Creatorship

Peace Day, Sept. 21st

Take a moment and consider peace, for our world, for your life: 

        A gift from the heart 

from mine to yours, 

Barbara

Picture taken from "It all comes from the heart" an interview with Howard Martin by Diane M. Cooper

Peace Experiment Results

Well, it turns out I can't see peace as I go through my day. I don't know what it  looks like.

If it is the absence of war or fighting, then it's all around me. Is that what world peace would be? People doing their daily work and interacting uneventfully?  Is peace just the absence of war?

While focusing on seeing peace, I became aware that there were times when I felt peaceful - a quiet calm. I wonder if this is not closer to the core of peace: feeling peaceful vs. feeling agitated, worried, etc. 

So, I think today I will focus my attention differently and see what happens.

Here is Peace Experiment Two:

                Today I choose to feel peaceful!

"oh yeah, and world peace"

I laughed during the beauty pageant in Ms. Congeniality when, in response to the Beauty Pageant question "What is the one most important thing our society needs?," each contestant responded, "World Peace."  That is until it was Gracie Hart's turn, and she says after a pause,  "That would be harsher punishment for parole violators Stan" and than adds, "and world peace."  [If you want to see the clip go here and move the pointer up to about 4 min. for that segment.]

World peace is too often a throw away line, a bumper sticker, or just wishful thinking. I'm committed to trying to make it more of a reality.

How about this as a Peace Experiment?  Since what we focus on tends to grow (if only in our awareness), how about focusing on this for a day:

"I focus my attention on seeing only Peace this day."

I plan to start my day tomorrow with this intention and to return to it as often as I can remember. I may carry it on a card or tape it to my mirror.

If you decide to try it, let me know how it works.

The 21 Day Challenge

Several weeks ago Rev. Linda at Beacon of Life Spiritual Center challenged those present to take the 21 day challenge. Go 21 days without complaining. To make the effort more visible, we each got a purple bracelet to wear. Each time we caught ourselves complaining, criticizing, or gossiping, we were to take the bracelet from the arm it was on and move to the other one.

Well, I can tell you it is a humbling experience to become aware of how much of energy I waste on judging and complaining,

e.g, on the bike trail: "How dare they stop in the middle of the bike path! What are they thinking? Are they thinking? .... [switch the arm band]

   at a talk:  "that obnoxious guy just fell asleep in the middle of her talk and he's spread out all over three chairs. Hmmm..I wonder if can you snap somebody with this arm band."  [switch the arm band]

    at home: "you're stepping on my flowers, move! NOW! ...how could you not see them....." [switch the arm band...apologize to husband]

Now not complaining doesn't mean you ignore what is happening, rather it is seeing objectively without being self-righteous, whiny, angry or otherwise negatively engaged.

“Complaining is not to be confused with informing someone of a mistake or deficiency so that it can be put right. And to refrain from complaining doesn’t necessarily mean putting up with bad quality or behavior. There is no ego in telling the waiter your soup is cold and needs to be heated up—if you stick to the facts, which are always neutral. ‘How dare you serve me cold soup…?’ That’s complaining. "                           —Eckhart Tolle, “A New Earth”

Why bother? 

"Your thoughts create your world and your words indicate your thoughts. When you eliminate complaining from your life you will enjoy happier relationships, better health and greater prosperity. This simple program helps you set a trap for your own negativity and redirect your mind towards a more positive and rewarding life."    Will Bowen, author of "A Complaint Free World"

Will Bowen's goal was to help people develop the habit of gratitude by going 21-days without complaining. Why 21? Research says it takes 21 days to create a new habit. That is 21 days of not doing the old behavior, so if you complain on day 20 your are back to starting over.

Is it worth it? YES!

"Complaining spreads negative energy and negative energy cannot create a positive outcome." Will Bowen

Most of you reading this blog know that I believe in the power of thought and its ability to affect our health, relationships and the world around us.

But knowing about this is not the same as actually being aware of your thoughts. Knowing about thought is not the same as having the capacity to focus on the positive things you want more of in your life.

Take the 21 Day Challenge. Do it with your family or friends.

I'm still working on getting to 21 complaint free days. I already know it will make a difference in my life. Find out for yourselves.

Get your bracelets and more information here.

P.S. I chose the picture of the deer in my backyard as a reminder to stop complaining about them eating my plants. Opportunities do abound.

Practicing what I preach

I changed the tag line of these musings from "beyond leadership" to "exploring our potential as creators on this planet."  WHY? Because with the original tag I was being drawn to focus on why leadership wasn't the best model for the 21st century (i.e., why I think leadership doesn't work).

Yesterday, I was talking with a friend and heard her describe what she disliked about a given situation.  We talked about shifting attention to what she wanted to see instead. A better way to create what you want. Later, it hit me that I was doing the same thing. I was focusing on what I thought wasn't working: leadership.

A basic creatorship principle is: Focus on what you want!  So I thought I better get with it.

What I want is to explore our potential as creators in this world.  There is more being published and more research being done in this arena every day (e.g., see this recent HeartMath project) .  Over the next 5 years we will have learned so much more then we know now and I believe this will lead to new models for how we organize and do our work. 

In the meantime, I will explore the principles that seem to be emerging.:

1. Clarify intentions (desired end results; clarifying "for what purpose am I doing/wanting this")
2. Stay Passionate (heartfelt emotions of caring, appreciation, gratitude. love of life)
3. Focus on what you want
4. Engage others in conversations (see the bigger picture, get feedback, explore different views, discover shared intentions, etc.)
5. Self-organize your work and work with others based on #1 & #2 
6. Reflect & listen deeply
7. Given the above, Let action occur to you

These are based on research regarding the impact of our thoughts and emotions on the other people, our bodies and the physical world around us,  as well as the quantum reality of our energetic connections through time and space where separation and strict objectivity are impossible.