Kategoriarkiv: #English

Held in a space of love

Publicerad den av
2

Being held in a space of love, that beats most things I’ve experienced. That’s what a great coach (for me) will do. And that’s what I experience at Supercoach Academy as well. space of loveBeing held in a space of love opens up for discovery of things within that I didn’t know were there to find. It opens for grabbing onto a story of mine, shining some light on it, and watching it dissolve into nothingness, because that’s what stories are. They really are nothing, but for the fact that we place meaning onto them. They are a thought, that we believe to be real, and that’s why they seem ream. But they are a thought, and it’s only when I ”have something on that thought” that it seems real to me.

During the last weekend with SCA2014, I was listening to a chat between Michael Neill and George Pransky, when George said something to the effect of:
It’s the meaning you put on ”it”, that is causing your distress.

(”It” being whatever it is you put meaning to, whatever it is you are dicussing, bringing up, getting stuck on.)

I can see this in my life, nowadays. I can see myself when I am in distress, and know where that feeling comes from. It doesn’t mean I don’t experience distress anymore. Not at all! That happens, all the time, because it’s part of the human experience on earth. It happens to us all. Period. But I know where my distress is coming from, and knowing that makes it seem slightly less real for me. It makes me not take that distress as Fact, as something that Must be. It makes me see the distress as a feeling I am experiencing, because I have a thought of some sort. And I feel the feeling. That’s a given. But I no longer believe that feeling to be a Must. It’s not a feeling that is inevitable. It’s not a feeling which is the only true response given the situation. It’s A feeling. Not THE feeling.

And when I am held in a space of love, I can begin to question my beliefs, question the stories I’m telling myself to be real. And that process is a miraculous journey, that free’s me up, expands me, makes it possible to let go of restrictions that don’t serve me (anymore), and mostly, for me, it means my energy is not wasted on conserving the stories of my life. The energy can be used for much greater thing. I don’t have to waste energy trying to maintain a status quo that is a construct of my thinking, instead the energy can be used, in the moment, for whatever want’s to show up, whatever wants to happen.

Have you ever been held in a space of love?

Join me at the rooftop?

Publicerad den av
2

A few days ago my friend Wivan posted a link to a song on Facebook, and I started to listen to it, but my connection was shaky and I couldn’t really hear it. But I sensed I’d really like it, so I sent the link to myself.

And today I watched it, started to dance while seated, found more songs by the same band and fell head over heels in love with Postmodern Jukebox. Amazing! Their cover versions are just sensational. 

So far I’ve only heard about five songs, and this one is breathtakingly beautiful:

I had a great day already, but I tell you, this just sent my day spinning into overdrive. I absolutely love living life in the moment, because then I get to feel what I feel in the moment 100%, fully, vibrantly, totally immersed. And right now I’m immersed in some seriously magnificent music! I love life, absolutely love it, and want to shout it from the rooftops. I’m happy, I’m alive, and life IS! Wanna join me at the rooftop?

If not me, who? If not now, when?

Publicerad den av
Svara

Yesterday my daughter posted a link to the talk Emma Watson did for the UN Headquarters on the launch of the HeForShe-campaign, and wrote a little prompt encouraging her Facebook-friends to watch it, in her very wise ways. Today we watched the clip together and it gladdened me to hear my daughter say ”I’d like to make a contribution to that campaing somehow!” when we’d watched it to the end. Please spend some 14 minutes watching it yourself if you haven’t already:

There is a lot to be said about gender inequalities, but I’ll focus on the same thing that my daughter picked up on in her prompt, namely:

HeForShe

Really good questions those, that I definitely will keep top of mind. But not necessarily questions I need to answer with my intellect, when I ask them silently within. Perhaps they had better just be asked, and reflected upon, letting wisdom shine through and give me the answers.

Imagine the change we all can be in the world, if we ask ourselves this when we hesitate if we really can make a dent in the universe:

If not me, who? If not now, when?

12 years a slave

Publicerad den av
Svara

Flying to the US for my last and final weekend on the 2014 Supercoach Academy, I watched 12 years a slave on the in-flight-entertainment system. 12 years a slave And I was horrified. It’s a magnificent production, excellent acting, and absolutely horrible to watch. And I actually had never even thought about the possibility of free African-American men, women and children being kidnapped and sold into slavery. But it happened, and the movie is based on the book written by Solomon Northup himself, after managing to get out of slavery. Apparently one of very few kidnapped to manage to escape.

There is one thing I believe slavery builds more than anything else, and that is more fear. I can only imagine what those who are enslaved fear, but I can hazard a guess: Fear of their owners, fear of being sold, abused, mistreated, separated from loved ones, worked to death, etc. And the very concept that slavery exist must put fear in those who aren’t enslaved as well, especially those in close proximity of slavery, somehow. Fear of falling into slavery oneself, must be there. It just must. Unconciously or conciously.

One of the most absurd things – for me – about the entire concept of slavery is the notion that human beings can be owned by someone. Isn’t it absolutely absurd? I wonder how and why this notion ever got rooted in the culture of humanity, especially since it’s such an old tradition. It’s been around for thousands of years. But why?

I don’t know. I ramble. But I do know this: ownership is definitely something worth looking into. Asking myself some questions around ownership, I’ll reflect more on it. Because what can I own, really?

Thoughts aren’t Truth!

Publicerad den av
1

Found a great quote by Byron Katie on Facebook:
Byron KatieAnd I have to say, that’s one very wise woman. Because thoughts are just that, thoughts, and not Truth, which I have been prone to believe before. But they are not instructions that you have to follow, they just are. Period.

Sometimes I act on my thoughts, and sometimes I don’t, based on what serves me best in the moment. But overall, just to know, in my heart, that I do not have to believe, and act, upon the thoughts that come into my head was been the greatest revelation in my life.

And you know what, that might seem like I’ve been totally dense until I got this, and I might well have been, but while I’ve always know I don’t have to believe, and act, upon obviously ”crazy thoughts” such as ”Try jumping off the cliff to see if you can fly” or perhaps ”I wonder what it would be like to kiss that smashingly magnificent-looking perfect stranger across the road”, I really didn’t know I didn’t have to believe, and act, upon the more unassuming – but oh so insidious! – thoughts such as ”Well, so everyone says you’ve done a good job today, but really, you could really have done a bit more! I’m dissapointed in you! You’d better get your act together.” or something like ”You didn’t remember to remind your child about bringing gym clothes to school today, so you’re obviously a bad mother and really need to shape up this parenting stuff, or else…”.

But I don’t have to take either as truth. Because they are not. They just are. What relationship do you have with thoughts?

Physically home

Publicerad den av
Svara

After 10 days on the road, visiting Santa Monica for Graduation weekend of Supercoach Academy, and then taking a few extra days of leisure in Seattle, meeting up with an old friend from my years as a foreign-exchange student in Lincoln, Nebraska, I am finally physically home. And it feels great.

Nowadays, I am, from a psychological point of view, (almost) always home within myself these days. But it sure does feel good to be physically home within the confines of my house and the loving arms of my familly.

Insights

Summer weather greeted me on return, and I enjoyed a sunny afternoon with the shared Insights from all my classmates of Supercoach Academy. The wisdom and sense of wonder contained within the stories, moves me to tears and laughter. I am filled with love for all of my fellow Supercoaches, but luckily enough, there’s enough to go around, so regardless if you’ve shared this ride with me the past nine months or not, consider yourself loved.

I am truly blessed!

I’m not alone

Publicerad den av
2

Supercoach Academy 2014 has ended, and it’s been an amazing journey. During this time so much has shifted for me and one of the more significant shifts took place during the New York-Connection-weekend. The big shift came when a fellow attendee shared a feeling of being ”the only one who feels excluded, and not in connection with the others”.

I was floored.

Not because I have ever believed that this is a feeling unique to me.

And not because I’ve never stared this thought in the eyes before, so to speak. I have.

I even did a drawing over and over again as a child, when I had just started school, of blobs of different colors, all close to each other…. and one black blob, to the side, separate from the others, not connected, not included. Clearly different. Alone. Separated. Over and over I drew the same image. As a child of 7 or maybe 8. Already then I strongly identified with this story I kept telling myself, that I was not connected, that I was alone.

20140806-105648-39408772.jpg

But that story and all the attachment I have had to it for decades all just seemed to fall into small pieces during the Connection weekend, it all crumbled and fell apart.

And this is what I now know:
I am not alone. I am connected. Connection is not something I have to create. It’s already there. IT’S ALREADY THERE!!! Imagine that huh?!

What am I afraid of and who’s to blame?

Publicerad den av
Svara

What am I afraid of and who’s to blame? We center our lives around this question – according to Brene Brown – to the detriment of us all. Just started to listen to the RSA Talk that Brene Brown gave a while ago, and even though I’ve listened to it at least five times, I’ve never latched onto this question.

But today. Wham!! It hit me like a hammer on a nail that this is what is happening in Sweden today. And yesterday. And on election day. And the months leading up to Election Day… and so on. We have all fallen prey to the question of what I’m afraid of and who’s fault it is.

There are those that voted for the Swedish Democrats. This very question somehow seems to be at the very center of what that party is all about. A fear of/for a country (and a world) that is changing by the second, and being afraid of that change. Not wanting it. Not feeling safe with that change. Or whatever the rationale is… And the blame is put on immigrants.

Then there are those who didn’t vote for the Swedish Democrats. The people terrified or pissed off or personally offended by the racist dogma that somehow seems to have been the main focus during this general election in Sweden. And here the blame is placed on the people who sympathise with the Swedish Democrats.

And you know what?

It won’t work. Neither way.

We can’t create a good society if we base it on fear and blame. So regardless if you voted on the Swedish Democrats or you voted for something else, if you based that vote on fear (and blame), you will not get what it is you desire. You will not get a release of that fear. On the contrary, because of what you focus on, you will get more of that. So if you base your life on fear, fear you will have.

And I don’t wish living a life based on fear on my worst enemy. And I speak from a point of having done just that. So much of my life has been centered on fear. Knowingly sometimes, unknowingly the other times. But always this fear lurching beneath the surface. Menacing. Even making me fear fear.

But it’s not where I come from now. Today I am centered in love, and I know fear is a mind construct that I do not have to believe!

What would it take for you to start to look at your fears? Would it help if I told you fear is a figment of our imagination? It is not a Truth. It only lives in your mind.

IMG_3721.JPG

Do you know what you are afraid of? Do you know why you voted on what you voted for this general election? Can you honestly tell me fear didn’t have anything to do with your choice?

Oysters!

Publicerad den av
Svara

On my very first visit ever to Seattle I also got to taste oysters for the very first time in my life. My friends took me to the Westward, a fairly new restaurant situated beautifully on the waterfront overlooking downtown Seattle and the Space Needle. Wonderful weather, amazing company – including a friend from my year as a foreign exchange student in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 89/90, so time sure has flown! – and the opportunity to try oysters for the first time ever.

Of course I accepted the challenge, and am I ever glad I did! We ordered one each of two kinds, the Wild Cats and the Kumomoto (the smaller black-shelled one), and I was taught the ropes. Spooned a wee bit of vinegar/finely chopped shallots-mixture on top, and down the hatch it went!

Oysters

And you know what? I loved it! Imagine that huh, here I’ve gone 42 years without ever trying, and it turns out I love it. I’ve just never really seen the point to oysters, not really thinking it could be any good. The take-away is definitely not to take my thinking to be the Truth, because you just never know until you try!

You’ve probably got a similar story or two in your life, where you believed something and was proven wrong once you tried it?

Supercoach!

Publicerad den av
1

I’m now officially a certified transformative coach, a graduate of the Supercoach Academy 2014, and I have to tell you – it’s a great feeling!

IMG_3567.JPG

It has been a nine month journey unlike any I’ve ever experienced, and I am grateful for getting on the ride!

IMG_3613.JPG

Went for a quick dip in the ocean before continuing my travels, and was playing around a bit in the sand. And as you can see, from now on I’m not only HERO the coach, I am HERO the supercoach. And that feels great.

Now I’m gonna rest in the feeling and knowledge of having accomplished this for a while longer, and then – who knows! I’m certainly curious to find out what will be around the corner. Are you?