What Box?^®

Okay, do me a favor right now. No matter where you are.

Close your eyes and breathe in. Take the time to hold the air in your lungs and then breathe out, letting go of any negative thoughts or feelings. Let the air out all the way until you have no more air in your lungs. Now breathe in again, this time focusing on positive energy and love. Continue breathing in, focusing your mind on the positive, and breathing out, focusing your mind on the negative, for at least ten times with your eyes closed.

Now, how do you feel after your focused breathing exercise?

In all likelihood you are more relaxed, your muscles are less tense, your heart is beating slower, your mind is calmed and you are more energized. Focused breathing is an important creativity tool that will enable you to gain greater focus and clarity in your life.

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” Carl Jung

Living, working, and playing have a way of taking over our lives. I know that when I most need to take the time to breathe I don’t. That is because I am so caught up in what I am doing, what I’m about to do, and in most cases what I need to be doing next, that I start going faster and faster. This is exactly when I need to remember to focus on my breathing and take the steps to increase my energy.

Here is the thing. When I am able to catch myself in the “doing mode” I am able to focus on my breathing. I close my eyes and breathe in and breathe out and, just like magic, I am calmer, more efficient, and more effective. This new found clarity allows me to take in what is happening and create better results in the here and now, and as a result, I am in a better mood and work more effectively with the people around me.

“I have everything I need to enjoy my here and now–unless I am letting my consciousness be dominated by demands and expectations based on the dead past or the imagined future.” Ken Keyes, Jr.

Being aware of your breathing is not a new idea. Throughout history wise sages, shamans, and spiritual leaders have understood the power of focused breathing. They knew that one could live longer, be calmer, increase energy, and create greater meaning in your life just by taking the time to learn how to focus ones breathing. Today, we hyper humans don’t even think about the impact that our breathing has on our lives. We continue to try to do more, create more, and collect more, all the while not realizing that our breathing can impact the results of these efforts, and in many cases, for the better.

How often do you think about your breathing?

Breathing is one of the most powerful ways we have to change the way we are thinking or feeling about something. It can actually change the chemistry of our brain, causing it to slow down and affect the way we behave, react, and respond to any given situation. Learning to breathe more effectively will increase your energy levels. The more energy you have the more power you have. When your energy is increased and focused, you are more likely to achieve your goals in life. Your breath is connected to the life force of the universe. When you learn to focus on your breathing you become more aware of this life force, which results in increased energy and power.

Next time you find yourself stressed out about a job you are working on, or running so fast you do not know which way to go, take the time to breathe in the positive and breathe out the negative. Like most of what is written in What Box? it takes practice and patience to learn how to breathe. It is worth the effort and the rewards of greater energy and increased power will be yours.

Let me know what you think.

Remember that the only boxes that exist are the ones you create yourself.

Throughout history the universe has conspired to support the dreamer, the dreamers of possibility. Dreamers are the people who have changed their lives and ours for the better, and in some cases for the worse. Dreamers are constantly on the move and can be found in many places at once. What separates dreamers from the rest of society? Dreamers are always seeking. Their drive to seek for something more enables them to focus their energies to discover greater meaning in their lives; to increase their consciousness, to make a difference in the world in which they live, and to connect to the deeper mysteries of life.

Seekers are the heroes of the past and of our future, because they are willing to dream, and in many cases, dream big.

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Henry David Thoreau

What are you seeking?

Many of us are preoccupied with seeking money. It is the focus of our lives. We don’t just spend our money on what we need, but we buy things to say to the world, “Look at how much I have, how much money I have, how powerful I am.” The fast lane of life produces a “quantity” not a “quality” existence. Just look around you at the advertisements for all the new homes being built, the food being produced, all of the material things that we are enticed to buy. And then look at the consumption taking place and the energy it takes to maintain all the stuff that we accumulate in our lives.

There is another way, and that way is to get real, to go inside and to discover the deeper mystery of ourselves. It is important to understand that money can buy you almost anything, anything but meaning.

When we choose to focus our energies on seeking “things” we sacrifice and spend our time on making more and more money to make it possible to accumulate all the stuff that makes us look important to those around us. How much time do you have to sit and do nothing, to take a walk in nature and to contemplate who you are, to be alone and to be silent? The poverty of time could be our society’s greatest challenge today.

“How you spend you time is more important than how you spend your money. Money mistakes can be corrected, but time is gone forever.” David B. Norris

Some of my most precious and sacred moments are the times that I am able to spend on Grand Lake, being alone, rocking on the porch of my antique log cabin, surrounded by nature and isolated from the rest of the world. It is here that I am able to connect with the heart and understand, with greater awareness, my true nature and purpose in life.

Yet, like so many out there, I am addicted to intensity, the intensity of the deal, being one step ahead, meeting the right people, making things happen, and buying my next “thing” what ever it may be. This takes a lot of time and energy. It makes me “silence starved” and diverted from seeking my true meaning, something that is better found in nature than on a highway, at the airport or on city streets.

Why is it that as children we chose to spend more time outdoors and as adults we choose to spend the majority of our time indoors?

What is it we were seeking as children? Was it our big dream?

We have lost our inner power, because all we do is focus on the outer. When we focus on our vivid inner workings we discover who we are and our greater purpose, our meaning in life. We have become “outer beings” instead of “inner beings” human doings not human beings.

“Outer beings” see power coming from money and the things that money buys them. We are lost if we only see power coming from money. Money is an important instrument to create environments of greater discovery. You do need material things to discover and explore, but by itself, money cannot help you understand your true nature or create greater meaning in your life.

“From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.” Arthur Ash

Part of creating meaning in your life is finding ways that you can give back, to make a contribution to the world in which we live. Today each of us has an amazing opportunity to be a part of changing the course of history by focusing our attention on making a difference in our city, state, nation, and around the world. We have accumulated enough money that we can live the lifestyles to which we have become accustomed, and at the same time we can search for greater meaning in our lives. We can awaken that part of us that is about giving back and making a positive difference. True happiness is found in giving and helping others.

No nation in history has been positioned so well to become the great seeker of modern times. Our dream, the dream of a new possibility of working together, has the potential to influence people in the world to become the best they can be and change the course of history that we see in front of us. Time is ticking. . .

“The cynic says, ‘One man can’t do anything.’ I say, only one man can do anything. One man interacting creatively with others can move the world.” John W. Gardner

What are you seeking?

Let me know what you think.

Until next week, remember the only boxes that exist are the ones you create yourself.

I was looking through a Christie’s Grand Estate magazine that a realtor friend had sent me for the umpteenth time. I am sure that he had sent it to me in hopes that I would be inspired to buy yet another piece of property. Inside were descriptions of amazing homes for sale all over the world and I wondered who was buying these estates. The prices ranged from the low millions all the way up to $135 million dollars. That’s right. $135 million dollars for a 56,000 square foot home in Colorado. But wait. There was more; a barn, 126 acres, and three guesthouses. The driveway was even heated so you wouldn’t have to shovel snow to get to your 12-car garage. Now that is amazing.

My imagination kicked in. I started picturing people inside this over-the-top home flitting about like birds in a gilded cage. I mean, how much money do you have to have to qualify for such a purchase? The monthly payments on a home mortgage for this kind of estate is beyond my comprehension. We really have lost it!

What is it about our society that creates such monuments of excess?

Here is the thing. A majority of us will never even come close to experiencing the wealth necessary to take on the debt of a 56,000 square foot home, and yet many of us seem to desire to reach for it or something close to it. More and more of us are getting close, yet at what cost?

“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”  Charles Kingsley

On our way to the Promised Land of excess we create our own gilded cages. We create the bars of our cages to feel more successful, to have more self-confidence, to prove to ourselves that we are good enough, and in the end, believing that our possessions represent who we are. These are just a few examples of the bars we create for ourselves.

We decorate our cages with as many comforts as we can to feel more successful: big screen televisions, wine cellars, plush furniture, gourmet kitchens, art collections, and what ever else we can think of that pleases us so we can fill our cages with the things that will make us feel more acceptable. We end up living in a self-created kind of prison, paid for in great part on credit and ever growing debt.

Are you living in a gilded cage?

I want you to know that the door is always open to fly out of your gilded cage. What? You are just like the bird that is in a birdcage with the door open. The bird does not choose to fly out, because it is just more comfortable inside the cage. You can choose to fly out of your cage as well. Step outside of your cage a bit and you think, “What was that?” The taste of true freedom, the ability to do what ever you want, can be scary. You can do whatever you want to do. Anything is possible.

“Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What do you really want and how far will go to get it?

Flying out the door of your cage is to transform yourself into the person that you really are and are meant to be. Go ahead and let go of the bars that create your self-imposed cage. “How can I do this?” you may ask.

To understand and to know that you are in a self-created prison is the first step. You must study the bars of your cage. What are the bars of your cage made of? Are they made of naysayers, psychologist’s messaging, religious beliefs, family baggage, childhood memories, mind-altering substances, or a friend’s influences? Seeing and understanding the bars that you have created are the first steps to being truly free.

You can’t get out of an imaginary prison. You need to understand the prison you have created, otherwise you will find yourself entering into another prison that has another set of self-created bars holding your cage. You must understand the true nature of the bars that keep you caged in. Get out of your self-absorption and dive deep into what it means to be a human. What is your greater purpose on this planet? Is it to buy more stuff, to fill your cage, or is it to contribute to the betterment of yourself and of society?

“Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts, of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.”  Henry David Thoreau

Cultivating that which makes you free and living your purpose in life takes time and tremendous energy. Find that space within yourself that allows you create inner peace and the answers will come to you. Realizing this path will give you the wings to fly out of the gilded cage in which you reside.

Where do you want to fly?

Let me know what you think.

Until next week, remember the only boxes that exist are the ones you create for yourself

Have you ever heard the story of the man walking down a beach that is covered with starfish as far as the eye can see.  Off in the distance he saw a boy throwing starfish back into the ocean as fast as he can.  After walking quite some distance across thousands of starfish he asks the boy, “What are you doing?”  “I am saving the star fish from dying,” the boy says.  The man responds, “Look how many star fish there are, how can you possibly make a difference?”  The boy responded without hesitation, “I am making a difference for this one.”

One starfish at a time is how he was making a difference and you can too.

I have been like a starfish on more than one occasion.  Back in Junior High School I was given one last chance to make it through the traditional learning system after being removed from over 8 schools, yes 8 schools.  Almost everyone had given up on me.  I can still remember sitting outside a principal’s office in the 5^th grade, for yet another time, when he said, “Sean you will either end up being a multi-millionaire or in jail, you just seem to want to make your own rules.”

The teacher who decided I was worth saving was Frank Interbitzen and he was hell bent on seeing me make it through at least one level of school without being removed.  You see, up to that point I had not even been able to stay enrolled in one class for the entire year much less the entire school without being moved or removed.  One day at the start of the school year he sat down with my mother and I to discuss what interested me.  At that time I was totally obsessed by dinosaurs and nature, you know the kid with dinosaur toys all over the place.  He thought for a while and said lets enroll him into the schools biology class and see where that takes him.  Not even Frank could have been prepared for what happened next.

The school system already working hard to put me into an alternative class environment said, “there was no way this kid could be enrolled in the biology class.  “How can you even think he could perform well, he can’t even get through a basic English class much less biology.”  With help from my mother, Frank persevered and pushed it all the way to the heads of the school district and put his job on the line in support of this wild eye kid.

All of the sudden I am sitting in a biology class with the best students in the school.  I was so very nervous and totally unsure of my self at the time.  One of our first projects was to dissect a frog and boy did I take to that like a, well, a frog in water.  For the first time that my parents could remember I was studying, all I could think about was my biology class.  To the surprise of all the nay Sayers I just could not get enough of that class and even ended up mentoring other students after hours on how to conduct the delicate dissection process.  Guess what?  I passed the class with my very first B.

I had done so well that I was at the top of the class and nominated as one of twelve students to be in the advanced biology class the following year.   In this biology class we would spend a good part of the year dissecting a cat and identifying all the major muscles and other amazing body parts.  It was fantastic and I ended up graduating from all two years of Junior High school.

Looking back on this pivotal moment in my life I realize Frank probably saved my life.  He did not have to do what he did and certainly it did not look like a good bet from the history he had to go from.  In the end he saw something in me that others did not, except my mother, and realized that I was not being challenged enough to stay focused on the subjects at hand.  Frank wherever you are now I am so grateful you were willing to throw this starfish back into the ocean of life.  There are so many more stories of how Frank kept at it with me; those will have to wait for another day.

Are there things in the world you would like to change?  Are you not satisfied with the way things are in the world?

I believe one of the reasons we don’t make the effort to change the world is because we are afraid of change ourselves.  Change means we have to do what we have been doing in a different way.  It might make us uncomfortable.  We may have to change long held beliefs and adopt new ones.  It is just easier to do what we have been doing the same way as we have because it is comfortable.  Lets face it; it is not easy to change ourselves much less the world.

We have to have faith.  Faith that we can change for the better and others can too.

We have to never ever give up and preserver through many challenges along the way.  We may not be able to throw all the starfish back into the ocean and yet the ones we are able to save and influence have the power to make a big difference.  Because they then influence another and another and another and another and another and then you have a movement and the start of meaningful change.

What Box? is a small example of how one can influence others in positive ways, give back, and change the world one starfish at a time.

How do you want to change the world?  Let go your fears and put your ideas for change into action.

Until next week, remember the only boxes that exist are the ones you create yourself.