Have you ever been guilty of doing something to PROVE something to someone else; as opposed to doing it because you really wanted to?
I have no doubts we have all been down that path.
Today I want to take you on an exploratory journey down this proving path to see what it might be costing you in your life, and in relationship to your FULFILLMENT, HAPPINESS, and EVOLUTION.
Are you ready for this wee inner journey?
Then, let the lesson begin.
Today, instead of a question, let’s start with a quote.
“The cave you fear to enter is where your treasure lies.” Joseph Campbell (developed the framework of The Hero’s Journey)
I will do a deeper dive, in a future post, on The Hero’s Journey, but for now let’s look at the essence of his work.
And here is my challenge for the warrior in you…
Don’t bugger off, or tell yourself you are too busy to read this, or any other excuse if I say something that you don’t necessarily want to hear.
Things like … to STRUGGLE (at times) is pretty essential to meaningful thriving.
You may not want to hear that.
We have already started with a good quality question.
Just the way I like it.
This topic has come up for me with a number of my coaching clients, in the past, and even more of late.
Because, here is the thing.
I can use a unit of measure that tells me I am successful (or not), but if that unit my measure is crap, then the feedback I am getting is not really that useful.
So…what unit of measure are you using, to determine if you are doing well or not in this game of life?
Now, let’s go deeper.
You might know by now, that I love to ask questions. So…
What in your life, right now, are you resisting?
(Whether that is a little or a lot)
It really is a great question to start the illumination and growth process. Sort of like the sun shining on a seed in order to help it grow. You are the seed and the illumination in this case is the gaze of your CURIOUS and consciously aware mind.
In fact, to get the most out of this growth experience, you will also be adding another ‘superfood’ ingredient to the mix…COURAGE.
This article is inspired by a colleague of mine – Leah – a fellow explorer of life and its meaning (and also the author of a very cool book called Drawn Together: Uplifting Comics on the Curious Journey Through Life and Love).
Leah told me that my article on creating our ideal lifestyle was a total trigger for her. She experienced a whole bunch of RESISTANCE to the activity where you evaluate what your ideal lifestyle might look like. Therefore with Leah’s permission, and my own curiosity, let’s see what we can learn from her experience.
Let’s continue with this wonderful subject of how to make your life more AWESOME.
But first it is question time…
Would you like to be an effective CO-CREATOR in your Destiny (as opposed to being at the whim of ‘fate’ or other peoples personal agenda’s)?
I am guessing you said “Yes”.
Next question…
How important do you think the quality of your decision-making would be when it comes to being this potent and powerful co-creator of your destiny?
I am also guessing you said “VERY (or #%@#&) Important!”, or words to that effect.
Cool. We are on the same sheet of music.
And just so you understand my background when it comes to this decision-making thing (so I have some street cred): I have a combination of 14-years as an officer in the army; 5 years security consulting to Olympic Games and mega events; 14 years coaching; training in NLP and hypnotherapy; and wrote a book last year called ‘Decision Making Mastery’.
So, are you with me?
Are you ready for another question? (And that was not it).
How would you rate the quality of your current LIFESTYLE on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 1 sucks and 10 is awesome!)
Be honest.
Is it spot on?
Or is there a gap between what you would love your lifestyle to be, and what it currently is?
How big is the gap?
If the truth be known, I am not the guy that you come and see if you want to make a bazillion dollars. I am not really an expert in that, plus I am not really interested in that as a meaningful and evolutionary life goal. What I am more interested in is how can we close the gap between now, and what our ideal (meaningful and fulfilling) lifestyle might look like.
Before we go any further; you also don’t need to have a bazillion dollars to create the ideal lifestyle.
PART 2: DOING THE ‘INNER WORK’
In my last post I talked about the importance of working on the inner environment, in order for us to experience optimum health – physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically and even spiritually.
Today, I am going to take the conversation a little deeper, as we talk about what the inner work actually looks like.
First let us establish a few foundational pieces:
MY 2-PART ‘HEALTH SOLVING’ STRATEGY
I know you know – especially if you actually read my blogs – that the universe is made up of the seen and the unseen. The physical and non-physical. Energy and matter.
Therefore, it stands to reason that if we want to ‘solve’ something, we might need to work on both the seen, and the unseen.
It has been my experience over the last 52 years, and particularly in the last 23-years that I have been immersed in the personal development and optimum health field, that if you just focus on solving things in the ‘outer’ world (the seen or physical), you will get a 50% effective (or less) outcome.
So essentially my 2-part health solving strategy, is about doing the OUTER work as well as doing the INNER work.
Here is what I do when I am feeling crook, off, ill, in pain or unwell.
In a recent Life Masterclass podcast, I had a conversation with a coaching colleague of mine – Sharon Cavanaugh – about meditation and different modalities we have found to be most effective for ourselves and out clients. Do check it out.
We both agree one of our favourite meditators and educators is author and neuroscientist Dr Joe Dispenza, and recently Sharon and a mutual friend had the opportunity to attend an advanced retreat in Denver with Dr Joe. By the way if you ever get a chance to attend one of his events I HIGHLY recommend it. Life changing!!
After the event our mutual friend told me that I would love an insight and distinction Dr Joe shared.
He was talking about finding the balance between ‘intent’ and ‘surrender’. He suggested:
“Over-intent becomes trying (which is a form of separation) and over-surrender becomes giving up”.
When I am hosting workshops or seminars, I like to share parts of my origin story, for the groups benefit. I also like to think of myself as a ‘crash test dummy’.
I try things out on myself first (like a 5-day water-only fast) and then share with someone like you, what the outcomes were – good, bad and otherwise.
Starting during Easter 1999, I decided to undertake a 30-day challenge, which came in the form of a number CD’s and was presented by Tony Robbins. As a result of that activity, I decided to make (an action) three significant life choices, which steered my life in a (completely) different direction.
This is what I learned back then, coupled with insights from the last couple of decades.