Are You Leading Your Life, or Is It Managing You?

For all of us in leadership roles, we need to pause from time to time to make some key assessments.

We need to think about our families, our commitments, our job, our health, our spirits, our energy, our self, and many more things that make us who we are. Then we need to consider how all of that impacts our lives. Then consider how it impacts the lives of those around us. This reflective exercise is a sobering and cleansing process. This introspection can really be a spring cleaning for our bodies, minds, and souls.

I like to call it recalibration.

Let’s face it, the demands on our time and our life can get overwhelming. In today’s tumultuous environment, we really never know from day to day what may come next. If we let the pressure of these demands mount without routinely asking ourselves some basic questions, we run the risk of spinning off into some other orbit we never intended.

I like the old adage of the frog in the kettle. The story goes, that if you drop a frog in boiling water, it immediately jumps out. But if you set it in cool water and slowly add heat until it comes to a rapid boil over time, it will boil to death. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to be like the frog who doesn’t sense the perils in life creeping up on me before it is too late without my noticing!

React or Respond?

I suggest that one of the most essential questions we can ask ourselves is this: Am I leading my life, or is my life managing me?

At the core of this idea is the challenge between being proactive or reactive. Here is an illustration to make my point: If a doctor prescribes medication and my body reacts when I take it, it is a problem. Yet if my body responds to the medication, I am going to get over or through the condition.

Just like with the medicine...

Being reactive to things in our world – circumstances or stimuli – really will not help the situation.

Of course, there are things that may happen that are totally unexpected. Yes, we have to deal with that. But, we can do it powerfully. My point is that we should not let everything that happens become a point of reaction. In reality, we have the capability to do something – to be proactive with what may come.

Proactive people are better positioned to be managing their world, whereas living reactively allows the events of the day to manage YOU.

Intruder Alert!

You may think you have developed the best plan in the world to attack the next chapter of your life. Then, before you know it, the very first person who walks into the office seems to blow the whole plan out of the water.

What do you do? Don’t react! Allow... NO, force yourself to pause and process the matter according to your plan. This is how you manage things rather than let things manage you.

Is it easy? Of course not! That’s why we so often feel overwhelmed or drained at the end of the day. Even if you are successful at maintaining focus on your plan, it likely will take substantial energy and effort.

The good news is, those people who have been able to adopt a discipline for doing this find it becomes easier to do with practice and momentum over time.

And this has an impact on others as well. If your outward aura is true to this inner control, the people around you will start to get the picture. Their demands will become less intrusive, and they will eventually learn they cannot get “the rise” out of you that they once might have achieved.

Life is a Self-Help Journey

Maybe the self-help books are not as popular as they once were. The truth is, this journey we call life is full of self-help moments. Rather than waiting on others to pitch in or hoping that circumstances may change, we need to take control of our own destiny.

At each and every step of the way, ask yourself...

“Am I managing my world, or is my life  managing me?”

Where do you stand?

Are you more inclined to be in control of the things happening around you?

Or, have you just been reacting?

How would you describe your leadership?

How can you introduce more ways of being proactive rather than just reactive?

I would love to hear your thoughts!

Stages of Training in Dharma

With this article we come to the last and final of the series in Inward and Outward Realities. In the previous article, I discussed practicing the Dharma. Those who practice the Dharma should train themselves to understand in the following stages:

The training that is easy to learn, gives immediate results, and is suitable for every time, every place, for people of every age and either sex, is to study in the school of this body — a fathom long, a cubit wide, and a span thick — with its perceiving mind in charge. This body has many things, ranging from the crude to the subtle, that are well worth knowing.

The steps of the training:

1. To begin with, know that the body is composed of various physical properties, the major ones being the properties of earth, water, fire, and wind; the minor ones being the aspects that adhere to the major ones: things like color, smell, shape, etc.

These properties are unstable (inconsistent), stressful, and unclean. If you look into them deeply, you will see that there's no substance to them at all. They are simply impersonal conditions, with nothing worth calling "me" or "mine." When you can clearly perceive the body in these terms, you will be able to let go of any clinging or attachment to it as an entity, your Self, someone else, this or that.

2. The second step is to deal with mental phenomena (feelings, perceptions, thought-formations, and consciousness). Focus on keeping track of the truth that these are characterized by arising, persisting, and then disbanding. In other words, their nature is to arise and disband, arise and disband, repeatedly. When you investigate to see this truth, you will be able to let go of your attachments to mental phenomena as entities, as your Self, someone else, this or that.

3. Training on the level of practice doesn't simply mean studying, listening, or reading. You have to practice so as to see clearly with your own mind in the following steps:

a. Start out by brushing aside all external concerns and turn to look inside at your own mind until you can know in what ways it is clear or murky, calm or unsettled. The way to do this is to have mindfulness and self-awareness in charge as you keep aware of the body and mind until you have trained the mind to stay firmly in a state of normalcy, i.e., neutrality.

b. Once the mind can stay in a state of normalcy, you will see mental formations or preoccupations in their natural state of arising and disbanding. The mind will be empty, neutral, and still — neither pleased nor displeased — and will see physical and mental phenomena as they arise and disband naturally, of their own accord.

c. When the knowledge that there is no self to any of these things becomes thoroughly clear, you will meet with something that lies further inside, beyond all suffering and stress, free from the cycles of change — deathless — free from birth as well as death, since all things that take birth must by nature age, grow ill, and die.

d. When you see this truth clearly, the mind will be empty, not holding onto anything. It won't even assume itself to be a mind or anything at all. In other words, it won't latch onto itself as being anything of any sort. All that remains is a pure condition of Dharma.

e. Those who see this pure condition of Dharma in full clarity are bound to grow disenchanted with the repeated sufferings of life. When they know the truth of the world and the Dharma throughout, they will see the results clearly, right in the present, that there exists that which lies beyond all suffering. They will know this without having to ask or take it on faith from anyone, for the Dharma is paccattam, i.e., something really to be known for oneself. Those who have seen this truth within themselves will attest to it always.

Practicing the Dharma

Continuing our theme of Inner and Outer realities, I'll discuss this week how to practice 'Dharma' in pursuing true happiness. Naturally the mind is not willing to stop and look, to stop and know itself, which is why we have to keep training it continually so that it will settle down from its restlessness and grow still. Let your desires and thought-processes settle down. Let the mind take its stance in a state of normalcy, not liking or disliking anything. To reach a basic level of emptiness and freedom, you first have to take a stance. If you don't have a stance against which to measure things, progress will be very difficult. If your practice is hit-or-miss — a bit of that, a little of this — you won't get any results. So the mind first has to take a stance.

When you take a stance that the mind can maintain in a state of normalcy, don't go slipping off into the future. Have the mind know itself in the stance of the present. Right now it's in a state of normalcy. No likes or dislikes have arisen yet. It hasn't created any issues. It's not being disturbed by a desire for this or that.

Then look on in to the basic level of the mind to see if it's as normal and empty as it should be. If you are really looking inside, really aware inside, then that which is looking and knowing is mindfulness and discernment in and of itself. You don't need to search for anything anywhere else to come and do your looking for you. As soon as you stop to look, stop to know whether or not the mind is in a state of normalcy, then if it's normal you'll know immediately that it's normal. If it's not, you'll know immediately that it's not.

Take care to keep this awareness going. If you can keep knowing like this continuously, the mind will be able to keep its stance continuously as well. As soon as the thought occurs to you to check things out, you'll immediately stop to look, stop to know, without any need to go searching for knowledge from anywhere else. You look, you know, right there at the mind and can tell whether or not it's empty and still. Once you see that it is, then you investigate to see how it's empty, how it's still. It's not the case that once it's empty, that's the end of the matter; once it's still, that's the end of the matter.

That's not the case at all. You have to keep watch of things, you have to investigate at all times. Only then will you see the changing — the arising and disbanding — occurring in that emptiness, that stillness, that state of normalcy.

Heal Your Inner and Outer Worlds

Heal Your Inner and Outer Worlds and bring balance and harmony to your life. Clear out and forgive the memories and energies you hold within you to create a well-being in your inner and outer worlds.

The energy of everyone you have known and everything you have done resides within you. This energy affects your behavior now. It’s part of the filter and belief system that makes up your perception and how you interpret everything that happens to you. For example, if you have been carrying around guilt and a belief that you are not good at intimate relationships because of an event in the past, that energy and those beliefs affect all your intimate relationships now and maintains the perception that you can’t be successfully form intimate relationships. Even when opportunities in life arise where you can be close to another, you may push them away or misperceive their actions because of the energy you still carry with you. You need to clear and balance that negative energy so it can no longer affect your experience of life in a negative way. It’s like clearing away a fog that prevents you from seeing life as it really is. Gradually you get back to your clear, natural state of Love and Joy.

It is your inner energies that are creating your reality. Events in the outer world, our objective reality, are just events and affect everyone differently because we all carry different energy within us. The way we interpret these events, due to our memories, programs and beliefs, creates our inner subjective reality. It is this inner reality that is creating our experience of life. It IS our life. So when we change our inner world, through clearing and balancing, we change the experience of life itself. Our perception changes. We start noticing different things in the outer world and giving them different meanings. This is an amazing thing to know because it means that you can take responsibility for your experience and have the power to change your world. As we all find more peace and balance within, our outer world will become one of more love, joy and harmony.

There is a special underlying formula used in many ancient as well as modern healing practices. It engages the subconscious, conscious and Higher Self all at once, your Whole Self. If you leave any one of these out, healing can’t take place.

Here is the formula: BALANCE = IDENTITY + LOVE + FORGIVENESS + GRATITUDE

IDENTITY: When you first notice there is a problem, you have a choice. You can either engage in the problem and become part of it with blame and thinking, or you can choose to see it for what it is, unbalanced energy, and begin the healing and clearing process. It is a matter of identity. Are you identifying with the problem? or are you identifying with the greater part of you, the Divine part of you that can heal it?

LOVE: You send Love to the problem. You are accepting the problem rather than suppressing it. If you suppress something, it persists and gets stuck. It does not change; it just keeps coming back and bothering you over and over again. Instead, you can recognize that it is just energy within you that is trying to be integrated and healed. Love connects you to your Higher Self / God / Divinity which is the true healer, and, love gets the energy unstuck and flowing. So, all healing involves Love. Healing is integrating and gathering back the unbalanced energy so it can be balanced.

FORGIVENESS: Forgiveness is freedom. What you are forgiving is not that you did something wrong or that the problem is wrong. Nothing is wrong; it’s just out of balance because this energy was created in you through wounding and misperceptions which is just part of the human process. In forgiving you are recognizing that you are responsible for these energies within you and that you are also the means to allow their clearing. So, in evoking forgiveness you are allowing the memories, patterns, and energies to be released. You are done clinging to them and you are giving them permission to be integrated and healed.

GRATITUDE: Finally, a feeling of gratitude for the entire healing process. This seals it.  When you are thankful for something you accept that it has been done and given to you. Gratitude is also blessing and love for Who you are, What you are doing, and the harmony and balance that you have brought into the world through this work.

You can do this clearing process on the go.  Every time a problem comes up you repeat the phrases: “I love you, I am sorry, please forgive me, Thank you.” In this simple way, you can clear energy and memories as they arise throughout your day. It is highly effective. Every time you identify with the powerful healer in you and not focusing on the problem, you are clearing and creating change for yourself. And remember, if you are not clearing the problem, and you engage in it instead, you are actually making the problem stronger. Energy follows thought.

Any energy in your life that is causing you a problem can be healed and transformed. You can work on problems in a relationship, either past of present, a younger version of yourself, blocks and limiting beliefs, a traumatic event, a physical problem, or an emotional problem. You can transform any problem you have in your inner world or outer world.  As the energy is healed and cleared, your experience in the outer world shifts as well.

It is my intention to help you heal, to bring you these techniques so you can free yourself of energies that no longer serve you, to clear and release them so you can experience your natural state of love, joy and personal power. Blessings on your path.

Quantum Physics of Beliefs - Energy Management

Most professional athletes have days off between matches or tournaments. Some sports have off seasons. But in your career, except for vacation weeks, you are expected to be in tournament-form every day, eight to 12 hours a day. It’s no wonder so many leaders are tired and stressed out. It’s a big leadership challenge. If only there was a pause or reset button.

Even soldiers get R&R (Rest and Rehabilitation) days. But very few of the senior leaders I know and coach take enough time off to refresh and renew themselves. There’s just too much at stake, they tell me. “I’ll take a few days off after this project settles down,” and the excuses seem to be really valid. Or, are they?

Many of us work nonstop, day after day, without a break. It might feel like we are making progress, but it’s draining. When we do get ahead, what do we do? Tackle a new project. And on and on it goes. We don’t stop to ask the questions:

Am I doing the right things in the right way for the right reasons?

Am I still on a track that will get me to where I want to be next year?

Am I doing what I truly love and value?

So, think about what could help sustain energy: create a way to pause during the day, even several times. Maybe 3-5 minutes; more if possible. Even a minute of quiet time where you can breathe, clear your mind, and remind yourself of what truly matters, what your values are, will refresh you.

If you are an over-committed leader, please note that it’s not a matter of time management, but of energy management. You need regular breaks every 90 minutes; and if you can afford it, it is recommended to take a break once an hour.

Even if you only do this once or twice a day, it will help you to find energy. Take a moment to take stock, realign yourself with your goals and values, and refocus on your purpose. (Watch this why PURPOSE is so important.) Regular rest stops are useful. They refuel your body and mind. They actually give me renewed energy and drive, and make it easier to create the time and space for what truly matters.

Quantum Physics of Belief – Insightful Instincts

For the past few weeks, I was writing about quantum physics and business research to explore the correlation between the science of consciousness and patterns in the business world, to suggest innovative ways of using this wisdom to lead and succeed in a business environment that is constantly evolving at a rapid pace. It’s generally considered good business practice to make decisions based on data rather than on our instincts. People usually believe that information holds the key to an objective and therefore superior answer, whereas our instincts introduce a subjective and therefore inferior perspective. However, we habitually believe this only because we have not learned to use our instincts with accuracy. Among other things, they are useful in choosing our teammates and partners.

We were all born with natural instinct. We cried when we were hungry; babies were not taught to cry, but it was an instinctive response to their physical need. Emotion calls on instinct too. The flight or fight response to fear is one most of us have experienced and, with the adrenaline pounding through us, we know the reaction was not the result of a calculated decision-making process.

Our natural instinct is used most in sports, drama, music and other non-academic activities. It tends to be suppressed as we mature. Instinct, or intuition, remains in us as adults, but is usually underdeveloped and under-recognized. You have surely had the experience of meeting someone new in both personal and professional situations - and having a "gut feeling" about them; or when walking into a room and sensing the "vibes" - good or bad. This is your instinct piping up, giving you a chance to "trust your gut" and "listen to the vibes."

Instinct is insight based not on reason, but on awareness. When we allow it back into our consciousness, we can become more effective in many areas of life, including our role as a leader. Allowing it back calls for a heightened sense of openness to our self and others.

"He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened." ~ Tao Te Ching

Using your instinct in your role as leader means developing a keen awareness of your team, colleagues, and clients as individuals, and recognizing that not only is each person different, but they are different from you. It means understanding what they go through on a day-to-day basis and yields insight into their strengths and weaknesses. Using your instinct, you are able to walk into a meeting and be aware of how others are feeling and reacting around you.

An effective leader blends strong leadership skills with this empathetic awareness, guiding others to meet challenges and opportunities for their own benefit and the benefit of the organization. When such a leader takes the time and effort to know all employees personally on this level, the results in employee morale, empowerment, performance, and retention are excellent.

Your staff and colleagues define you as a leader by what they see you do. Your actions are based on your decisions and your decisions can be influenced favorably by your instinct. As a good leader, you can use instinct in making decisions that align your personal and organizational values and lead to your desired outcomes.

Quantum Physics of Belief - Win-Win Negotiations

For the past few weeks, I was writing on how scientific and business research shows that human thoughts and beliefs have an effect on the physical world. In this article, I am going to explore further on how businesses deal with communications both within their organizations and outside clients and vendors in relation to greater profitability and productivity. Sales ability determines your gross revenues, but negotiating ability determines your profit! As a result, most business leaders, at least in Western cultures, think it’s a foregone conclusion that aggressive negotiation with suppliers will yield the highest profitability. Although it’s a common belief that obtaining the lowest price should be the goal, regardless of the impact to the other party, business research and scientific discovery indicate otherwise.

When Wal-Mart sneezes, everybody catches a cold. For the fiscal year ending January 31, 2011, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, reported a net income of $15.4 billion on $422 billion of revenue with a 24.7% gross profit margin. With its single-minded focus on "EDLP" (Every Day Low Prices) and the power to make or break, a partnership with Wal-Mart is either the Holy Grail or the kiss of death for the suppliers, depending on one's perspective. There are numerous media accounts of the corporate monolith riding its suppliers into the ground. The concept of win-win bargaining is a good and powerful message. And, what happens when you encounter someone with a great deal of power, like Wal-Mart, who is also the ultimate non-negotiable partner? Let’s look at how Proctor & Gamble executive Tom Muccio pioneered a new supplier-retailer partnership between P&G and Wal-Mart. Built on proximity (Muccio relocated to Wal-Mart's turf in Arkansas) and growing trust (both sides eventually eliminated elaborate legal contracts in favor of Letters of Intent), the new relationship focused on establishing a joint vision and problem-solving process, information sharing, and generally moving away from the "lowest common denominator" pricing issues that had defined their interactions previously. From 1987, when Muccio initiated the changes, to 2003, shortly before his retirement, P&G's sales to Wal-Mart grew from $350 million to $7.8 billion.

Another great example is the automotive industry. There is a huge difference between the manner in which the US Big 3 automakers – Ford, GM, and Chrysler – negotiate with their suppliers, compared with Toyota-way doing things by Toyota. The Big 3 aggressively pursue the lowest cost in negotiations and have created adversarial relationships with their suppliers. In contrast, Toyota-way is all about creating collaborative relationships with the suppliers. They believe in creating close-knit networks of vendors, where all companies prosper. In essence, they commit to co-prosperity.

When we have important ongoing relationships with people, it’s generally appropriate not to play a competitive game and instead play an alternative game: a collaborative, compromising, or even avoiding or accommodating negotiating game. Collaboration is the opposite of competition in most ways (see the 3^rd article of this series for more on collaboration vs. competitive): you share information instead of concealing it, you focus on the other side’s concerns over your own, and you sit side by side instead of negotiating at arm’s length. Collaboration requires rich, ongoing communication, and it relies on joint problem solving. They talk more, they listen more, they ask a lot more questions, and they make a lot fewer declarations. They are also more forgiving about waffling and take-backs, since they want to get at the real underlying issues and understand that these may not be apparent to the other side at first. The negotiating game is very different when the goal is to make sure both sides win.

Win-win negotiations are the lifeblood of business success in most organizations. Anyone you work with is a candidate for win-win negotiating, including coworkers, team members, employees, bosses, suppliers, customers, regulators, and boards of directors. The payback of win-win negotiation can be seen in traditional terms in that your partners will be more willing to cooperate better and accommodate for future concessions. However the payback can also be considered from a scientific perspective, when considering what new science is teaching us about how we shape our experience.

The implications of the physical effect of our consciousness on our world are that when a business has a consciousness based in abundance rather than scarcity, events unfold in a manner that brings higher abundance, or profitability. Businesses demonstrate a belief in abundance when they adopt win-win negotiation styles, by showing they believe there is enough for all parties to win. Chance events then occur more frequently in favor of the business, such as customers being attracted to it more strongly and employees being more likely to hit upon the next big innovation.

The implications of the research and science are that adopting a win-win mindset can lead to higher profitability, so rather than fighting to retain the most dollars in each transaction, it’s wiser to work towards ensuring that all parties win.

An important caution is that negotiation with a belief in abundance does not mean letting vendors take advantage of you. In any negotiation, always negotiate strongly, while holding the view that all parties could win.

Quantum Physics of Belief - Scarcity is a Limiting Belief

In the past couple of articles, we were exploring how our experiences form based on what we believe about the world. This week, let’s extend that concept to how businesses shape their profits. The accepted model of business in our society is rooted in scarcity, and thus presents a limitation to our experience of profitability. When we recognize this, we can become cognizant of these limiting beliefs and move beyond them.

We all know that in some way, our beliefs create our reality. Before a person or team can achieve something, they have to believe they will. Sure it gives them confidence to perform their best, but science tells us the very form of matter is influenced by our beliefs (see the earlier articles 1: Quantum Physics of Belief – Effects of Universal Consciousness and 2: Quantum Physics of Belief – Keys to Sustainable Success in this series.) In other words, in some way, what we believe is what reality becomes.

It follows that to be profitable, business organizations must believe that profits are abundant and achievable. Businesses operate within a social system and obtain their profits from external sources, so let’s assess how most businesses operate in this larger context and how their practices reveal their beliefs in the scarcity of wealth.

In the book The Science of Getting Rich published in 1910, Wallace D. Wattles wrote that ‎"People must be taught to become rich by creation, not by competition... every person who gets rich by creation opens a way for thousands to follow him/her and inspires them to do so." Now, science validates this and we will see how.

Most business leaders would say that it’s the goal in business to retain or acquire the maximum dollar amount in every business transaction. We would generally say that we are doing the right thing as business leaders when we are able to extract the highest prices from customers and pay the lowest prices to suppliers. But when we engage in business in this competitive manner, without consideration for the financial health of the other party, what does that indicate about our underlying beliefs?

These competitive practices reveal that we believe there is not enough for everyone to win, and therefore we have to make sure we are one of the winners. This demonstrates that we believe profits are not abundant, but rather they are scarce. We can easily recognize this at a personal level: think about when we act competitively versus collaboratively. We act competitively in situations such as playing in sports games where there are multiple players or teams but only one winner. We act competitively when we are a student in a class where only the top 10% will receive grade A. We act competitively when we are working for a company that periodically purges the lower performers. So, we act competitively when we believe that what we are vying for is scarce in that there is not enough for everyone.

In contrast, we act collaboratively when we believe that there is enough for everyone. We act collaboratively when we are engaged in a sport such as mountain climbing, where the goal is for everyone to make it to the top. We act collaboratively when we are a student taking a class in which there is no limit to the number of grade A’s given. And we act collaboratively when we are working for a company that has enough jobs for all employees. So, as a rule, we act competitively when we believe the object of our actions is scarce, and collaboratively when we believe the object of our actions is abundant. Therefore, striving to retain the maximum dollar amount in each business transaction, without regard to the other party, indicates a belief in the scarcity of wealth, which creates the condition of lower profitability.

Observe the belief systems that are prevalent in your business. Are they rooted in abundance or scarcity? Observe how your beliefs correspond to your reality and understand that the science proves that your beliefs came first and led to your experience. This understanding is the first step to creating greater abundance for your business.

The belief in abundance versus scarcity is relevant for any action in which money changes hands. This includes negotiation practices, employee compensation philosophies, and the degree to which competition is considered a threat. An organization’s belief about abundance is revealed to the extent they seek to protect their own interests more than the other party’s. If we truly believe in abundance, there is no reason to be concerned about personal protection at the expense of someone else. We know there is enough for everyone.

Physics experimentation shows us there is no fixed amount of wealth. Our consciousness is determining what we experience, so there is as much as we believe there is. Underlying this is a profound reality: there is no limit to the abundance that exists in the world, except for the limits that exist in our minds. As such, we can learn to be better at choosing how we perceive the world.

Science has proven that we are "wired to cooperate." Indeed, it is how we have survived as a species. It is probably true, that our future survival is also rooted in this principle. You wouldn't know it by looking at the condition of the world. How would the world be different if, instead of competing with one another on a daily basis, we actually sought to cooperate? Maybe too utopian, maybe a naive thought (I am about as competitive a person as you will ever meet) but a wonderful hope for the world. I am finding that as I apply the Axiogenic principles, I now compete to cooperate. It sounds weird, I know, but I am applying the same emotional energy to a different goal. It is quite satisfying.

Can you imagine if politicians competed to cooperate? And, wow! What a novel thought that would be? I believe that most politicians are good folks, who initially intend to do the best they can within their belief system. Not all, but most. The system corrupts them. Unfortunately, we are the system. Imagine if we were all focused on value, but all actually knew how to evaluate "value" effectively. What a different world it would be.

Is Your Best Yet To Come in 2012!?

Have you spent any time thinking about the future, in say 2012? Your future?

Sometimes the demands placed upon us daily take up so much of our time; it's hard to find even a moment to consider the future.

But whether you are ready, or not... 2012 is coming... and fast.

And you are the one who is charged with determining exactly what that future will look like for you.

You live in a fast-paced culture in which everything is in motion. And there are no signs of turning back. Standing still doesn't work, either. At least, not for very long.

So how do we make sure that our rapidly-accelerating lives don't pass us by like a furious flash of un-fulfilling nothingness?

I'd like to suggest some tips that can help, but before you read on, I want you to recognize and remember this...

Your current results or circumstances (that you faced in 2011) are in no way a reflection of what is possible for you in the future.

Your potential is unlimited. And the thoughts, ideas, and plans that you focus upon from this day forward will ultimately shape and direct your future.

Here are some ideas to consider...

1) Stop- First, you need to pause... kind of like how you'd approach a "STOP" sign at an intersection. A brief stop, long enough to look in each direction before proceeding. While paused, take a moment to consider WHAT is MOST IMPORTANT to you at this point in your life. Is it your family? Your career? Your relationships? What brings you joy? What are you so passionate about?

2) Consider some Editing- Then, take a moment to consider, what are some things that DO NOT bring you joy? How could you begin to "edit" them out of your day? Maybe there are some activities or behaviors that are not supporting the vision you have of your highest self? Maybe there are some relationships that you need to extricate yourself from?

3) Commit to Carving- Now think about HOW would you spend more time, TODAY and TOMORROW, doing more of what it is that you want to do? Don't worry about next week or next month. Just consider today, YES! Starting today. No need for any New Year resolutions. Figure out how to carve out a small segment in the next 24 hours. Maybe you could wake up 30 minutes earlier in the morning? Or perhaps go to bed 30 minutes later tonight?

Small, incremental commitments of time, directed toward doing what makes you happy, will have a beneficial effect in all areas of your life. Spending time in this frame of mind will become a habit that will replace older, out-dated, less productive habits.

But you have to get started. You need to actively and intentionally plan the way you want your future to look, in 2012. If you passively stand by, you can be sure that your tomorrow, next week, next month, and 2012 will just become a more distressed and less fulfilling version of the past.

You have the opportunity to shape your future. I don't know exactly what you are facing or what you are going through, but I do know that if you will work at it, and take an active role in determining how it will unfold, certainly, your best is yet to come!

Be creative, as 2012 unwinds in just a few more days!

Happy New Year, 2012.

Science and Spirituality

Researchers of every age and branch of science are beginning to conclude that we participate more than we currently believe in creating our own health, or lack thereof.  Here is an overview of some of their research.

“All matter is energy”

 Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

“Treating humans without concept of energy is treating dead matter”

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, M.D. Hungary, Nobel Laureate (1893- 1986)

“Future medicine will be based on controlling energy fields.”

Prof. William Tiller, Ph.D. (Stanford University)

“Diseases are to be diagnosed and prevented via energy field assessment.”

George Crile Sr., M.D., Founder of the Cleveland Clinic (1864-1943)

“Body chemistry is governed by quantum cellular fields.”

 Prof. Murray Gell-Mann, Nobel Laureate, USA

“All living organisms emit field.”

Semyon D. Kirlian, U.S.S.R. (1900-1980)

What is being demonstrated today in quantum physics is not a new thought, although sophistication in experimental design and research has given these older concepts new standing in science and is slowly trickling down into how the medical community views and treats disease.

New brain research, for example, has demonstrated that the placebo effect is not purely a psychological phenomenon as previously thought.

In fact it has shown just the opposite; that a patient’s beliefs stimulate the brain to manufacture a wide variety of bio-chemicals that impact the health of the body.

What people take to be miracles are nothing more than higher laws hidden from us. Scientists are coming to realize that this universe is not as solid as we thought it was. Matter is vibrating energy that appears to the physical eye as solid. Performing miracles is nothing more than tapping into energy and manipulating it by power of thought and spirit.

Medicine today is slowly evolving towards a more holistic approach to healing. A lot is being said about the mind-body connection - of healing the body by healing the mind. Meditation as a way to reduce stress and eliminate stress-related illnesses is being explored.

Quantum physicist Ervin Lazlo writes in the emerging concept of the new sciences that there is no separation between the physical world, the living world, and the world of mind and consciousness. 

Physical matter is vanishing as a fundamental feature of reality, retreating before energy. In this emerging concept there is no absolute matter, only matter-generating energy field.

Albert Einstein postulated that everything seen boils down to energy; that the atom was not the smallest unit comprising physical matter. He further stated that at the subatomic level there is no substance, only energy frequency.

This theory is widely accepted today in the scientific community and is consistent with other researchers in the emerging field of “energy medicine” who have postulated that you cannot have a disease that originates from substance, because at the deepest level there is no substance.

There is no totality of human experience in science as it includes only a part of human experience. Spirituality extends to supra-intellectual and other subtle planes of human consciousness as it denotes the pursuit of knowledge for the Infinite and Immutable which is beyond the ephemeral world of duality. Its domain is not only of matter but also of human life, feelings, emotions and consciousness.

For modern science, the center of gravity is outside of man himself; he is simply being treated as an object. Though science has wiped out many of his fears and uncertainties, it has also helped create in him new fears and uncertainties. This is possible only because he is ignorant of his inner self.

Spirituality is a science of values; the pivotal point on which depends the progress and survival of mankind. Experience or ‘anubhava’ is the only true source of knowledge. Belief and faith are spontaneous when one is made to experience what is sought to be taught or preached.

Scientists are not receptive to spirituality because it is not taught as a science of experience. A genuine mystic will fire the scientist’s intellect by the divine light of ‘atman’, which alone opens the door of inward search and tuning. He will then understand that we are a microcosm with the entire macrocosm within us. The outside world is only a manifestation of the immense world within.

Some of the greatest scientists have attributed their sparks of genius to spiritual inspiration. 

"I assert that cosmic religious experience is the strongest and the noblest driving force behind scientific research," ~ Albert Einstein.

Innovators have often confessed that their ideas were the result of some kind of "divine" inspiration. Some people live only to gratify their own desires and wants. But those who come in contact with a higher power discover that the greatest purpose of our life is to love and serve others. Scientists, for instance, devote their lives to better the lives of others. Thus, we find that the mission of both scientists and spiritual masters is one and the same. They are both here to find the hidden laws of nature, the higher power that created everything, and use their discoveries to better the lives of others.

Science and spirituality make for a mutual partnership. If those engaged in science spend some time in silence, looking within, they will get inspired to find answers to the questions they ask. Similarly, spiritual seekers, when they test hypotheses in the laboratory of their own body and soul, will find the answers.

So, one can safely conclude that science and spirituality are two sides of the same coin. The aim of science is to uncover the deepest spiritual truths, and the aim of spirituality is to search for the cause behind scientific fact.

Science seems to be in a perpetual state of believing it has the truth, despite its history of changing paradigms. This failure to accept the idea of "mysteries" is inexplicable, because there will always be a great mystery out there waiting to be discovered. The Universe is not so small, nor so simple as to lend itself to total analysis by a logical science. This does not diminish the value of science, but simply places it in an appropriate perspective. Science provides one type of insight into the workings of the universe, but not the only insight. The arts certainly provide another route to knowledge, and mysticism provides yet another. The combination of logical science (western science) and analogical science (science of correspondence) can help us to understand our role in the universe, and to appreciate the universe as the extraordinary multifaceted phenomena it truly is.

We live in the most intellectual culture that the world has ever seen. Yet our religions offer very little in the way of intellectual appeal, unable to successfully bridge this gap. Too often those who claim to represent spirituality in fact do not. This all too frequently turns people away from any consideration of the spiritual path, and leads many to believe that religion has nothing to offer. The techniques utilized by the science of correspondence offers considerable intellectual stimulation, and, if successful, eventually leading to a personal experiential understanding of spirituality. Ultimately, the transformation process which allows consciousness on the level of the spirit (the sambhogakaya – the body of bliss, or the body that experiences the fruits of Buddhist practice, the ananda-maya-kosa – the spiritual bliss) is the process of the spiritual path.

Today in the western world and elsewhere, too often one is told to have faith, and not to question. Ultimately, at some juncture, one may require a leap of faith, but that leap comes after years of pursuing and questioning, eradicating oneself of doubt. True spirituality requires questioning as does true science. One must not be deluded into believing one 'believes' when one does not and one still has many unanswered questions. Too often our 'spiritual' leaders cannot answer our questions because they have not had a spiritual awakening themselves and therefore discourage the asking of questions, telling one to have faith. This truly discourages a scientific mind, and can encourage a fanaticism, and fanaticism is not true religion, is not spirituality.

In the present technological world, while science is primarily logical in nature, the true spiritual perspective is primarily metaphorical in nature. Here, we need to keep in mind that these metaphors produce higher truths, and logic produces lesser truths. The science of correspondence is quite unlike our logical science. It takes us in a different direction and yields unique information about the nature of mankind and the universe. The science of correspondence has an aesthetic quality to it, is inclusive of all systems, is humbling, often appearing simple and naïve from our technological point of view, and tends toward long term solutions and a quality of patience. In essence, the science of correspondence appears to be more experiential in nature, producing direct knowledge of that which is being studied. This presents an apparent conflict with science - a difficult hurdle to overcome, since science is intellectual in nature, believing that intellectual understandings are supreme and free of bias or superstition. Science does not in the least trust direct experiential or intuitive knowing. In fact the only statement traditional science has made about "experience" is "don't trust it".

Although the end pursuit of science appears to be an intellectual comprehension of the universe, the science of mysticism is primarily involved with a direct knowledge of some ultimate reality, experience, etc., knowledge or wisdom which cannot be comprehended intellectually and therefore MUST BE DIRECTLY EXPERIENCED. It's a journey we must ultimately make on our own, hopefully with experienced teachers to guide us.

In the minds of many people spirituality is seen as unscientific, and thus as a load of babble that does not actually mean anything. After all, it cannot be proven scientifically speaking, and thus can only be wrong. No amount of math, or physics for that matter, can show the concepts proclaimed by spiritual people, so why even bother? I would not say that I am a highly spiritual person, neither particularly religious. However, I do believe in certain aspects of spiritual teachings, and at the same time, call myself a man of science. How can that be?

After studying several different scientific methods, as well as several spiritually inclined methods, for change and exploring the power of the mind, I have come to realize that both, spirituality and science are metaphors. A metaphor is defined as “an indirect comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects”. So science is our metaphor for what we think is really happening, when in actual fact of the matter, we are only interpreting results and speculating anyway.

Furthermore, spirituality is often said to be quite in-congruent within itself, hence it cannot be taken seriously. Well, not to defend this, but let’s look at science. Newtonian physics might work well for explaining the things we can see with the human eye, big objects, and stars. Yet, on a quantum level, Newtonian physics is useless, and we enter the domain of quantum physics. These two mindsets and mathematical rules do not fit with each other. When combined, they give nonsensical predictions. So science within itself is in-congruent!!

Any metaphor has its application, and also its inbuilt boundaries. Yet we try to stretch certain metaphors to explain virtually everything, and thus go beyond their limits. This is true for science and also for spirituality. Each metaphor has its application and use, and as such we should make full use of them. The really intriguing question is what is your own metaphor or that of your friends, co-workers, because at the end of the day, all we do is live in our metaphors, and as you know, everything is a metaphor.

Connecting Science and Spirituality

I believe that it is possible to connect science with spirituality in meaningful ways that do no injustice to science or religion. The first and most obvious connection between the two is in a shared attitude towards truth. The spiritual seeker and the dedicated scientist are both concerned with universal truths that transcend cultural and physical relativities. For science these are called Laws of Nature. For the spiritual seeker these eternal truths are also known as the Laws of Nature.

Commitment to truth is well known in the scientific community but it is equally important for the spiritual seeker. "What is truth?” asked the 13^th century German mystic, Meister Eckhart. "Truth is something so noble that if God could turn aside from it, we could keep the truth and let God go", defined the 20^th century Swami Budhananda.

Is not Meister Eckhart's commitment to truth so appropriate for scientific investigation that any scientist would be pleased to emulate it? These are some basic connections that link science and spirituality in ways that perhaps do not build a marriage or a bridge, but do initially indicate the absence of a bottomless divide.

The present holistic approach can, however, be taken many steps further by asking some questions about the nature of science and of the scientific experience. What then is science? It seems that science is more an attitude than a method.

The attitude is one of testing interpretations of observed phenomena against further observations until one interpretation emerges as the best. Unfortunately, judgments about the best interpretation vary greatly.

To see science more as an attitude than a method is to find some small expansion of the conventional objective methods of science. Such as: controlled conditions, repeatability, falsifiability, predictability, quantification, control groups and location. These are non-core features of science even though they are frequently important.

The Gap

If science is an attitude rather than a method then the attributes of this subjective attitude should form the character of the scientific experience, the second question referred to above. The scientific experience is an experience normally seen to involve the so-called 'gap' between the physical world 'out there' and the world of thought 'in here'. If this gap does exist, as assumed by most science, then science and spirituality can never be strongly linked. If on the other hand, there is no gap then scientific experience will simply be a feature of subjectivity and a significant barrier preventing interconnection will be removed.

Today we tend to talk in terms of subjective experience rather than human sensibilities or transcendental apperception. But whatever terms we use, all investigations will lead to the conclusion that this framework is integrated and not divided. In other words, the processes of observation and of concept formation are entirely integrated. Nowhere is there a division between what can be called an inner and an outer world. The lack of evidence for such a gap, yet the continual assumption in scientific investigation that such a gap exists, reflects the problem of bridging science and spirituality.

Both science and spirituality come within the framework of human sensibility - of subjective experience - and this means that science is produced by the same general subjective processes as spirituality. To make the cohesion of this framework more apparent we need to take a broad look at the medium which links both science and spirituality. This is the medium of meaning. Both science and spirituality create meaning, and meaning is the ever present medium of subjective experience. The critical question at this junction is therefore, what do we mean by the term 'meaning'?

Scientific investigation is always about the meaning of something. This is the case in physics, chemistry, biology as well as the social sciences. While most practitioners in these fields may not see themselves as using and creating meaning; this is overwhelmingly what is happening. The kind of activity which is seen to occur between and within matter - particles, cells, tissue, organs, plants, animals, populations and the languages of these fields - is only the derivative signs of life. It is the meaning 'of something', created by the interaction of stable systems of relations, systems that are called, particles, cells, tissue and so on.

If life in the universe is to be found in the fundamentally relations of morphic fields, and in a derivate sense as the signs of life (through the interactions of forms within these fields), then the obvious conclusion to draw from all this is that the universe is alive at every level and in every substance and in every time and in every space. This conclusion comes from the logic that relations are omnipresent in the universe and this leads on to the inevitable conclusion that the agency of life, which is the force of formless meaning, is omnipresent in the universe. In other words, the visible universe exists within an infinite morphic field and so has meaning and consciousness at every point in space/time.

Consciousness

'Life' is a term with strong biological connotations while 'consciousness' is a term that has both psychological and spiritual uses. Life and consciousness come together however, in the present use of the meaning of meaning. It is proposed that meaning, in its fundamental and formless role has energy, force and agency. The nature of this energy and agency is consciousness.

The symmetry of meaning and consciousness implies that consciousness is the vital force that occupies the subjective field in which signs interact, scientific undertakings emerge and spirituality develops. In this view, signs, science and spirituality are features of consciousness and can be studied in terms of their relational architecture rather than exclusively and formally in their own separate terms. This means that consciousness is best analyzed as meaning which in turn is best studied in terms of relations.

The symmetry of meaning and consciousness also provides support for the proposition that meaning is not a shadow generated by the interaction of signs (as traditionally assumed). Meaning itself has movement, force, energy, and agency - consciousness. This is the same dynamic power which the Indian mystical philosophy of Vedanta calls ‘sakti.’ These are also the features we call life and thus being. Meaning therefore constitutes being-ness. A change of meaning will always represent a change of being-ness but it is also a change of consciousness.

What is interesting about this morphic field of consciousness (being-ness) is that it is infinitely expansive, which is to say that nothing exists outside meaning. In other words, nothing exists outside of consciousness. If this is true then the context of subjective experience, in which science occurs, is situated within the movement, force and agency of the ultimate reality of being-ness, that is, within the formless, morphic field of the meaning of meaning. From a spiritual position the ultimate reality is usually assumed to be God or cosmic consciousness. Enlightened souls such as Sri Ramana Maharshi often use the term 'the Self' to refer to this ultimate reality.

Famous for his methods of self inquiry, Sri Ramana Maharshi had this to say about this spiritual relationship: “The only permanent thing is Reality; and that is the Self. You say 'I am', 'I am going', 'I am speaking', 'I am working', etc. Hyphenate 'I am' in all of them. Thus I - AM. That is the abiding and fundamental Reality. This truth was taught by God to Moses: 'I AM that I AM'. 'Be still and know that I - AM God'. So 'I - AM ' is God.”

'I - AM' is the ultimate self-referral which it is possible to speak. The realized meaning of this self-referral implies a state of consciousness beyond words, a formless state of meaning beyond thought, a state of 'no-mind', a state of being where the individual self expands into the cosmic Self. This is a state of stillness beyond the defenses of the ego where meaning rests with the infinite and eternal symmetry of that stream of consciousness which 'I - AM'.

The evidence of formless symmetry within language, within non-conscious subjectivity, within love and throughout the entire universe at every point in space/time tells us that there are no gaps between inner and outer worlds because there is not inner or outer world. There is only one, undivided, interconnected, formless, unmoved agency of cosmic consciousness. The differences we see are the differences created by the derivative meaning of forms, the apparent relative autonomy of which has itself been created by the agency of formless meaning. We are therefore already connected to each other and to the environment without the need for conscious design. What is needed is a conscious design to re-learn about what is already there - to learn about coming home to what is already there.

The Bridge

The bridge connecting science and spirituality rests on a common view and commitment to truth that is beyond cultural relativities. The structure of this bridge is provided by subjective experience which is the context for both spiritual observance and scientific endeavor.

The gap between science and spirituality is now closed, for the scientist who seeks after symmetry walks a parallel path to the spiritual seeker who yearns for Self-realization. The scientist looks outwards to trace the origins of the universe to the symmetry that lies beyond matter. The spiritual seeker looks inwards to the silence of the recursive symmetries of Self-realization. While the paths are different, the goal of realizing the oneness of symmetry is the same for both seekers.

This concludes the series of articles on the Eleven Dimensions of Self Awareness and Balancing the Wheel of Life. From next week onwards, I will be writing more on the spiritual aspects of life interspersed with additional articles on how the advances in science are bringing together both the science and spirituality ever more closely. I hope you will continue to read these articles and/or forward to your friends/family that you think will like and add value to their lives. Namaste!