Pulling Back

The other day in the grocery store a man, a few feet down the aisle, asked me what the difference was between two products.  I answered with a friendly, open response.  Next thing I know he is right beside me asking another question.  This one felt less genuine and more like an eager attempt to continue conversing with a possible ulterior motive.  He did not realize I respond to all people in the same manner, and that I had no ulterior motive.  As soon as I felt/believed there was an ulterior motive, that I was not interested in, I could feel myself pull back from sharing who I really am.

So why did I pull back?  It did not feel good.  I no longer felt comfortable sharing who I really am.  I believed he had got the wrong impression.  I did not want to encourage any misunderstandings.  Or, I felt the genuineness had left the interaction.  These could all be legitimate reasons to pull back from being who I really am (WIRA), but honestly, I don't ever want to, for any reason, be pulling back from WIRA.

So, what's the LOP point of this?  Well, I now know I have a belief/vibration about someone trying to pick me up that does not feel good to me; pulls me away from who I really am.  It probably consists of things like:  I should take all precautions to never lead people on; it is my responsibility that he does not get the wrong impression; I have to change who I am to control this situation for the both of us; I have to control this so it does not go down a road I do not want to go. 

How great is that.  Because of this encounter I was able to see some beliefs that I now know I want to evolve, because if I am pulling back from WIRA because of them in this situation, I am bettin' I am pulling back because of them in other situations as well. 

So from these realizations the question is, what beliefs/stories can I tell myself that are going to evolve that belief to being a closer match to WIRA?  Well, how about:  what other people perceive and believe are not my responsibility; honestly being WIRA is always the right answer; being confident and clear, instead of concerned and worried will inspire me to the best response in that, and all situations; he was just wanting to feel good; I do want all of my interactions to feel good and if I hadn't pulled back it might have opened up into an opportunity to experience an example of how great it can feel to operate from a place of genuineness; I want to be confident and clear and WIRA as best I can in every moment.

So, am I fixed?  Do I now know what I would have said or done differently?  Not yet.  But, those thoughts all feel better, and I am going to do a little practicing of them and just see what happens next time. 

The game of life -- what a hoot!

Let's Have A Chat

Posted to FaceBook Jan. 17th
I have often said to people that I am not a great social chit-chatter.  Not that I can't or won't do it -- I would just really rather have a heart to heart.

There is a lot of conversing that happens in a day that I would consider social chit-chat.  We discuss the weather, or our kids, or the news.  We can talk about other people's lives and what the politicians are doing and our favourite sports team.  We discuss what needs to be done today and how to do it.  These are all well and good, very safe, sometimes beneficial, just 'fine' conversations, that have a place in our lives.  But oh, they just don't measure up, for me, to when I have the opportunity to have a LOP conversation.

When I am willing to be honest, to open up, to share WIRA with someone, and they do the same with me, that is a conversing with depth and fulfilment.  It's not about agreeing, or changing minds, or being right.  It's about discovering and clarifying and broadening our understanding of each other and all that we are, and what makes our hearts sing.  It's about sharing what makes me, me and you, you.  It's about seeing the value, and appreciating the genius in us both. 

It's an investment I can make each day, free of charge (the fee is in the risk of vulnerability), with the best returns of any market -- the investment is in me and you.

A 'Professional'

Posted to FaceBook Jan 14th.
Bunker Roy speaks of the Barefoot Movement in Rajasthan, India, where an extraordinary school teaches rural women and men -- many of them illiterate -- to become solar engineers, artisans, dentists and doctors in their own villages.  

He defines a professional as, "someone who is a combination of competence, confidence, and belief."  He believes that, "knowledge and skills are relevant and universal."  You are, "certified by the people you serve.  You don't need a certificate."  And, "we have all our solutions."

As I heard him speak I could feel the resemblance to LOP in what he was saying:
-- A professional is 1/3 skill, but 2/3s knowing and trusting who I really am (WIRA). 
-- That what is relevant and important and feels good to one person, is going to be relevant and important and feel good for others. 
-- You don't need to justify yourself with a certificate.  Your success, by you being who you really are, will be 'certified' by those who resonate with what you are offering. 
-- And, that our answers are within.

Bunker Roy is witnessing the success of us remembering, believing in and expressing who we really are.  I know we can do it too.

Your Authentic Swing

The Legend of Baggar Vance
A Golf Movie About Life
Based on the book by Steven Pressfield
Directed by Robert Redford

As the caddie, Baggar, and his small assistant, Hardy, measure the course the night before the golf tournament young Hardy asks about their golfer:
Hardy:  Do you think Junah can win?

Baggar: If he can find his authentic swing.

Hardy:  Authentic . . .?

Baggar:  Yup!  Inside each and every one of us is one true authentic swing.   Something we was born with.  Something that is ours and ours alone.  Something that can't be taught to you, or learned, it's something that's got to be remembered.  Over time the world can rob us of that swing . . . (it) can get buried inside us under all our would'ves and could'ves and should'ves.  Some folk even forget what their swing was like.

(Hardy runs out of balls to putt.)
Baggar:  Keep swinging.

Hardy:  But I don't have any balls.

Baggar:  Don't worry about hitting the ball or where it's going to go, just swing the club, feel the club.  Close your eyes.  You can't make that ball go in, you have to let it.

LOP is going beyond my would'ves and could'ves and should'ves. I cannot make myself LOP, I have to let me.

Do I Want to Be Right Or Happy?

There is the well known question, "Do I want to be right, or do I want to happy?  (We could also replace the word happy with free, loving, abundant, joy filled, healthy, or successful.)  You have probably seen yourself, and others, have moments where we defend something to the exclusion of our own well-being, which seems to be a real testament to the importance, for many of us, to be right.

An on-going theme in my posts the last couple weeks, has been about the base belief, or core vibration, that we may have about us being wrong.  I am thinking that the, 'do I want to be right or happy', question is pointing at this same belief.  Wouldn't I only feel it is necessary to defend my rightness, if I was already judging myself as being wrong?  Wouldn't I be less willing to sacrifice my happiness, joy, love, freedom, health, relationships, abundance, or work for something that already is, unless of course, I believed it was not? 

Perhaps it is only those moments, when I operate from the knowing of the rightness/justifiedness/worthiness of who I really am (WIRA), that I will be ready to make being happy more important than being right.  LOP is believing that there is enough room in this world for all of us to be right -- to be Who We Really Are.

The 'Best' is Always There

Posted On FaceBook Jan. 10th
Here is the quote of the day from where I workout.  "Things turn out best for those who make the best out of how things turn out."  John Wooden.

I don't know what Mr. Wooden was meaning by it, but I can interpret this two ways:
#1.  Stuff is going to happen and you just have to make the best of it.  You might even have to suffer through some of it, and you really have no control or influence.
#2.  Our worlds are constantly moving and shifting as we are all participating in the creation of it.  And there are millions of perspectives about all of it, and I always have the freedom to interpret it how I want.  I can see it through the eyes of Who I Really Am (WIRA) which feels good, or I can resist it, which feels not so good.  As I get better and better at interpreting our creations how WIRA does, the better I will feel.  The better I feel, the more easily I will notice, choose, attract, be a part of those things that feel even better.

When I LOP I know that the 'best' already exists, and We are just waitin' on me.

Crossroads Greeters

Posted on FaceBook Jan. 9
The route I take to go for my workouts passes a senior's facility.  As I drive home there is often a gentleman at the corner, sitting on his walker, waving at the people who pass through the four way stop -- a momentary captive audience. 

He is there more times than not as I am driving home, which makes it seem like he is there quite a bit.  It is as though he has made it his job to be the greeter of this intersection.  His duty: to increase the joy, and connection in humanity, at the crossroads of  X and Y.  I find him to be heartwarming and give a wave back.

I guess we could all choose to have a similar job.  Our crossroads, instead of being one intersection, would just float with us as we move through the day -- with our children at the breakfast table; with our co-workers in a meeting; with the gas attendant at the service station; with the person on the phone.

Does this gentleman do this because he is paid?  I don't think so.  I am guessing he does it because it feels good.  Maybe it could for us too?