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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

Don’t Delay, Act Now: Free Movies!

March 6, 2010 //
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Enjoy a film....make a difference!

Today we shine our light on two bright spots. 

Remember the other day when I encouraged you to find bright spots in your life… those things that are working well… and give them your energy, your attention, your focus.  That which you focus on, grows. 

Let’s focus all of our lights on these bright spots and grow them on the planet!

Share this resource with your friends now!

Free Movies

First, free movies….well, of course, you might say, nothing really is free.  There is no monetary cost for these films, but they do ask you to pay it forward by sharing the movies with 10 people.

Filmmaker Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee was a musician who five years ago, took the concept of oneness and put it into practice in his life.  Armed with grant money, he began producing short, uplifting movies and making them available for free.  All of the films point us towards the highest potential for humanity.  They look at issues, but turn the light on solutions.

You can watch the films online at the Global Oneness Project or you can request a DVD at no cost.  Again, the only cost is to pay it forward.  See the short video here, which explains the process. 

I recommend you see the film “What Would It Look Like?”  It is available on their website or via DVD.  It’s 25 minutes long and worth it.  I like it because we are always talking here about visualizing what the highest possible world would look like.  The film discusses that question!

Watch the films and be inspired by them.  Then see where you can create those bright spots in your life.

Another Bright Spot

One of the films available from the Global Oneness Project is called “Seva Café: Love All, Serve All.”  I have made it available here.  It’s four minutes long.  Take a few minutes and be inspired. And “pay if forward” and inspire your friends!  Enjoy!

Mark

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Categories Bridge Building, Change Agent

Find the Bright Spots in Your Life and Duplicate Them

March 3, 2010 //
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Find that bright spot in your life and focus on it!

There’s an old joke that asks “how do you eat an elephant?”  The answer of course is “one bite at a time.”

This joke comes to mind whenever I confront a problem that seems overwhelming.  It reminds me to not get bogged down in trying to repair everything at once.  Instead, we are called to tackle one small part of the issue which otherwise seems insurmountable.  The question always becomes, where should I start?  What’s the best “first bite of the elephant”?

The advice of many gurus… from business consultants advising you on how to institute change in your company… to personal coaches, advising you on how to get a handle on your life… generally say the same thing — begin with easy wins.  That is, look around and see what the easiest fix is and make that change.  It seems like a no-brainer, but there’s some good reasons for starting this way.  One of the biggest is to build momentum in the direction you wish to move.

Another advantage is that by having some early success to focus your attention upon, it redirects your mind from focusing upon the problem.  Students of metaphysics, familiar with the “Law of Attraction” popularized in the book and movie “The Secret” will most likely see how this principle comes into play here.  That which we focus upon with our mental energy tends to grow.  If we focus on our problems, we grow our problems.  If we focus upon our successes, we grow our successes.

Authors Chip Heath and Dan Heath in their new book “Switch” offer another way to get at this question of where to take the first bite.  They suggest that if you are faced with a situation of solving what appears to be an overwhelming problem, you look around and find somewhere where things are going right.  In other words, you find the “bright spots”, you determine what characteristics are bringing about the success, then you attempt to duplicate those factors elsewhere.

The Heath brothers, in my opinion, are some of the best writers today with the knack of melding stories together that highlight a point, offering you an insight and a connection that is both enlightening and practical.  Their first book, “Made to Stick,” gave us some critical advice on how to ensure that our messaging to others remained in their awareness.  I believe it’s essential reading for teachers, speakers, ministers, public relations specialists and anyone else whose business it is to communicate concepts and ideas.  Before I left my position at the government, I required my public affairs and outreach staff to all to read the book.

The Heaths detail a number of stories where large change was needed but the change agents did not get overwhelmed by the enormous task at hand. Rather they sought where things were working right and shined a light on it.  In one story, an individual working for Save the Children went to Vietnam to fight malnutrition.  Prior studies had pointed at the enormous issues of sanitation, poverty and lack of clean water as the problems.  Rather than tackling these concerns, the worker sought out situations where children were healthy in spite of the conditions.  He studied what was different (mothers were feeding their children more frequently, hand feeding them if necessary to ensure they ate, feeding them when sick, adding extra items into their food which were available locally and gave additional nutrients, etc.).  Armed with this information, he taught these techniques to other mothers.  These small changes reduced the rates of malnutrition.

Another story looked at a student who was failing in school, determining what factors were different in the one class he was passing, and then replicating them in his other classes leading to academic improvement.  The Heath’s also described the process of “solutions focused therapy”, which has been around for many years, and how it does not try to focus energy on uncovering the root cause of psychological or marital issues, but rather drills into the areas where things are going right, determining the factors at play, and growing them.

Once again, we see how this relates to the Law of Attraction.  The idea is to shift energy away from being absorbed “looking at” the problem and rather place energy upon “looking at” the solution.  If we look at the bright spots and focus our attention there, we grow more bright spots.

So where are the elephants in your life?  Where do you see such large problems that you’re stuck on how to tackle them?  Where do you feel paralysis, because you don’t know where to begin?

These elephants show up in all areas of our life.  They can be at our jobs, our relationships, our personal development and so on.  They certainly show up on the world stage in such looming problems as the economy, climate change, lack of political trans-partisanship, etc.

Today I invite you to look around at your life and see the bright spots.  Ask yourself, what is different here that makes it seem “bright”?  Express gratitude for that area where things are going right and then seek to duplicate it in other areas of your life.

Mark

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Categories Change Agent

Seven Simple Ways to Bring Love and Kindness into the World

February 24, 2010 //
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Bring Love Everywhere You Go!

Here are seven simple ways you can be the change you want to see in the world.  Seek to practice as many of these as you can each day.  You will be making a difference in your life and the planet.

1   Make Eye Contact

It’s so easy to get locked in our own internal world that we forget that we are walking among fellow spiritual beings.  Look up.  See the other person.  Look in their eyes.  Don’t get discouraged if they look away.  Keep looking, you will connect with many beautiful souls.  Affirm: today I look in the eyes of everyone I see.

2   Smile

Now that you’re looking at people, smile.  Think of all the expressions you’ve ever seen in other people’s faces.  What would you rather see?  Give the smile you want to receive.  Affirm: today, I smile at everyone.

3  Be Consciously Polite

Look for ways to display good manners.  Say please and thank you.  Hold doors.  Let people in to your lane on the highway.  Affirm: today, I am consciously polite in every possible situation.

4  Listen

There is no greater gift we can give to a person than to listen when they are speaking. When someone speaks to you, give them your undivided attention.  If you were doing something else, let go of it for a moment.  Focus on what they’re saying, not on what you were doing previously or what you’re going to say in response. Affirm: today, I listen deeply to every person who speaks to me.

5  Give Your Energy to Goodness

Recognize that whatever you give your attention and focus to grows in your life.  When those around you are being negative, be polite, but don’t buy in to their negativity.  Avoid rumors, talking about others negatively behind their back, and the like.  Turn off negative media.  On the other hand, consciously look for positive actions and positive statements out in the world and reinforce it.  When someone exhibits kindness or makes a positive comment, acknowledge it.  Seek out affirmative media.  Affirm: today, I see and give my energy to goodness in the world.

6  Take the Other’s Perspective

Let go of the need to be right and to change other people’s minds.  Hold healthy boundaries for yourself and your beliefs, but look for ways to understand how others think and why they think that way.  When someone states an opinion or exhibits a behavior with which you disagree, try to imagine how and why that could be their choice in that moment.  Briefly visualize how their life might have led them to having that worldview or opinion.  With that in mind, hold compassion for them.  You don’t have to agree with them, condone their behavior, or change their mind.  Affirm: today, I seek to understand those who believe differently.

7  Bring Acts of Love, and Kindness into the World

Consciously and deliberately look for ways to instigate loving mischief all around you.  Freely give compliments.  Pay for other people’s meals.  Notice ways others are being kind in the world and copy it.  Be the love you want to see in the world.  Set an intention every day to perform a certain number of kind acts each day and then keep increasing it.  Pass along positive e-mails such as this one.  Affirm: today, I bring acts of love and kindness everywhere I go.

What additional ways can you think of to bring love and kindness into the world?  Add your thoughts to this note and pass it on to your friends now.  Feel free to give me your ideas as well.

Namaste.

Mark

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Categories Bridge Building, Change Agent, Consciousness, Culture

Do you “circle the wagons” around your beliefs?

January 31, 2010 //
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Do you “circle the wagons” around your beliefs? What do I mean by that? Do you have an opinion or belief that you insulate from the rest of the world by not allowing yourself to entertain any other belief? 

Lately, I have noticed that so many people seem to surround themselves with only those people who believe like they do. I especially see this in relation to our spiritual and political ideas. Many of us only read books or watch on TV programs or listen to radio shows that only serve to reinforce what we already believe. I even read recently about coffee shops that were havens for only people who held certain political beliefs. 

Ernest Holmes wrote, “Behind all is a unity, through all is a diversity; saturating all is a divinity. “ We are all Spiritual beings living our lives in the vast multiplicity of possibilities. We are all One.

So how can we move through life and honor the diversity of expression and beliefs? The first thing we can do is to allow ourselves to be exposed to alternate view points that differ from our cherished beliefs. The second thing we can do is to give the gift of truly listening to other people and understanding what they believe. Listen, don’t react. Choose to understand their viewpoint, not argue them out of it. 

Although we can choose whether to modify our beliefs or not after gaining this understanding, the real value is in our stepping back and seeing the beautiful diversity of life in all its expressions. And, as we honor others by understanding them, we are setting in motion a powerful law that will serve to make the world a place that works for all.

Mark 

NOTE: The above article appeared in the New Dawn Center for Spiritual Living “Messenger” newsletter for September/October 2009 issue.

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Categories Change Agent, Consciousness

“The Cove”, Dolphins, and the Call for our Evolution

January 9, 2010 //
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"The Cove"

I want to recommend that you watch a movie called “The Cove”. 

Now I have to warn you there are some intense scenes in this film that are not for the faint of heart.

The picture deals with the secret industry that works to sell dolphins to wildlife shows around the world and to slaughter the excess capture to be sold as meat. The movie highlights the work of Ric O’Barry who was the capturer and trainer of the dolphins used in the TV series “Flipper”. During his work on the show, Rick discovered the vast intelligence of the dolphins, as well as their sensitivity to living in captivity. He forged a close relationship with the primary dolphin used in the TV series and when she “committed suicide”, it changed his life. At that point, he became an advocate for the freeing of dolphins that are held in captivity. Read the rest of this entry »

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Categories Change Agent, Culture, Entertainment
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