A client of mine e-mailed me a nice note which read, “Attached is the latest financial data – notice, I am still using your key indicators … just another example of your very valuable coaching efforts.” That is a nice compliment, but I would have felt much better if the indicators had included better news. They reflected broken promises from clients who committed, used expertise they didn’t pay for and then cut the budgets for those projects.
You don’t have to go very far to get bad news. However, there can be good news in the bad news, which comes from a reorientation toward what is most important. I think something big is happening that isn’t necessarily bad at the end of the day. It is, however, extremely uncomfortable for those of us who have gotten used to being comfortable.
I am going to take a big leap here, and express a spiritual belief. You don’t have to agree with me and I don’t have to be right. It is a useful view for me from which to approach the choices I make. I believe there is a power that causes the invisible force, the energy field that puts the light in our eyes. It is the Universe/God/Higher Power – whatever you call it, generating a factor of unpredictability that provokes lessons to us in this earth school that we inhabit as humans.
That said, I view this economic crisis as a wake-up call, that what is important to us had better start resonating more with what is important to the world as a whole, not just me, me, me. For example, perhaps, just a perhaps, the lesson for the aging population who wants to sit at the beach and sip margaritas but whose retirement fund has shrunk in half, is that their experience and maturity are needed in this world to bring the earth back into balance. No more starkly selfish consumerism, let’s get wholesome together. Are you aware of the swirl of garbage in the ocean the size of the United States that needs cleaning up? The message here is, “Don’t check out, proactively stay in the game. “ And yes, there are some unfortunate victims. They need our help and a measure of compassion. I understand volunteerism is up. One way we can feel better about our own lowered standard of living is to help those who don’t have it as good as we do!
I often read O Magazine as my personal escape. I flipped it open recently to a story about an autistic child who played in a basketball game and scored 14 points in a short quarter. And I can’t tell you how many people have e-mailed me the link to the Susan Boyle Performance. Why are we riveted to these stories? Because they bring us together in humanity. The common, ordinary person is actually extraordinary in his or her own unique ways, in those moments. Every once in a while that extraordinary talent or moment is amplified and we all get collective goosebumps, because in another moment he or she could be us – any one of us.
So how do we cure the economic blues, one thought at a time? The thoughts we are having will either bring possibility for a greater good into existence, or be a victim story, or contain a lesson we learned or didn’t learn. We have choices about what we think and how we characterize our own experience of this recession.
Speaker, author and a past client James Ray said, “The only competition you will ever have is the competition between your disciplined and your undisciplined mind.”
Isn’t it time for a little discipline around what goes through our minds and what comes out of our mouths in these confronting times? Maybe you already have, but if you haven’t I say let get back to the basics of what’s important, which are our values, our relationships, supporting one another, seeking the truth in the moment, being inspired and inspiring with our courage and a higher perspective than me, me, me.
By the way, The picture at the beginning of this blog post is a photograph taken by Dr. John Prieskorn, an accomplished photographer, author, spiritual leader and at one time school superintendent. I am happy to count him as one of the people who has influenced my life in profound ways. If you like this photograph and would like to be in touch with John to see more of his work, please place a comment and I will gladly connect you to John. This picture is the wallpaper on my big computer screen, to remind me it is the heart that should lead. When the heart leads, we focus on other, not on self. This picture also reminds me that nature carries many messages that are worthy of noticing. It is a picture of the bark of a tree.
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