davidrobinsoncreative

Do You Know M.A.N?

Posted on June 13, 2013 by davidrobinsoncreative

816. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

[continued from 811, 12, 13, 14, 15]

Bali Journal Excerpt #6
At the Preventing Child Sex Tourism in Denpasar, I sat to lunch with a man named Rai. He was very educated and had a passion for the worlds religions. He was familiar with the holy writings of most major religions. He asked me about my religion. I answered that I had no religion. I told him that I had a spiritual life but had no particular attachment to a system of belief. He smiled and nodded.

We talked of tourism and its impact on Balinese culture, both positive and negative. He told me that in his village of Kuta that the people believed that the many changes in Kuta over the past few years was the result of Black Magic. He also told me that this event was predicted. He used a word for the era in which we are living but I can’t recall it – but said the English equivalent was something like ‘apocalypse.’ “In this time,” he explained, “people forget Atma.”

“What is Atma?” I asked.

He responded, “Do you Know M.A.N?” I didn’t. “M stand for Maya. All that is transitory is Maya: money, friends, status, power, and the body are all Maya. When people focus on things that are Maya, things that are transitory, they can only be unhappy. This is what is happening in Kuta. ‘A’ stands for Atma. Atma is your soul, your god-nature. You are god.” he said, touching his heart chakra. “When your mind is Atma, you are happy. Atma is eternal. Do you know Mahatma,” he asked? “Like Mahatma Gandhi? Mahatma means Atma,” he laughed. “Mahatma is the one with gleaming thoughts. When you are Atma your mind is not attached to the transitory. Detachment from all things leads to Moksa. Moksa and Nirvana are the same thing. ‘N’ is for Nirvana. Moksa is a state of being. When you are attached to nothing, living as Atma, you are said to have Moksa. M.A.N.”

Filed under: Awakening, Identity, Truly Powerful People | Tagged: Bali | 2 Comments »

Invite The Soul

Posted on June 12, 2013 by davidrobinsoncreative

815. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

[continued from 811, 12, 13, 14]

Bali Journal Excerpt #5
Madeleine asked me if I would go with her to see the Balian. She wanted me to scribe for her – to take notes of her session with Jero Manchu. I’d written off my previous experience at Jero Manchu’s compound. I didn’t listen to the inner voice. I ignored the imperative to, “Ask the Balian what was missing.” Now, I sat with Madeleine before the Balian. The Balian sang, breathed incense, and was quiet for a moment or two. Then, she turned and began speaking to me. I’d not asked a question. I was there in support of Madeleine.

Jero said (through a translator): “The one in you wants to be purified at the beach. One is pulling you there; one is pulling you in another direction. This is why you feel at a crossroads. I suggest you pray to the one not committed to you. Pray at the beach before the sun is rising. Invite the soul – he is still in the water – invite him into your body. Ask him to be happy in you.”

I was stunned.

It seems, thirteen years later, my work in the world is to invite the soul. I did my ritual on the beach (it is a journal entry coming soon) and my soul eventually came out of the water and into my body. He is very happy and getting happier each year.

The lesson or action is universal to people, organizations, communities,…the internal tug of war reveals the split gate, the investment in being right. It reveals the place where we divide and pull in opposite directions. Power over or control are usually the drivers of the split. There is nothing worse than having two experts come to dinner. There’s nothing better than having two masters come to share a meal.

Heal the split by stepping into the space between. This is to invite the soul into the body. Heal the split by shifting the focus from the points to the vectors, from the fixed to the fluid, from the staid to the movement, from the particle to the wave. Invite the soul. Ask him or her to be happy in you, as you.

Filed under: Awakening, Edges, Identity, Truly Powerful People | Tagged: Bali | Leave a comment »

Count To Three

Posted on June 11, 2013 by davidrobinsoncreative

814. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

[continued from 811, 12, 13]

Bali Journal Excerpt #4
There is an important number in Bali. Three. I come from a culture built upon the number two. Everything in my culture is a duality. Until coming to Bali I was not aware of the degree to which I saw the world in terms of opposites: black/white, success/failure, good/bad, /left/right, religious/secular. Between two points there can only be a line, a distinction. Judgments are the result of two – guilty/innocent. Lady Justice stands blindfolded holding her scale aloft. Which way will the scale tip? Democrats or Republicans? Make a choice! Are you for us or against us? Pro-choice or pro-life? In school I was taught that a good play, a good story, is driven by conflict, the place where two opposing forces collide. Will the major character win or lose? Will I be a winner or a loser?

These many years later re-reading this entry I marvel at how little I see the world now in terms of two. If there is a two there is also a space between and that space is dynamic. It is vibrant and alive. I see shades of gray. I see the middle way. I’ve worked hard to break my pattern of two-seeing. Budhi told me this space between was god. It is energy. One-ness. Why would I live in a universe built upon the number two if it precludes the space between?

I am sitting in an airport right now and it is just after midnight. I’m going on a trip of transformation. I am journeying to touch a heart that is precious to me. I am not popular for making this journey. Today, the people in my story are seeing pairs of opposites. They want me to see in terms of two and I am consciously reaching into the space between. They are invested in my choice. One or the other? They want me to “do what is right” yet right looks like left to half of the people who are invested with the choice they think that I am making. They cannot see the choice that I am making because their number stops at two.

Heart lives in the number 3. Heart is found, not in the noun, but in the verbs, in the action, in the space between.

Filed under: Identity, Metaphor, Perspective, Seeing, Story, Truly Powerful People | Tagged: Bali | 1 Comment »

Walk Between The Hands

Posted on June 10, 2013 by davidrobinsoncreative

813. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

[continued from 811, 812]

Bali Journal Excerpt #3
Budhi told us that the split gate is like two hands praying. We stood before an ancient split gate and Gunung Kawi. He said, “One side of the gate might represent good while the other side represented evil. Or, perhaps one side was male and the other side female.” It’s a duality, I thought, assuming that I knew where Budhi was going with his description. We walked between the two gates into a courtyard. Once inside, he stopped and turned again to look at the gate. “Which side is good and which side is evil?” he asked. None of us ventured a guess. “It all depends upon your point of view,” Budhi offered. “Maybe on the outside evil is on the left and good is on the right. On this side, which gate is right? Which is left? Both sides represent each aspect. It all depends upon where you stand.” Budhi moved to the gate and pointed to the opposing faces of the gate. “Look,” he said, “these sides are smooth, like two palms praying.” He wanted us to understand that, not only was there no duality, but there was also a third aspect, the space between. This space between represented one-ness. “When you pass through the gates,” Budhi explained, “your mind should also become focused on the one-ness, on the space between. This is god.”

Filed under: Energy, Metaphor, Perspective, Truly Powerful People | Tagged: Bali | 1 Comment »

Posted on June 9, 2013 by davidrobinsoncreative

812. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

[continued from 811]

Bali Journal Excerpt #2:
During the group’s visit to Jero Manchu [Jero was a Balian or shaman], I took pictures for Lora as she worked with the Balian. As I was aiming the camera, about ready to snap a photo, I heard my inner voice scream, “Ask the Balian what is missing!” Missing? And then again, “You need to know what is missing!” The voice railed at me for the duration of our visit to Jero’s compound. “Just ask!” my inner voice implored. I didn’t ask. I was too embarrassed and more than a little unhinged at the battle raging inside of me. I didn’t want to look stupid or display my vulnerabilities. I knew that, in fact, something was missing. I told myself that I didn’t want to impose my needs upon the group. I left the compound stuffing the question inside.

Reading this journal entry thirteen years later made me smile for 2 reasons: 1) I’ve since learned to listen and act immediately when my inner voice calls. I used to treat my inner voice as if it was an “other.” Now, it is not separate. It is my voice. It no longer needs to scream. 2) I assumed that speaking to my needs was an imposition on others. I had no evidence for that assumption. In truth, it was purely my justification for not showing up. It was my way of hiding.

I’m particularly fond of the timing of this excerpt. A few weeks ago my inner voice roared an imperative and I acted immediately. My world will never be the same because I listened and responded. There was no gap between the call and my action. There is no need for inner warfare. Additionally, today was the official launch party for my comic strip, FL!P (Skip has done an amazing job building this site – check it out). Lots of people came, drank wine, ate food, laughed, drew pictures, voted for their favorite strip and character. I loved every minute of it because I showed up. I recognized that I spent the entire day doing exactly what I wanted with no assumption about the impact on others. It is no longer my job to decide what other people need or think. There is so much in my life to celebrate!

Filed under: Awakening, Emergence, Gratitude, Power, Truly Powerful People | Tagged: Bali | 5 Comments »

Listen To The Past

Posted on June 8, 2013 by davidrobinsoncreative

811. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

Lora returned a sketchbook to me, drawings from our time in Bali. In the sketchbook I found tucked into the pages several excerpts from a journal I kept during my time there. The entries are typed, something done after the trip. After reading the passages I was amused at how similar they are to entries that I am making in my current journals. I’m writing a lot about helping hands. This winter has been extraordinary in the guidance that I feel, the nudges along the path, the deep sense of knowing, the mind-boggling serendipities,….

There are ten entries in the Bali journal. Over the next ten days I will post them.

Excerpt #1:
I’m giving myself over to the “helping hands.” That is what Bali is teaching me. They’ve [the helping hands] always been there but I was moving too fast to see them or I liked to call them “coincidence” or perhaps serendipity. From the moment I accepted the idea of coming to Bali (the helping hands left me little choice in the matter), I’ve been repeatedly reinforced to let go, relax, and let the helping hands help. It has been hard to accept and even harder to do. First, I had to discover that I wasn’t relaxed and that I was holding on very tight. I didn’t know that before. My story in Bali is about letting go so that I can feel the current and trust it to support me and take me where it will. Resisting has only made me tired.

So the lessons from 2000 that I am re-learning in 2013:
• Give yourself over to the helping hands.
• Move slow enough to see/feel them.
• Relax. Let go.
• Feel the current. Trust it. It will support you.

Filed under: Awakening, Seeing, Truly Powerful People | Leave a comment »

Show Up Sleepy

Posted on June 7, 2013 by davidrobinsoncreative

810. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

I began my career in the theatre and have never lost my distaste for doing meetings or classes before 10am. “It’s insanity,” I grumble to myself as I try to get my synapses to fire before they are ready. A humane culture would not expect its citizens to be coherent until their third cup of coffee. Theatre folk have it right. A late night dinner and bacchanal follows the performance. It’s the middle of the night before they wind down. Sleeping in is the norm. Sleeping in is the expectation! Morning rehearsals never start before 1:00pm.

All winter I teach a course with Alan that begins at 8am on the west coast. During those dark winter mornings, hours before the sunrise, when even the most enthusiastic bear is deep in hibernation, it is tough to shake consciousness into gear. Often before class I stand out on the deck hopping in the frigid cold morning air to snap me into coherence. My neighbors think me mad. Don’t tell Alan. Desperation is the grandmother of invention.

So when I was asked to do an early morning free phone seminar for the International Coaching Federation Leadership series, I asked, “How early?” It turns out that in the summer the sun rises really early so early feels late. No coherence snap necessary! I told the host that my topic would be “Coaching a Growth Mindset” – because it sounded good. I figured that at 8am, even with decent prep, I’d still be slightly dazed and almost anything would fly out of my mouth. That might terrify most folks but I’ve learned that I’m a better presenter when I take the brakes off my thought. Letting my mouth fly allows me to learn from myself since what I say surprises me, too.

Morning mind is a gift. It relaxes the inner editor. Here’s a secret: most people want a presenter to be coherent so they assume coherence. People want you to succeed. And, when you show up to share your thoughts, when you put down the need to be clever and simply share, you are always coherent. Just to hedge your bet, tell the callers that you are a circular thinker and it is possible that you might lose them (in my case, it’s true!), so open to questions at any moment during the call. Encourage relationship. Open. Treat people on the call as allies in a process of transformation with you. Finally, remember that prep is a lifetime affair, not something you do the night before. You already know all that you need to know. Prep gives shape but has nothing to do with depth or capacity or worth or value. Remember that you have something important to share (note: share, not say) and no one on the planet can share it like you. Do great prep the night before and then let it go: know that the moment you start the call, something better will roll out of your mouth because there will be people present with you. You will be in relationship with people who want you to share with them. They are not judges or critiques. They are community. No amount of prep can put you in relationship; only showing up can do that. And sleep is optional.

Filed under: Random, Truly Powerful People | 4 Comments »

Be In The Hallway

Posted on June 6, 2013 by davidrobinsoncreative

809. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

This morning Arnie made me laugh out loud. We hadn’t talked for some months and I was recounting the amazing pilgrimage I have been on throughout the winter. Doors have been closing, sometimes abruptly while other doors, previously locked, open easily. He reminded of a phrase his mother used to say: the universe doesn’t close doors without opening others – but it is hell waiting in the hallway!

Last August on the shores of a lake in New Hampshire, Donna emerged from the woods looking for me. She had some things that she needed to tell me. She knew that I was standing in the metaphoric hallway and that it was hell. All the doors were closed and I was feeling stuck. She told me to sit still. She reminded me that it does no good to pound on the doors when they are closed to you. It might feel good to rail against the doors but the effort is fruitless. Doors do not feel pain. The only shoulder I was breaking was my own. Donna is wise and told me great stories of the doors she’d pounded in her life and none of them ever opened again. Doors close for reasons that are never apparent at the closing. Doors close so you will look elsewhere. In time, a new door presents itself so, in Donna’s words, “You may as well enjoy the limbo.”

She offered me another notion that helped me sit still in the hallway. She said, “You are like me. In your life you have callings and there is always a space between the calls. You won’t hear the new call until you enter stillness.” So, I sat in the hallway. It was hell. And I was still. From this place, almost nine months after that day on the beach, I am now grateful that the old door closed because the new door is more amazing than anything I could have imagined. It is ripe with potential. I can’t believe I pounded on that old door for so long. I can’t imagine what life would be like now if that old door had not closed.

Sitting in the hallway is another way of saying, “Have faith.” Faith is not an abstraction when you are in the hallway. It is really easy to yammer on about faith when you are comfortable. Step into the hallway, sit in hell, and faith is a concrete experience – if you can get quiet. Enjoy the limbo and know that a door will open eventually. It always does when you stop pounding. As Donna implied, stop fighting for what no longer serves you. Let the door close and BE IN THE HALLWAY. There’s magic behind another door and it will open if you let it.

Filed under: Awakening, Gratitude, Metaphor, Truly Powerful People | 1 Comment »

It Matters

Posted on June 5, 2013 by davidrobinsoncreative

808. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

From the department of subtlety in language comes a submission from Skip. During lunch today (His email said, “Meet me for a black and tan. We’ll call it late lunch or early dinner.”) During “lunch” he told me about a speaker who made the distinction between a student and a learner – to make the point that our systems of education (higher and lower) are not about learning. To be a student and to be a learner are not the same thing at all.

The distinction is in the assumptions beneath the words. The word “student” implies the need for teachers, curricula, etc. The deeper implication is in the necessary action: it is ‘other-directed.” The word learner, on the other hand, requires no teacher, no agenda, nor a curriculum. The necessary action is self-directed. The action can be facilitated, it can be mentored, it can be shared, but the imperative is within.

Why, you ask, does this matter? Isn’t this just splitting hairs?

Last year Skip and I met at a conference for educators on reinventing learning but in Skip’s words, it was not about learning at all. It was about reinventing teaching. The organizers were educators so their assumption set necessitated students and teachers in an expert driven relationship. The teachers know. The students receive the knowing. No learning required. There were incredible conversations that day and few had to do with learning.

Learning is a pursuit. It is a discovery path. There is nothing passively receptive about learning (note: the moment you separate content from method you end all learning and enter the realm of student/teacher).

It matters. The way we ask the question determines the possibilities we see or don’t see. None of our current questions in the field of education have much to do with learning. I walk in many worlds and in the business realm I regularly hear these phrases: “Why don’t my employees take any initiative?” “They expect to be rewarded for everything?” “It’s impossible to critique anything because they take it so personally.” “Everything needs to be an ‘atta-boy!” “They might do just what you ask but never go beyond the prescription.” Frustration abounds.

Well. We get what we create. Students look for permission, color inside the lines, need approval and fixate on their grade. Learners embrace challenges, step across lines, and know intrinsically whether or not their work is good. It matters.

Filed under: Education, Language, Truly Powerful People | Tagged: education, language, learning, questions, self-directed, words | 2 Comments »

Let Go

Posted on June 4, 2013 by davidrobinsoncreative

807. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

The world was different when I woke up today. For weeks I’ve been wading through some confusion. Big questions yawned in front of me like a field of shifting boulders; the geography would not stand still so my maps were meaningless. I’d watched the boulders shift for weeks. I feared stepping into the field. All I knew to do was to watch. And, in my sleep last night, finally, the pattern emerged. The path was crystal clear. All that was required was to let go of a dream that I held dear. I had to say good-bye to an ideal. Holding the dream was at the heart of the shifting boulders. The moment I let go, the boulders stood still. The path was simple, clear, and necessary. I let go during the night. I awoke to a different world. I sighed. The inner quiet returned.

It’s a paradox when you discover that your dream is also your restriction. Or, perhaps it is more accurate to say that the attachment to a specific form of the dream is restricting the flow, limiting the possibilities. Dreams can take many forms. Most of the time I know enough to hold the dream and not the form. This time, the little kid in me stamped his feet and cried, “I want that one!” Why can’t I have that one? When I paid attention it was clear that every step on the path that I desired required pushing. I was forcing a direction and the energy pushed back and was hurting me. And as I pushed, as I forced the path, the only visible impact was to hurt those I wanted most to love. I realized that I was hurting everyone. I was hurting myself the most. The boulders started shifting because I was pushing. The resistance stopped my forward motion. I became too tired and scared to walk. I wanted my dream in a specific form and no other. The boulders moved faster and became more lethal.

And then I let go. To hold on would be to do more damage. To keep pushing would only cause those that I love more pain. When I let go the boulders not only stood still, they disappeared.

To what dreams do you cling that might be the source of your turmoil? What ideals are so lofty that they cannot reach good soil in which to take root and grow? Are you unknowingly sourcing your own discomfort? What are you forcing to happen when all indications are that it shouldn’t happen? What might show itself if you let go? What might come forward if you stopped pushing? In transformational presence coaching we talk about partnering with the energy; to partner with energy one must first listen to it. To partner requires paying attention to what is, not what you want to be.

I know these things. I teach them. And, I learn them again and again. The world always changes when we stop pushing long enough to sit down, survey the field, and listen. The hard work is rarely about the creation of the new. The hard work comes with admitting what is necessary to let go.

Filed under: Love, Truly Powerful People | 4 Comments »

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