Cronfeld

Yesterday I talked about a system of fitness called CrossFit, to help make the point of General Work Preparedness (GWP). In a nutshell, you take a generalist’s view of what it takes to be successful at work, rather than a specialist’s, by not just focusing on improving your working skills, but by becoming a better all-around person (more details here).

Well, to be perfectly transparent, I’m a CrossFit addict now. I live and breathe all I can of it, because I find it more exciting than wearing a hand-buzzer at a networking convention. I’m subscribed to their journal, I frequent the message boards, and I work out (mostly) along with CrossFit’s 3-on-1-off schedule. It’s the bees knees, baby.

I read something on the CrossFit message board the other day that struck me as having great value, and not just in fitness terms. Damien Del Russo (one of the thousands of community members) wrote, on a thread about losing weight:

Keep in mind that CrossFit is not meant to be a weight loss plan. That is one of the effects of being fit, but not the point of the [program].

Because CrossFit is about creating a "broad, general, and inclusive fitness" (a hallmark tenet of CrossFit), it doesn’t focus on one particular result, but on the ability to get better across the board: speed, strength, agility, coordination, etc.

When you train this way, and follow balanced nutritional guidelines, your body finds its natural and optimal balance. If fat needs to come off of you, it will. If you need more muscle, it’ll grow. If your heart needs to be more fit, it gets stronger and more efficient. So, you train for inclusive fitness, and that’s exactly what you get.

Now, the "crossover" part…

It’s easy to get specialized when it comes to spirituality and personal development, and start compartmentalizing our goals, such as:

• "I want to work on my anger."
• "I want to be more patient."
• "I need to learn how to forgive myself."
• "I need to be better at managing stress."

And so, we launch ourselves into programs and initiatives to try to develop those aspects of ourselves. We read books and take classes to learn how to communicate from the heart, do mantras to help us become more compassionate or relaxed, do service projects to learn selflessness, and so on.And in the quest for the solitary examples of what we think will make us better at certain things, we lose sight of what we can do to make us better equipped to handle the multitudes of situations that come our way each day. We strive for compassion, for example, because we think that’s an element of being a better person. What about working on becoming a better person all-around?

Train for connection, end up compassionate

In all the spiritual paths I’ve learned about, the fundamental teaching is connection. The more you can connect to your inner self, the better off you are. The more you can connect to your fellow human being, the better off you are. The more connected you are to the natural world, to the spiritual world, to your thoughts, emotions, and body, the better off you are.Is that it, then?

Of course not; it’s way too simplistic (and wrong) to imply that one focus will do it all for you. In CrossFit, we run, because running builds one kind of endurance. But we also lift heavy weights, and do bodyweight exercises, and gymnastics, and on and on. Multiple points of focus to train your whole body. And the cool thing is, when you’re a better deadlifter, you’re a better runner. And jumper, and rower, and cyclist, and anything else you need to do.

In your spiritual/personal life, you’re also going to need to focus on a multitude of topics in order to best develop the whole of who you are. The better you are, for example, at tapping into your spiritual connection, the better you’ll be at all kinds of other personal skills.

The trick is to kick your spiritual couch-potato tendencies, and get going.

And how, pray tell, do you do this?

Well, in the words of Michael Valentine Smith (Robert Heinlein’s protagonist in Stranger In A Strange Land), "I am only an egg." I wouldn’t endeavor to be more inclusive, than say, Buddha, Lao Tzu, or any of the world’s Prophets.

Because even if you’re "spiritual, but not religious," you have to admit that the experience of thousands of years of spiritual practice and personal development can’t just be tossed aside because it doesn’t fit your paradigms.

Am I saying that you should adopt a formal religion? Heavens, no. I mean, go ahead if you want to; I’m not against them if your intentions are clean and your discernment strong. What I am saying, though, is that success leaves clues. There are teachings available from the spiritual and religious doctrines of the world that, when practiced with a certain degree of self-responsibility and awareness, can yield immense benefits in your personal development, and help you build a "broad, general, and inclusive spirit" — path or no path.

And if you don’t have a "path" already?

Then start simple: Get to know yourself. Spend time inside (your heart, not indoors). Connect; with yourself, with others, and with whatever sense of "Oneness" you perceive and/or believe in. Live responsibly. Act sincerely. Extend a hand graciously, and receive one just as amiably. Love. Love some more. Forgive. Be grateful. From there, follow your heart.

Is there more?

Of course there is. Keep watching this space!

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2008. | Permalink | One comment

cobalt123

This is a huge topic, I realize… one that I couldn’t do justice to in a single post (or a single lifetime, perhaps… but that won’t stop me from beginning the conversation, at least.

It seems to me that there are two primary ways that most people and most paths orient to the concept of God/Divine/Oneness/Spirit. It’s either inside of you, or outside of you.

The “outside of you” folks probably think of you and the Divine, the Divine being ‘out there’, and you trying to reach It. Your quest is to experience proximity to the Divine, and feel what it’s like to merge with the Divine, or, be in service to whatever It asks of you. (Because of the difference seen between man and Spirit, this is called, “dualism.”)

The “inside of you” folks probably think of the Divine in you, as ‘in here’, and you seeking to experience the fullness of It in you and through you. Your quest is to experience no absence of that Presence, to be filled 100% with the seamlessness of the experience of what is. (Because of the lack of difference seen between man and Spirit, this is called, “monism.”)

To the dualists, Divinity is something to be reached.
To the monists, Divinity is something to be realized.

(For more on these ideas, go here, here, here, or especially here.)

Now, I’m not putting one above the other; in my life, I’ve been both. But the reason I ask is that, from what I’m seeing, each one has profound (and profoundly different) implications on how you bring your sense of spirituality into your work.

Here are some questions to get you going…

What paradigm were you taught as a child? Have you stayed with that one, or left it? If you left it, have you come back to it? How have the paths you’ve studied oriented to the idea of God/Divine/Whatever? And what did you take from them around all this?

To be honest, drumming up conversation about this isn’t my primary aim… I’d much rather ask you to reflect, honestly and intensely, on not just what you think about this, but what you believe — what you practice with your words and actions (because sometimes, what you say you believe is different from what you actually do).

If you’d like to comment, I’d love to hear what happens for you once you’ve pondered, reflected, and chewed on this one for a while.

What I do want to impart is the idea that having clarity about which paradigm you truly follow can make a huge difference in everything you do, including your orientation to the idea of intuition, of fulfillment, of relationship, and obviously, personal growth and development, and the application of all of this in your livelihood.

And thanks to all who have commented on the previous post so far: Dawud Miracle, Shawn, Karin H., Alex, Joanna Young

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | 23 comments

I’m in a conversation over at Colleen Wainwright’s Communicatrix blog, which started with her productivity tips, but has evolved into the essence of being a Virgo (she and I are both Virgos, as are Dawud Miracle and Mark Silver, who also weighed in).

Add to the mix an email I got from Jennifer Louden (of ComfortQueen.com), about the lighten-ing effect of self-acceptance, and we’ve got the makings of one of the most primal teachings in all of mysticism.

The inherent goodness of the Universe.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to spout a bunch of platitudes on you. This is really some base-level, practical mojo we’re talking about.

In fact, as a healer, I regularly saw that at the beginning of someone’s spiritual journey, it was this core lesson that they needed the most. Once they got this piece, the rest of whatever they needed to heal could happen much easier.

What does the ‘Virgo conversation’ and self-acceptance have to do with the inherent goodness of the Universe?

Let’s start with Jennifer’s message:

If all those self-help books and tapes and articles worked, we’d all be size Zero, gourmet-cooking, multi-lingual millionaires, right?

What DOES work is self-love, self-acceptance, and self-care. And since you are absolutely, positively wonderful just the way you are, celebrate the first annual Freedom from Self-Improvement Day: May 15, 2007.

I want to highlight that sentence: “you are absolutely, positively wonderful just the way you are.” Now, it’s one thing to be able to say that. It’s another to actually feel it, believe it, and live as if that reality is absolutely real in you.

In Sufism, the most plentiful aspect of the Divine is Beneficence, Graciousness, Love, Compassion, Benevolence, and Generosity (all these are approximate translations, since English doesn’t have one word that sums it up in quite the same way). That goodness “encompasses all things,” and is, “bestowed upon all creatures with no disparity.”

And as simple as this sounds, it’s one of the toughest to learn.

Why? Because we believe otherwise, based on our experiences in life. We’ve been beaten down, told we’re less than, and had things (apparently) not work out for us so many times, we start to believe in other than goodness.

And yet, the truth of it is, underneath all the pain and separation we’ve been led to believe is real, the Really Real is the Oneness, the connecting power of the Divine (whatever you want to call it). It’s the call of the heart that always brings us home.

Ask any mystic or any healer worth their salt, and they’ll confirm for you that the bottom-line of every situation is always the loving presence of Oneness.

Once you get that — I mean, really get that — then your world view can’t help but improve. Competition gives way to collaboration. Difficult situations become opportunities to learn what the Divine has in store for you. And every patron in your business becomes a beloved who has been brought to you to become enriched, and your life gets enriched by them.

And, a bit closer to home:

When you grok that at the core of who you are, you originated from (and are a part of) that essential goodness, then self-acceptance becomes much, much easier.

Personally, I struggled for a long time with self-esteem issues. I tried so many ways of proving my worth and healing what I thought was broken in me. But what truly tipped the scales was not “fixing something broken”, but recognizing my inherent connectedness. I started to see integrity (as in ‘wholeness’, not ‘acting consistently’) was not something I had to earn or find, but something to be remembered and recognized.

Then, acceptance of my Virgo-inspired desires for neatness (too commonly disparaged as “perfectionism”) became simple — this was my heart’s desire to merge with the orderliness of the Universe.

As Jennifer says:

Beating ourselves up because our thighs aren’t thin enough, or because we still haven’t perfected the art of “positive thinking”, hasn’t made us happier or the world a better place. The biggest paradox in trying to change ourselves is that nothing happens until we embrace who and how we are right now, imperfections, perceived flaws and all.

And I would add: “Because when you stop pushing away who you are, you can get close enough to yourself to recognize that you are all you need to be.”

And yes, I promised practicality…

In case you aren’t seeing this already, self-acceptance (and its origin, the perspective of essential goodness) is at the core of having a business people love. Because not only is that kind of perspective contagious, it’s magnetic — when you see the beauty in all things, people feel seen and accepted on a very profound level by you. They’ll be drawn to be with you, to learn from you, to spend time with you.

My recommendation, then, is to spend some time asking yourself, “How do I see the Universe (or creation, or whatever word you want to put in there)? Do I see it as primarily based on love, or something else?”

It’s an illuminating exercise, believe me. And, I’d love to hear what you come up with.

Image by jurvetson.

And thanks to all who commented on the previous post: Brett Evans, Liz Strauss, Tara, Wendy Piersall, Ellen Moore, Carolyn Manning, Dave Olson

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | 22 comments