Standing for Something Bigger

Twelve days ago, nine friends accepted an invitation and attended an introduction to Landmark, which I arranged at a venue in Kendal.  The space that has opened for me since then has been incredible.

Being in touch with the work that Landmark so powerfully bring to my life and to the world is an important ingredient of the transformative learning that they teach. 

Like going to the gym and taking on a healthy diet for three months and getting in the shape of your life, if you spend the next three months sat on the settee eating cake you will get flabby again.  You must first know to do the right things, then you must bring them into action, and be committed to doing them over and again.

When I played a lot of poker I had a poker strategy book on my desk at work and a customer told me that he had read over thirty poker books and had not improved as a player. Perhaps it was not the reading of the books that was required.  The professional players I know who work tirelessly at improving their strategic games have to put into practice many times over before they can adapt their style.  They have to understand the strategy, not just read the words on the page.  Jonny Wilkinson stood out in the training field clasping his hands, visualising, and then taking his run up to loft the ball over the goalposts.  David Beckham stayed behind after training to practice his free-kicks daily.  Even the master has to continually sharpen the saw.  They both repeated what they had learned during each match.  Nothing comes from knowing once, without further practice.

There is a phrase that I have seen being shared a lot recently.  It says 'surround yourself with people who are going to lift you higher'. 

I remain slightly uncomfortable with the aforementioned statement as it occurs to me that there is  a suggestion that we have to leave behind those that are not positive and that is a way of being that is not compassionate.  If it occurs for you in the same way, I do not subscribe to the ide of casting off people because of where they are in their journey.  I stand for inclusion of everyone; wherever they are right now, or wherever they have come from.  Have compassion for our humanity. 

I have benefitted from surrounding myself with some great people recently, none more so than by undertaking the work I have done with Landmark since last September.  The introduction leader who led our introduction in Kendal saw me for something more than I have been able to see myself for and her words and the stand she took for me allowed me to find power, empowerment, and to cast off the weight of the meaning I attach to everything that happens.  She reminded me of the experience I had in London and asked me if I wanted that for my friends.  When you find a space that good you don't just want it for your friends, you want if for the world!

The most important reminder that has contributed to the great space I find myself in has been that I now stand for something bigger than me and I am being bigger for the world than I ever thought I could be.  Greatness is within us all.  All you need to do is peel back the layers of the onion and reveal who you truly are.  You will not find cynicism, or inaction, you won't discover hate, or find exclusion.  We were all born into this world with the same possibilities ahead of us.  Then we layered on meaning, we shrunk from our greatness, and we made things wrong.

As humans, we are here for connection, for inclusion, for communication, for action, for possibilities.  Leave the meaning behind.  There is only what you did and what you didn't do.  Do more of the things that have a powerful impact on the world and create traction in your own life that propels you forward.

In the Landmark Forum they open up a space for you to see how things truly are for yourself,  In the Advanced Course they show you how you are the cause for everything, not just in your own life, but in the lives of those around you.  If you want your relationship to work, your family to heal, your business/employer's business to grow, your community to flourish, and for the world to be the place you want it to be, then it's up to you.  Stop looking at each other waiting for the other person to make the first move.  Be great.  Be courageous.  Be powerful.  Be authentic.  Enroll other people in what you are up to.  Be a stand.

Ask yourself what game you are playing.  Once you know what game you want to play it's time to get in action.  I am playing the game of everyone gets it.  My work has begun through this blog, through the introduction I arranged in Kendal, and through the enrolling conversations I undertake each day.  I will take to this blog again soon and share with you some more of what I am getting and what possibilities I am creating.

If this post has touched, moved, or inspired you in anyway please get in communication with me - either through this blog, or directly on social media.  Thanks always for your time and your interest.