Note: It will be helpful to have a journal and a pen ready to use after the meditation. It is also great if you can have someone read the meditation to you or that you prerecord it and play it back for yourself. When I did first did this meditation I also wrote down in my journal what points I wanted to include when I redefined my dream while still remaining open to what life slotted in.Changing is easy. Sustaining change is hard.
Remember how few New Year's resolutions you have actually kept. Now think of 'change initiatives' in the business world. Change has become a way of life at work. Yet, for many of us somehow, the changes never seemed to really matter or last.
Could it be that expectations are part of the problem? We know most people live either in the past or in the future, hoping to dodge the responsibilities, opportunities, limits, and demands of the present moment.
I would like you to think of the handful of people you may know who had been through real change. Not a small adjustment that might have felt big at the time, but the real thing - dramatic, life-changing, to-the-core stuff. Probably in every case that you can think of, the person affected had grown significantly, especially in wisdom, tolerance, relational maturity, impact, and overall life effectiveness.
Constructive, real change made people BOTH stronger AND more loving. It helped them become better, healthier, more relational human beings. They moved forward in life with more confidence, peace, and a profound sense of purpose.
Perhaps it is time to redefine your dream. Not of what you'll do ...but of who you'll become.Remembered that famous question from your childhood: what are you going to be when you grow up? No one ever asked us who we would be when we grew up.
As an adult, the first question strangers usually asked us was, what do you do? I wondered why. Maybe it has to do with the need for visible success, and how we define it. This makes sense because almost everyone in business defines success by the balance sheet.Success is neither good nor bad. Success is neutral. How we define it leads us to goodness or deceit.
If the what precedes the who, we will more likely connect to a misguided personal meaning of success. Most often, it'll be tied to position and money.Don't misunderstand, there's nothing wrong with money or position. It's just a question of whether they are our means or our end. If they become our desired end, we will have most likely developed a subtle, but powerful addiction. This is not intentional; addictions are not deliberately created. But intentional or not, the results are the same. Most addictions become increasingly hard to support.
In the case of addiction to material success, we create a certain exclusive lifestyle within a certain exclusive community. If going up is seen as success, I can guarantee you that going down is seen and felt as a painful failure. We begin to need what we want, rather than want what we need. And much like the greyhound at the dog track, we will never catch the rabbit. That is, unless we are living intentionally.
Remember, no one's doomed forever in this life when they find themselves lost in this way. But it does take extraordinary courage to change directions. Addictions are always painful to abandon. The cure itself is always a challenge, and might seem more painful than the problem, but that's an illusion which reveals itself in time when everything starts to unravel in the world of relationships. It takes a disciplined mind to give up anything. There's a tremendous resistance that we must break through to move forward.
Think of the immense energy and momentum that it takes to launch a space shuttle and the resistance it met as it tried to leave, and then reenter Earth's atmosphere.It takes a strong person to define success by who (vs. what) he or she wants to become. You may reflect on the very few people you have known who had taken this road. Perhaps you know someone who had walked away from enormous financial gain to follow their heart in other ways. I remember Dave, one of the most brilliant individuals I met, who turned down lucrative offers from top law firms to join the navy in order to use his incredible mind to serve his country.
Work is only an arena where you can bring the who to life. Where you are is not nearly as significant as who you are. Life on the surface doesn't need a lot of documentation, it is when we take the time to dive deep we discover who we are.
The concept taken from…John G. Blumberg, in Silent Alarm
Perhaps it is time to redefine your dream. Not of what you'll do ...but of who you'll become.
Meditation on redefining your dream of who you will become
Using the Awareness of Your Breath
Sit or lay in a comfortable position. Have your journal and pen nearby so that it is easy to reach once you have finished. It is important that you do not fall asleep, but that you are relaxed. Have the intention that this meditative experience will help you redefine your dream of who you will become.
Close your eyes and begin to take deep, slow breaths. Inhale for a count of seven, hold your breath for a count of three, and then exhale for a count of seven. Do not force air from your lungs; allow it to gently leave you. Each in breath brings you to a deeper state of relaxation, each time to exhale you are letting go of all cares, thoughts, and concerns. In this space of time allow your body and mind to fully relax, your energy to expand knowing that you are perfectly safe…supported…and peaceful. If you hear any noise, it will not disturb you. In fact, it will help you to intensify this experience.
Anytime you feel yourself slipping from this state of relaxation, just take a slow, deep, inhaling breath and as you release it, mentally repeat the word “relax” and you will move back into a deep, abiding state of perfect peace.
Whatever thoughts you might have, allow them to drift past you as your mind empties of its chatter and relaxes even more. Do not resist anything. Acknowledge it and release it, allowing it to float away as you move into a deeper, more peaceful state of being…Nothing outside of how you feel right this moment even exists. You are at the deepest, most relaxed state of body and mind that you have ever experienced. You are totally relaxed… your heart rate, blood pressure, and number of breaths have been reduced significantly, leaving your body in a very relaxed state of perfect health and harmony.
Your breath is your lifeline to your physical body and connection to Spirit. Begin to visualize your breath coming in the top of your head and then out of your heart. Do this several times until it feels natural. Then breathe in through the middle of your forehead, which is called your Third Eye, bringing your breath down through your heart and out of the palms of your hands until this pattern feels natural.
Now breathe through the bottoms of both feet, allowing this breath of life to course through every cell in your entire body and out the top of your head. Take note of how you feel. Notice what you are feeling and what thoughts and emotions are coming up for you as you continue to breathe in this pattern.
Shift your attention from your breath and allow yourself to fully experience that you are traveling on a path that is loving and comfortable… Allow yourself to be fully aware of all your senses as you continue your journey… What do you see? Feel the weather on your face as you are walking. Do you feel a slight breeze, the warmth of the sun; what are you feeling and smelling as you continue your journey? Take in all the information about your journey, what all your senses see, feel, touch, and taste.
Ahead you see a door. Notice where it is and what it looks like, what it is made of. As you walk towards the door, you may feel as if this door is familiar, as if you have been here before. You feel perfectly safe and relaxed. How large is the door? Describe the door in your mind’s eye…Is it open or closed? Touch it. What does the door feel like? You know in all your being that the question you have and how it applies in your life of will be clearer for you once you choose to see what is on the other side of the door. In order to do this, the door must be open and you must step through. Are you ready? Open to your highest and greatest good and step through….allow your mind’s eye to focus as you look around. What do you see? Is there someone there for you? … Feel yourself in the presence of a Being of Light and Love. In your mind’s eye there is someone stepping forward to guide you through your time here. You are open to this experience. Remember in detail how he or she is dressed and anything else that might help you to recognize them in the future.
Your guide motions you to follow and takes you into a space in a clearing. Many other beings are there emanating a great sense of peace and love that you intimately remember. They have taken their place with you to assist you with quick and easy processing of your question. You tell them that you wish their help to redefine your dream of who you will become; ask them for guidance. They encircle you radiating loving energy to you and ask that you understand about loving and showing love in every aspect of your mind, body and spirit. You look at each aspect of your thoughts and experience thus far, accepting, loving, healing and integrating all of this “knowing” into you. You have some time in silence to experience this work (allow about two minutes to pass) When the process is complete, thank all who are there for the assistance they have given you. Now take a deep, cleansing breath and exhale …you will find yourself back at the doorway. Your guide is no longer there; however, you know that you can come back here at any time. You remember everything. You are expanded, full of wisdom, and ready to return and write in your journal about your experience.
Take a deep breathe and allow yourself to feel where you are sitting or lying. Feel your connection to this space and how your body feels in the present. Keeping your eyes closed, stretch your body slowly, then move your toes, fingers, and stretch out your arms and legs. When you are ready, slowly open your eyes. Immediately pick up your pen and begin to write in your journal while it is all fresh in your mind.
Honor yourself for your work….Redefining who you will be and not what you do gives space for deeper connections and possibilities. See you here next week.
Love and Blessings,
Mari
Contact for Jim Spivey: Revolution Consulting2219 McDuffieHouston, TX 77019(713) 854-4848www.revolutionconsulting.com
"helping people come ALIVE, and thrive,in their personal and business relationships"
If you would like to listen to an interview with Mari with Bronwen Stein in Australia follow this link: http://www.reiki.net.au/copy.asp?id=PodcastMariH
