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Seven Keys to Your Personal Evolution

July 5, 2010 //
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keys to evolutionToday we look at seven key activities that are important for your personal evolution.  The fact is, life is evolving.  You are evolving, I am evolving, we are all evolving.  Although our individual and collective evolutionary path is, in my opinion, a given — that doesn’t mean we can’t stray off the path.

Where are we headed eventually?  Simply stated, we are ultimately moving towards higher levels of consciousness and awareness where we recognize the unity of everything.  We are realizing that although we are living through an experience of individuality and uniqueness, at our core we are all one.  There are intermediate steps along the way as our systems become more complex, as we are able to tap more easily the sum total of human knowledge, and as the groups of others for whom we exhibit care and concern expand and expand.

Each of us has a choice to cooperate with this evolutionary process or not.  If you wish to facilitate your personal evolution (which of course facilitates our collective evolution), then here are seven key actions which will move you in a positive direction.  Although all of these steps are important, the first ones start within you while the later ones move outward.

Turn inward – So much of our lives directs our senses outward, it’s easy to live with the belief that all the stuff we sense “out there” is the only stuff that is real.  A daily practice of turning inward allows us a degree of balance.  It shows us a truer reality where we know that there is a presence that connects all.  It is important that our lives experience this base.

Set the vision — As we turn inward, it’s important that we set a vision as to where we see our lives headed.  We must begin with the end in mind.  We must visualize the highest outcome for our lives.  What is it we are called to be?  This vision gives our life direction.

Feed the mind – We must continue to grow intellectually.  We must continue to learn.  It’s too easy to stay in our comfort zone and only learn more about what we already know and only pursue sources that are biased in the direction of our beliefs.  We must continue to challenge ourselves by exploring new areas and new ways of looking at things. 

Nurture the body — We must take care of these physical vehicles which serve us while here on earth.  We must ensure that these “temples” are exercised and well fed. 

Heal the shadow — We must recognize that our early life experiences buried deep within us hidden beliefs and motivations which must be healed.  We must seek to understand why we believe or act as we do when such beliefs or actions are not in the best interest of ourselves and others.  We must seek out and utilize established methods to bring our shadow into the light so we can heal it and make a higher choice.

Act in alignment – Our actions in the outer world must be in alignment with our vision for our life.  Each of us has unique creative ability which we are called to express.  As we express that ability in our work or play, we must consider how it serves our growth, both as individuals and as part of the collective humanity.

Cultivate relationships — As we move outward in our action in the world, we must seek to connect with others.  Developing relationships with others heightens our sense of interconnectedness.  Expanding our involvement with others allows our talents and gifts to touch them and for their gifts to touch us.  The interplay of our individual evolutionary gifts expands their influence and speeds up our collective growth.

These are the seven keys that I believe are essential for each of us to be utilizing in our personal growth.  Each is important. 

Do these seven steps resonate with you?  Are you developing all of them?  How might you grow one you are ignoring currently?  Would you add any other steps to this list?

Mark Gilbert

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Categories Change Agent, Consciousness, Featured Article

Questions to Ponder on the Evolutionary Path

July 2, 2010 //
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Deepak Chopra's 4 questionsRecently, EnlightenNext Magazine ran a contest seeking input on four questions posed by Deepak Chopra.  The winner received free enrollment in a class called “The Evolutionary’s Guide to Changing the World”.  Although I didn’t have time to submit my thoughts for the contest, I held onto the questions to ponder.

Here are the questions:

1. What kind of world do you want to live in and what kind of world do you want your children and grandchildren to live in?

2. What is your role in bringing this about?

3. Regarding the organizations that you’re part of, what kind of team do you want to have and what kind of relationship do you want to have with this team?

4. What do you see as the primary need in our current cultural moment?

They received over 100 responses — here’s the link to read them if you’re interested:   Deepak’s four questions

Here’s the link to the response that won:   The winner is…

I love these questions — they get at the same issue that I was raising in my recent article in Integral Leadership Review (link to article).  In fact, the underlying purpose of “the Bridge” is to consider the future we wish to see for ourselves and all of humanity and then to take personal responsibility for our role in moving towards that future.

So how would you answer these questions?  — send me a note or post a reply answering any or all of them — I’ll be posting my thoughts in the next few days.

Mark Gilbert

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Categories Bridge Building, Change Agent, Consciousness, Featured Article

Reinventing Resolutions

June 25, 2010 //
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We are fast approaching the middle of 2010.  Remember when you were a kid and you measured your age in half years?  Our milestones seemed so far apart at that age….yet now they roll by quicker and quicker. Well, today I want to go back to my youthfulness and celebrate the passage of the upcoming “half year”.  And, as we roll into the second half of 2010, its time for some new resolutions…. so here we go with our Half  New Year’s resolutions!  

It seems like resolutions have gotten a bad rap the last few years simply because there’s a recognition that we set these goals, and quickly release them within a few days or a few weeks. Yes, it’s true that many of us use January 1 each year to set new goals and then find difficulty breaking the old habits that would free us and allow us to meet those goals. However, I believe we need to release concerns over past failures and totally reinvent New Year’s resolutions.  

So how can we reinvent resolutions?  First off, they’re not just for January 1 anymore! We can set them on the half year, we can set them every month, we can set them every week,…everyday is a day to set resolutions.

The next thing we can do is let go of the fear of failure we’ve had from are not keeping resolutions from years/months/days past. So what if we didn’t keep some previous resolutions ? That doesn’t define us now. You are always free to change your thinking, change your habits, and change your life. 

We can release our fear of failing to meet any new resolutions we set. So what if we set a goal that we don’t keep or meet? So what if we don’t make a 180° change in some pattern overnight? In the big scheme of things, our failure to meet every little nuance of every resolution or goal we set doesn’t make us a failure. The only time we truly fail is when we don’t set a goal at all. So let’s release our fears and turn our eyes to where we truly want to go in our lives. 

So where do you want to go? What do you want your life to look like? What you want the world to look like? Visualize your life and the world around you as the perfection that it can be and set resolutions and intentions to move you in that direction. 

Sometimes it helps to break your life down into compartments and set goals for each area of your life. For example, you might consider your life from the area of what you want to do for your body and your health, the development of your mind and intellect, your expression of your creative abilities, the development of your relationships with others, your growth in work or employment, your spiritual growth, and so on. I have found that it always helps me to look at my life from the individual standpoint, and set goals for that area of my life. Then I look at the world and how I would like it to be and then set goals for how I show up in it. 

So, I’ve set a lot of goals for myself all throughout the year of 2010. I have goals around exercise and diet, learning a foreign language, personal development and writing. In some cases these goals are stated in such a way that I’ll do something everyday towards that goal, such as exercise or write. And the fact of the matter is, there will be some days when I will do neither. In fact, life may throw me a curveball, and I may get away from one of the other of these intentions for a week or longer. But, I have to be okay with that fact and recognize that I can get back towards my progress on my goals. I cannot let the fear of failure keep me from setting these goals. Neither can I let a little potential future slippage keep me from coming back to them. I must continuously ask myself, where do I want my life to and then move my thoughts, words and deeds in that direction. 

I’ve also looked at the world and set some goals for myself in how I want to show up in relation to it. Some of these goals may seem lofty and out of reach when we’re mired in the world of everyday effects. Yes, there could be plenty of times when I look out of the world and I see things that are less than what I desire for it. However just like when I slip up on my personal goals, I can’t let the world slipping up keep me from my focus and intention on the direction in which I wish to move. I must be resolute in the fact that each of us plays a role in moving the world towards its positive future. I must continue to do my part with my consciousness. 

So, what kind of world do I envision for the last half of 2010 and beyond? Where do I keep my focus and intentions on how I show up in the world for the time coming? 

First off, I envision a world that works for everyone. That means that it works for me and it works for you. That means it works for my family, but it also works for the family of humanity. Yes, I can look around me and work towards my personal success, but I must ever keep in mind that my success is connected to your success and all of our collective success. Hence as I work towards my goals and aspirations, I should ensure that my success should at a minimum harm no one. Even better, it should ultimately serve the greater good. As I express life in my neck of the woods, it should expand life in yours. 

Therefore, I see a world where everyone cares for everyone else. We honor our differences and our uniqueness. We allow each other to hold different beliefs—politically, spiritually and in other areas. In this, we expand our love and care and concern to more and more people. And ultimately, we expand our care and concern to all sentient beings and the world at large. We move from being egocentric and ethnocentric to being world centric. 

I see a world where peace is the norm, where everyone has enough to eat, where all have safety and security, where everyone has the opportunity to express their unique gifts. I see a world where we are all wise stewards of the planet and its resources. I see a world in which we release the sense of separation and claim our unity.

 Yes, these seem like lofty goals and flowery words, but they are a vision of the world that we can become. So, of all my intentions for the rest of 2010 and beyond, the one that is foremost is where I keep my consciousness and my focus on this possible world. I respectfully ask you to do the same. 

Blessings, 

Mark

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Categories Bridge Building, Change Agent, Featured Article

Going to Heaven in a Handbasket

June 11, 2010 //
0

Both heaven and hell are states of mind. We create both heaven and hell right here and right now by our thoughts, words and deeds. So where are you and your world going? Are you going to heaven or to hell? 

When we look out at the external world and judge it to be heading in a direction that we think it not in our collective highest good, we tend to say “the world is going to hell in a handbasket”. Interestingly a quick internet search tells me that the origins of this phrase are not completely known although some conjecture that the meaning related to handbaskets allowing us to easily carry their contents. So, as we know the phrase generally means that things are deteriorating rapidly around us, we seem to also be saying that we are easily carrying out that worsening condition. 

Students of metaphysics are well acquainted with the Law of Attraction. That which we tend to place our attention upon is then that which we tend to draw into our existence. “The Secret” emphasized how we could use this law for material gain. Although many of us who were already familiar with the Law of Attraction were pleased over the publicity “The Secret” brought the teachings, we were somewhat critical of the film’s limited use of its power. Yes, it can bring material wealth and new relationships and the like. But its real power is in how it can bring us to higher levels of our spiritual evolution. 

So where do we want to go? Where are we being called to go? If by chance we look out and proclaim that “the world is going to hell in a handbasket”, could it be that we are contributing to the problem by the focus of our attention? What if instead we looked out and turned our attention on what we wanted to draw more into the world? 

This is not a “head in the sand” philosophy that denies that negative stuff is going on in the world, but rather it is a clarion call for us to wake up and move our focus away from that which we don’t desire and to place our attention on that which we do. What is that for you? 

For me, I can see so much. 

I see people who are assisting one another in meeting their basic needs.  

I see people who are valuing our diversity in lifestyles and opinions, knowing that all contribute to the beauty of the whole.  

I see people expanding their circles of care and concern to include the entire world.  

I see people who are honoring that there are many paths back to Spirit.  

I see the world making these shifts each and everyday.

I see us all going to heaven in a handbasket.

Blessings,

Mark

NOTE: An edited version of this article appeared in the November-December 2009 New Dawn Center for Spiritual Living “Messenger” Newsletter.

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Categories Change Agent, Featured Article, Spirituality

How Is Our Leadership Serving the Highest Vision of Our Planet?

June 7, 2010 //
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bridging humanity to our highest vision of futureIf you are someone who is interested in being a change agent for humanity’s highest potential good, here are some questions to ponder:

  • Do you have a personal mission and vision statement that guides your personal activities? 
  • Do you have an organizational mission and vision statement that guides your organizational activities? 
  • Do you hold a vision for the highest possible future of humanity?
  • As you look to your highest hopes and dreams for humanity, how are your personal or organizational vision statements meshing with that higher vision?

In other words, how is what you are doing each day in all aspects of your life contributing to our collective good?

These are the subjects of an article that I wrote that was recently published in the June 2010 Issue of the Integral Leadership Review.  Here is the link to the article which I hope you will check out:

June 2010 Integral Leadership Review Article

I hope you come back here and tell me your thoughts on it.  It is longer than most pieces here….so take some time to reflect on it….we’ll take a day or 2 off here to give you time to read it!

Mark Gilbert

ps. Take a look at the other articles there too.  It’s an interesting publication and I was pleased to have my article published there.

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Categories Change Agent, Consciousness, Featured Article

Five Steps to Creating a Positive Future

May 5, 2010 //
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All of us want to see humanity move to a positive future.  Each of us play a role in creating that future.  Today we break down that role into five steps.

Step One: Create a Vision of the Future

It sounds almost obvious, but in order to move to a positive future you’ve got to have an idea what that future looks like.  This is the reason that many of my articles are focused on what a positive future might look like.  I recognize that many of us don’t spend much time, if any, visualizing the world’s future.  When I listen to people, I especially tune in whenever I hear anything they say about where the world is going.  More often than not, such talk is more about expressing concern regarding a negative future towards which they fear we are headed.  Although it’s useful to know where you don’t want to go, if that’s all you focus on, then that’s where you’re headed.  Use your concern on a potential negative future to help you gain clarity on its opposite — that being a more positive outcome.  Meditate, vision, journal, talk with others and visualize as necessary to gain clarity on what our highest future can look like.  This is good to do for your personal life, your professional life and our collective global life.  What would you like to see your life and our life look like in five years?  10 years?  Write it down.  Play with it.  Refine it.  Continuously gain clarity on that vision.

Step Two: Turn Away from Anything Not in Alignment with That Vision

Once you have your vision, then you know the direction towards which you wish to head.  Of course, that doesn’t mean everyone around you and the world at large are going to be headed in that direction too.  You’re going to bump into plenty of evidence that says we’re not moving towards our highest possibilities.  You’re going to have people attempt to engage you in negative talk and negative action.  Don’t buy in to any external forces that seek to have you expend your energy in the opposite direction from your vision.  Stay informed on world events but don’t inundate yourself with negative news.  Seek to find the positive where you can.  Kindly remove yourself from conversations that are headed into negativity and complaining.  Turning away from the negativity tossed at us each day is such a challenge for so many people.  This is one reason that many of my articles are directed at reframing world events. 

Step Three: Turn Towards the Vision

Begin to see that every thought, word and action you take is focusing energy out into the world in a particular direction.  Ensure that direction is towards your vision.  When you awake each day, spend a few moments “creating your day” in your mind.  As you visualize your day, see your actions working towards manifesting your vision and your personal life, professional life and our collective global life.  When you create your to-do list and plot actions on your calendar, ensure they include specific tasks directed toward your vision.  You are, of course, beginning to take action in that one area where you have control — yourself, your personal “sphere of influence”.

Step Four: Align Your Life Passion and Purpose with the Vision

Each person on the planet has a special unique talent is being called to express through them.  When we can align our thoughts and actions with our purpose, then we ignite something special within us.  Expressing our life passion is one of the reasons that we are here on earth.  It’s in the living fully of our purpose that work no longer becomes “work”, where we experience a divine flow where we transcend time, where life appears to line up for us and provide us what we need just when we need it with effortless ease.  It is in this space where we accomplish so much.  By finding where your life purpose aligns with your highest vision for all aspects of life, you surely become an evolutionary change agent moving us collectively towards our greatest potential.

Step Five: Expand Your Sphere of Influence — Develop Your Network

Finally, as you find yourself living your passion and moving in the direction of your dreams within your own life, you can’t help but attract others into your sphere of influence.  The spirit that is ignited within you is like a flame that attracts others naturally.  Allow your flame to burn brightly, allow yourself to show others what the life possible looks like.  You’re a teacher, you’re a model, you’re an example for everyone.  As you find others seeking you out, cultivate it.  Expand your friends.  Expand your network.  Expand your sphere of influence.  Allow your positive energy to cascade out around you and in encompass those near you.  Claim your greatness.

Conclusion

What would it look like if everyone followed these five steps?  Yes, there might be some variance from person to person regarding our vision for the greatest possible future, but I truly believe we would find that there is more on which we are in agreement than not.  And, with everyone turning their attention and energy in that direction and igniting their personal passion in the manifestation of such a future, not only would all of our individual lives be a pure joy to live, we would solve humanity’s challenges and create a legacy for our children and our children’s children to come such that there would truly be heaven on earth.

Mark

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Categories Bridge Building, Change Agent, Consciousness, Featured Article

Your Mission and Vision… Are You Living on Purpose?

April 23, 2010 //
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The past few days I’ve been working on an article for a leadership journal that I was asked to write. My intention for the article is to encourage each of us to consider whether or not our actions are in alignment with our mission and vision. The question is valid at each stage of our existence — from our personal lives to our organizational lives and on up to our country and global presence. Writing the article has caused me to peer into my own mission and vision. Do they still resonate with me? Am I living on purpose?

The pondering as to whether or not we are living on purpose is a question we can all benefit in pursuing. Do you have a clearly stated and inspiring mission and vision statement for your life? If not, I would encourage you to develop one. If you have one, are you living on purpose? That is, are the majority of your actions each day in alignment with the mission for your life and your vision for the future?

Developing A Mission and Vision Statement

So what is the mission and vision statement and how do you go about developing one of each? You can take classes and workshops which go into great detail on the advantages of having such statements and how to write them and how to ensure your actions are in alignment. In fact, I’ve taught such classes. But I’m here make it simple.

A mission statement is simply a few words which describes what the purpose of your life is. What is your life about? What are you here on the planet to do? If someone on an elevator asked you what you were born to be, what would be your brief answer? Here’s my current one: “be a teacher and change agent for good“.

The vision statement is also just a few words but is more future oriented. If you are mission statement describes what you’re about each day, then your vision statement is a picture of the future that will come about by your working on your mission. Here’s my current vision statement: “create a world that works for everyone“. Focusing on this future vision guides and motivates the actions of my mission. As I teach and encourage change, such actions are always moving towards creating that world that works for everyone. If my actions are in alignment, then I am living on purpose.

How to develop these statements? The best process is really pretty easy. It involves looking inside yourself on the one hand and looking at your outer world on the other.

Going within — listen to your intuition. Most people have a pretty good idea as to the mission of their life. Something just calls them. Something just feels right. Something just brings them joy when they are doing it. That inner feeling is giving you guidance.

Looking outside — investigate the patterns that showing up in your life. Most people can step back and look at their lives and see if we keep getting drawn over and over to the same things, the same activities, the same opportunities. They might even try to avoid it but it keeps coming back. These patterns are giving you guidance.

Here’s a quick process to develop your mission and vision statements. Get relaxed, redirect your attention inside yourself, within your mind ask for guidance. Sit quietly for a few minutes pondering these two questions: “what activity brings joy and meaning to my life?” and “what activity keeps showing up in my life that I need to pay attention to?” Get out some paper or a journal and write what comes up. After you’ve captured all the thoughts that have flowed to you, synthesize them down to a few words… whatever your day-to-day actions are, that is your mission… whatever your description of a positive future is, that is your vision. Don’t get too hung up on the perfect words….create your statements and call them your “current” ones like I do….then you can always change them as you get more guidance!

Are You Living On Purpose?

Once you have a mission and vision statement, the next task is to make sure that your actions each day are working in alignment with them. Keep your statements posted somewhere where you can see them each day. As you create your “to do” list, check it against your statements. Not all daily actions are going to be coming from your mission nor directed in accomplishing your vision. However, there should be at least some of your daily actions that are moving you in the direction of your purpose.

Your living on purpose plays out in your personal life where you have the most control…..but consider whether or not you are on purpose at your job or work.  The question frequently comes up “what if my mission/vision are totally unrelated to the job I do at work?” There are several things you can consider. First, being aware of this fact may offer you insight as to why you might not enjoy your work. Second, even though your purpose in life may seem unrelated to your work, very rarely is there a job where you cannot bring your purpose into it to some degree. Look for areas of flexibility within your sphere of influence at work where you can bring in some actions related to your life purpose. Third, you can seek to be more on purpose and things you do away from work and draw meaning from them. Finally, there is always the potential for a career change.

Beyond your personal life and work life….you are also a player within your friends and family…within your spiritual community or civic organizations…..within your duty as a citizen of the town, county, state and country…..and ultimately how you show up in the world at large…..are you living on purpose on all the stages on which you play?  Think about it.

The more you are living on purpose in your life, the more joy and happiness fills your being. You lose track of time. You feel as if you are “in the flow”… you feel connected to something outside you. Life begins to move with effortless ease and grace.  The more you are living on purpose in all areas of your life, the move you see how everything is interconnected and how you are a part of that interlocking universe.  Enjoy it!

Mark

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Categories Change Agent, Consciousness

Visions of a Universal Humanity

April 2, 2010 //
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Film Recommendation: Visions of a Universal Humanity

Today I want to highlight a resource that I believe will be helpful to anyone who wishes to move us to a positive future, a recent film by Barbara Marx Hubbard entitled “Visions of a Universal Humanity”, her second part of her “Humanity Ascending” series.

Barbara Marx Hubbard is a futurist with a vision for what humanity can be if it lives up to its highest potential.  Her “Foundation for Conscious Evolution” works to highlight humanity’s story as an ever upward spiral where we crossed critical thresholds, such as the one where we moved from lower animals into our humanness with self awareness.  Barbara and her foundation say we are at another critical threshold in our evolving history, one where we are creating a global interconnectedness where we gain awareness of our oneness and our ability to be a conscious co-creator in our evolution.

This story was first highlighted in a film entitled “Humanity Ascending” which came out a couple of years ago.   I have used this film repeated in classes and workshops to highlight the path that we have collectively been traversing and the choice point where we currently find ourselves.  I highly recommend it.

Now I want to encourage you to get a copy of her new film which furthers the discussion of our potential evolutionary unfolding.  Here is a link to information about the film:  Visions the Movie

Here is a 5 minute video clip to help you see how it might be useful to you:

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Categories Change Agent, Consciousness, Culture, Politics

We Are All Change Agents, But What Are We Changing Towards?

March 20, 2010 //
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Each of us brings change...where are you going?

Today, I want you to consider 2 things—-one, that you are a change agent….and, two, that being a change agent, you need to have a vision as to the direction towards which you are changing.  To paraphrase Stephen Covey, you can climb a ladder but if you don’t think about where the ladder is going, you may find yourself at the top of the wrong building. We are all climbing ladders whether we know it or not.  How do you know if you are climbing in the right direction?

“Change Agent ” Defined

So what exactly is a change agent?  People throw the term around like we all know what it means, without ever stopping to think just exactly what one is.  I frequently call myself a change agent, I’m encouraging you to see yourself as one…in fact, I’m here to tell you that you are one whether you know it or not…so maybe we ought to define it. 

I googled “change agent”, and here’s what I found…”somebody or something that brings about, or helps to bring about, change.”  That sounds like all of us, right?  Some of us may be more “into change” than others, but we all bring about change.  You change your clothes (hopefully with some frequency), you change the channels on the TV, you change what you are eating from time to time, you change houses or jobs or friends or significant others, you change out the light bulb when it burns out.  We can’t help but having change in our lives.  Someone once said, “the only constant is change.”

OK, we all have change in our lives, but the term “change agent” seems to imply more.  I also found on the internet a number of key concepts identified with the change agent such as…someone who seeks to make people better….or someone who works to achieve a higher degree of output or self actualization….or someone who seeks to make changes that stick….or someone who lives in the future, not the present….or someone who is fueled by passion, and inspires passion in others.

So do you see any common denominators here?  For me, the underlying theme is that a change agent is someone who focuses their attention and intentions in a particular direction to bring about a positive future….they see a direction that will serve themselves and others…they set their motivations consciously in that direction and get moving!

Now, we all do this, too, in our individual lives….we look around and think that if we make certain changes (new house, new car, new job, new partner, new career, new education, etc.) then we will bring about a positive future for ourselves.  So we are all obviously “change agents” in this sense.

Yet, we also influence others whether consciously or not.  If we are parents, teachers, supervisors and the like, then we can see how we try to motivate and change others in a certain direction.  But even beyond that, we model behaviors that others see, and to the degree that we have some clout with them, they may try to do as we do.  Think of how you may change your diet, clothes, or entertainment choices based on the actions or recommendations of your friends.  You have the same power with others whether you realize it or not.

We all have a sphere of influence….those with whom we have some degree of power to change their thinking and actions.  How are we using that power?  Are we using it for good or for harm?  Answering that question is very important.  Bringing into your conscious choices that which is for your personal highest good and the highest good for others is one of the most important things you can do.  You are serving the positive evolution of your life and the planet by choosing wisely.

But what is the highest good….both for your life and the life of the planet within your sphere of influence? 

Without Vision, the People Perish

This brings us to having the vision to put our ladder against the right wall before we start climbing…to have the right vision for our life or the right vision in our influence of others.  How can we gain that  vision?

Generally, it appears that we get our visions from one of two ways–we either get a vision ourselves….something touches us so deeply that we know it is the direction we need to head…or, we buy into a vision that is presented to us by someone else.  One appears to come from within (our own vision), one appears to come from outside us (we accept another’s vision as our own).  However, in my opinion, if we truly buy into someone else’s vision with all our heart, then we have ignited the same “something” in us that we ignite when we catch our own vision.  If we don’t, then we are simply “going along with” the other person’s vision out of convenience or lack of something better.

If we are truly inspired by a vision (whether its source appears to come from within us or from another person), that inspiration comes from some greater source beyond us. I call it Spirit or God.  And, Spirit is something that we can tap into consciously by setting an intention to do so in order to gain insight and vision…to consciously seek that inspiration that ignites us.

How can we do that?  I know that the Centers for Spiritual Living and other metaphysical teachings offer a “visioning” process designed to tap “Spirit’s highest vision”.  You move your head out of the way, tap into your heart, and open yourself to listen to Spirit with a specific question in mind….then capture whatever comes up.  Yesterday, I offered up the Global Heart Vision statement as a picture of a positive future towards which to work towards the Global Heart Vision.  This statement was developed using this process….listening to Spirit repeatedly by many people and bringing the ideas that came forth together.

There are other techniques as well.  I like using a guided meditation that brings me to a mountain top where I meet an inner guide (someone who represents “wisdom” for me) in order to dialogue on whatever issue I am faced.  You can also try putting a question on the top of your journal page and then automatic writing on the question for a period of time. 

All of these techniques have one thing in common…they seek to get your head, your ego, your conditioning out of the way so that you can tap into something that is greater than your rational mind.  The rational mind serves us in climbing the ladder, but it may not always get us on the right ladder to begin with.

So how can we be sure that the vision we determine via listening to our inner wisdom is for our highest good and not our ego?  I like how Ernest Holmes tells us that something is good—it expresses more life and harms no one.  So ask yourself that when you are setting a vision or direction for yourself—does it express more life?  Does it harm no one?  If you can answer yes to both, then you are headed up the right ladder.

Summary

You are a change agent….you are making changes in your life all the time….and you are influencing others all the time.  You have great power and great responsibility.  Are you using it wisely?  Are you climbing up the right ladder for yourself and for the world?  Listen to your heart, your intuition, Spirit as you seek vision….seek to express more life and harm no one in your actions….and then move consciously in the direction of that future.

Mark

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Categories Change Agent, Consciousness, Spirituality
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