A MORNING LIKE EVERY OTHER BUT SOMEHOW DIFFERENT
i woke up this morning, like i have every other morning, but today something was different. my eyes opened like usual, i sat to meditate like usual, i offered my prayers of gratitude as usual, i listened to my guided meditation as usual, but something felt somehow different. a shift happened allowing me to see for the very briefest of moments not what i have been looking at but what was behind what i had been looking at. i saw differently.
it felt so good to see life from a different perspective, and then in a moment, it was gone. someone walked into the room and the strength of the stories we share together, pulled the carpet of the new something i was feeling that was different out from right under my feet, and i was back immersed in the same old thing i had always seen. stories of pain and suffering and of trying to help someone find their place in the world and know themselves again when it was none of my business to do so. how quickly the glimpse reality of what i saw changed. and yet, how ever fleeting that memory is, it lingers with me. i know that just behind what i see, something else exists. how thrilling.
these last few weeks, i am looking at the stories i repeat over and over in my head, in my language i use to tell those stories and in the memorisation of stories that i repeat word for word from a seeming script that i never even realised i had written.
STORIES THAT HOLD ME BACK AND LIMIT MY ABILITY TO SEE DIFFERENTLY
like an autistic child, i just keep repeating these stories as a way to communicate to a world i feel uncomfortable in. my stories fill the space of my emptiness, my words infiltrate the beliefs that continuously play like a scratched vinyl record going deeper and deeper into me, until i start to believe their stories, even though i know they are not true.
some of my script points read like this:
- i can help you
- when i look out at the world i see, i see a world that is separate and in constant argumentation with each other.
- i see silos of like minded people, reinforcing what each other believe and alienating and attacking those who believe differently from them
- everything that i love has and will be taken from me
- i am uninterested in living in a world where people behaves the way they are currently behaving
- i have the honour and blessing of having a developmentally delayed daughter
- i am a monk
- i am so tired of people trying to sell me their services and telling me how great they used to be
- i fell into a pothole and no longer realize how beautiful the road behind me and in front of me is
- offering what i am to the world is just an act of prostitution
- that i have any right at all to tell someone what to do or help them be better
- and the list goes on and on
i woke up today and remembered who i am behind the stories that i tell you and myself. i woke up today and saw a person not in alignment with what i really believe.
i never made up my mind to believe differently than what i believe, but rather small, almost imperceivable shifts of thoughts over time became huge divides between who i am and what i believe. i was out of alignment with myself. here is one very simple example. i started to believe that the world was not a beautiful world, i started to see all the discord and fighting, all of which exists, but it blocked me from remembering the simplicity of this beautiful song and this beautiful world i live in.
THE REALITY I REALLY SEE BUT FORGOT I SEE
THE MOSAIC PODCAST
one of the reasons i love having The Mosaic Podcast is because it allows me to see the world i see differently. i get to meet and speak with people who surprise me every single day. lorna davis was one of these people. i discovered her trough her Ted Talk. she ran a major corporation and was responsible for bringing the oreo to china. when first introduced, the chinese people did not like it. they didn’t respond the way the rest of the world responded and she was given the job of finding out why. when she listened to what the chinese were saying, she realized they needed to change the filling from the standard vanilla to a green tea flavour and in a moment, the oreo in china was launched.
over time, she came to realize that the hero way of thinking was holding back innovation and that there was a new way of collaborative leadership that allowed conversations to happen and solutions to be found. it was for these 2 reasons that i wanted to have her on my show. i never expected the conversation that emerged. a conversation that was so rich and insightful that i walked away feeling changed and inspired. i invite you to listen to that now.
click here to hear it on apple podcast. click here to see it on YouTube.
WHEN WE CHANGE THE WAY WE SEE THE WORLD, THE WORLD WE SEE CHANGES
there is a very blessed and sacred moment, where what we have always seen, we suddenly see differently. in my book, The Mosaic this happens when Mo, the main character sits with the people he meets along his journey and listens to them tell him their stories. in 100% of the cases, the person he sees after hearing their stories is entirely different than the person he first saw.
to experience this reality, take 10 minutes out of the course of your life and sit with someone you have never met before, someone you seemingly share nothing in common with and just ask them how they are doing. what you discover may surprise you.
to experience a change of perception, you must be able to do in life what you must do here to see this picture differently. can you see the old hag AND the socialite; can you see the old cowboy and the young cowboy. you can not see them at the same time, in order to see one you must change the way you see the other.
this basic skill will change the way you function n business, in your relationship, how you show up with your children, and how you live your life. enjoy the process of becoming aware of all that is right in front of you.
DOES WHAT YOU SEE, BLOCK YOU FROM SEEING WHAT ELSE IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES?
CHANCES ARE IT DOES.
BRINGING THE MONASTERY INTO THE MARKETPLACE
everything is connected. for far too long, i/we have lived compartmentalised lives. separating out who we are from our public persona, doing business one way and spirituality another. and this way of living has left us feeling unfulfilled and alone. feeling that the totality of who we are is not acceptable to the world around us. if you have felt this and feel like is time to mind hack that beleif and any others that keep you limited, i have come out from my monastery and returned to the marketplace, merging the businessman and the mystic to work with those who have achieved all they thought would bring them happiness but still find fulfilment to be elusive. if it is time for you to connect all the pieces of your mosaic, let talk about doing some wrk together.
everything you need is right in front of you. you do not need to search to find it. all you have to do is see differently. i will support you in that process. to work together, contact me.
may 2020 be the year of your perfect vision 20-20 and may you become all that you are. blessings and love.