Oil Spill In the Gulf - Finding a Silver Lining in the Midst of the Challenge
The news has been awash with reports of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the devastating impact this may have on the environment and economy in that region. My heart goes out to everyone impacted by this situation.
For the past fifteen years I have been practicing the art of paying close attention to external events that I find to be disturbing. I used to be in the habit of falling into the trap of channelling my disturbance through activities such as complaining, criticizing, judging harshly, blaming, claiming victimhood and demanding that someone else do something to fix the problem that I was disturbing me. As I observe the media reaction to the current situation in the Gulf I am reminded oif how fruitless this kind of reaction has been in my experience.
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In the mid nineties it became apparent to me that anything occurring outside of me that I find disturbing in any way, is a perfect reflection of a challenge that resides with in me. If I project my disturbance on others, I intensify the challenge both with in and outside of me. On the other hand, if I closely examine the source of external disturbance and inquire within myself how this may reflect a challenge that resides with in me that I am not aware of, I can shift my creative energy from a life-negating projection on someone or something else, to a powerful, life affirming choice to turn my creative focus inward and solve the source of disturbance and challenge that resides in me.
I have been rigorously testing this hypothesis for years now and as of this day, I have not found one external source of disturbance that did not prove itself to be a perfect reflection of a change that had to occur within me. I am so in awe of this that I have made a commitment to myself to invest the rest of my days in testing this idea to see if I can find an exception.
Let me illustrate how this game works by applying the oil challenge currently occurring in the Gulf of Mexico.
When I first heard the news of this occurrence I reacted with an explosion of critical thoughts, I couldn’t belief how stupid people could be to have created a situation like this, I then started feeling sorry for all the people and wildlife this would impact. Then I got caught up in being angry with the way the media was covering this event…and on and on…
The fascinating thing is that as my reactivity raged on, projecting negativity all around me, another dimension of myself sat quietly and patiently, without one bit of judgement. It patiently observed without needing to judge, fix or change anything. My attention shifted from my reactive angst to the unusual peace that resided in this observer self.
As the unproductive chatter in my mind and emotional field began to settle, I heard myself pose the question, “How is this seeming disaster a perfect reflection of what is going on within me right now? As always, this question stopped me in my tracks and I began to playfully explore this within. Here is what surfaced for me.
From what I have heard reported, the source of the oil leak is nearly one mile beneath the surface of the ocean. Large bodies of water have always served as a metaphor for my subconscious mind, so given that this challenge is occurring this deep in the ocean, I suspect that the challenge it reflects within me is also deeply subconscious.
The cause of the leak is not yet known. This challenge has also never been encountered before. This points to the fact that the inner work I have ahead of me will be challenging and will require an expansion and deepening of my conscious awareness to heal myself and find new creative possibilities to sustain my healing.
The greatest concern that continues to be reported is the near and long-term impact this will have on the ecosystem, wildlife, people and economy in this region. This shows that within me I am generating something from deep within my subconscious mind that is continuously spewing out into my ecosystem (my mind, emotional field, and physical body) and it is threatening the health and well being of my thoughts, feelings, spoken words, actions, relationships, financial success and attracting undesired circumstances into my life.
Then I began to sit quietly, focus my attention in the moment and observe to see if I could find anything that may be flowing from my subconscious mind that could be having the same impact on my ecosystem within that the oil in the gulf may have on that regional ecosystem. As always, what revealed itself amazed me.
I became more consciously aware of a deeply subconscious, relentless stream of negative self talk that had a sole purpose of tearing me down, painting and feeding an image of myself as a small, impotent, worthless being only capable of creating screw ups. Then over the next few weeks I began to more closely and sensitively notice the impact this stream of negative self talk was having on my inner ecosystem. What I noticed humbled me. After nearly 28 years of actively expanding my conscious awareness I had encountered yet another deeply subconscious limiting belief that was feeding this stream of reactive thought that was as poisonous to my system as the oil is to the Gulf of Mexico’s ecosystem.
My challenge is to determine how I intend to disable the subconscious source that is spewing these limiting thoughts into my ecosystem and begin replacing them with the powerful, inspiring, life-giving intentions and thoughts that a creatively magnificent being is designed to think, create and enjoy.
Once again the external source of disturbance I initially experienced with this Gulf incident, redirected me within to locate the actual source of disturbance that resided one mile beneath the surface of my subconscious mind, where my real work resides right now. As I have begun my work I have found the cause of this subconscious stream of poisonous thinking and negative self talk and I am more aware than ever of what to do about it.
Given the work I am doing on my self, I am also noticing that the disturbance I was projecting early on has now transformed into a very different energy. I am now finding that I have incredible compassion for every one and every thing being impacted by what is occurring in the Gulf. Because of the creative challenge I am facing on the inner dimension, I have greater empathy for the leaders and engineers trying to come up with a solution for capping the leak. As I witness the subtle but profound impact that my stream of negative, life-negating self talk is having on my life and well being, I have greater compassion for the impact this oil leak is having on the people and wildlife in the Gulf. As a result, cleaning up my own mess within me changes the energy I am sending to the Gulf area from negativity, judgement, criticism, and hopelessness to empathy, compassion, love, and the possibility of finding something of great value in the face of a tremendous challenge.
I am grateful for this situation, for without it I would still be spewing limitless amounts of poison into my human system while remaining oblivious to it. This situation has blessed me by providing a silver lining in the for of a wake up call that is already enriching my life right here amidst the challenge.
If you want to learn more about finding silver linings in the middle of the challenges you face each day, go to http://howtofindasilverliningineverydarkcloud.com/
Jim M Anderson
Samurai of Self-Development
Insights Worth Reflecting Upon
A client of mine sent me a sheet filled with small, life transforming commitments that moved me to tears. I hope you are able to enjoy and appreciate them in your own unique and inspiring way. Many thanks to Michael Dalton Johnson, the creator of this piece.
Make Small Commitments. Get Big Changes.
Compiled by Michael Dalton Johnson
Taking Care of You:
Drink plenty of water.
Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.
Eat more fruits and vegetables and eat less that is manufactured in processing plants.
Avoid eating food that is handed to you through a window.
Live the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.
Play more games.
Read more books than you did in 2009.
Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
Sleep for 7 hours.
Take a 10-30 minute walk daily. And while you walk, smile.
Your Outlook:
Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
Don’t have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
Don’t overdo. Keep your limits.
Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
Dream more while you are awake.
Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind others of their past mistakes.
Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
Learn a new word every day.
Smile and laugh more.
You don’t have to win every argument.
Your Relationships:
Call your family often.
Each day give something good to others.
Forgive everyone for everything.
Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
Try to make at least three people smile each day.
What other people think of you is none of your business.
Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
Your Life:
The worst promise you can break is one made to yourself.
Do the right thing!
Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.
However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
The best is yet to come.
When you awake alive in the morning, thank God for it.
Your Innermost Self is always happy. Follow it.
No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
Notes:
Keep these rules handy and review them often. Follow them and small, almost imperceptible, changes will accumulate into something big. Your life will change.
Enjoy the balance of your day!
Jim M Anderson
Samurai of Self-Development
Is suffering real or a figment of a limited mind?
I used to think that suffering was a fact of life that all human beings were cursed with from birth. As a result of my work with my mentors Peter and Ann over the years my perspective has radically changed. My life’s experience has led me to conclude that challenges and misfortunes that result in suffering are actually divine gifts of awareness in disguise. The difficulties that result in suffering do not randomly happen to me thus causing me to suffer. They’re actually attracted to me as a result of a limited self-image and accompanying disturbed state of mind that I have unconsciously allowed to roar out of control within me. When I grant this limited mind the authority to guide my life, my thoughts, emotions, spoken words and behaviors all carry the vibration of limitation and resistance, which I experience and erroneously identify as misfortune and suffering.
As a result of testing Peter’s ideas gradually over time, I have been awakening another awareness that dwells within me. I refer to this as my essential noticing presence. This aspect of me never experiences states of disturbance, resistance or suffering. It simply observes what is and blesses its perfection. As I become more conscious of this state of being, I am realizing that all forms of disturbance are here to awaken me to the fact that my subconscious limited self-image has again seized control of my life. Through rigorous practice I am developing the capacity to appreciate perpetrators of suffering that appear in my path because they awaken me to the disturbed subconscious state of mind I was in. The act of appreciation naturally re-centers me in my noticing presence, where no suffering exists and where I can now refocus myself on what I am creating.
The more I practice this, the more I realize that suffering is only possible when my limited self image and its accompanying disturbed state of mind are directing my thinking. When I fall into the trap of identifying with this disturbed self-image, my limited picture of myself becomes deeply disturbed and suffers, while my essential noticing presence patiently waits to see if this round of resistance will serve the purpose of waking me up. If it does, my noticing presence is grateful and if it doesn’t, my noticing presence is also grateful.
Although my life is filled with just as many challenges as ever, I find that I am gradually responding to them more and more consciously. I have recently formed a new affirmation to strengthen my newly chosen way of responding to challenges. It goes like this, “I delight in what is without exception!” I have been singing this affirmation to myself several hundred times per day. As this idea roots itself in my subconscious, I’m holding myself more and more accountable to bring it to life in the face of the challenges that arise. Magically my old “limited reaction” that resulted in suffering is giving way to a new “creative response” that I experience as gratitude. I am now concluding that suffering is one of many forms of disturbance that my limited mindset uses to keep itself fed and in control of my life. As my conscious, essential noticing presence takes its rightful place in the driver’s seat of my destiny, disturbance and suffering cease as a powerful experience of wonder, awe and appreciation replace it.
Jim M Anderson, Samurai of Self-Development
47 Year Old Unemployed Dreamer Brings Me To Tears
My wife sent me an e-mail message with a You Tube link attached and said, “Jim, check this out – it will inspire you”. I immediately clicked the link and waited in anticipation as the video uploaded on my computer.
The next thing I know I am observing a video of a very common looking, middle-aged woman being interviewed in some sort of waiting room or lobby. In the interview I am experiencing her as a plain, very simple spoken, down to earth, authentic woman.
I remember noticing a stream of doubt and negative judgment streaming through my mind, attempting to distract me as I continued to observe this interview. I was intrigued as this woman spoke. The more she answered the questions the interviewers asked the more captivated I found myself. But the doubting, negative voice in my head kept demanding that I exit the video and move on to something more productive. It harshly judged this person and doubted her capacity to inspire others.
Thankfully, through a lot of arduous work, I have developed an ability to quiet these limiting, negative, judgmental impressions that often attempt to derail me from that which I have chosen to focus my attention on. Rather than joining the chorus of doubt and negativity I simply said to this judgmental voice, hush! Let’s just watch the clip and see if it inspires.
This heckling presence in my head quieted itself in disgust as I commanded my mind to pay closer attention to the interview that was unfolding.
What happened next amazed me, lifted me up, enlivened me, caused my heart to overflow with the energy of unlimited possibility, transformed my mood, and brought me to tears.
It turns out that this normal looking woman being interviewed on the video was Susan Boyle who lives a quiet life at home in Blackburn, West Lothian, England with her cat, Pebbles. She’s a contestant on the 2009 television show called Britain’s Got Talent. Susan is a 47 year old, unemployed dreamer who entered this competition as a way of fanning the flames of a vision she has been feeding since she first began singing at the age of twelve.
Suddenly the interview moved from the pre-contest setting of the hotel lobby to the big stage of the actual competition. Now Susan was standing in the center of a huge stage, set in a large theatre, filled to its capacity with energized onlookers. Seated in the very front row in an elevated section sat the show’s three, well known and sometimes controversial judges, Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, and Piers Morgan.
Simon began to ask a few questions to give the audience a sense of the contestant before she performed. He asked the usual what is your name and where are you from questions. When Simon asked her how old she was, Susan said 47 and the audience gasped while Simon rolled his eyes.
Then he asked Susan, “What is your dream?” Without pause she boldly proclaimed, “My dream is to be a professional singer!”
With that response the camera began to pan the judges and audience for their response. I saw people smirk, roll their eyes, and nonverbally shout “yeah right!” The same doubt-filled, heckling voice that had invaded my awareness a few moments earlier was now raising a ruckus in the minds of everyone in that auditorium. I noticed myself wanting to join them. Once again I attempted to command my inner cynic to be quiet. I have to admit that at this point I was not completely successful. The cynical voice in my head was no longer willing to wait for Susan’s performance to let the facts determine her vocal quality and capacity to inspire. It demanded that I prejudge and doubt.
Simon continued, “Why hasn’t the dream worked out so far Susan?” She replied, “I’ve never been given the chance before, but here’s to hoping that this will change that.”
Simon followed up with, “Who would you like to be as successful as?” To which Susan replied, “I want to be as famous as Elaine Paige.” The audience literally laughed aloud at that one!
Finally Susan announced to the judges that she would be singing the song, I Dream The Dream From Les Miserables.
Now, the moment Susan had rehearsed in her heart, in her mind, in the shower, and in front of her bathroom mirror thousands of times over the past half a century was dawning in her actual experience. The camera panned backstage where they queued the music. The audience held it’s breath, expecting a total flop but quietly hoping it would not be too embarrassing.
The music began to play. Susan then gracefully and confidently held the hairbrush, I mean microphone up to her lips and began to sing. Eight simple but powerful words into her song, the hecklers were silenced, doubters became believers, nervousness gave way to awe, limitation was lifted, hearts were moved, and enthused support filled the concert hall. I felt as if I had been transported from my kitchen stool in front of this You Tube video right into the music hall. I sat there along with the judges and the rest of the audience completely mesmerized by Susan Boyle and her splendid performance. Tears of admiration and appreciation welled up in my heart and began to flow down my face as I allowed myself to be inspirited and transformed by this beautiful, 47-year old unemployed dreamer.
Susan had a dream. She dared to picture herself as a successful singer. She persisted in nurturing this picture of herself no matter how many people rained on her parade. Even though the opportunity had not presented itself in nearly four decades of dreaming, she playfully and patiently kept singing in the privacy of her own home or for anyone who would listen. All the while, Susan imagined herself performing on enormous stages and delighting huge audiences.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Britain’s Got Talent offers her an opportunity to share her unique gift with the world. When this opportunity knocked, Susan Boyle boldly stepped forward and answered the call by accepting the challenge. She put her hat in the ring and dared to sing. And sing she did! As of this writing over four million people have experienced this performance on You Tube. Many of them, like me have been forever changed by her performance.
Susan Boyle has reminded me just how powerfully and creatively magnificent we are as human beings. We truly can create whatever we can imagine. When we dare to clarify what we want, picture it in our mind’s eye, feed the picture with positive energy, infuse it with rich sensory perception, we seed our subconscious mind with a powerful imprint. When this imprint is nurtured and fed on a regular basis, it gathers strength, fuel and momentum and one day it leaves the launch pad of our minds and begins to inform our thoughts, direct our feelings, express powerfully creative words, guide our behaviors, attract opportunities… and the next thing we know… just like Susan Boyle… we find that our dreams have become our reality.
May Susan’s example inspire you to create the life of your dreams?
Jim M Anderson - Samurai of Self-Development
PS If you haven’t had a chance to view this yet, do yourself a big favor and take the time to experience it. Her is the link. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
Hard Times Hone Human Excellence
I just finished an incredible conversation with a friend of mine who is experiencing some very challenging times physically and financially. In the past two years he has suffered two severe injuries. Two years ago he shattered his pelvis in a skiing accident, which required 18 months of healing and rehab. Then four months ago a bicycling accident resulted in a severely broken hip. This required emergency surgery followed by another round of long and arduous rehab.
In addition to these physical challenges, while putting three kids through school he experienced a default on the sale his successful business that had been built over the past ten years and had to place a start-up business on hold while focusing his full attention on healing his hip. All of this during one of the toughest global economic conditions many of us has ever witnessed. I don’t know about you but in my mind I think this set of conditions qualifies as “hard times”.
Now many of you may be thinking, “wow, I bet that was a depressing visit.”
Well, I am happy to report that I left this interaction invigorated, inspired and uplifted by this courageous soul that I call my friend. Through out our entire conversation I did not hear one slight hint of misfortune, not even an inkling of despair, doom or gloom.
Quite the opposite…although we were very forthright about the reality that my friend and his family are facing, we focused our conversation on all he was learning from his set of circumstances. He excitedly shared various profound and practical insights, inspired ideas, uplifting music and compelling goals that were emerging from the challenges he faced.
This amazing guy also updated me on the progress he is making in his rehab. His strength, flexibility and range of motion had improved significantly over the past few weeks. He has retired his crutches and is now moving about gracefully with only a bit of assistance from a lightweight aluminum cane.
One of the things he was most enthused about is that he was able to resume his trips to the gym to begin working out again. During his most recent workout he successfully achieved a new personal best bench press. Not only that, but he also immediately set the bar even higher with plans to achieve a new personal best within a few months.
While I was driving home from this visit, tears of appreciation and awe began to flow down my cheeks. My friend reminded me of something that is near and dear to my heart – he reminded me that HARD TIMES HONE HUMAN EXCELLENCE!
My friend could have chosen to whine, complain, agonize over some worst case doom and gloom scenarios, worry about his seemingly insurmountable challenges, haplessly sit around hoping someone would come and save him from his circumstances. But instead, he chose to fill our interaction with positive energy and uplifting words and phrases like, learning… excitedly sharing… profound insights… inspired ideas… uplifting music… compelling goals… progress being made… improved strength, greater flexibility… expanded range of motion… successfully achieved a new personal best… immediately set the bar even higher… plans to achieve…
It takes a rare individual to embrace hard times as a perfect catalyst to hone skills, grow capability, expands capacity and increase self-confidence. My friend is one of these rare individuals. I am grateful for his presence in my life.
May the hard times you encounter inspire you to find and express your very best!
Jim M Anderson
Samurai of Self-Development
Laundromat Wisdom
I just returned from an amazing solo retreat in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This is one of my favorite national treasures here in the United States. The mountains vibrate with an ancient wisdom, the forests abound with beauty and diversity beyond measure, and abundance of fresh, flowing rivers cleanses my heart and soul every time I visit.
When I first set my intention for this restorative time in the mountains I envisioned my most profound insights occurring deep in the woods, while sitting quietly in the shade of an old tree watching a river roll by with power, grace and ease. Much to my surprise I ended up having one of my most profound revelations while sitting in a the Super Suds Laundromat on the east edge of Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
After loading my dirty laundry into the washing machine, adding the detergent, inserting the correct change and pushing the start button, I settled into a chair and entered a deep state of reflection. As I listened to the trance-inducing sound of the washing machine going through its prewash, scrubbing and rinsing cycles, it dawned on me that my solo time in the mountains had had the same effect on me.
When I first entered the mountains on Monday my mind was cluttered, conflicted, confused and racing about. Day one in the mountains was like the pre-wash cycle in the laundromat. Some rigorous hiking interspersed with some qi gong amidst the natural beauty, fresh air, and flowing rivers allowed me to mentally let go and begin to relax. It freed my mind of clutter the way the prewash cycle was loosening the crud from my clothes.
Day two acted as the scrubbing cycle. Most of the mental and emotional clutter and contradiction had been loosened up and released the first day in the woods. With my mind quiet and my emotional field calm it was time to sit still, enter the subconscious zone and do some deep scrubbing. Taking a seat in a secluded, heavily forested area along a beautiful river I was able to closely examine and clean up some old, worn-out, bullshit beliefs that have been stinking up the place. Oh how good it felt to off load this contradictory mental baggage and watch it float away on the mountain stream!
Day 3 –It’s time to rinse and reload. Now that I had successfully cleared a patch of my subconscious mind of b.s. belief and it was time to rinse it with some high altitude mountain breeze and reload it with some power-packed, inspiring intentions. For this stage of the process I chose to ascend a 6,000-foot peak of Mount Le Conte and allow my imagination to soar with the eagles. After an amazing six-mile hike to the top I found an incredible cliff overlooking miles of unobstructed rolling mountains and a clear blue sky. This provided the perfect spot to reload my subconscious mind with mental images of what I wanted to create. It was also a great place to begin carefully feeding and nurturing these seedlings of intention with laser-focused, white-hot desire. After an hour-long exercise where I filled the realm of my imagination with powerful, three-dimensional holographic images of what I intended to create, I found myself buzzing with an abundance of creative energy. I took out a note pad and began reflecting and writing about the types of thoughts, feelings, words and behaviors I would exhibit over the coming months in order to bring my intensions to life. Then I crafted a plan in enough detail to inform a set of daily actions I am taking take to support my objective.
While hiking the six-mile trail down to my base camp I began thinking about and choosing one action I would take before the sun set that evening to move my plan forward. I chose it and completed it by 5pm that afternoon. I’ve been persistently taking action each day since and the momentum is building beautifully.
Walking in nature has a way of clearing my mind, calming my emotional field, heightening my senses, and restoring my physical body in the same ways a Laundromat cleans my clothes and restores them for another round of wear. As always, I Ieft this retreat experience feeling inspired, refreshed, invigorated and ready to engage life with newfound gusto.
I hope this story inspires you to take time to retreat, restore, refuel and reinvigorate your dreams and goals. Whether you take a weeklong retreat in the mountains, a half-day reprieve in metro park, or 10 minutes of quiet time in your favorite room matters little. What matters most is that you take time to pre-wash, scrub, rinse and reload your mind on a regular basis.
Restore yourself,
Jim M Anderson
Samurai of Self-Development
PS You may be wondering, what was the powerful, three-dimensional holographic image that I held on the screen of my mind that day at the top of Mount Le Conte? Well, it just so happens that I imagined myself launching and sustaining a successful information publishing company dedicated to serving the self-development market. One of the action steps I identified that day was to create and launch my own personal blog to support this effort. With this first post I bring to life one of the images I held on the screen of my mind while standing on top of Mount Le Conte.
