During a webinar in which I participated, the moderator clarified a very important concept, one which I implement all the time, but to which I had never actually put words. The idea is that any issue, challenge or problem we experience must be resolved with a “whole view”, or it will simply recur repeatedly. In coaching, this means that the presenting challenge needs to be understood and resolved within the context of the entire being of the person. It is helpful to ask the question: “How does this reflect a misunderstanding I am carrying about my particular life and life in general?”
This implies that any disruption in inner peace is a result of having only a partial view of what is going on. In other words, if I understood the complete picture, I would feel peaceful. Of course this can be a very tall order, and many times the best we can hope for is an understanding that is closer to the complete picture. The closer we get to a complete picture, the better we will feel about the issue.
One way to envision this is to imagine being lost in a jungle and not knowing which way to go to find safety. From your position on the ground, all you can see are the trees around you, and no matter how hard you look, there is no indication of the way out. But imagine now that you are magically picked up by a helicopter which whooshes you up above the area, so that now you are looking down at the whole jungle, and can see that there is a tea house just a stone’s throw from where you were standing.
Having that greater perspective is the only way to see the way out and is an example of getting closer to wholeness. Metaphorically, this is what happens when you bring a single challenging issue to a coaching session. If the session is successful, you will experience a broader view and leave the session with a good solution for that issue.
However, the best solution for your jungle journey would be to carry along a GPS unit which could keep you apprised of your position, and the positions of your various destinations within the jungle. Metaphorically, this is what getting in touch with your inner guidance provides for you: an internal GPS for your life. We could call it an "IGS" :-)
Getting in touch with that IGS is a tremendous help in life, but like a GPS, it must be used and the direction given must be trusted. Every day we are making decisions about what we will trust. Trusting your IGS involves believing that we have a higher power which is guiding us to a greater good, which the great psychic, Edgar Cayce, referred to as “a spirit of friendliness abroad in the universe.” If we, like Edgar Cayce, believe that the universe is friendly and that we are connected to that friendliness by our internal guidance system, then our experience of the jungle will be radically altered. Each time we feel lost, we can refer to our internal guidance system which will reassure us that there is a bigger picture in which lies safety. This reflects the wholeness into which our challenges can be resolved.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Miracle Moments
If you have seen the movie “The Miracle Worker”, you will no doubt remember the pivotal scene where Helen Keller finally understands that Anne Sullivan is communicating with her. They are together at the water pump, and as the water runs over Helen’s hand, Anne is signing “water” into her other hand. The dawn of understanding is unmistakable, and in that miracle moment a whole new world opens up for Helen. Things begin to make sense. She now has a way of interacting with a world that previously was completely closed to her. Everything is the same, and nothing is the same.
Similar revelations are played out in the lives of those who embark on a journey to understand themselves and to find a way to feel better. We come to understand that Life has been trying to talk to us, but we didn’t understand the language. We did not know that there is a way to understand and to impact what happens to us. There is a way to engage with Life that feels like a dance, with Life in the lead, whereas previously, we may have felt our lives were haphazard and we were dancing alone in the dark.
As we engage this journey of understanding, each time we receive an insight that illuminates a whole section of our life, we are astonished. “You mean I have been doing this to myself all this time, and thinking someone else was doing it to me?”; “I can’t believe I didn’t see this before!”; “I didn’t realize how people were perceiving my actions.”; “I have never understood before why I continually behaved that way when it clearly wasn’t working.” These are common statements made by those who catch glimpses of the underpinnings of their habitual behaviours.
But the miracle moment comes when we actually feel that new understanding land in our physical body. There is a clear sense of it, like a key turning a lock. We can feel the key solidly locking into place. This is where true change takes place. And as each key drops into place, we build a new self and a new life, based on deep truths which change how we see the world, how we interact with it and, most importantly, how we feel.
There is a sense of joy in each discovery, an excitement, as though we have found a buried treasure, which indeed we have.
Similar revelations are played out in the lives of those who embark on a journey to understand themselves and to find a way to feel better. We come to understand that Life has been trying to talk to us, but we didn’t understand the language. We did not know that there is a way to understand and to impact what happens to us. There is a way to engage with Life that feels like a dance, with Life in the lead, whereas previously, we may have felt our lives were haphazard and we were dancing alone in the dark.
As we engage this journey of understanding, each time we receive an insight that illuminates a whole section of our life, we are astonished. “You mean I have been doing this to myself all this time, and thinking someone else was doing it to me?”; “I can’t believe I didn’t see this before!”; “I didn’t realize how people were perceiving my actions.”; “I have never understood before why I continually behaved that way when it clearly wasn’t working.” These are common statements made by those who catch glimpses of the underpinnings of their habitual behaviours.
But the miracle moment comes when we actually feel that new understanding land in our physical body. There is a clear sense of it, like a key turning a lock. We can feel the key solidly locking into place. This is where true change takes place. And as each key drops into place, we build a new self and a new life, based on deep truths which change how we see the world, how we interact with it and, most importantly, how we feel.
There is a sense of joy in each discovery, an excitement, as though we have found a buried treasure, which indeed we have.
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