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Hi,
'Be you'
At the end of a 90 minute bikram (or 'hot') yoga session I sweated my way through this week, my teacher had the class focus on this succinct meditation. Simple words.....delivering a sagely challenging directive.
I believe two things make this seemingly simple meditation
pragmatically challenging..the two words 'be' and 'you':
First, to simply 'be' goes against our obsessive cultural celebration of 'doing'. We reward and promote 'doers'. We eschew the notion of 'being' as something that somehow lacks tangible value and, therefore, is not enough.
Second, the foundational assumption that makes embracing this meditation possible is that we can actually answer the question 'who are you?' in a way other than: 'I am what I do' or 'it depends on who I'm with' or
'do you mean at work or at home?'.
Coaching executive leadership places emphasis on raising a client's level of self-awareness - knowing 'who you are'. Coaches help leaders understand that the way they do one thing, they do ALL things. The concept is in full alignment with the mediation to 'be you' wherever, whenever and with whomever you find yourself.
In my work I have found that most people aren't as far from knowing the answer as they often think they are. A few well crafted and timed questions create unguarded dialogue that enables clues to emerge. The clues allow me to show a client when he or she is 'BEING YOU'?
1. There's a shift in vocal energy (tone, cadence, pitch) that reveals passion - 'I know exactly what to do'
2. The roadblocks to goals melt into manageable challenges - 'I can figure this out.'
3. Outcomes are neutralized - 'it's all good, there's no win or lose'
4. The inner critic is silenced - 'I can do anything!'
Robin Sharma, in his book 'The Saint, the Surfer, and the CEO', asserts that we were born with a complete knowledge of ourselves. But in the busy-ness of life (aka 'doing') we get distracted and forget. He says ' The journey of life is not about improving oneself..... rather, it is about
remembering oneself.'
Something to think about today:
Where, when, and with whom are you experiencing any
of the clues listed above?
In other words, when are you most BEING YOU?
Thanks for sharing your Second Cup with me,
Mike
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