I had to share this blog post from my friend and colleague Mattison Grey. It's very compelling and thought-provoking (so the claims about physical strength and accomplishment are hers, not mine, ha). Mattison is actually participating in the Best Coaching Blogs contest sponsored by the School of Coaching Mastery (Julia Stewart's school), so if you like the post as much as I did, please follow the link at the end of the post and vote for the blog, and post a comment to her blog if you are so compelled. Thanks.
Life is painful. There, I said it.
Everyday we have some sort of pain that shows up: emotional, physical, mental, something. Consequently we spend much of our time running from pain. We hire therapists, life and business coaches, or consultants to help us figure out how to get out of pain and stay there. We self medicate with alcohol, food, tobacco, prescription drugs, sometimes even illegal drugs. Coaching alone is over a billion dollar a year business. Add to that what people are spending on therapists, counselors, consultants and doctors and that’s a ton of money spent trying to get out of pain. I can’t say I blame people.
The problem is we are looking in the wrong direction for relief or freedom.
Read the rest of this post here...
http://www.schoolofcoachingmastery.com/best-coaching-blogs-2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
More From Richard Rohr
I get a daily meditation email from Richard Rohr's Center for Action and Contemplation. He's really rocking it right now--check out exhibit A below. Have a lovely day!
Question of the Day:How will the New Cosmology affect my relationship with the earth?
Once you are reconnected and realigned with God in this New Cosmology, it is no longer a disenchanted universe, as it is for most postmodern people. If people had experienced the soul of the earth, we could never have poured chemicals and pollutants into the rivers the way we did for the past one hundred years. We could never have filled the world with trash and garbage.
But the material world was of no consequence. It was just to get human beings to heaven. As Brian McLaren says, salvation became “an evacuation plan for the next world.” Then this world doesn’t mean anything as such. It’s merely a holding tank, even though the Bible ends with the promise of the “new heavens and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). This earth is clearly seen as participating in this mystery called redemption, liberation, salvation. It’s not just about the human beings.
The whole creation, as Romans 8:18-25 says, “is groaning in one great act of giving birth.” The whole thing is being reborn, recovered, realigned.
Question of the Day:How will the New Cosmology affect my relationship with the earth?
Once you are reconnected and realigned with God in this New Cosmology, it is no longer a disenchanted universe, as it is for most postmodern people. If people had experienced the soul of the earth, we could never have poured chemicals and pollutants into the rivers the way we did for the past one hundred years. We could never have filled the world with trash and garbage.
But the material world was of no consequence. It was just to get human beings to heaven. As Brian McLaren says, salvation became “an evacuation plan for the next world.” Then this world doesn’t mean anything as such. It’s merely a holding tank, even though the Bible ends with the promise of the “new heavens and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). This earth is clearly seen as participating in this mystery called redemption, liberation, salvation. It’s not just about the human beings.
The whole creation, as Romans 8:18-25 says, “is groaning in one great act of giving birth.” The whole thing is being reborn, recovered, realigned.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Release and Renew
This morning I tried to log on to the network at work, and was unable to connect to the Internet. My computer hadn't severed the connection from my personal network from yesterday. I knew what I had to do in order to restore the connection. It's a process all the tech heads are familiar with - "release and renew". It's where you tell the computer to let go of the old Internet connection and re-establish a new connection.
It got me to thinking, there are probably many areas in my life that could use a "release and renew" process. We humans tend to hold on to things for longer than they are useful, and it's impossible for us to receive anything better when we are attached to what's already here. The scary part is the part between the "release" and the "renewal" - this is the step that usually feels like falling or stepping into the dark. It's not usually an instantaneous renewal or replacement. There's usually a period of uncertainty and doubt that demands we continue to step out in faith with no guarantee of what the "renewed" connection is going to look like. But inevitably, if we've done the work and truly released what we were holding onto, the new connection always gives us what we need and serves us in a better, purer way.
It got me to thinking, there are probably many areas in my life that could use a "release and renew" process. We humans tend to hold on to things for longer than they are useful, and it's impossible for us to receive anything better when we are attached to what's already here. The scary part is the part between the "release" and the "renewal" - this is the step that usually feels like falling or stepping into the dark. It's not usually an instantaneous renewal or replacement. There's usually a period of uncertainty and doubt that demands we continue to step out in faith with no guarantee of what the "renewed" connection is going to look like. But inevitably, if we've done the work and truly released what we were holding onto, the new connection always gives us what we need and serves us in a better, purer way.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Value Isn't Free
All valuable items (tangible or intangible) cost something to get; whether this price is time, money, effort, or more than one of these things. And the more valuable the item is, the higher the price that will be paid.
This wouldn't be an issue in a vacuum, but since most of us are operating with very little margin, invested in many different areas of life and in various pursuits, any new pursuit means we need to give up something in order to get what we say we want. And if we refuse? That's easy - a void will be created one way or another. This usually appears as a destruction or removal of something in our lives that is taking up valuable resources. If our deepest desires and our shallow wants are at odds, the shallow pursuit needs to be set aside to make room for the deep, real, true, abiding gift to appear.
So if your words aren't matching your actions (e.g. you say you want to lose weight but continue to shovel in the sweets), ask yourself what you have given up in pursuit of the goal. It may not be fun to deny yourself in the short term, but the price to be paid in the long term is much higher.
And remember, the payoff isn't usually dramatic and sexy, but ordinary and incremental. This is just a reality of growth. Shoots don't appear immediately from the soil, but only after a period of nurturing and attending without seeing any visible results. Growth only appears after we pay the price of being patient and present during this time when "nothing" is apparently going on. But to quote the movie Peaceful Warrior, "Nothing is never going on." To put it another way, my friend Devon Plumberg says, "Don't assume you have to be doing something in order for anything to be going on."
This wouldn't be an issue in a vacuum, but since most of us are operating with very little margin, invested in many different areas of life and in various pursuits, any new pursuit means we need to give up something in order to get what we say we want. And if we refuse? That's easy - a void will be created one way or another. This usually appears as a destruction or removal of something in our lives that is taking up valuable resources. If our deepest desires and our shallow wants are at odds, the shallow pursuit needs to be set aside to make room for the deep, real, true, abiding gift to appear.
So if your words aren't matching your actions (e.g. you say you want to lose weight but continue to shovel in the sweets), ask yourself what you have given up in pursuit of the goal. It may not be fun to deny yourself in the short term, but the price to be paid in the long term is much higher.
And remember, the payoff isn't usually dramatic and sexy, but ordinary and incremental. This is just a reality of growth. Shoots don't appear immediately from the soil, but only after a period of nurturing and attending without seeing any visible results. Growth only appears after we pay the price of being patient and present during this time when "nothing" is apparently going on. But to quote the movie Peaceful Warrior, "Nothing is never going on." To put it another way, my friend Devon Plumberg says, "Don't assume you have to be doing something in order for anything to be going on."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)