A whole new wing
What a wonderful new world I'm living in today!
And I hardly know where to begin. :-)
In August I was in CTI's Fulfillment course, the second course in their life coaching curriculum. We were paired up for a coaching exercise, and when it was my turn to be the client, I was asked to name a bold future to live into. What came into mind was being a Wisdom Course leader, and I spoke those words. Boy, have I learned the power of a simple declaration!
What inspires me about taking this on is my experience both as a participant in the course, which I completed in 2003, and as a YODA (Your Own Devoted Angel, a sort of coach) for the course this year. Being in the course completely altered the course of my life, and I'm finding that assisting in the course this year is doing the same, perhaps even more profoundly. Sitting in the course as a participant three years ago, I found myself looking out the window of the Seattle hotel ballroom we were in, noticing the traffic on the freeway slowly moving by. The thought that occurred to me was that humanity is a sleeping giant, that we are mostly going about our lives on auto-pilot, asleep to the full potential that we have as human beings. This year as a YODA, I declared that I wanted to be known as someone committed to waking that sleeping giant.
The natural action to take was to speak to a current Wisdom Course leader in training, and I did so the following week. And a week after that conversation, I registered in Landmark Education's Introduction Leaders Program. This seven month intensive program is designed to train the course participants in how to introduce people to Landmark's programs, and it's the first step for people interested in leading seminars and other courses for the company. But it's about far more than teaching us how to pass on information; it's really about developing our capacities to communicate effectively, to listen to others, to get into their world, and to assist them in creating new possibilities for their lives that didn't previously exist. An introduction to the Landmark Forum isn't just about finding out what the course is about. Rather, it's designed to give participants value they can leave with and an experience of what participating in Landmark's courses is like.
So, just two week's after speaking the words, "I want to be a Wisdom Course Leader," I was sitting in a chair as the first of the Introduction Leader Program's four weekends began. In the room with me were 200 other participants from Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. As we each proceeded to the stage to briefly introduce ourselves, I found myself judging people; in particular, noticing and being frustrated by the participants who introduced themselves more effectively and eloquently than I. And then I saw what a jerk I was: these people were committed to the same thing as me... these people also wanted to wake the sleeping giant. Did I think I was going to do that alone? These people were my partners!
THIS PAST WEEKEND I completed my third CTI coaching course, Balance. The class developed our ability to assist clients who felt stuck in some areas of their lives. We learned techniques for having them look at those areas from additional perspectives and to then to choose a perspective from which they could take more resonate actions. A key and sometimes confronting step in this process is realizing that one's current view of how things are isn't reality itself, isn't truth, but rather is just one among many perspectives.
The twenty-four participants in the course were amazing. Some of them had been in my previous courses; some were new to me. As a group, working in conjunction with two awesome leaders and three great assistants, we created a powerful space for really exploring what's possible for people. We were--we are--twenty-nine people who are going to change the world, one person at a time.
One of my friends in the course had a breakthrough experience on Saturday. We were doing a paired coaching exercise, and when it ended, I realized that something had fundamentally shifted for her. She got a life-altering view into her world; she got that her reality is just a perspective. And she got that she is responsible for her life. The only place I have ever seen that happen for someone is in the Landmark Forum; that three-day program is designed to provide this sort of breakthrough for the participants. At the next break, I took my friend aside and talked to her, giving her a chance to really get rooted in this new wide open world that she had discovered.
THE COURSE ENDED SUNDAY EVENING, and I headed back to San Francisco. I went to the gym, and while working out I reflected on some of my recent experiences in the Wisdom course, in the Introduction Leaders Program, and in my coaching classes. The passion and commitment that people bring to these programs is incredible, and I felt strongly that this was the life I wanted for myself: committed to being my best, to stepping into all that I can be, to saying "no" to business as usual and to playing small. I began to wonder how I'd integrate all of this with the life I already had; I began to worry that it wasn't possible.
And then what I had just learned in Balance came to mind: thinking that it would be difficult to integrate the old and the new was only a perspective, and there were other places I could stand. And I stepped over and took the view that my life was expanding, not remaining the same size, and that there was room for all.
I moved to another machine, and then something began to quake in my world. A little over a month ago, a friend of mine chose to give up drinking for 30 days. At the end of the month, he sent out a note to tell us that he was enjoying re-connecting with activities that he had not enjoyed for some time, things that had been neglected while he had been carousing with us at bars. I was most touched by his description of the simple pleasure of preparing meals for himself.
And he chose to take on another 30 days of not drinking.
There in the gym I found myself thinking about doing the same: abstaining from drinking for a month. But it wasn't occurring for me as a thought or a good idea. Rather, I had the sense of the universe pulling me toward that action, of something powerful calling on me to take this step. I was reminded of something Landmark promises: that new openings for action will powerfully call me into action. And that was my experience... that deep within me my true self was saying, "Do this."
I found myself in a monologue about when to begin. This coming weekend is my first free weekend in several weeks, and afterwards I am in class the following four weekends. This weekend is also Folsom Street Fair, my favorite weekend in San Francisco, a weekend of fun and parties. The smart thing to do would be to start my 30 days on Monday the 25th. But I could feel in my bones that there was no truth in that. What felt true to myself was starting now.
The whole experience was somewhat frightening. I was scared because I suddenly found myself staring into the unknown. I could sense that my life was changing... no, that my life was growing. And yet it wasn't my life that was growing. It was me. The metaphor that came to mind was that I was a house, and in this moment I had found and opened a door. Behind the door was a whole new wing to the house... it was as if I had found that my whole life had been lived inside only half of who I am. The last three years have been ones of amazing breakthroughs and growth, but they took place in the rooms that I already lived in, in the life that I already inhabited. What was happening now was opening a wholly new, wholly unexplored world. And I was scared.
I left the gym and tried to reach my mother. I want my mommy! I called three other special friends who I thought could understand my experience. All I got was answering machines. I think I must have had the look of a man who had just walked out of the desert, wide-eyed and a little crazy.
An hour later, I spoke to Mom and my friends Romaine and Siobhan, and all three conversations grounded me and clarified what I was experiencing. To all of you, Thank You.
Next year I am taking a Landmark course called Partnership Explorations. One of the inquiries the participants take on is, "What if the fundamental thing that determines who we are is not something in ourselves but rather a function of the relationships that we are in?" In speaking to my mother, I began to see something in that. What if the breakthroughs I had in the course I took in Costa Rica were a result of being embedded for a week in conversations with the others in the course? What if I showed up as a leader because that was what was being called forth from me by my fellow travelers? What if I can re-create who I am by expanding the circle of people that I speak to?
Wow. I'm reminded of a perspective that we tried on in CTI's Balance course: the world is a banquet of unending possibilities.
TODAY IS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH. The world is wide open today. I have a whole new wing of myself to explore...
And I hardly know where to begin. :-)
In August I was in CTI's Fulfillment course, the second course in their life coaching curriculum. We were paired up for a coaching exercise, and when it was my turn to be the client, I was asked to name a bold future to live into. What came into mind was being a Wisdom Course leader, and I spoke those words. Boy, have I learned the power of a simple declaration!
What inspires me about taking this on is my experience both as a participant in the course, which I completed in 2003, and as a YODA (Your Own Devoted Angel, a sort of coach) for the course this year. Being in the course completely altered the course of my life, and I'm finding that assisting in the course this year is doing the same, perhaps even more profoundly. Sitting in the course as a participant three years ago, I found myself looking out the window of the Seattle hotel ballroom we were in, noticing the traffic on the freeway slowly moving by. The thought that occurred to me was that humanity is a sleeping giant, that we are mostly going about our lives on auto-pilot, asleep to the full potential that we have as human beings. This year as a YODA, I declared that I wanted to be known as someone committed to waking that sleeping giant.
The natural action to take was to speak to a current Wisdom Course leader in training, and I did so the following week. And a week after that conversation, I registered in Landmark Education's Introduction Leaders Program. This seven month intensive program is designed to train the course participants in how to introduce people to Landmark's programs, and it's the first step for people interested in leading seminars and other courses for the company. But it's about far more than teaching us how to pass on information; it's really about developing our capacities to communicate effectively, to listen to others, to get into their world, and to assist them in creating new possibilities for their lives that didn't previously exist. An introduction to the Landmark Forum isn't just about finding out what the course is about. Rather, it's designed to give participants value they can leave with and an experience of what participating in Landmark's courses is like.
So, just two week's after speaking the words, "I want to be a Wisdom Course Leader," I was sitting in a chair as the first of the Introduction Leader Program's four weekends began. In the room with me were 200 other participants from Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. As we each proceeded to the stage to briefly introduce ourselves, I found myself judging people; in particular, noticing and being frustrated by the participants who introduced themselves more effectively and eloquently than I. And then I saw what a jerk I was: these people were committed to the same thing as me... these people also wanted to wake the sleeping giant. Did I think I was going to do that alone? These people were my partners!
THIS PAST WEEKEND I completed my third CTI coaching course, Balance. The class developed our ability to assist clients who felt stuck in some areas of their lives. We learned techniques for having them look at those areas from additional perspectives and to then to choose a perspective from which they could take more resonate actions. A key and sometimes confronting step in this process is realizing that one's current view of how things are isn't reality itself, isn't truth, but rather is just one among many perspectives.
The twenty-four participants in the course were amazing. Some of them had been in my previous courses; some were new to me. As a group, working in conjunction with two awesome leaders and three great assistants, we created a powerful space for really exploring what's possible for people. We were--we are--twenty-nine people who are going to change the world, one person at a time.
One of my friends in the course had a breakthrough experience on Saturday. We were doing a paired coaching exercise, and when it ended, I realized that something had fundamentally shifted for her. She got a life-altering view into her world; she got that her reality is just a perspective. And she got that she is responsible for her life. The only place I have ever seen that happen for someone is in the Landmark Forum; that three-day program is designed to provide this sort of breakthrough for the participants. At the next break, I took my friend aside and talked to her, giving her a chance to really get rooted in this new wide open world that she had discovered.
THE COURSE ENDED SUNDAY EVENING, and I headed back to San Francisco. I went to the gym, and while working out I reflected on some of my recent experiences in the Wisdom course, in the Introduction Leaders Program, and in my coaching classes. The passion and commitment that people bring to these programs is incredible, and I felt strongly that this was the life I wanted for myself: committed to being my best, to stepping into all that I can be, to saying "no" to business as usual and to playing small. I began to wonder how I'd integrate all of this with the life I already had; I began to worry that it wasn't possible.
And then what I had just learned in Balance came to mind: thinking that it would be difficult to integrate the old and the new was only a perspective, and there were other places I could stand. And I stepped over and took the view that my life was expanding, not remaining the same size, and that there was room for all.
I moved to another machine, and then something began to quake in my world. A little over a month ago, a friend of mine chose to give up drinking for 30 days. At the end of the month, he sent out a note to tell us that he was enjoying re-connecting with activities that he had not enjoyed for some time, things that had been neglected while he had been carousing with us at bars. I was most touched by his description of the simple pleasure of preparing meals for himself.
And he chose to take on another 30 days of not drinking.
There in the gym I found myself thinking about doing the same: abstaining from drinking for a month. But it wasn't occurring for me as a thought or a good idea. Rather, I had the sense of the universe pulling me toward that action, of something powerful calling on me to take this step. I was reminded of something Landmark promises: that new openings for action will powerfully call me into action. And that was my experience... that deep within me my true self was saying, "Do this."
I found myself in a monologue about when to begin. This coming weekend is my first free weekend in several weeks, and afterwards I am in class the following four weekends. This weekend is also Folsom Street Fair, my favorite weekend in San Francisco, a weekend of fun and parties. The smart thing to do would be to start my 30 days on Monday the 25th. But I could feel in my bones that there was no truth in that. What felt true to myself was starting now.
The whole experience was somewhat frightening. I was scared because I suddenly found myself staring into the unknown. I could sense that my life was changing... no, that my life was growing. And yet it wasn't my life that was growing. It was me. The metaphor that came to mind was that I was a house, and in this moment I had found and opened a door. Behind the door was a whole new wing to the house... it was as if I had found that my whole life had been lived inside only half of who I am. The last three years have been ones of amazing breakthroughs and growth, but they took place in the rooms that I already lived in, in the life that I already inhabited. What was happening now was opening a wholly new, wholly unexplored world. And I was scared.
I left the gym and tried to reach my mother. I want my mommy! I called three other special friends who I thought could understand my experience. All I got was answering machines. I think I must have had the look of a man who had just walked out of the desert, wide-eyed and a little crazy.
An hour later, I spoke to Mom and my friends Romaine and Siobhan, and all three conversations grounded me and clarified what I was experiencing. To all of you, Thank You.
Next year I am taking a Landmark course called Partnership Explorations. One of the inquiries the participants take on is, "What if the fundamental thing that determines who we are is not something in ourselves but rather a function of the relationships that we are in?" In speaking to my mother, I began to see something in that. What if the breakthroughs I had in the course I took in Costa Rica were a result of being embedded for a week in conversations with the others in the course? What if I showed up as a leader because that was what was being called forth from me by my fellow travelers? What if I can re-create who I am by expanding the circle of people that I speak to?
Wow. I'm reminded of a perspective that we tried on in CTI's Balance course: the world is a banquet of unending possibilities.
TODAY IS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH. The world is wide open today. I have a whole new wing of myself to explore...
And this day begins my 30 day break from alcohol and any substitutes that may present themselves.Namaste!
Labels: being human, m
posted by michael at 9:26 AM
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