How to tell the difference between thing-ness and beingness

How to tell the difference between thing-ness and beingness

How to tell the difference between thing-ness and beingness… i.e. are you treating another a person or a thing?

I learned, maybe re-learned something from my an email I got from someone who is taking ‘becoming a person’ very seriously… thank god.

He got that only through ‘granting’ personness to another makes you a person. That really you cannot be a person among objects… what you give is what you are.

Very counterintuitive idea, and probably controversial too. But to echo most people’s emotions: a ‘bummer’… too bad.

We all want to be treated as a person, we want to be treated like we are a ‘somebody’, not a thing, and definitely not a ‘nothing’. Continue reading “How to tell the difference between thing-ness and beingness”

Imagine you are shipwrecked… how far would you swim to get back to society?

Imagine you are shipwrecked… how far would you swim to get back to society?

I made my birthday week special by having a long, 90-minute private call with every active student of mine in my Growth course.

There are things you can see in an interactive course, and then there are things you can see in a private one-on-one call.

What I saw this week is priceless.

I saw how rigidity and fear, scarcity and timid moves, how living in survival actually looks when you look through actions. Continue reading “Imagine you are shipwrecked… how far would you swim to get back to society?”

Can you learn, do you learn from your mistakes?

Can you learn, do you learn from your mistakes?

A few days ago I set up my brain, or spirit, or the reticular activator, or whatever it is that is doing the looking when I am busy doing other things to find ways for me to teach you to look…

…because without looking The Sight capacity won’t do much for you.

The answers come to me through different channels.

  • I may notice my own behavior that causes The Sight to kick in.
  • I may get an email that points to some ways
  • Mostly what I get is examples of how someone isn’t even looking.
The more concerns you have in life, the less you are able to look.

Continue reading “Can you learn, do you learn from your mistakes?”

You need skills… But how do you get skills, Sophie?

You need skills… But how do you get skills, Sophie?

A few weeks ago I had an idea to pair two of my Playground participants to do a project that would benefit them both.

One is a skilled and prolific ‘Idea Machine‘ who is really lousy in communication. He was writing 10 new ideas for his customers, all business owners. But he was not able to ‘sell’ the ideas, even though they were free: he did it for practice, to keep his brain in top shape, for his own reasons… to get better at it, to reduce his about-me score… lots of reasons to do things for other people that take effort.

The other has an aspiration to write letters that sell… so he can leave his menial day job.

My idea was that they could team up and one would write the ideas, the other the emails that sell the ideas.

It was a non-starter. Continue reading “You need skills… But how do you get skills, Sophie?”

If you don’t know what you want you end up with…

If you don’t know what you want you end up with…

One of the things people have a difficulty with, in my experience, is creating a vision for their lives.

When I ask what they want, what they are up to, they draw a blank.

And even when and if they have some answer, it is not something that even if they got it, would make them happy, fulfilled, joyful, connected, loved, etc.

Every aspect of you has a different ‘agenda’…

  • The Selfish Gene
  • The ego
  • the soul/spirit or whatever you want to call it, the high minded aspect of you
  • the body
  • the mind
  • the Witness/Consciousness

these all want something different… and you, who you consider yourself to be: you are like the person in the middle of the ball game where the ball is thrown in a circle, past you… and you are always left without a ball. Continue reading “If you don’t know what you want you end up with…”

Do you respect money? If not, you pay the price…

Do you respect money? If not, you pay the price…
Why is respect hard and rare?

Because respect includes the capacity and the willingness to look again, but this time look from a different vantage point, preferably from the point of view of the other person. Of the big picture, away from the wishful thinking, the inflated self-image, and your expectations.

I remember, that all my life, all I ever wanted is to be considered a person. In a world where people consider themselves things in the world of things, being treated, being looked at, being listened to as a person is so rare that I can remember every time it happened. Or every time I detect that energy in a book… I tear up.

And yet, everyone wants to be treated like a person, and everyone treats themselves and others like they are things.

One of the big prices we pay is with our money.

I had this conversation this past Sunday with a friend who is working on becoming a millionaire: he is at minus lots-of-money, lots of zeros right now. Continue reading “Do you respect money? If not, you pay the price…”

Does Your Life Lack Meaning? Purpose? Organizing Principle?

Does Your Life Lack Meaning? Purpose? Organizing Principle?

According to some statistics, 30% of humanity lack meaning in their lives.

I think that this statistics is off by a lot. It’s more like 91%… according to Source. Continue reading “Does Your Life Lack Meaning? Purpose? Organizing Principle?”

We all have moments of brilliance. Moments…

We all have moments of brilliance. Moments…
follyIt only takes one slow-walking person in the grocery store to destroy the illusion that you’re a nice person.

And it only takes one ugly mistake to destroy the illusion that you are smart…

In preparation to my What’s the truth about you workshop this morning, I have been looking how to have the conversation about your delusions about who you are, how you are, and your abilities.

It’s a touchy issue… in fact 80% of humanity think themselves smarter than average, and smarter than they are. The remaining 16% don’t ever think about that or anything else, 4% think themselves less smart than they are. Continue reading “We all have moments of brilliance. Moments…”

How to change your future by changing your story

How to change your future by changing your story

Your stories are boring, repetitive, and rigidly fixed. You tell them the same every time, and that gives you a life of gloom and doom, an ever narrowing, ever more impoverished version of the Life you could have.

This article is about blowing some life into your story, so you can have more life.

“Know something, sugar? Stories only happen to people who can tell them.” – Allan Gurganus

Gurganus is right. The truth happens to everyone, but stories only happen to people who can tell them. And tell them well…
Continue reading “How to change your future by changing your story”

What makes you who you are today?

What makes you who you are today?

The obvious answers are that it is your past that makes you who you are. What happened to you. What was your education, your upbringing, your genes, your environment.

And all that seems to make you who you are today, and if you are anything like the people I deal with, day in and day out, you are not happy with who you are, how you are.

Why? How you are doesn’t get you the life you have always wanted, the accomplishments, the joy, the intimacy, the love, the care you wanted.

Is how you are really who you are? No, not at all. Nobody is. Or nobody is fully authentic.

You are is put together, while who you are is diligently covered up. Continue reading “What makes you who you are today?”