Engaging the Miraculous
March 30, 2010
Recently I did a coaching session with a client who described her physical challenges as resulting from over-enthusiastic self-medication many years ago. Her biggest concern was not the physical problem itself but the shame of what she had done to her body.
She talked, I listened, then I spoke about the need for her to develop a new relationship with her body. I said that sometimes we need to think about ourselves in terms of pure energy rather than dense matter. That gave her some relief.
Then I said that she could look at her body in a new way: letting go of the old picture of herself in order for a new sense of awareness to take place.
“It doesn’t matter who you see yourself as,” I said, ” it’s who you can be and who you are becoming that’s important. You’ve got to laugh inside you, for if you can laugh at this whole thing then you can have spectacular change, and it will be fun and effortless.”
She started to feel more alive and said that now there was the possibility of growth and new feelings to follow.
As we got more into the session, she mentioned a belief of needing to find the light in the darkness. So I worked with her faith and made her laugh again by saying that God would probably shrug his shoulders at what had happened and say “ah, so what?” – for her feelings of guilt and shame at what she had done to herself was only a self imposition, and could easily be transformed.
To prove that to her, we did an exercise together, energetically going deep into her body to presence a flow of energy that was her natural rhythmic pattern. I told her …
“If you go down to the cellular level you are actually starting to move into the realm of the miraculous, to feel the pulse of the potential waiting to emerge. You have to engage with it and bring it through, and allow your body to relax into something new and amazing. If you can move your attention to that happening … your body will behave differently, it will be different. You will feel the aliveness in the cells changing the physical state of the molecules.”
Eventually we reached a place where we could talk about standing in the power of any situation, regardless of how dire and hopeless it might seem, because all there is to do is release the story of what has been, in order to become a force that uses everything to advantage. I explained …
“There isn’t anything in you that can be a problem or cause for a problem. You change your emphasis on how you deal with anything and work with it so that it becomes valuable to you, that you have a valuable resource.”
When she heard that the metal plate inside her body could be perceived as a resource, she cried and said that she was special, that she could disperse the judgments that had been made about her body by others … and that a whole other possibility had been given to her.
Below is a short excerpt of the session.
We’ve got to expand the bounds of how we work with people who seem to provide us with problems that only the miraculous can possibly change. Well the miraculous is happening all the time, and what facilitates the miraculous is the ability to engage the miraculous.
I said to my new found friend -
“You’ve got to work the miraculous. It’s not that you expect a miracle to happen and that something will be amazing when it does – you’ve got to be the miraculous in action.”
The Infinite Moment
February 16, 2010
“I need to find a way to stretch the moment,” Anjie said to my wife and I, “so that I have time to think before I speak”.
Anjie stayed with us for a week in January, in preparation for relaunching her life. She wanted us to show her how to stop judging. It was a bit of a tall order. Not that she was a problem – far from it – she was so wanting to change her perspective on life. The tricky part was in changing her habit of listening from the past.
Her experience of people was to expect the worst, to engage their personality, and then keep them at a distance so they couldn’t upset her. We helped her to revisit some key moments with certain people so that she could assess what they were really saying to her. And we had her realise that she could choose what to see in them and how to engage with them differently. It was important for her to get that she could cultivate greatness in others, for if she could do that then they could be aware of living their greatness.
It’s just a memory now but there was a time when I was so caught up in the energy of opposing thoughts, that I would vigorously defend my position to be heard and not really hear what was being said to me. My position? I don’t think that I cared very much about having a position. It was more like I was trying to release the unbounded power inside me.
So I understood what Anjie was dealing with. We would talk about someone that she disliked and then boom – there would be an explosion of what she thought about that person, all stored up, and nothing of what she said was really true. It was all perception delivered from a place of frustration.
Listening to Anjie had me realise just how powerful we are. Storing up energy and generating emotion so that it comes out as an explosive force is a stunning thing to achieve but it does have physical consequences. Your body is continually tensed; you become sensitive to certain vibrations (e.g. felt as criticism), and you are ready to respond without care or consideration or awareness. There is no measure anymore of what is true or false.
So we created a time gap for her to play in. In this time gap she could hear what was being said without needing to respond. She could be reflective and assess whether a person was being true with her, get to understand their perspective, and then decide what action she would take. Her body could relax and she could be in tune with it.
We called it ‘the infinite moment’. In that moment, an understanding of who people truly are emerges. We see where others are in relation to their energy – whether they are expansive or contained; whether they are being true and in the moment, or following the patterns of past experiences.
As we live from that place, we can discover what sort of reality we really do wish for others.
Try it. Be present with yourself, neither seeking the future nor the past. Expand yourself in this infinite moment, disregarding all thoughts of time and space, of who we might be as physical beings. Connect to the music of life and create a reality, where what you see is boldness and magnificence impressed in every being, and what you hear is the fire of life whispering within your veins.
What is it you hear? … “Live,” it says,
“Live the impossible, do the unimaginable, and encourage the limitlessness.”
There are no finer gifts to give.
Image – stock photo: http://www.sxc.hu
The Commitment
January 3, 2010
The New Year has barely yawned and today (Sunday 3rd) I had one of those moments when I could feel the poetry of life just pouring from my lips. It happened during a telephone coaching session, in which a friend asked me what steps she could take to change her reality.
I made two lists. On the first list, I told her, were all the things that she allowed to define her reality for her. The second list contained key points that she could focus on to create what she wanted for herself. On this second list was the need for a sense of self.
A sense of self is vital in developing our passion, body of work, or whatever we are here for. As I explained to my friend, (knowing her great desire to help others but at the cost of being herself), our first commitment is to be here.
To be here requires every single facet of our being, and each facet needs to be woven into a luxurious celebration of life.
We can’t do that by worrying about others, giving energy to them, or being self-sacrificing. We must choose ourselves.
I say ‘choose’ but I really mean ‘commit’. To make a commitment is more powerful than making a choice. “You have a duty to commit to yourself,” I told my friend, “for when you do so then you will know your own worth and you will focus on those powerful aspects of yourself that are not being lived at present.”
I then outlined the characteristics of the woman that I could see her becoming. That woman was strong, focused, and able to see into the essence of every single being; knowing their worth and calling for them to step into their own commitment to life. The kindness and caring that I saw in her was managed with grace and a total awareness of how the beauty of life is revealed in the most exquisite of structures. That woman had presence and that presence was power – the power of awareness – a symbol for what is ready to emerge into the reality of people everywhere.
then the commitment follows.
“I will never ever again feel that I am not powerful and resourceful in my own right.”
Hours later and I am still in awe of what I experienced for the power of it was so strong. The making of a commitment and the living in the power of what arises from that commitment is truly an awesome experience.
Setting the Day in Motion
November 20, 2009
Here is my own way of setting the tone for the day and creating a template for all my experiences.
As I awake I already have a feel for what the day can be – of what I wish for it, for myself and for others, of what I wish for the spirit of the world. I arise from bed and connect with the magnificence of creation, feeling the force of it move me, letting the pulsebeat flow through my hands and fingers to pour into the room and then beyond.
I set the day in motion, speaking of what I wish for life; calling for greater awareness to develop in people; asking that the magic be in everything that I do throughout the day; and encouraging a developing love of life in everyone I meet.
This extract from a recent telecall gives more detail. Press the Play button to listen.
I then allow the graceful swirl of my being to take me through the day, connecting and engaging with people in the most amazing ways, knowing that I am shaping my experiences of what can be.
So, I say, be in the celebration of life – and that is what will unfold for you. Be in an ecstatic relationship with people – and that is what they will experience with you. Be in an exquisite caring for everything in the world – and that is what moves the world.
The day, the world, your life will be whatever you say it will be.
Potential Rising (2)
November 20, 2009
Yesterday I mentioned how energy shifts in our body can be understood in either of two ways – that there’s something wrong (problem) or that we are simply undergoing change (potential). The difference in perspective depends on our approach to energy and our relationship to physicality.
Here is a brief overview of how energy potential can be constantly aligned with our physicality.
1. Consider everything in terms of progressive transformational change.
2. Drop away your thoughts of who you believe you are and what you believe your life is about.
3. Drop any pretence at understanding how the world works, so you can focus on your passion for life.
4. Let your caring for life arise within you as a cascading wave of energy that moves out from your core and dances around you.
5. Expand your awareness, so that you feel this movement of energy and get a sense that you are more than your physicality.
6. Align your physicality with this outpouring of energy – just the conscious intention will do it.
7. Feel your connection to the brilliance and magnificence of this world, knowing that you are helping to source it.
8. Allow yourself to surrender into the field of infinite creative possibilities, where you are able to source and generate the most amazing life for yourself.
Potential – the ability to source beautiful movement of thought, language, song, and every conceivable expression of our being. To know our nature is to be humbled at the possibilities of what can unfold from us. To encourage the unfoldment of others is a privilege and a declaration of dedication to life. Who knows what we can create together? The potential is here.
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Potential Rising
November 19, 2009
A problem is a box:
a way of thinking in which we seek solutions in order to arrive at a tightly defined picture of reality.Potential:
a free flow expression of energy in an expanded state.
On a recent telecall, I discussed how we can perceive and understand changes in our body.
A conventional view is that things happen to us, beyond our understanding and control, and anything that causes pain is a problem that needs solving. But our modern perspective is that any discomfort is a signal for us to align our energies.
Things do not happen to our body (as if we regard our body as something separate from our conscious awareness). We are the totality of our experience – whether that is physically or non-physically based. We have sensors inside our body that track and report on energy movement, just as we have sensors in our energy field doing the same. Our awareness, our intelligence, relies upon these signals to inform us of what is happening and what action we need to take, to assist transformational change.
What we interpret as tiredness may actually be a signal for us to relax (rather than be intensely focused) and allow our physicality to adjust to a change in vibration. This level of alertness allows us to adjust our thinking – to think in terms of ‘potential rising’.
Instead of thinking that we have physical problems, it’s more empowering to tune in to what is happening energetically inside our bodies: to sense how our energy is seeking to be expressed, and to get an accurate picture of what’s really going on.
Here is an extract from that telecall in which I explain my process for attuning to and assessing the potential in others.
What is your unique way of working? How do you view changes?
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The Cosmic Connection
September 17, 2009
I was doing a mentoring session over the phone and I asked my client to state the most important thing that she wanted to get from the session. Her reply was “to be more consciousness of what the energies are asking of me”.
She said that she often has no idea about her life’s work. She feels energy shifts but is unsure of the actions that she should be taking and therefore doubts herself.
As the session progressed, she spoke brilliantly about what she sees with her eyes closed -
- of a rainbow portal that brings a mystical quality of light to the Earth;
- of stars functioning as transmission stations, streaming information from star to star;
- of the setting up of communications between the galaxies.
Then she interacted more with her vision and could see that (beyond her physical self) she was a vast expanse of light that directed energies into the Earth through the fabric of her own being. The experience gave her confirmation of the level of her participation, more vaster than she was consciously aware.
How often though, do people stop to think of the invisible nature of their work? How much attention do they pay to the possibility, remote as it may seem, that they operate beyond their human consciousness, doing things that are powerfully staggering? How often do people dare talk about these things anyway, even when they know that it’s all true?
It is my intent, in my mentoring sessions, that people find out what they do in their unconsciousness, so that they connect with and can own the power and nature of the incredible work that is theirs.
Well I let this mentoring session run its course, allowing my client to describe in detail what she was experiencing, before I told her that she was being more powerful when she got curious about what she is doing. Her off-planet role just needed to be recognised, appreciated and accepted into her normal daily routine. Now, instead of waiting to be told what to do, she can take full responsibility for seeing what to do next.
Our heritage is not Earth-bound. Our heritage is infinite and changeable, perceivable through visions, gained through energy sensitivity, and owned by our ability to surrender to our next knowing of ourselves. That knowing expands dramatically when we factor in our Cosmic Connection.
Stopping the chatter
September 16, 2009
I did a mentoring session with a client to find a way for her to appreciate every moment.
Her initial complaint was that she wanted to stop her mind chatter. I came up with a few steps to help her achieve that.
1. You physically stop what you are doing and you tell yourself that you are stopping.
2. You decide what’s important in this moment. Get the sense of choosing what’s important … what is now … what is the priority for you.
3. You consciously change the place where you are thinking from.
Historically, the default setting for our thinking has been to see everything in personal terms. That we are separate from each other, living our own version of what life is about. In that world view everything has to conform to certain lines of thought. Your communications are confined to you and dare not be shared.
The new place of thinking is expansive, timeless, appreciative, all-encompassing and awesome. It’s more natural. It’s the place that is concerned with allowing you/us to really connect and to enjoy our connectiveness.
It’s not about rushing around trying to achieve things, trying to get things done for the sake of it, or allowing yourself to be distracted by non-important stuff. It’s about allowing everything to drop away that is no longer important and to communicate only what is important right now.
You change the place where you think from by taking the time to explore and learn what is important to you. Taking the time to feel the joy of every moment. That helps you to be more alive, more present, and more sustaining. It increases your depth of vision (inner and outer) because you actually discover things that you were too busy to notice before – and you have the time now to explore with your senses.
Perhaps the most wonderful thing to discover is that all of life is talking to you. As you become more conscious of that then your consciousness reaches out to everything and engages with it – and the mind chatter miraculously stops!
You Are Enough
May 14, 2009
A friend came over from the US, for some personal coaching with my wife and I. During the first few hours she went through a huge consciousness shift, in one of those death/rebirth energy-transformation moments.
Later, we discovered that the source of some of her present problems stemmed from a time in her childhood when she had withdrawn part of herself from the world. She then had to develop strategies for coping, that included a defensive/fight energetic, and over time that became her energetic approach to people – and life.
What we uncovered was that her current life connections were based on her strong self-reliance: the result of her feeling the need to stand up for herself. It was necessary to have self-reliance but it was also necessary for her to develop a new strategy for living, that could encourage deeper relationships to be grown.
The energy transformation piece that she did with us, really showed her that she no longer needed the defensive/fight strategy, because she was now able to stand unmoved by any seeming energetic chaos. She had become bigger than her old life.
We’ve seen this happen so many times – that people are energetically not present because
- they withdraw their lifeforce into themselves, believing that they need protection
- their energy/consciousness goes elsewhere, because of a wish to no longer be in the world
However, when there is a desire to be whole, present, and complete again, then energy becomes available to sustain and source the new desire for life. When that happens people realise that now they are enough; that there is a rich abundance of everything at their fingertips; and that a true love of life is assured.
Now our friend’s connections to herself (and to others) can come from an abundant, life enhancing, and energetically brilliant place.
It’s all in the connections that we allow to generate and grow, within us and to everything around us. When we feel a constant connectiveness then we don’t need to wonder if we are good enough or if what we do is enough – because the question doesn’t exist.
The Evolution of Coaching (1)
February 9, 2009
I’m having an interesting dialogue with my friend Simone about changes within the coaching profession. In a recent teleclass she said that, at the level of the International Coach Federation (ICF) leadership, -
“Coaching isn’t about accountability anymore. It’s about the evolution and development of the being. The competencies of the framework don’t support the evolution of coaching as a means of development.”
Here is an extract from this call – click the play button to start.
What’s moving in the consciousness now is an understanding that we are progressing beyond personal relationships, away from the minutae of what frames people and keeps them from finding the fullest expression of their being.
We are looking at expanding the beings that we are. And an easy way to do that is to focus on the greatness of what we envision for the whole world. For then we source all that is important to us and all that we seek to achieve together.
By putting aside personal dramas, we can focus on collaborative ventures. A collective vision appeals to people. A collective vision is more quickly and easily attainable – and it has an energetic empowerment in it that reaches through the consciousness to benefit all of us.
So, if we are more concerned with the evolution and development of our beingness, then what do the next steps in the evolution of coaching look like?