Verse from the Tao

December 29, 2007 at 4:55 pm (Tao, awakening, courage, heart, inspiration, poetry, purpose, transformation)

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A good traveler has no fixed plans

and is not intent on arriving.

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A good artist lets his intuition
lead him wherever it wants.

 

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A good scientist has freed himself of concepts
and keeps his mind open to what is.

 

Thus the Master is available to all people
and doesn’t reject anyone.

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He is ready to use all situations
and doesn’t waste anything.

This is called embodying the light.


What is a good man but a bad man’s teacher?
What is a bad man but a good man’s job?

If you don’t understand this, you will get lost,
however intelligent you are.
It is the great secret.

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pete

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Mood

December 24, 2007 at 2:13 pm (awakening, beauty, choice, control, inspiration, mood, transformation)

You can choose to enjoy the beauty of this day…this life.
Your mood, your attitude is not something that comes over you like the weather,
Like a storm front moving in.
You can choose your mood.
You can live in choice.

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pete

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Split Second

December 18, 2007 at 5:38 pm (Aikido, adjusting, conflict, control, emdodiment, fear, leadership)

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In my Aikido practice today, I reached for my partner, Matt’s, hand during my attack, and missed it. Matt instantaneously adjusted and grabbed a section of my uniform near my wrist and yanked as he completed his move. I was caught completely by surprise and was tossed in a forceful circle to the mat. It was quick, it was decisive, and it was thrilling. I had no time to think. If I had tensed up to protect myself, I might have gotten hurt. The fact that I stayed with the move and let my body react without thinking felt really amazing. Exhilarating!

My partner in the practice, Matt, also experienced a moment of total embodiment. When I missed the place where I was supposed to grab, he didn’t stop and say “Let’s start over”; he adjusted without thinking and finished the move.

So what did this little split second experience have to do with anything? Everyday I bring a leadership and learning narrative to my Aikido practice. I am not there just to get a rigorous workout. I practice so that I become a more effective leader, a more effective person.

So in that split second, I was attempting to blend and coordinate with my Aikido partner the way I would blend and coordinate with someone in the workplace. I was trying to do something and missed, just the way things sometimes go awry at work and in life. Something I didn’t expect began to unfold. I trusted myself and went with it. I didn’t get defensive, I didn’t try to tighten up, pull away, or think myself out of the situation; I simply felt what was happening and let myself go.

I didn’t get hurt. In fact, my fall was as good as it gets for me. When my mind got out of the way, my body knew what to do and performed flawlessly.

I am learning to feel my way (not think my way) through encounters on the mat and off the mat. I am learning that the more I practice, the more I trust myself. When I trust myself, I don’t always need to be in control; I can let others lead.

The less I am afraid of what might happen to me in an encounter, the more I feel and listen to the person with whom I am working. It deepens our relationship. We end up trusting each other more. Trusting, listening, feeling, letting go of fear, fully embodying our practices and adjusting on the fly…

All this in just a split second.

pete

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Shame

December 11, 2007 at 7:14 pm (awakening, heart, inspiration, shame, transformation)

After my breakfast with Peter, my teacher; I was deeply discouraged and filled with shame. Here I was fancying myself on the “fast track” of the leadership journey when everything seemed to come to a screeching halt. I was so caught up in my day to day issues that I was unable to recognize my own purpose statement which I had written months earlier to help clarify why I was taking the journey.

I felt like a fraud. I was putting up a good front for my teacher, I had a lot of nice insights about myself; but when push came to shove, I was still the same person. Maybe I was such a lost cause that I would never be able to change. Maybe I wrote a purpose statement that sounded good; but which I never really believed I would be able to deliver on. Maybe I was afraid of failing or was it that I was really afraid of succeeding.

Whatever it was my mood was one of shame and despair. I walked around like that for quite awhile. I wasn’t completely aware of it, nor of the effect it might be having on the people around me and the organization I was leading.

So one day Peter invited me to a nice lunch. Not long after we sat down to eat he looked at me with an amused expression,

“Reilly, how long are you going to walk around in this mood of yours?” He held up his fork with the tynes facing me, “Do I have to stick you with this fork to snap you out of it?”

I was stunned. I wasn’t even aware that other people noticed my mood. I thought this was all going on inside of me, privately. Peter kept the fork raised until I smiled, then we both chuckled, then we both broke into laughter. I was laughing at myself.

The clouds parted, the mood lifted, and I was back again, ready to continue the journey.

Shame is not helpful. It is full of judgment about a past action. My journey is about the future, not the past.

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pete

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Distracted

December 7, 2007 at 12:47 pm (Uncategorized)

I was sitting in a booth at the Red Fox Diner and across from me sat Peter, my teacher. He pushed a folded piece of paper to my side of the table, “Read this” he said with a mysterious look on his face. I took the paper in my hands and read it carefully. Peter generally supplied with me material that would support me on my journey and this was no exception. As I read it I was struck by how eloquently it reflected what I believed was my own life’s purpose. It was magical.

I looked up at Peter thanked him. He smiled, “Do you know the author?” I shook my head, no.

“You wrote this six months ago when we started working together.” his smile faded and he looked at me with compassion.

It was as if he had punched me. I had gotten so distracted with work, with the daily comings and goings of my life that I had forgotten my purpose, and had forgotten my gift of words. I felt pride in what in I had written and shame for having forgotten it.

Peter knew I was ready for the lesson.

We get distracted. We re-focus our attention. This is the path.

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pete

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The Other

December 3, 2007 at 8:52 pm (conflict, inner voice, transformation, will)

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From the moment I began to stir after a restless night the conversation began.

One voice said “Why don’t you roll over and go back to sleep. You’ve been really good about getting up to train in the morning. You can take a day off; it won’t hurt.”

Another voice responded, “You know it’s best if you get up and get to the dojo to train. It’s part of your commitment to growing as a leader.”

I swung my feet off the bed and placed them on the chilly floor. I sat there for a moment and then I thought, “Thank you for this day. Please give me the courage and strength to do what I know is best for me.”

As I shuffled to the bathroom, I could feel my body, a little stiff and creaky first thing in the morning, start to awaken. In the shower, my mind drifted to another thought, “Please let me use my gifts today. Let me use them in any way that they want to be used. Let me hear clearly, let me see clearly all the possibilities that lie before me.”

The “Other” kept up its steady stream of flattering, trickery, “Why don’t you stay home and write today. Skip training, you’ll get an extra two hours of time to think and compose. Don’t get yourself into a rut, with this focus on opening your body.”

Even after driving to the dojo the “Other” kept putting pressure on, “No one will miss you, why don’t you just skip it and go to breakfast then go food shopping and head home and write. You can train again tomorrow. Missing one day is no big deal.”

And after a wonderful morning training, on the way home. “Why not stop for a glazed coffee roll or a donut? You’ve been working out really hard. You can treat yourself every now and then can’t you?”

It is amazing how the “Other” rarely lets up. It seems to try to assert itself in every moment.

I acknowledge that both voices are me. I know which voice is aligned with my values, beliefs, and aspirations; and far too often I listen to the other. I’m not discouraged. It’s part of being human; part of the journey. When I act in ways that aren’t consistent with what I know is best for me and others; it does no good to beat myself up about it. I am not perfect. All I can do is make the right choice next time, and the time after that, and…you get the idea.

pete

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