Etikettarkiv: Michael Neill

Brainwashed on all levels

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Michael Neill just shared a video clip on Facebook, I watched it while brushing my teeth and I just knew I had to share this with you all, because it sent goose bumps (or God bumps, as a friend calls it!) all down my body. Talk about wisdom, deep deep wisdom ringing oh so true, speaking to me, all of me:

Prince Ea talks about opening to new possibilities, about a mankind brainwashed on all levels, beliving what our culture has told us, forgetting that we create that culture, each and every day, and hence, it’s within each of us to change it, to transform it. He speaks about war and violence perhaps creating short term results, but never, NEVER, getting to any lasting solution.

And he says something else as well, something filled with hope, something that sent shivers down my entire body. He speaks about the chance I have, and you have, and we have, of making a real difference, if we just stop, question that which we have been told to be the truth, and start to look within, looking for that which is looking to the outside. Look for the answer to the question of who I am, who you are, in the deepest sense of the word.

And with hope he states that when more of mankind find the deepest answer to that question, we can transform into kind man.

I’m floored. I’m wowed. And yet, this is not new to me. This is what I believe, and have believed for a couple of years at least. But sometimes a message is delivered in a way that just cuts to the core of me. And this was one of those times. I will carry this with me today. And tomorrow.

And so – the question remains:
In the deepest sense possible, who are you?

Why aren’t we awesomer?

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Michael Neill participated in TEDxBend and I just got a hold of his talk. I laughed, and figured that I no longer have to ponder what to post today. Here it comes:

As a student on Supercoach Academy 2014 I have the pleasure of spending time with Michael, and I have to say, this is the best investments I’ve ever made! And you know what really rocks my world? That I’m investing in me. That’s a fab feeling (stemming from a thought!), let me tell you!

Have you ever given any thought to thoughts (yours or in general)?

Where do thoughts come from?

Can I control what thoughts I think?
(Spoiler: No you cannot! Thought come, thoughts go, and that’s all there is to that!)

What do they result in?

If thoughts lead to a feeling (Spoiler number two: My feelings comes from thoughts. All of them. All.), do I have to believe in that feeling?

Do I have to act upon it?
(Spoiler number three: No you don’t. And acknowledging that what I feel – which is genuine, the feeling is there – stems from a thought, makes it much easier for me to act, rather than react! Try it out and see for yourself.)

So, why aren’t we awesomer? What’s your take on that question?

Drop the agenda

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What happens when you drop all thoughts on having an agenda, and just do this:
* Show up
* Respond to what shows up

These are two points that Michael Neill talk about, and I’ve only recently started to experiment with it. For real. And I can tell you, what I’ve experienced so far makes me want to try this even more, on more occasions. For one thing, coming to a meeting with another human being, without an agenda, without any thoughts on wanting this person as a coaching client, on me knowing what would be the best thing for this person in this instance, on wanting to help or fix this person, means that I am more present to the situation at hand. It means I am not already dead set on how to go about it, what will be the outcome, having fixed goals for what I want to happen, etc. And that really makes it easier to experience touching the silence. It makes the meeting much more real, somehow.

Now. It’s actually not so easy, I’ve discovered. Or, at least, it’s not something I am used to. Quite the opposite. I’m used to being prepared, knowing what to say, what to show, and often times, having a clear agenda as to the desired outcome. And somehow, when I am there, with a clear agenda, the magic is missing. Something’s missing. It falls short, not really living up to its potential. Not fully becoming all in the moment that it could be.

Two other things I’ve noticed about this:
First, I believe I would have a much harder time showing up without an agenda, if it was something I was not certain about, or knowledgeable about, perhaps is more the word for it. That is, if you asked me to go deliver a speech about the state of EUs financial policies and structures, I’d freak out. There is not way I would be able to do that in this manner of showing up. Because I have no clue whatsoever about the financial policies of the European Union. Go find someone else, who knows this stuff, please. But ask me to come talk about my dream of changing the school systems on a global scale by 2020, and I can just show up, and respond to what shows up. Without a doubt. I might not do it that way, but it’s an area where the possibility of it happening is much greater that the first example.

Second, this is not the way society is set up, somehow. When did you last show up, without an agenda? If you go to the doctor, you want the doctor to diagnose you. The doctor meets a patient, with the same agenda, to help the patient. Teachers meet their students with very clear agendas, on What learning should take place, and often times, How. You go to the bank, wanting a loan. Not just to see what shows up. You make a business appointment, wanting to sell your brilliant idea, or to get a hand shake on a joint venture. 20140508-214622.jpgI could think of thousands of these instances, where showing up with an agenda, is what is – mostly – done.

And yet, the magic happens, for me, when I drop it. When I drop the agenda, drop what I WANT to happen (sometimes oh so desperately!), just show up, and respond to what shows up.

Does this make sense to you?

 

The art of forgiveness

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On the art of forgiving by the way, inspired by Hector Black.

I’ve not been best friends with forgivness for a while. Or perhaps best friends isn’t the word for it, but there is something about the way we use it, that rubs me the wrong way. I think we abuse it, telling kids to Say you’re sorry! for almost everything, and brushing it off afterwards, as if that’s that.

The Swedish author Ann Heberlein wrote a great book on forgiveness (in Swedish alas, the title being ”It’s not my fault, on the art of taking responsibility”, and it is thought provoking. She tells a story of a kid being bullied at school. When the bullies wanted to say they were sorry, the victim of the bullying refused to accept their apology, and all of a sudden the tables turned. Suddenly the bullies felt like they were the victims, as their victim refused to forgive them. The original victim of the bullying was more or less ostracized by both kids and adults at the school because she would not accept the apology.

That story gave me a lot to think about, I tell you. There is power in forgiveness, that way we use it, and somehow I feel we might be misusing it?

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Who am I to tell someone to ”say you’re sorry”? And who am I to tell someone to accept that apology?

But I got some new insight into the concept of forgiveness during the first SuperCoach Academy weekend in Santa Monica, when Michael Neill said something like this:

To forgive means to make like it never happened. When you forgive, it means that you essentially go back in time to before what ever it is you forgive took place. If you are not willing to do that, there is no forgiveness.

That was a new take on forgiveness that I have not pondered before. It makes my thinking tumble along, doing a cart wheel or two on the way to more understanding and insight. Putting it into the Heberlein story on the bully and the bullied, I guess the victim of the bullying simply wasn’t willing to act like it never happened. And hence, forgiving her assailants wasn’t an option.

Have you ever thought of forgiveness in this way?

If…

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BY RUDYARD KIPLING

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Thank you Michael Neill for posting that poem. I liked it a lot. But given that I am not a son, or a man, I chose to ignore those words, and read ”you’ll be a Human being, my child!”.

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Read the poem again, and tell me if you can?

Enjoy the sweetness of doing nothing

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At Tender Greens, Santa Monica, they had these pictures on the wall, with the most profound messages. I’m gonna share them with you because I think they are worthy of being shared, each and every one. They are of the same quality as the Tender Greens food is, if you ever have a chance to try it, do!

Enjoy the sweetness of doing nothing

Michael Neill often says, Do nothing, in the sense that there isn’t anything to Do, just go with the flow, find that inner clarity, and act upon what comes to you. In a sense, it’s about ensuring that the Doing comes from a state of Being. And what better place to find that place where Doing and Being intersect, than to enjoy the sweetness of doing nothing?

The problem isn’t the problem!

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Day three of Foundation Weekend at Supercoach Academy 2014, Michael Neill invited Cathy Casey and Mark Howard in to be our teachers. 20140121-153531.jpgHowever, he set up a public event the night before and one of the most interesting things I brought with me from that 2-hour session, was this:

20140121-151740.jpgMight be hard to decipher, but what this drawing shows, is that the problem isn’t the problem, your thinking about the problem is the problem. Do you get it?

Let’s take an example. How about, not being able to fall asleep. You lie awake at night, trying to get to sleep, tossing in turning in your bed. right. I’m sure you’ve experienced that.

Well, what happens is that you start to worry and fret about not falling asleep. And that keeps you awake, going nuts, worrying about not getting enough sleep to get thru tomorrow etc etc.

You think (worrying) about the problem (not sleeping). If you’d not worried about the not sleeping part, you’d probably either have fallen asleep, or you could have done something else during that time. Maybe read a book, or even write one, plan the weekend outing or whatever. That way you would go about your business, using this extra time awake for something or other. But worrying about not falling asleep – where will that get you?

So, do you see how the problem isn’t the problem, your thinking about the problem, the initial issue, is?

My heart goes boom boom boom

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There is a great Swedish singer by the name of Miss Li, and in one of her love songs, she sings just that: And my heart goes boom, boom, boom…

That is what my heart did just now, go boom boom boom, but for other reasons than feelings of love though. I am heading for the US to participate in Michael Neill’s SuperCoach Academy, with more than 50 other participants, from all over the world. I really look forward to the experience, and I am in the midst of finishing of my To Do-list prior to departure in a days time.

That’s when it struck me. I haven’t gotten my ESTA = Electronic System for Travel Authorization. Swedes don’t need a visa for the US, but the travel authorization is mandatory.

AND I HADN’T GOTTEN IT!

Yikes. THAT’S when my heart starting pounding in my chest. Boom, boom, boom.
Read on the applications page to please apply 72 hours before departure. Since I had exactly 26 hours until departure, that sure didn’t make my heart go any less boom I tell you! Anyway, I quickly got my passport, started to fill in the application, page after page, came to the payments section, paid…. and finally my heart could start to slow down.

AUTHORIZATION APPROVED

It wasn’t flashing red on my screen, but that’s how I saw it, let me tell you:My approved ESTA application

Phew! The adrenalin rush is waning, and I will merrily go about my day, getting ready for the big adventure, and hoping I haven’t forgotten too much else…

Know the feeling?

Supercoach Academy 2014

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In May I signed up for Supercoach Academy 2014 with Michael Neill. It will be a transformative experience, of that I have no doubt. What I didn’t realize was that it started to be life-altering from day one. Just having signed up I immediately got access to a lot of resources and challenges, that have, already, made a profound impact in my life.

When I told one of my coach clients about this, I got this response:

Oh, that will be so great for me!

I am so grateful for the wisdom of my clients, because isn’t this the truth! When I as a coach challenge my insights, expand my awareness, and grow my understanding, of course it will benefit my clients!

Now, you don’t have to be my client, to sign up for SCA2014 or be/want to be a coach to experience what I am talking about. During the month of October Michael Neill released a daily clip on YouTube in his series ”A month of transformational coaching”. Here’s the first clip:

If this spiked your interest, check out the rest of the videos as well. And if you want to find out more about SCA2014 – just call on me and I’ll help you find your way. Perhaps you’ll even want to join me?