What’s Love Got to do With It?

What’s Love Got to do With It?

by | Jan 8, 2015 | Article, Standard, Three Principles

I’m struck over and over again by how, when people get introduced to the Principles of Mind Consciousness and Thought, they become more naturally present, and how, when people are present they experience love.

Love is essential to leadership, because when you feel love, you naturally turn away from reactive patterns of thought. In a responsive state of mind, you make better decisions and get along better with people. You’re more resilient, more creative, more fun to be around, and have more to give. This is why love is essential to leadership.

I’m grateful to be sharing these principles with women leaders, because the more leaders we have who are present and in a loving, responsive state of mind, the more people we will have in charge who are making our world a better place to live.

Mental Clarity in a Minute

Mental Clarity in a Minute

by | Nov 7, 2014 | Article, Mental Clarity, Standard

It’s really been striking me lately how easily our minds can clear themselves and return to the present moment, where we have mental clarity and access to our best thinking, and yet how much time we spend disconnected from our mental clarity.

When you watch children, it’s clear that nature designed your mind to clear itself regularly throughout the day. Whether a child is having a great time or a meltdown, once s/he’s had that experience s/he returns to the present and moves on, mentally clear and ready for the next adventure.

The only thing that gets in the way of your mind functioning this way – having mental clarity in a minute – is that by the time you reach adulthood you have often developed mental habits that get in your way. I was talking with a client today who said her mental habit was being in a fog. Another client has a habit of procrastination; others find that worry obscures their minds. Catching onto the fact that these mental habits are feelings, and feelings are thoughts, is enough for the principles to do the work they’re designed to do – clear your thoughts and allow your mind to return to the present moment.

Wouldn’t you like to have mental clarity in a minute? Remember, these principles are always up and running, and when you dial them in, they never put you on hold.

Your Consciousness Can Change the World

by | Oct 3, 2014 | Article, Standard, State of Mind

I’m continually amazed by the power of living from the inside-out – knowing that the only thing I can feel is thought in the moment. One of the things that’s been hitting me lately is realizing how powerfully this awareness affects our consciousness, and how much our consciousness affects other people and the world.

Here’s an example from one of my clients, Heidi, who is also partnering with me in offering the Take the Lead: Women Awakening to Leadership programs. Heidi is an amazing executive coach and expert in the field of leadership. While she’s a master at negotiating relationships, she kept running into difficulty and conflict with a woman, whom I shall call Cheryl, who was part of a team Heidi was coaching. Heidi couldn’t understand why every time they talked it appeared as though this woman was challenging her and even attacking her. It was taking a lot of her time and energy and going nowhere.

Looked at paradigmatically, Heidi realized she was in a mixed paradigm – when she thought about Cheryl, it looked to her like her feelings were coming from Cheryl, and then she kept strategizing ways to get it right with her. No matter what Heidi tried, it didn’t work, and she kept having one extremely unpleasant encounter after another with her.

Once Heidi got inside-out about Cheryl – realized, that is, that her feelings were coming from her thoughts about her, not from Cheryl herself – Heidi’s head cleared. She found herself communicating with Cheryl in a way unlike any she had before. While before, she would have said things like……”Well, we appreciate you sharing your POV, but the group has moved on to other concerns that we’d like you to support…” this time she said: “I really do value your willingness to speak up and make sure we are on the right track… and I really appreciate our conversations, though they are sometimes difficult for me, and hope that they will allow us to work better together, and be better team leaders together going forward.”

The response Heidi got back from Cheryl literally blew her mind. It was completely open in tone and substance. Cheryl acknowledged their new understanding and shared commitment. She also confided that the relationship had been difficult for her as well and that she now looked forward to working together for the good of the team.

For Heidi, this was a remarkable example of the power of the inside-out paradigm. All Heidi did, she said, was get inside-out about Cheryl – and then it was as if the rest happened on its own. She’s still amazed at the shift that happened in their relationship.

When we go inside-out about life, it creates a major shift in our consciousness, which not only impacts us, but others, and our relationships with others. It’s exciting to think about what will happen when this gets in the hands of more leaders.

What If We Really Could Help The World?

by | Sep 4, 2014 | Article, Leadership, Standard

One of the things that I often notice about the new psychological paradigm is how, once you align yourself with it, it does all the work. Like a well-oiled engine, it keeps your mind running smoothly. Rather than thinking positively, re-framing, looking for a good feeling, or trying to clear your mind, aligning yourself with the single paradigm does it all. It causes your mind to become rooted in the present, because it allows you to see your own thinking more of the time. As you see yourself thinking, it makes less and less sense to be in the past or the future.

The result of not filling up your head with so much extraneous thought is that there’s room for mental clarity, insight and wisdom to show up on a regular basis. Layers of thought habits you developed over the course of your lifetime fall away, making room for fountains of fresh thinking to arrive.

In my own life, this happened recently in a way that had a big impact. As I was working on a podcast series, I suddenly had the thought: ‘this could go out to the world in a major way.’ I realized that the combination of the internet with the simplicity and power of the single paradigm could impact large numbers of people who are struggling. To my surprise, I then noticed a feeling of heaviness lilting, something I’d been carrying for a long time and didn’t know was there. Perhaps it began with whatever thoughts I had growing up, when I realized how many people were starving and homeless, and that there appeared to be no real way to help them. I see my daughter struggling now with the same conundrum. What if there really was a way to help our world?

Mental Rest Part II

by | Aug 1, 2014 | Article, Mental Clarity, Standard

I wrote Mental Rest Part I last August, 2013. I talked then about how everything in nature has a rhythm of activity and rest, and how our minds are designed the same way. I pointed out in that article that people who learn about the 3 principles realize that, while activities like yoga and meditation are places where many experience mental rest, our minds will rest any time we allow them to, and how much we benefit from allowing our minds to rest more often.

Here’s a metaphor to take that idea a step further: If you’ve ever been in a Prius, you know that, when you stop at a stoplight, the engine shuts off. Part of the intelligence of the design of a Prius is that it knows to shut itself off when activity isn’t needed.

Our brains are designed the same way. It’s easy to get in the habit of constant mental activity, but just like a car, when you do so you’re wasting valuable resources. A Prius knows to shut down when activity isn’t necessary, and then there’s more resources (gas) available for when they’re needed. Our brains know to do that too. There’s a feeling to it when we’re wasting mental energy – feelings of fatigue, or hollowness, or stress. These feelings are reminders that mental activity isn’t needed in the moment – you’re using your mental engine when it could be resting. When you notice that and you allow it, your mind drops into an experience of mental presence. Like the sweet still quiet of August, mental presence has a quiet richness to it, full of depth and beauty. When mental activity is called for again, you’ll have far more resources at your disposal than you would otherwise.

Where do Great leaders Get Their Courage?

by | Jun 4, 2014 | Article, Leadership, Standard

Believe it or not, courage boils down to one simple thing: the ability to look thought right in the eye.

Notice I didn’t say it’s the ability to analyze your thinking. Or to try to change it, or make it more positive.

Courage comes from understanding the nature of Thought. Without this understanding, our minds spin out of control, because when you don’t understand the nature of Thought, it makes you inherently insecure. Insecurity leads to a great deal of unnecessary thinking, making you more and more stressed and vulnerable.

Understanding the nature of Thought clears unnecessary thinking out of the way. When you realize that all of your feelings are coming from your thinking in the moment, absolutely and without exception, several things happen that give you the courage needed for great leadership:

  1. Your thoughts settle themselves, giving you the gift of a quiet mind, inner peace, calm, contentment and well being.
  2. You’re able to look the facts in the eye and make good decisions

When your mind is overactive, your mental clarity gets blurred. You lose your perspective and often don’t look at what’s really going on, because you feel like you don’t have the mental wherewithal to do so. When your mind settles and clears, on the other hand, it gives you the clarity to look directly at the facts of any given situation. You’re no longer frightened by feelings you can’t handle. You can see the big picture, and access the quality of thought needed to tackle the challenges in front of you.

Courageous leaders are leaders who understand the nature of Thought. And with the challenges we face in our world today, courageous leaders are needed now more than ever.