How sturdy is that brick foundation?

What makes a foundation sturdy? The width of it. The wider it is, the more you can build on top of it. If it is only one layer deep then you will only build so high before it collapses. If it is two layers deep than you can go higher. So the higher you want to build, the sturdier and wider you have to make your foundation.

So how do you make your foundation wider? By practice and incorporating your brick into your life. The more times you do your “networking” brick, the wider that foundation becomes. The more time and practice you place into your writing, the deeper and sturdier that foundation becomes. The more you use your “responding to situations and events” brick instead of the “reacting” one, the more solid, deep and complete that foundation will be. Remember, a foundation that will support you for the rest of your life is not thrown together in one day. It is built layer upon layer, one day at a time. One moment at a time. Keep in the work. Keep in practice. Keep in action.

Check in from last week’s brick

I sent out the message for my research paper topic. Waiting for approval or renegotiation. I got as far as I could with my homework and will finish before the graduation requirement. I have taken some classes, those that I needed and were offered last week.

July 27, 2009

This week is all about business. Create structure for sessions and ten week coaching intensive. List ten week intensive on craig’s list and other free listing sites. Create a letter to send out about creaticity lecture to local college. Get ready for supervised coaching starting next week. Yikes!

Who gets to choose?

We all have choice.

Have you ever awakened from a dream and been confused because the dream was so real you didn’t realize you were dreaming? Perhaps you were woken up because your body moved in response to something happening in that dream. To your mind and body, unconsciousness and consciousness were the same. I listened to the great lecture on http://www.ted.com (Check out this site. Lots of great ideas.) about the human being’s capacity to generate what Dan Gilbert calls synthetic happiness. He describes this phenomenon as what happens to people after some life changing event or missed opportunity. Afterward, these people are as happy as they were before these events. “It worked out for the best,” or “I’m so much better off now than I was before.” Do these statements sound familiar? These are statement of synthetic happiness. Please check out the lecture to get a much better idea of what this encompasses. One of his points was for some reason we believe synthetic happiness is somehow less real than “true” happiness.

OK. What does all this have to do with choice? I’m so very glad you asked! The greatest gift the human species has been given is our intelligence and the ability to weigh options and choose. Even when someone feels like every choice around them is being taken away, you still have the ability to choose how you view that situation. Our capacity for survival and our ability to thrive stem from our ability to view situations and events from different perspectives. That is the choice we make. We can always, always choose to see events in another light, to switch our perspectives, to think outside the box, to ask someone for a different insight. That is our greatest gift.

So why do we choose anything but happiness? The mind does not know the difference between dreaming and reality. So why not dream your happiness? Create the choice of happiness every day. See it every day. Feel it every day. Dwell on it. Daydream on it. Your mind and body will not know the difference and your reality will conform to that belief. We will create our “synthetic” happiness that will feel real and true to us. What we think about, we become. So you get to choose your happiness? You do! Choose wisely.

In love and light

Celina

Monday, Monday. How’s your brick foundation?

How is your foundation coming? Are your bricks well placed and fitting together nicely? Are you adding the mortar to hold them and keep them together?

So today I’d like to talk about the mortar that is holding your brick foundation together. What is the purpose of the mortar between the brick? It creates a more solid and firm wall. It helps hold the bricks in place. A wall made with bricks and mortar will last longer than a wall made of just bricks.

So in the terms of your life, what it the mortar? It is the habits, structures, and support mechanisms that keep your foundations in place. The point of us laying out bricks is to change our lives. If you just do the bricks (the actions) without placing the mortar (the habits) our foundation will crumble sooner. So this week, as you are working at your brick, look and see what habits and structure you want to develop for those actions that will continue to support your forward life movement. Progress in made one focused brick at a time. This week be aware of the intent behind those focused actions. Put some mortar between your bricks!

I have been working on my homework fairly regularly this last week. I did not do so as often as I could have and I did get  a lot done and still met the other commitments I had. I am happy with how it is going.

July 20, 2009

This week I have several classes I would like to take to get those finished up. I am on track to finish by the end of the month for my homework. OK maybe a little lagging behind in the race and I am still capable of crossing that finish line. I still have a large amount of time that I need to commit to to get this done. Also, I would like to have decided and got approval for my research topic for next week.

Way cool! ICA graduation here I come!

Focus Like Nature

Be like the forces of nature:

when it blows, there is only wind

when it rains, there is only rain.

Verse #23 from the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

 
This verse from the Tao speaks to me of focus. In our society we highly value those people who are good at multi-tasking. I admit that I do it a lot and am fairly good at it. The challenge with multi-tasking is that you are never completely focused on one thing at a time. When you are in this mode, your attention is divided among the many things you have to get done. Even as you are doing one task, your mind is already thinking and planning about the next. You may be worrying about whether you have enough time to get it all done. Maybe you are already planning what you will have to do the next day because not everything will be done today. This verse asks you to proceed in a different way.

There is amazing clarity and value to focusing on one task at a time. There is incredible energy and commitment to following through with each thing until it is complete. It clears the clutter and distraction from your mind. It puts you fully and wholly into the present moment. There is such power and energy found in the present moment. It is, after all, the only thing that we truly have. The past is gone and the future is not guaranteed. This verse asks you to not only be focused on one task at a time, it ask that you live within the power found in the present moment. It asks that you merge with the Tao by being completely and totally immersed in the Now.

 

In Love and Light

Celina

Just another manic brick day!

It’s Monday again! How’s y’all doing?

You know what day it is, right? Monday, the day we check in and see how our foundation is coming. This foundation we are building by laying down our bricks down one at a time. A couple of things to ask yourself before we move onto the check in. Look and see if the bricks you are choosing are moving toward your bigger goals and dreams. Check and see if what you are choosing to do is turning into busy work. Make sure your bricks reflect focused action toward a certain outcome or commitment. Check in time!

It’s all about ICA homework for me. It will be for a while. These last few weeks I’ve really got a handle on what I still need to do and how long it is taking. 21 modules left at about 2 to 3 hours a piece. I started this system that is working well. In this system I am transcribing my hand written notes to a word document. This is taking a long time for me to do. I don’t type very fast and I’m not a touch typist – hunt and peck for me. When I realized this I asked if I really needed to transcribe the notes and was I making more work for myself for nothing. I checked in to see if I was continuing this way just because I started this way and wanted everything to be consistent. What I realized was that by transcribing the notes I was revisiting and reinforcing what I had learned, sometimes over a year ago. So even though it is taking longer than I would like, I’m going to continue this way.

July 13, 2009

This week’s brick is again homework. I intend to graduate in December. This is one step on that path. My goal is all homework done by the end of July, except for the notes for classes I have yet to take. All classes done by August.

So where are you at? Where are you going? I would love to hear.

Same old brick.

Building your new life one brick at a time

I really dislike having to do the same brick over and over again. So what am I learning in that process. The main thing I’m learning is that I really procrastinate a lot. So what is it about procrastination that attracts me so much? Why do I love to put off until tomorrow what I can do today? How can I shift my perspective around this?

I love deadlines and they support me in getting my work done. I have always worked well under pressure. However the deadlines work best when imposed by others. As I’m writing this I’m realizing that by procrastinating I gain super clarity on what needs to be done for the next day or two. It helps me focus my energy and thoughts on one thing. Much of my day is spent multitasking – going from one thing to another as challenges arise to be solved in that moment. I spent much of my working career putting out one fire after another, so that when I finally sit down at my desk with nothing urgent on my plate, I literally don’t know what to do next. I know I can multitask well and I also know it robs my of focus and energy. These are great insights and how can I use this knowledge moving forward.

What actions and structures will support me in gaining that clarity and focus I achieve when under pressure without applying that pressure? I’m thinking that a daily list about what is important for each day, both for my day job and my business, will support that structure. Doing and completing one task at a time will also support me. Allowing the  structure of my day to support breathing space, so that I’m not constantly running around doing things in every moment of the day. Remembering to schedule the household tasks will also support me. That way I am not robbing myself of my breathing space to complete the household tasks. Hmmmmm. I’m like the sound of this. I’ll let you know how it worked for me next week.

July 6th

So onto this week’s brick. I’ve been working on my home work for ICA. This week I did not achieve what I set out and I should have looked more closely at what was available for me for time. I also had more home work than I had orginially realized. It is this same brick again for next Monday, more homework to get caught up before classes begin again.

How is everyone doing on their bricks?

In love and light

Celina

What’s the Catch?

Because the Master has nothing to prove, people can trust their words.

Verse #22 from the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

When someone was speaking to you, have you ever thought to yourself, “What’s the catch?” Perhaps you may have thought – “OK. What’s in it for him/her?” Maybe you thought someone was only having a conversation with you because they wanted something from you. During those conversations, you may have come to realize that the person has absolutely no concept of you as a person, just a means to an end. We can sense this in our gut. We seem to always know when someone wants something from us. We can almost always sense their agenda. It is the reason most people have a dislike of salespeople. They get the feeling that the sales person never really sees them as an individual, just another potential sale.

Now, think about a conversation you have had when the person had no motive behind the conversation. They are just imparting information or trying to make a connection with you or just genuinely interested in who you are and where you are in your life. That gives you a completely different feeling inside. You are more focused on the conversation because you aren’t worrying about what their angle is or what they want from you. These conversations are usually reserved for friends and family. However, these connection conversations don’t have to be only for friends and family. You can make that connection with anyone. Is there ever a time in your life when you felt like your concerns and challenges were actually being listened to by a salesperson? They are usually very good salespeople. We have one at the place I work. He is genuinely interested in people and wants to help solve their challenges. He is not concerned about the sales necessarily, although he does have a hard time turning away business. He has passed business on to other businesses we have a relationship with because he knows it just wasn’t a good fit for us. He truly listens to his customers and we have a lot of business because of who he is. He comes from a place of “knowing we have a thriving business and that we don’t have to do any work that will not serve the customers’ needs; we as a business have nothing to prove.”

When you have nothing to prove in a situation or conversation, when you have no agenda except being present, then people are much more comfortable and present around you. They in turn will listen to what you say and trust that you are being genuine and real. When you come from this place of “nothing to prove,” people sense this and are drawn to what you say and what you do. They naturally sense this, and trust what you are saying to them. Being completely secure in all that you are and where you are going, knowing that you are grounded in your own truth, and accepting who you are is key to entering a conversation as a master – with nothing to prove. When you come from a place of not having to convince anyone of your point of view, your rightness, or what has to be done is when people will begin to listen to you and completely accept what you are saying. Let go of needing to have another person validate you to prove your worth to yourself and accept that what you have to say is valuable in it’s own right. That is when you will be heard and trusted.

 

in love and light,

Celina