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Sept. 2008In this Issue: |
I hope summer turned well for you and that your family is not suffering too much from the downturn in the economy. In this issue of Be the Change the essay entitled Speed speaks to a re-branding effort I’m going through and a refined focus for my some of the coaching work. Also please take a look at a prose poem I wrote entitled 100 Million and do pass it on to your kids where appropriate. Soon, some big changes are coming and I hope we see the new leadership immediately deal the economy and the war... in an honest, responsible and effective manner. I’m also pleased to share that http://www.westboroughyoga.com/events.html is hosting When Fear Falls Away author Jan Frazier in October. I hope to see you there. In Peace, *If you'd like to share this issue with a friend, they can view the newsletter online at http://www.seanleclaire.com/ezine/, or you can use the Forward link at the bottom of this issue. If you'd prefer not to receive future issues of Be The Change, click the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of this message. SPEEDIt takes courage to challenge the cult of speed. As comedienne Lily Tomlin said: "For fast-acting relief from stress, try slowing down." I am beginning to sense that the disease of our time is the unwillingness and growing incapacity to slow down. I am working with a consultant to re-brand my business in order to address the situation and support people and organizations who want to slow down, access a deeper dimension of being and thus fuller awareness and more powerful creative expression. Following a suggestion from the consultant, I recently went through an exercise with my clients and a few colleagues. I asked the question: How do you describe to others in your life the coaching work we do? The answers were somewhat varied and interesting, and one thing clearly stood out: The coaching helps me to slow down, and still my mind… which allows my own creativity and natural abilities to flow. At first, much of the work I do with people supports them to become mindful of their circumstances, then they open to being aware in their circumstances. Light and understanding expand… become more fully embodied as the shift from mindfulness to awareness occurs. It takes no “time’ for this to happen but it does take time for the mental and emotional obstacles to be seen and diffused of their habit and power. Awareness coaches teach and support people and organizations to stay slow inside, generate desired results on the outside, and when that simply isn’t possible—to accept the fact, re-group and move on. Many people’s minds are so agitated these days that they simply cannot focus their attention or are so focused that they cannot relate to other people. Studies indicate that thousands of us each year are being diagnosed with ADT—attention deficit trait—a neurological disorder, caused by overwhelm, over-stimulation and information anxiety. This affliction differs from ADD, a medically-diagnosed disorder apparently caused by genetics, in that its origins are a disturbance and distortion in the mind. OR another way of putting it, ADT is caused by consistently choosing a life based on fear, not love. By beginning to slow down, and making it priority in our lives, most of us are able to build the capacity for increased awareness and well being. No doubt, there remains a tremendous schism in mind and body with most folks and that is nothing to be ashamed of. We live in a culture that reveres speed and bombards us with information, distraction. Excessive speed, although it is not the cause of the mind body split — unnecessary speed ensures that a person remains in his or her self-imposed prison… the rat race, the hamster on its wheel, too much on my plate, caught between a rock and a hard place… speed-for-speed's sake — engenders an organization to ignore employee health and well being, to not be able see a competitor’s disruptive technology on the horizon, to not be able to see, period. According to In Praise of Slowness author Carl Honore, “Painters and poets, writers and craftsman, have looked for ways to preserve the aesthetics of slowness in the machine age. Today, though, the backlash against speed is moving into the mainstream, down at the grass roots, in kitchens, offices, concert halls, factories, gyms, bedrooms, neighborhoods, offices, art galleries, hospitals, leisure centers, and schools near you, more and more people are refusing to accept the diktat that faster is always better. And in their many and diverse acts of deceleration lie the seeds of a global Slow movement.” A business leader I know is cranked all day. I notice that she leaves conversations before the dialogue is finished… already at the next meeting in her head, “From 6:00am to 9:00pm, every day, they crank me up and out I go.” No one cranks another person up; we do it to ourselves, by the choices we make. Each of us is responsible. Slowing down is a choice, each of us can begin, unless you choose to remain a victim of your circumstances; then nothing can help you. There is a worldwide wave beginning to challenge the cult of un-necessary speed. Take a small first step into the water. To learn more about slowing down, click here: Slow Down Practices 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! NEW Body-Centered Breaks Body-Centered Break (BCB) History Legs and Feet The Maserati HeartBeat Sitting in Your Seat The Pause SHARED WISDOMThere is more to life than increasing its speed.
POEM100 MILLION If I was eighteen, I’d see that old men and old women… have always sent young men and women to war; and I’d choose not to follow them anymore. If I was eighteen and living in America, China, Iran, Israel, Palestine, Pakistan, India, France, Nigeria, Russia and any other country who fights war, I’d show the war leaders—I would not go to war anymore. If I was eighteen, I’d dig deep in my soul… begin now, use the web and connect… rally my young brothers and sisters and demand their government stop war. Think about it… what if one million young people, eighteen to twenty-four said, we won’t go to war anymore. Could the prisons of ten war-loving countries hold ten million more? Would the parents of these young heroes, who wouldn’t go to war, stand by while the war leaders locked our sons and daughters behind steel doors? Now I’m not eighteen anymore… but I’ll sit with my son and your son in the piss and stink of a cell, before a White House or false Prophet or rabble-rousing Rabbi sends my son or your daughter to their war. If I was eighteen, I’d understand that “making it in America” mostly means loving war. If I was eighteen, I’d watch the movie Lion and Lambs and I’d see myself in the eyes of that young man in the last frame of the film. If I was eighteen, I’d stir up a storm to revoke the charters of corporations who sell war—I wouldn’t allow them to live in my country anymore. In my country, I’m not for the red or the blue… I’m for each mother and father with a child, who a war leader can take from you. I’m for peace, and I’ll die for it… if you come for my son, and I’ll do it without a gun. You don’t fool me by wrapping a pretty side-kick in a flag or two… and because you naively served your war leaders, I admire you I do but please don’t insult me with that win-at-all-cost old warrior smile. And if you win… Mr. smooth-talking black man, you’d better bring home my brothers’ kids as you soon as you said you can. Or a million young men and women may come knocking at your white house door. What if in 100 countries that continue to fight and say they hate war… there were a million young people—who just wouldn’t go fight anymore?
INQUIRYHow does efficiency hurt me? WORKSHOPS & EVENTS
Journey of Divorce™ Base Camp RIGHT ACTIONChoose one simple way to slow down this week.
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Men's Meditation and Mindfulness Group 
© 2008 Sean Casey LeClaire, all rights reserved. |
