but Harry Houdini you have to be, and that is another challenging road.
Some ideas I could have used on the tennis court myself over the years. You have more than one opportunity...but if you make a habit of just bypassing them for a quick fix of nothing......it aint pretty Canada.
CONVERSATION HEARD ON THE PATIO OF GRAPEFRUIT MOON: AS FAR AS MY MEMORY CAN GO
Young woman: I loved him. I loved him hard. He was spectacular.
2nd woman: He looked fine, that's for sure.
Young woman: He was more than fine, he was the whole package.
2nd woman: OK.
Young woman: Sensitive, man going to bed with him was a surreal adventure.
2nd Woman: Well don't take this the wrong way but...
Young Woman: What?
2nd Woman: I think you were just looking for him to plug a hole in your sinking ship.
Young Woman: Excuse me?
2nd Woman: Your past issues, I don't want to talk about them here. Your food thing as
well.
Young Woman: Yeah, yeah. So I love food and I love myself, he was hot.
2nd Woman: He was a Versace Train Wreck waiting to happen. At his best, transitional.
Young Woman: Hey, I am adaptable, i can endure. Hey I just said "Baby, I love the
way you lie, now lie down motherfucker"
2nd Woman: That was your motherfuckin problem girl.
Find a motivated, self-honest, romantic that understands you are a hurt child underneath.
Don Miguel Ruiz talks about the pain that we suffered as a child and how we get domesticated by adults so we can "fit in" and be a "productive member of society"
Necessary? Maybe. Brutal though.
We then start to manufacture projections that we put out into the world in order to be accepted.
When we are teenager, these projections get challenged constantly by our peers who see through them. It's painful.
So there is a constant process of changing the projection to fit in......This goes on forever. So when you get into a relationship...You put forward your best projection as well as your partner puts forward theirs.
You fall for a projection and then start getting upset when that image does not live up to itself under closer scrutiny. So, you try to change it, to suit your needs. Disaster and letdown.
It's all very complicated but you can understand the basic idea that people get married and after 7 days they realize that the real person that they married is nothing like the person they fell in love with.
It's at this point that the relationship often turns bitter and angry.
I think the answer is that you have to accept yourself, forgive yourself, honour your core and let people deal with the real you. They may be underwhelmed but move on.
You put yourself out there and risk rejection a little bit more, but hey, living in the alternative is more brutal.
This idea that Cameron Crowe tapped into that...."you complete me" is a bunch of hogwash.
We do need a little bit of fun on the ride though. We need a little bit of edge. Such as....."you may be the worst chef of all time and are a hoarder, however....you are funny and give great oral sex"
Hopefully you are not full of humour as you are negotiating oral communications.
Just thinking.
I laid out on the beach today thinking of the future. On the one hand I have my business in Toronto and all of my new, interesting and healthy minded friends here. On the other hand....Asia.
I have emerged from my self-imposed sabbatical as a support system for a couple of people that I have been known for years that are facing some challenges these days. (Don't you just love that term...challenges)
I revel in the fact that I can help them with some sound advice and some support that validates them as people. I also am helping strangers with their addiction issues through the business I am running.
No I am not thinking I am Mr selfless, I know that being open to helping others is actually helping myself. Not a big secret. I don't need the Zohar to decipher my intentions on this one.
I have been offered a job in CHINA that starts very soon and I am heavily weighing the options.
That being said, this city is getting very old for me. Why people say. It has all of this theatre and sports, and the film festival and more restaurants than most cities on earth. It's a liberal creative melting pot of joy.
Ok, I get it. It's an interesting place to visit or to live if you haven't spent more than 30 years here. It can also start to get to you slightly after decades of seeing the same street corners and the same bars and the same schools and the same.....the idea being that it is a redundant vacuum for me on most days. Just too many hours spent here.
However, let me be politically correct. Where ever a person moves to, they can't get away from one thing. Themselves.
So if you are running from yourself, not a good reason to leave. If you can't face yourself in the mirror and eat a bag of cookies for breakfast or have a pint of vodka for lunch to help cope, not a good sign.
Not feeling the self-love?, A geographical cure probably will not change you.
If you rely on your significant other to make you feel whole (most do) and they just bailed out on you because you are a massive robotic bore, moving cities, may not be the answer either.
I am thinking that I can run my RECRUITING business from anywhere that a phone and a computer can get some reception. That does sound encouraging.
So why not run it for a while from the land of the nameless faceless masses. The land of hope and revolution and environmental genocide.
There is an interesting school that is in the country in one of the Eastern provinces of China. Also it is not too far from Hong Kong, one of my favourite cities in the world.
It is kind of a complex in the middle of god knows where. A mountain or a field possibly. It is modern though, and offers free meals and room and board, a gym and a pool, as well as a fairly good salary, considering my expenses will be next to nothing.
Except for my Vespa and wherever that dream can take me.
Teaching kids is exhausting but incredibly rewarding,(check) I truly get a natural high from it (check), and I believe I am fairly good at it. (check)
They are usually very eager to learn all the nuances of western life and whatever cool extras you can give them. I would probably share with them my feelings about OBAMA and REALITY DATING SHOWS or something off the beaten path. Invaluable information of the ages.
Just the idea of making a move brings all those juices to the surface, flowing again.
Keep moving, keep growing, keep searching, it`s all good.
What about the woman who I am spending time with. This is surely an issue. Let me think, it is certainly an honest conversation sooner than later, especially if she reads this tonight.
If it is meant to be, which I have no idea about at this point, you know, it will be.
Who would want to spend their life with a restless, unfulfilled, spiritual guy that doesn`t follow his dreams and take chances anyway.
Hopefully I can still live a semi altruistic lifestyle; (FOR SURE) even if my day begins and ends in China, the next frontier. (a little different from Toronto`s homogeneous Chinatown)
THOUGHTS BECOME WORDS, WORDS BECOME ACTIONS AND ACTIONS BECOME............TOUGH CHOICE.
The AMERICAN APPAREL Ads are ubiquitous. Everywhere I go I notice these things. What are they tapping into? Its like Calvin Klein meets Richard Avedon on Mushrooms.
I think it is some kind of vague, anti-sexual message. They use a stark white background (white is supposed to represent Insanity) and then they shoot these attractive, young but ordinary looking models. The models seem to be caught doing...nothing. (The Ad above may be the exception)
Although I am not Mr Meterosexual, the clothes are boring and regurgitated from some gap like Reagan era party. These clothes make Old Navy garments look real edgy.
The CEO is taking alot of heat for being a Misogynistic cad. He apparently has made some of his female employees simulate masturbation while at work and has had some tantrum and tiara type moments for the ages.
He is not making the Buy your Boss some flowers list. Or at least that is what I read on the Feminist site FEMINISTE.
The only thing he can boast about and feel slightly vindicated, is his incredible advertising mystique and his factories being child labour free and based in the US. (Check on that) I believe in LA.
He is not getting the boring, ordinary life award either.
I have recently been putting a fair number of Ads into Toronto newspapers like the NOW magazine and am getting some response, but not an overwhelming response.
I just feel that we are so stretched mentally and bombarded with so many messages everyday from morning until night, that it is hard for anybody to be motivated to actually take action as opposed to just DROOLING with a little SMILE.
I put together an AD that has been called a little too extreme by a couple of people.
A woman is being led off down a hallway by a couple of men in white suits. Looks like an asylum. The caption read....The Summer Is Almost Over....Your Partying is Beyond a Problem...Get a fresh start.....Call .............
I just feel like another feel good message would just die a short life and waste some trees in the process. Most people are already bored, they have lost their desire.
There is one particular feel good Ad for the TD bank that talks about FLEXIBLE hours and shows a woman doing yoga and obviously being "flexible", I don't even like to sit near this piece of manure that is so dumbed down for the middle classes that it .....I digress.
However, some good advertising still can have some impact. I love the show MAD MEN but I am glad I don't have to live it. Or am I?
The other day I was walking along Queen street west near the Swan Restaurant. As I walked through the park I noticed a french cafe that I have never seen before.
As I entered the premises I immediately felt happy. It had high ceilings and beautiful hardwood floors. It was all minimalistic and stark WHITE. The Pastries were laid out texturally and horizontally like an exhibit. Alejandro was playing in the kitchen area.
An attractive French girl came smiling over to me and seemed to be in tune with my mood and my day. We connected naturally. I had one of the best Croissants and Americana coffees I have ever tasted.
I felt good and satiated. I was having a moment.
I now realize that I may have just been living out the American Apparel Advertising projection in my real life. This way though... it was tangible and edible and respectful. There were no billboards or misogynists around, or at least I didn't recognize them. Haha.
The advertising had worked on me. I loved the Cafe. I planned to go back and take a date. Although the experience would probably be lacking in subtlety and discovery the second time.
I would never buy those clothes. But I was slightly leaning towards and newly aligned with the pleasures of Stark insanity.
In this world I felt much more spiritual than I would lead myself to believe.
There is some question in the media as to if the writer/director of “INCEPTION” CHRISTOPHER NOLAN is actually a visionary or not.
Here are the definitions that might apply.
a person of unusually keen foresight.
a person who sees visions.
a person who is given to audacious, highly speculative, or impractical ideas or schemes; dreamer.
I am not going to write a review of the film and pretend that I have all the appropriate insights into Nolan’s mind.
I am of the opinion that he has singlehandedly created a new form of cinema, one that we are going to be paying big money to see in the years that follow.
(There will always be room for character driven smaller films, but action films with no depth may simply have no more audience)
Inception touches on metaphysical ideas about the nature of thoughts and the importance of original ideas. Are Dreams as tangible to us as the so called “real world?”
The expository theme of corporations trying to input thoughts into men’s minds for financial gain and control is interesting, but pales in comparison to the multi-layered story arc that deals with the relationship between Dicaprio’s character and his wife. (Played by the ethereal movie stealer Marion Cotillard)
There is something tragic about the finite nature of true love. You can slow it down, live in the moments, share and laugh as much as possible, but as Nolan knows, there is a tragedy that lurks in the background, that it all has to come to an end.
There are tears that the audience waits to shed, not for the characters exclusively, but for themselves.
It would be ridiculous if this cerebral action film attempted to bring the audience to tears. However, I don’t want to give anything away, but the waterworks were flowing.
The shifting of gears and pacing in the film is absurdly audacious, but miraculously succeeds most of the time.
I guess I am writing a review. Full stop. I didn’t intend to.
All I know personally is that it is all too much for me to take in one sitting.
The audience seemed out of their element. Confused and behind. Satiated ,thrilled but beaten down.
This wasn’t the celluloid journey that they went to school for, that’s because the school hadn’t been constructed yet. However, it feels like fun to catch up. What choice do we have?
I actually came out of the movie (Yonge and Eglinton) feeling confused by the actual reality of people looking at me on the street, and then rushing home for god knows what reason.
If a piece of art can have this effect on me, there is hope yet. It might have been natural to be jealous of this writing and the result. However, I just didn't feel it. I felt inspired.
I then started to settle back into the reality of my new raw food diet, money issues, personal connection and confusion, and then..........it was back to Nolan’s very real world that lingers.
"EACH DAY, LIFE WILL SEND YOU LITTLE WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY. YOUR DESTINY WILL ULTIMATELY BE DEFINED BY HOW YOU RESPOND TO THESE WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY"
The truth is that in my former life, I was too busy being a victim and being reactionary on a 24 hour basis, and there was no way that I was going to notice these moments. There were no real Epiphany's.
Definitely I was so mindlessly concerned with receiving that I couldn't wrap my head around the sharing part. Oh I would do a little, I would feel better for a brief moment and then it was back to the MATRIX.
I think that most people are just happy getting all they can, getting and taking as much pleasure that they can.We don't want you to see us this way though. We tend to robotically gravitate towards pleasure and away from pain.
We will smile at you as we silently one-up you behind your back, in the spirit of me, my, mine.
There really are few moments of clarity where we say, perhaps I need to change. (That isn't completely true, some of us come to that point the hard way)
There are many moments when we say, I need to escape the pressure. Let me escape from this vacuous experience tonight any way I can.
The buildup is too much, the accumulated cause and effect is too much. Drugs and Alcohol or Sex and Food, perhaps these things can temporarily buoy us, they have in the past.
The truth is that if we could take away the curtain, we would see that what lies between cause and effect is time, there is no escaping the equation.
These vices will create a black hole if used in a crutch like way, or as a substitution. We know this but there is no stopping us. (Oh really)
I personally am not giving up spicy food or connected sex anytime soon, but it is all about the INTENTION. At least that is what this flawed human being is coming to see.
It seems a little pathetic when we get a little older and lose some of our more ambitious desires, and we just settle. Isn't ageing simply the loss of desire?
We tend to settle for base satisfactions and substitutes are accepted and welcomed. Alcohol and Food and Sex and Cocaine instead of Love, Integrity, Vision, and Playfulness.
I have been guilty of this, I hated myself for it. (Somewhat forgiven) There didn't seem to be any end to this thinking process of bandaid solutions and settling.
As Don Miguel Ruiz says "WE GET DOMESTICATED"
The truth is that 99 percent of the population fear change. They don't want to think about the emotional arc of their lives and how it effects the emotional body of the planet. We simply are not responsible, don't buy into the connections between people and the veiled consequences of their actions.
Down deep, the average guy dosen't really believe in KARMA or what goes around comes around. (if you are happy being average and don't believe a thing I am talking about, that is totally fine as well)
Whatever gets us through, as long as people think that I made a mark. As long as my family is better off and better looking than yours.
It just seems a little scary to me personally, I have seen some dark times, some shortsighted nights, and I don't want to be waking up there again anytime shortly, requesting some warm milk.
Every now and again, some ice-cream and some breast milk would be just fine.
Personal reflection and living more in the moment and breathing is a good start. You don't have to become Mr or Mrs NEW AGE to begin to alter the emotional arc of your life.
Your friends might thankyou, I know mine will, when the anger subsides.
I waited outside the Bloor cinema last night, drinking my Carrot/Apple concoction in the blistering heat. You don't know heat until you move to DUBAI my good friend said on Sunday. I suppose I don't, although I am getting the idea.
It's been along time since I have seen FELLINI'S AMARCORD, and considering I was probably stoned back then in the 80's, no I was high, I can't remember the plotline. Is there a plot line? Sure, it's all about the lack of a plot line.
My companion for the film is not usually late, however she is now, but people watching and sweating without judgement is wonderfully new for me, so I don't really care. My Ipod replica is playing "woman in chains" by Tears for Fears. Feeling good.
Is this a parade of people projecting images that they have cultivated since grade 4, is this the parade of the spiritually bankrupt.
Cmon. Now, now, halt that judgement RICK, breathe.
Cmon, you two macho guys, the camera isn't rolling, drop that swagger and the facade, you are as much in prison as that old woman on the corner. You will never free yourself like that, oh well, I can't save anybody tonight.
Tonight, where is she, maybe she thought it was at the Varsity? No monkey mind, she is coming.
THIS PART I REMEMBER QUITE VIVIDLY. The TEARS FOR FEARS soundtrack of life has moved on to SHOUT......A BLACK something, some old FIAT like machine drives up beside me and lets out a woman, a young WOMAN that I met a few weeks back at a viewing. Is it her?
Highly doubtful, you were just exchanging emails last week. She walks up to the cashier, oblivious, "two for AMARCORD"
Man what is going on, it is her, at least that looks like her ass and hair.
She is going to think I am always alone, shit, where is my date, that tramp.
Did I tell her that I liked FELLINI, or am I just living it, that I do enjoy.
I think I did tell her that I liked Italian films, I don't know, maybe I am completely psychotic. I am sure I am.
"Rick, craziness meeting you here man" She smiles wide.
"I thought it was you...pretty chill (did I say chill), I am just waiting for a friend"
"Oh yeah, My husband is just parking the car" She comes up for a vice like hug which I don't want to break.
ON THE IPOD....."if i could change you mind....I'd really love to break your heart....SHOUT"
This is really the end of the encounter. However at one point she told me that another time my new companion and the two of them should have dinner together, at some African restaurant she knows near by.
Savage me with the Giraffe. She also happened to mention that the last movie she saw at the bloor was, and I am not paraphrasing, "nine and a half weeks".
My response to this which i don't think now was very appropriate was "9 & a half weeks, perhaps I should throw you into the ladies washroom and we can compare notes"
She laughed but, I think I need some professional help from Richard Lewis or somebody.
The truth is the movie was wonderful and weird and I had a good night, it felt healthy and balanced and the conversation was good.
So why did I keep thinking that there was something missing, missing energy, missing possibility's, missing spontaneity.
My mind floated away from the night and into a world filled with JANUARY JONES and the FLAMING LIPS and AFRICA.
It's like a world gone crazy..Woman in chains.
I was in a meeting this week, a one on one session with this spiritual, intelligent man who is facilitating a course that I am taking. During this meeting, I was explaining in a nutshell what I am trying to do professionally in my life. How the life coaching is taking off and how that I am acting as a support services co-ordinator.
I was surprised at how detailed this guy's insights were into my character, as I don't remember meeting him before at all.
At one point I was saying something sheepishly about perhaps taking too much onto my plate and that might have a tendency to backfire. I was thinking that simplicity might be the real cure, I was actually sure that he would agree with my clarity in that moment.
However, he looked me straight in the eyes and told me that he worked with people like Madonna in the past, and that the only way for me to actually reach the levels I want to reach is to actually have the desire and the action of reaching for much more. Rick you can reach higher, the more you get, the more you can share, the happier you will be.
Ok, I thought, what an inspiring message, but can I really pull this off? Do I really have that much to say? Based on this series of blogs I might not, but there is something underneath that is untapped.
There is this great quote that I have put on my wall from the Indian philosopher Pantanjali. Quite honestly, I had never heard of him, until I read this quote from the Sharma book.
"WHEN YOU ARE INSPIRED BY SOME GREAT PURPOSE, SOME EXTRAORDINARY PROJECT, ALL YOUR THOUGHTS BREAK THEIR BONDS: YOUR MIND TRANSCENDS LIMITATIONS, YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS EXPANDS IN EVERY DIRECTION AND YOU FIND YOURSELF IN A NEW, GREAT AND WONDERFUL WORLD. DORMANT FORCES, FACULTIES AND TALENTS BECOME ALIVE AND YOU DISCOVER YOURSELF TO BE A GREATER PERSON THAN YOU EVER DREAMED YOURSELF TO BE."
Brilliantly said. I know that when I am working on a project that is forward in thinking and spiritual in content and actually reaches other people, time seems to go very slowly during the process. Love it.
I do have those moments however where I think, where does a guy who sabotaged his youth with drugs and alcohol and had a revolving door of interesting woman basically complicating his narcissistic existence. Where does this guy get the depth and the back story necessary to influence other people in a positive way? I suppose it comes from personal honesty and discovery. It all remains to be seen. I may not influence anyone but myself and that will be fine in the end.
In the continuing pattern of synchronicity that is part of my life. I am lucky to be a part of a new relationship which seems to be based on integrity and truth and the like attracts like concept. I want to elaborate on this, but there is no need to synthesize and analyze at the same time, especially in this case.
I feel comfortable however elaborating on this surprising woman I have met recently through my work.. She is the event co-ordinator for a motivational speaker that I happened to be reading voraciously at the time of our introduction. We were in sync very quickly out of the gate. She also wears a number of other hats, including, opening a website for addiction therapy, she is a master hypnotist, she is a mother of two, and she is a practitioner of Reiki.
From a few minutes into our first meeting we were laughing and challenging each others mental boundaries in a playful but respectful way. I am very happy to say that we are going to be working together as partners in crime in the near future.
The funny thing is that she has said from point one that she really wants to give me a better understanding of her hypnotism process by putting me under..
"I do it all the time to my husband and he gets alot out of it" Great I thought. "And I never make him bark like a dog while under although the kids request it, and I could probably do it" Not so great....
Ok, so she is coming over next Friday to put me under and get to some core issues..Should I be totally open to this or slightly petrified. I suppose it is simply a fear based on whether I can trust her with my deepest secrets, why the hell not. You are only as sick as your secrets anyway.
I wanted to end today by saying that I don't give other people enough credit sometimes for their mentorship or influence on me. There have been alot of people recently that have really been quite powerful by example.
However about a year and a half ago I met a man who was the father of a person I was close to.. I didn't really know too much about him except that he was a friendly, likeable, former Buddhist philosopher and child of the sixties...
He started a company that was one of the first to come up with the technology for tracking bears in the wild for studies and environmental purposes; as well as he had this Island that he raised his family on in the summers that was complete with solar power long before it was in vogue. This I found very cool.
This soft spoken affable guy had seemed to do it all with dignity. Raise a gifted daughter, recover from health issues, change countries he lived in based on political principle. He even was a prolific musician.
He man was a good example of what can be accomplished by being proactive and yet staying anchored in the moment, the music of the moment. I never got to tell him and thank him however,it would probably have been awkward, that is why I write this thing, so I have the opportunity to say thank you or whatever else might be flowing out of this ageing mind.
My spiritual teacher actually said on Thursday that "aging" is simply the loss of DESIRE and nothing more. We can all make a conscious effort to work on getting back our DESIRE in a big way. I am not speaking of lustful desire, I am speaking of INTENTION.
My DESIRE IS BACK That's all for now. Cheers.
I CAN REALLY USE A WISH RIGHT NOW, WISH RIGHT NOW, WISH RIGHT NOW.
IT'S AMAZING HOW THE CHORUS OF THIS HIP-HOP SONG IS PLAYING ON MY MIND. IT'S ALL GOOD THOUGH.
I was actually projecting on how this song would effect the generation of teens that grow up today listening to this message and groups like Down With Webster. Answer, it's all just a conduit to connecting with something alot larger than themselves.
Then again there is that ever so subtle message looming,that if you become an artist and get your money for nothing and your chicks for free, you will be admired, and after a
couple of rehabs, you can become a thespian, a director and eventually a LEGEND.
We all want to be admired by our peers, even if secretly we can't stand the sight of ourselves. I suppose it's better than being ignored for the perception of nothing you are.
Some how a friend of mine became extremely famous and wrote his songs on his blackberry in his mothers basement and is showing up here this week with a famous actress in tow. His secret. Unwavering belief in his art, talent, good looks, and incredible luck and timing. This is simply not the reality for the other 99 percent of talented people.
Now the bigger picture is still to come for this young man, he may be faced with a huge revelation and challenge down the road that we wouldn't wish on anybody. For now though, I am very happy for him.
I am very happy with the people that are popping up in my world right now. I should probably get on my knees to thank them for their participation and heap praise upon them.
The more that expectation and entitlement are not part of the daily projections and meditations, the more beautiful the journey. That sounds very late 60s. And if you can't be with the one you love honey, love the one your with.. I digress.
I find that the challenge is that no matter what spiritual momentum and good intentions that you have in your world; life will throw you a curve ball. It's humorous really. Just when you feel light on your feet and in sync with the energy of your environment, your ego mind will flood you with a quick thought.."There must be more than this" or "I'm bored"
Someone I know uses the technique of saying "cancel, cancel" when this happens.
I don't know, just accept it as mental junk, take a quick look at it as such, and move back into your positive mode. EASIER SAID THAN DONE..
I am all over the map today, I am constantly digging for the answers. I even try to find them in the pop songs that my imaginary grandchildren are listening to. So be it. I am grateful.
I am doing LIFE COACHING as an extra activity added onto my RECRUITING.(There is a thin line between alumni and experimental clients) I realize through this experience that the only place to start for a client on this voyage is with HONESTY.
Questions need to be confronted like : What areas of my life have not worked the way I wanted? What are my blockages to changing this behaviour?
Do I fully take responsibility for my past actions or was I the proverbial VICTIM? Do I actually want to change? What do I want to keep the same?
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can be wonderful as a tool. (I use it) Re framing an experience in the present or in the past is an excellent way to stop the personal blame game. (So is asking the burden to be lifted)
I have found that old ideas however, core issues, they continue to resurface if you don’t understand how to deal with them. Are they working for you? (Forgive me Dr Phil)
For instance.....Saying to yourself: I feel positive and deserve all the good that the world has to offer me........is a wonderful way to start the day. However, if you don’t really believe it in your heart, you have the famous disconnect between the mind and the soul. It’s not enough to say it, you have to believe it. To do that , I feel like you have to clear the wreckage.
I know, not everyone believes that they have any major core defects that are running their emotions. Some people like myself, were never hit, or thrown in a closet as a child , or told that they would never amount to anything. Yet, I don’t mind saying that I struggled with various issues.... things would come easy to me , I could attain almost anything I put my mind to, however, once I did, I would sabotage it on a subconscious level. Why?
That is a longer discussion. I have met many people that have tried to deal with this challenge. Is it that they felt that they didn’t deserve success (whatever the definition of success is)
Usually human beings simply gravitate towards pleasure and away from pain. So why sabotage pleasure? Hmm, there was a pleasure principle payoff I got a high from. So why the hell not languish in it?
Therapists want to look deep into the CHILDHOOD, yet I am not so sure that the mindset lies there dormant waiting to be dissected. When I was delving into the process of AUDITING in Scientology for a while, I would RUN people through past traumatic events over and over, looking for different new sensory observations and hidden feelings that may surface. They seemed to feel happy and felt lighter afterwards. (I stopped doing this when I was involved in running these techniques on children, which was ethically questionable)
The idea being that simply by touching on events that the person had forgotten, or were painful and never really synthesized, the impact of these events would lessen.
So on a basic level. If you can get your problems off your chest with another person, fantastic start, they really don’t have to fix them, as long as you can speak about them out loud , it is tremendously CATHARTIC. I believe that identifying them, speaking about them, and attaching no guilt to them is important. How to move on, well, that takes daily action and commitment. So let’s do it as Nike says.
Don’t look for any quick fix however. Relief I believe comes gradually. THESE OBSERVATIONS DON'T COME EASILY FROM READING A FEW TOO MANY SELF HELP BOOKS but from LIVING IN THE TRENCHES..(SOUNDED PRETTY GOOD)
I recently had lunch with a fascinating woman that I am going to be doing some work with on Addictions. She is a former Addict and now is working with a leading self-help guru. She is also a master Hypnotist.
A Reiki practitioner..on and on.... I was afraid she was going to put me under , right there in Starbucks, but I just wouldn’t bend in our first meeting. (Good one Rick) It was close.
She feels that working with people on strategies for their recovery, as well as working on their Core issues, the balance of the process will give them the foundation for a great future. This is what I hope to achieve with my coaching and my friendship with this woman and with the organization I am recruiting for.
It is all going so damn well, (watch out) and people keep being put in my path.
An old friend turned up on the beach yesterday on Canada day with his wife and child. I hadn’t seen him in 20 years and this is the second time I have ran into him in months. He tells me he may have some co-workers who might need my services. Definitely the channels are open.
I looked on in SURREAL wonderment as he described to his wife how he had known me since he was a child. Had I known him that long? Surely I wasn't this old.
On a final note. I have been playing and watching Tennis for many years now and Wimbledon is always one of the highlights of the sports year for me. I can’t help but keep up on the scores and the new faces and the records that are falling.
The other day in the Woman’s draw, an unknown CZECH woman named PETRA KVITOVA who is only 20 years old had somehow made it to the prestigious semis against defending champion Serena Williams.
Before the match in which she played spectacularly in defeat, she was asked by an Interviewer by the BBC a relevant question...........’Do you think you can win Wimbledon?” ..
..she waited to answer, she shyly smiled and gave the best answer I have heard in a Sports Interview in a long while. Her answer..........”No, I don’t really think I can win, I am just so happy to be here” The interviewer seemed dumbfounded.
The commentators, Mcenroe and Carillo joked about her confidence.
However, it was so refreshing to hear somebody who was supposed to say the usual stuff about momentum and everybody being human etc, she just spoke the truth from her heart.
Politically incorrect for NBC live, but really refreshing to hear. Does she need a sports psychologist?
They are probably calling her right as we speak. They will probably search to rid her of her core issues.
Her inability to contact her Honesty wouldn’t be one of them.
