Living life as a practice

The sun is slowly peeking its eyes over the horizon. The silence is broken by the resolute movement of the sword. The Samurai is completing his morning practice. You can find him here everyday. For the last 10 years. Every morning, the same time, same place, same movements. On a rainy day, on a snowy day, in the summer in the winter, whatever is happening in his life, he is here, ready to practice one more time. It goes beyond an exercise, it is a way of life. Intention, aspiration, humility and discipline…

Whether we train martial arts, sports, playing a musical instrument or anything else, we don’t find it difficult to accept the notion of practice. We practice because we want to learn, grow and be better tomorrow. We know that there is no shortcut and we rejoice with every progress we make. We don’t expect to be perfect right away, we understand this is a long term game. It brings us lightness, humility and playfullness, willingness to experiment and try new things. It builds our character and tests our ability to persevere and recover from setbacks to achieve sustained progress…

Yet for some reason, when doing our work in the world, leading our lives, being family members or while leading people and organisations, we have lost the notion of practice. We feel we have to be absolutely perfect even when we do something for the very first time. We set high expectations to each other and mainly on ourselves. At times, this helps us to ‘push’ ourselves and aspire higher but many times it produces stress, shame, guilt and endless dissatisfaction and non-acceptance of who we are.

How would it be to invite the notion of ‘practice’ into our personal and professional lives? How would it be to aspire and do our best every time yet always know inside that practice by definition never can be perfect and that the more we practice the better we get? How would it be to think where we can play, dance and create new opportunities to practice our art in the world? How would it be to live in humility about what we do and focus on our art first instead of commenting on the art of others?

Where can you create opportunities to practice in your life? What new possibilities does it open for you? What changes in the way of ‘being’ in your life can this bring?

 

The Third Way

How can we have more Love in us?

Instead of our Power?

As there is only one whole.

Can we ask as such?

To tip the scales, perhaps too far again,

and perpetuate the ancient and never-ending,

Rivalry…

No. Not now. Not anymore.

There is a third way.

To understand our Power.

To know when it creates, when it brings magic, when it moves things forward.

To know when it oppresses, destroys and alienates.

To understand our Love.

To know when it nurtures, when it connects, when it brings union and joy.

To know when it confuses and brings chaos, when it poisons and collapses the very essence of ourselves and the people and the world around.

To understand our Power, to understand our Love.

Because it is who we are. Both.

As men and women.

So we can be ready; aware, connected, full of love and courage.

And blossom from the right soil,

When the time is right and the world asks us to make a choice.

So we can become pioneers and specks of beaming light

Shining a new possibility into our holographic universe.

The Mother

By Tim Merry (www.timmerry.com)

Yes to the reminder that we are just part of the universe
One verse
In a song
So long
It does not belong
To Anyone
Or any part
Though it rests in every heart
In it wholeness

The caress
Of the winds and rains of Pele
Left me
Deeply touched, moved
New grooves
Cut in my consciousness

The caress
Of a gift arriving I have always had but never known
Worlds blown
Apart and re-sown

Always connected and always alone:
Water, sky, fire, earth, stone
Mind, heart, flesh and bone.
Attunement to ancient rhythm
Indigenous wisdom
Passed on by elders
Welders
Of the generations
and all our relations
Connectors to creation.

I left with an understanding
That has landed like a branding
In my heart and brain
I can never be the same
As I fully digest
And begin to test
The belief
That without indigenous wisdom there will be no relief
The elders hold the key to leadership in these crazy global times
Hidden in the rhythm of these rhymes
The world interconnected, interdependent and sacred
If this worldview is not integrated
I fear we will not make it
There’s no hiding
From this colliding
With the need of an era
It’s never been clearer
All the wisdoms of the world must connect
We cannot protect
Or keep back
The ancient consciousness
That has been under attack
For thousands of years
My own celtic and anglo saxon tears
The ancestors left me messages
In tall standing stones
In deep underground burrows
Stories, songs, ceremony
I feel my ancestors in my integrity.

We have the key
Will we put it in the lock?
Do we dare take stock?
See humans as one flock
Of birds
Swirling in summer sky
Learning to collectively fly
Beyond boundary
Polarity
Fears of sparity
What is the gift we bring?
What is the song we sing?
What is the harmony we fling
To the winds
What is the harmony we sing to the winds
Together
Elder, CEO, Entrepreneur, baby, youth,
Under one roof
Connect to the native
The endlessly creative
Umbilical cord to the earth
Discover our worth
Our humility
See
Clearly

We can’t fake it
We’ll only make it
If we are connected to each other
And the mother

We can’t fake it
We’ll only make it
If we are connected to each other
And the mother

Mahalo

Are you Indispensable?

The intriguing question in the title of this post is a central question of the recent book by Seth Godin, called Linchpin that I had the pleasure to read in the last few days. The intentions of this remerkable piece of writing are best expressed by Seth’s words found in the last chapter…

“I didn’t set out to get you to quit your job or to persuade you to become an entrepreneur or merely to change the entire world.

All I wanted to do in this book was to sell you on being the artist you already are. To make a difference. To stand for something. To get the respect and security you deserve.

If I’ve succeeded, then you know that you have a gift to give, something you can do to change the world (or your part of it) for the better. I hope you’ll do that, because we need you.”

I find reading this book trully an inspiring endeavour, a must read for anyone aspiring to make a difference in the world or ‘just’ to live a meaningful life and follow one own’s calling. In a layered flow that builts well on itself, Seth explores the limits of where the evolution of our economy and world of work brought us to date and paints a clear picture of what it will take on an individual level to create what’s next – a more inspired and fullfilled future for anyone willing to do the inner work that is required.

Seth outlines very well the challenges of the current model, the reasons for finding ourselves where we are as well as the inner factors that prevent us from going further and changing what does not serve us anymore. It is inspiring to imagine what is possible if more and more people follow the path that this book clearly outlines, which at the same time is a path that is waiting to be made by YOU.

In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.”

The writing is clear, energetic, inspirational and poetic. I found that reading the book evoked many ideas in my mind, brought my awareness to areas where I can improve as well as inspired me to take tangible actions to move things forward.

And this happens everytime I get in touch with Seth’s writing.

Seth is trully a remarkable author with a consistent voice who presents things in a simple yet not simplistic ways and does not allow your inspired self to hide at any point. The metaphores are powerful, intentional and crystal clear.

Such a pleasure to read. He is not a guide with words only, he trully stands behind what he writes and speaks from years of experience. I’ve had a pleasure to meet Seth in person this year and was very inspired by the combination of clarity, challenge, humility and humanity.

If you’re looking for an interesting present for yourself or someone who matters to you, I think this book is a worthy candidate.

So… Are you Indispensable?

PS Seth’s blog is one of the few I regurarly make time to read and I am never dissapointed. Find for yourself at www.sethgodin.com

‘Swimming’ with the flow…

As some of you know, I am a passionate swimmer. I have been swimming competitively for 8 years since I was 10, which meant 3 hours a day commitment. Swimming was and still is one of my big teachers and helps me to grow as a person. Though today I swim more just to keep in shape, it still is a big part of my life…

As I was swimming today I thought to share something with you. Swimming is a very particular sport where the most powerful outcome is achieved when you marry your power and desire to swim as fast as you can with the flow of the water. One of my swimming coaches used to say that swimming is like a ‘dance in the water’.

This applies to many sports but especially in swimming, simply wanting to go faster and putting all your energy into it is not enough. What is necessary is to put all your energy but at the same time ‘blend’ with the water, do the right moves at the right time. If you do them too quickly, it actually makes you go slower, if you do them too slow you don’t get the optimum glide in the water. For all you aspiring swimmers, I can’t fully explain how to do this, but your body knows how, trust me. It knows exactly what is the right speed, right moves and how to use best what the water already offers…

I find this a powerful metaphor for achieving things in my life. I often hear around me ‘You can manifest anything that you want, all is in your power’. On the other side I also hear, ‘You need to let go and fully surrender to what needs to happen’. How about both? Like in swimming, can we put all our energy, efforts, dreams and aspirations to ‘create’ our reality, while at the same time ‘blend’ with what is waiting to happen, what is flowing around us like the water? Can we harmonize our intentions with what is most needed to happen at this point of time? For us, our communities and the world alike? Where else can this principle help us as we look around our World(s)?

Recently, I have moved countries and one of the things I struggle with at the moment is looking for an appartment, the right place for me to live for next few years, the place that would make my ‘soul’ sing. The same principle applies here, after 3 weeks of tireless browsing, looking and visiting appartments, I have learned that it is not ‘only’ in my power to find this place. No matter how many hours I spent looking for it, no matter how much I want it as soon as possible, no matter how much I can get frustrated that I did not find it yet… No matter what, I also need to wait for the appartment to appear. This does not mean giving up, this means looking as I do and increasing chances I will see it when it appears, but at the same time allowing things to take time and providing I know what I am looking for, to be patient until it appears…

What do you think? Which situation are you facing right now that would benefit from this approach?

Like this I believe we can ‘swim’ with the flow of evolution unfolding around us and achieve flawless elegance in how we live our lives. Good luck in all your ‘swims’…

Winning with honour…

Watching Sebastian Vettel win the Formula 1 World Championship has inspired me. I do not know enough about this season to be commenting on whether he deserved or not, but from the little I know he did. In the moment he was cruising the last lap right after going through the finish as the World Champion, the team radio came on. Estimate of 600 million people around the entire world has heard him cry with joy, screaming “Unbelievable” in the times he could actually grasp enough control of his voice to speak… The connection so strong that I had tears in my eyes despite the distance, despite not knowing him, despite his history and how much it took for him to achieve what he achieved today.

Genuine victory with honour, grace and authenticity. How important it is that people we look up to, whether they are politicians, sportsman, celebrities, public figures, our role models, our friends, ourselves… How important it is not only to win and prove we can compete and have enough ambition and courage to make it all the way, but also to win with honour, dignity and in the spirit of fair play. How important it is to do the thing we know needs to be done especially when no one is watching. How important it is to achieve the outside victory without suffering even worse defeat inside.

In the volatile times of today, it is every victory achieved like this that counts towards the new world we are building.

In the lives of the ones we admire the most as much as in our own lives, even in the lives of people we do not know. We face smaller and bigger battles every day, often unprepared, without ideal conditions and sufficient knowledge or previous experience to have it easy. We stand in front of these moments, when we make choices, when we speak to each other, when we stand in front of living our dreams without a drop of assurance yet with a pool of courage. In our personal and professional lives alike, one moment after another. This is where our future is being defined, this is where we build its foundations…

To win with honour, to win without losing a piece of ourselves. To take choices we are proud of for the years to come. To both win and to travel with grace, commitment and sensitivity, to acknowledge that the journey is as important as the destination.

Not because we are wrong or bad when we don’t, but because there is so much more possible for us and all alike when we do…

The Council of 13

The last person just arrived. Without hurry. They were waiting for her just outside the circle. With patience and embrace as if it was the only thing that could have happened. They took a deep breath of fresh sunny morning and just caught a glimpse of one of those special moments where the night turns into a day, when you can see the stars and the moon and the sun, all a the same time, even if for a split second in your imagination…

They looked at each other and nodded. They took a deep breath and smiled. They looked inside the trees and then one by one, when the time was right and with all the honor that can only be experienced not described, they all stepped inside the circle. Each taking the time to greet the tall still companions, the standing people that saw much more than anyone can possibly imagine. Without hurry, without rush, as if the time stood still and the only thing that mattered was now.

They sat by their trees and listened and talked and listened and talked. With intention yet without demands, with love and without limits, with wisdom yet completely empty. It went on for a while as people were walking by. In a hurry no one noticed the group of people within the trees, it was as if they never existed for the outside world. After all, the newspapers did not mention them so who would be surprised…

The dance went on the whole day. In the middle of the circle, listen and talk. By the trees listen and talk. In the middle of the circle… The masterpiece was being created, as a sacred marriage between the living and beyond, between human and alive, between ours and the one that words can’t yet describe. As a dolphin that plays in waves as a mountain dew slipping from the leaf, as a sea tide that kisses the shore, as a wind that caresses the mountains. As a child that burst into laughter, as an artist that is about to make a first stroke on an empty canvas, as the silence in between the words. As the pause of a clown ball thrown up in the air before it starts to fall back to the Earth.

In a hurry no one noticed. At least not the ones that chose not to see. No one noticed how our future is being made, right there in the middle of everyone’s eyesight, in the most obvious yet hidden place of them all. No one noticed how the white light peels apart into thirteen rainbows, into thirteen unique imprints of what it means to be alive right now. And how they slowly melt into each other, one by one, creating what no one can hold alone and what no one will ever have to hold alone, when the work is finished.

As the end of the day approached they looked at each other for the last time. They held hands and looked up to the glittering stars for one last time. The feeling inside can not be described, only felt as you read these lines. They were smiling with their hearts, knowing, resting, breathing, sharing, peacefully acknowledging everything that came before and after. It was done. It was done.

They hugged each other, the living, the standing, the visible and invisible. They whispered to each other, the two words that said it all. They felt proud, happy, peaceful and curious.

Curious for the next chapter to be written by as many writers as were ready to start writing it…

Magic Words

In the very earliest time,
when both people and animals lived on earth,
a person could become an animal if he wanted to
and an animal could become a human being.

Sometimes they were people
and sometimes animals
and there was no difference.

All spoke the same language.

That was the time when words were like magic.
The human mind had mysterious powers.

A word spoken by chance
might have strange consequences.

It would suddenly come alive
and what people wanted to happen could happen—
all you had to do was say it.

Nobody can explain this:
That’s the way it was.

~ Nalungiaq (Inuit)

Wandering in nature

Bill Plotkin in his book Soulcraft refers to nature and soul as our inner and outer wilderness. It is by wandering in nature we can discover things about our soul and the other way around. Wandering in nature is one of the most intense, meaningful, enjoyable and calming practices I use.

When was the last time you were walking in nature without a purpose? When you were taking in its beauty and all the smells that remind you of childhood with every breath? When you were looking in awe on the monumental trees, listened to the sound of grass in the wind or to the buzzes, trills and other sounds around you? When was the last time you got so present in the moment that few hours have passed without you knowing what actually happened?

The instructions are simple. Get rid of all the things that might distract you (things to carry, mobile phones, etc.) and spend an hour wondering in nature. Choose a spot where this is possible (one where you can be alone and undisturbed by others, one where you can easily find yourself and get back after you are done) and start walking. Notice everything. Focus your attention on the sounds, colours, stillness and movement. Breathe in and out deeply and notice the scents. Touch the trees, the soil and the water. Be playful and allow yourself to do what feels right. No one tells you what is allowed or not, what is appropriate, normal or silly. Roll in the grass, connect with the trees, sing with the birds or run as fast as you can. Allow the lost child to come out and play, to discover as if seeing for the first time, to rejoice like it once used to, to live carefree for an hour.

Allow your thoughts to appear, acknowledge them and let them pass. After a while there will suddenly be much less of them, so little in fact that you can start seeing the world as it is again. Everything that will happen during that hour has a meaning. Or nothing does… You will know in any case…

Once the hour is gone, sit down on the grass or by a tree and write everything down. How you feel, what happened, what meaning did you add, what opened up for you. Write nothing if you want to honour the experience that way…

What are you waiting for?

The gift of silence…

Lately, I feel that silence is a bit missing from my life. There is always another email, another blog post, another peace of breaking news, another thing to do, person to ‘touch base’ with, book or article to read, movie to watch, in short there is always so much to do and one can never ‘do it all’ anyway…

It seems that I am not only one in this ‘and another thing’ game. It feels lots of our world is somehow caught up in this mad race towards… where execatly? Not sure actually… Something tells me that it is not only me, or maybe you, or maybe… we all miss a bit of silence and peace in our busy days…

Yet what is fascinating is that once I actually create a quiet space to step back, fully focus and then pose a question that is important to me, somehow the right answer comes almost immediately. Almost as if it was always already there, just waiting for me to become present enough to simply see it, slow enough not to miss it, aware enough to fully uncover its existence.

And then I wonder, how many answers to the big questions we hold as individuals, communities, organizations and humanity do we miss like this everyday, while telling to ourselves that we are too busy to stop and take a breath? How many questions remain undiscovered and unanswered because we just run too fast?

I can’t say, but maybe you and me can try a little experiment. Right here, right now. Experiment called, giving ourselves a bit of silence every day. Here’s the game we can play…

1. Every day, find 10 minutes of silent space just for you. Or you know what maybe don’t just ‘find’ it, book it, create it, schedule it, write it on your wrist, whatever works for you…

2. For these 10 minutes, be somewhere that is just for you, somewhere you can be undisturbed, inside, outside – wherever it feels like the right place for you.

3. For first 1 minute, focus on your breathing and slowing it down, to get out of the hectic rhytm of your day and your thoughts. Just slowly breath in and out, in and out. Slow down your thoughts, let them pass, notice them, acknowledge them and move on…

4. Once your mind is quieter, than think – What is the biggest question I would like to have an answer to, right now?

5. Once you asked the question, just wait for the answers that will come. In case any distractions creep in, slow down, quiet yourself and continue…

This might require a bit of practice. I am very excited for your questions and for your answers. Please let me know how this works for you, maybe you have improvements that would make this accessible to more people… I would love to hear them.

Giving yourself a gift of silence every day can be huge for your future. It is one of the biggest gifts you can give yourself in the busy world of today. And by giving this gift to yourself, you are also giving one of the biggest gifts to our world at the same time…

Good luck in becoming the ‘silent warrior’