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January 2006In this Issue: |
Blessings of peace and passionate purpose in 2006! This year I want to make sure people understand what my approach to life coaching is. So I reflected for quite some time before I wrote the Life-Affirming Practices essay below. Spend a few minutes with the essay’s content and do pass “Be the Change” along to anyone you feel might benefit from its content and/or a coaching conversation. From now until March 15, new clients can benefit from an introductory life coaching offer: Three months of coaching for $799. All I ask for this (40% savings) is that new clients make a $79 donation to a men’s or women’s shelter in the town that they live in. As we enter the stillness of winter, I am most pleased to announce that the men’s meditation and mindfulness group commences Monday January 23 in West Concord. There are still two spots open in the group, so do call if you are so inclined. Warmly, Sean Casey Leclaire If you'd like to share this issue with a friend, they can view the newsletter online at http://www.seanleclaire.com/ezine/. If you'd prefer not to receive future issues of Be The Change, click the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of this message. LIFE-AFFIRMING PRACTICES (LAPs)It seems like every seven years or so, I reach a place in the forest where I do not know which way to go. My mind scrambles to find clues, as it begins frantically turning over rocks and inevitably starts “whyning.” During these times, my feelings and thoughts are difficult to be with. What was working; no longer works. And what I want becomes unclear. Unhappiness and a growing sense of dissatisfaction replace the fleetness of foot with which I normally saunter through the redwoods and high meadows. My mind tells me that something is wrong. The truth is nothing is wrong—something important is changing. And I do not know what it is. I tend to forget that what I am meant to know will come to my awareness without any effort on my part. My ego or small self DOES NOT LIKE NOT KNOWING! If I fight this current reality, which of course I do, I eventually become exhausted. Sometimes that is the only way God (Self) can get me to listen. In 2006, I have chosen acceptance as the quality I would like to develop. Since the moment I made that commitment the world has given me endless intolerable things to accept. Tolerance is merely pinching my nostrils and begrudging the situation. Twelve-step literature says that acceptance is the answer to all my problems. Development of a quality is not so much a self-help exercise as an open-hearted prayer to the Self to reveal and fill me up with a particular aspect of Being. I am thrilled that some of my coaching clients are working on quality development also. I define “qualities” as aspects of Being. I have qualities that are highly-developed; acceptance is not one of them. Most of the work I do with people has to do with developing aspects of Being, or if you like, expressions or qualities of Self (Wholeness). Sure. We map out goals, strategies, discover limiting beliefs, corral and tame inner gremlins, focus on next right actions, cultivate mindfulness using body-centered breaks (BCBs), and use whatever awareness methodology is most suitable to the person’s state of consciousness and their personality. But what we mostly work with is inner dimensions of Being, and the expression of such in the mundane world. Each coaching client brings certain over- and under–developed qualities to the inquiry and coaching conversation. One client has chosen to work on the quality of kindness in 2006. The client is an attorney and a life coach. He’s getting into the quality of kindness like a lawyer can, like it’s juicy litigation. Here are some of the actions and commitments he has created to develop and embody kindness in 2006:
This is a partial list of his next right actions. I am moved by his creativity and dedication. It is appropriate that acceptance is the quality I would like to develop and I am beginning the journey in a time that, basically, I am struggling with inner change. So my first action was to write this essay about the life-affirming practice of developing a quality. The next right action is to stop complaining about the state of the world and surrender to the fact that I don’t know where my path through the forest is. I want to do more, and I just don’t know where the path is for me at this time… life coach, associate professor, Waldorf teacher, spiritual marketing consultant (now that’s an odd alignment of words), leadership development executive, yoga therapist, speaker, truck driver, stone wall builder, writer, actor/performer… What is the optimal path to embody and express my deeply held values and pay my way in our economically-based culture? I don’t know! Spiritual teachings say that “don’t know” is the beginning of surrender and that surrender is acceptance’s cousin. I know how the process of soul development works. First, we become aware of something, then we accept it, and finally, we act upon what we accept. Each of us tends to be more comfortable with one of the steps. I’m not shy on self-awareness and I’m like lightning when I do move into action, once I finally accept something. But the distance I trudge between awareness of something and fully accepting that awareness, well, let’s just be kind here (in honor of the courageous client I mentioned above) and say, my ability to accept current reality can be limited! A memory came to me this morning. When I was 28 years old, I could no longer work as a rising star at an international advertising agency, where I launched brands for a living. I had no more heart for the agency business. After about a year of fighting with that awareness and destroying myself with alcohol, I finally surrendered, enrolled in a rehab program, got a few months of sobriety under my belt, then designed a unique t-shirt that I sold as a street vendor in Toronto. After about six months of that, I answered an advertisement in the business press and was selected from 450+ applicants to manage an international division of a large corporation. It was the best corporate job I have had and it came to me without any effort on my part. The key action was to surrender and accept my circumstances. I was unemployed, I was newly clean and sober and a street vendor. I wasn’t frightened. When we surrender and accept what Spirit has given us, there is no fear. I distinctly remember being happy, light-of-heart, selling t-shirts on downtown street corners, hanging with other vendors, pulling a clothing rack on the back of my mountain bike down Yonge Street in Toronto, rolling by the high-rise offices where I once created and sold slick advertising campaigns. When the senior vice president of the company that eventually hired me to manage its international marketing asked me where I’d been for the last nine months, I said I was resting, selling t-shirts. He looked up from reading my resume, smiled and said, “I drove a Doritos truck once. Just got tired, tired of chasing the golden carrot.” He paused, looked out his window for quite some time then asked, “Would you like to work with us, Sean?” If any of you are in transition and finding it difficult, know that you’re not alone. Many people engaged in genuine awareness work and Consciousness inquiry hit periods of being lost in the forest. And if you’re at all like me, some days, it might seem like you’re dangling from a rocky crag not sure whether you even scaled the right rock face. My mentor has said to me many times, “Look Sean, if you can’t accept current reality then surrender the climb, sit down in a valley, pay attention, and wait till what is coming to you arrives.” I do find that developing a quality with focused attention is a fruitful practice but nothing works so well as accepting that everything that you deserve (karma) is coming to you. Perhaps not on your time; but it is coming nonetheless. I find my self sinking into that valley my mentor talks about. Some people might say I look flat, down. But I’m not. There is a distinct difference between sinking in, and sinking down. The first action is a conscious choice to accept current reality. The second is akin to depression which is resistance to current reality. Yes. I do feel flat right now. Like I am in a cave, by a dense forest I cannot see through. I’m still moving even if it feels like I am not. We are not our thoughts and feelings, more the spaciousness around the thoughts and feelings. That spaciousness is love. So why worry? Worry is lack of acceptance. Choose love. All is coming! BODY-CENTERED BREAKS (BCBs)The Body-Centered Break is a body-focused inquiry and awareness meditation lasting only two minutes and done whenever and wherever you are in your day. Benefits as described by coaching clients include: calmness of mind, overall sense of well-being, sharpened mental focus, reduced anxiety, increased ability of autonomous nervous system to recover rapidly from stress, and an increased capacity for learning. CLICK here for an audio-guided BCB at any time you feel the need to slow down and center into yourself. Enjoy the Benefits NOW! HeadRest Radiate QuietMind SteamValve SHARED WISDOMWorry is a lack of faith! Zen Slap POEMWHAT TAKES MY BREATH AWAY? Cherry blossoms Sean Casey Leclaire INQUIRYWhat won’t you accept about yourself? WONDERINGLives are like rivers, eventually they flow where they must, not where we want them to. Damn!EVENTS AND WORKSHOPSMen's Meditation and Mindfulness Group Living Life on Purpose Honoring Father: A Gathering of Whole-Hearted Men Call Sean at 978-369-8286 or email sean@seanleclaire.com with any program content questions. |
Luminosity Studio,
© 2006 Sean Casey Leclaire, all rights reserved. |
