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13 years ago @ FinerMinds - A Question I Want YOUR... · 0 replies · +1 points
14 years ago @ FinerMinds - Burt Goldman : 83 Year... · 2 replies · +1 points
About 20 years ago I quit my engineering job at Lockheed to become more creative and be more diverse in what I did in life. Driven by Gurdjieff's nudging to awaken from our sleepwalking through life and Maslow's message that we can rise to be self-actualizers and transpersonal higher beings I set out to discover my so called authentic self and to nurture the seeds within me.
Upon leaving my twenty something year job in engineering I enrolled in Junior College programs for Art, Computer Graphic Art and Technical Writing with a vague idea of earning a living doing those activities.From that program I learned to make watercolor portraits and landscapes, desktop publishing, I received a certificate in Computer Graphic Design and a certificate in Techinical Writing. Armed with these new skills I sought to earn my living doing what I loved. It was tough to get regular employment, however, so I moved from one temporary position to another and along the way I also made efforts to create personal businesses in Computer Graphic Design. watercolor paintings and electronic desktop publishing. Looking back over the past 20 years I feel my income suffered compared to my comfort zone engineering job but my experiences and fun in life made the journey well worth it. I worked at a series of jobs as an artist, a graphic design artist, a newspaper reporter, a technical writer consultant and an instructor at a junior college. Along the way I see now I then went through my own version of Quantum Jumping in mastering writing skills.I took about 10 online writing courses and read a number of books on creative nonfiction writing.
I confess I never earned a living with my writing but that doesn't mean I didn't fulfill myself in that area. I've been volunteering as editor of several newsletters for the California Alpine Club, Friends of the Willits Library, The Unitarian Fellowship, and now the California Grey Bears. And I've been writing personal essays and poetry. Furthermore, I've increased my efforts to be more disciplined in my reading of self-improvement books. Related to that I became a member of the PhilosophersNotes program with its summary notes and aids to big ideas.
At this time and place I'm concentrating on the book---The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks---which I hope will truly show me how to make giant leaps from my current and past styles and performances. Quantum Leaping matches my current goal perfectly.
14 years ago @ FinerMinds - Burt Goldman : 83 Year... · 2 replies · +1 points
I am a fan of Maslow's self-actualization theory and Ken Wilber's Integral Life Practice to guide me to live an optimal life style balanced with humanity. Right now I have been somewhat stuck figuring out how to add love of activity with soulful connections as overlays on activities I have been doing that I feel fall within Hendrick's Zone of Excellence that I want to update to the Zone of Genius.
Thank you Vishen for sharing this interview with us. It truly inspired me to follow Burt's example for my remaining days.
14 years ago @ FinerMinds - This Is What Happens A... · 0 replies · +1 points
In general I concluded I had previously read about a quarter of the books selected in our project. Since I am 70 A I have had plenty of time to do that. Beyond that I decided to buy about ten other books recommended that I had not seen before. So although the course is over I have about ten books sitting on the sideline waiting for me to read and study.
I am a big fan of Maslow and his theory on self-actualizaton, Wilber and his Integral Life Practice, Tony Robbins and now Gay Hendricks.
My personal criticism of the program is in two areas: first although Debbie Ford's The Dark Side of the Light Chasers accounted for the dark side we all seem to have, one book out of 50 on that topic was too light from my viewpoint. I personally recommend the addition of Neurosis and Human Growth by Karen Horney to beef up and balance our human ways of being. Also, there were a small group of books that seemed to fall in the class of New Age thinking where we were coaxed to wish and make affirmations only. I have little trust in those methods.
Overall I am pleased I took the program and feel It will continue to influence me in positive ways in the future.
14 years ago @ FinerMinds - Meditations By Marcus ... · 1 reply · +1 points
14 years ago @ FinerMinds - The Seven Spiritual La... · 0 replies · +1 points
Now having said all that I now admit to being quite close to the teachings of Buddha and as such I was quite taken by Brian's personal story of finding his Dharma for his calling in work. To find the truth within ourselves that will most make us useful and happy truly seems great. While I think I have tried that a number of times I never really based my search on the word of the Buddhist Dharma concept. Now I will. Thanks to this lesson and Brian.
14 years ago @ FinerMinds - Your Erroneous Zones B... · 0 replies · +1 points
14 years ago @ FinerMinds - The Spontaneous Fulfil... · 0 replies · +1 points
14 years ago @ FinerMinds - Pathways To Bliss By J... · 0 replies · +1 points
While I have believed in following my bliss ever since I heard Campbell advise that I never heard that one should bring back what they found while experiencing that bliss, which was one theme in this lesson from Paths to Your Bliss.
The truth is I can think of several important new understandings that I discovered when I dove in my art bliss. I learned to honor my work and my values which worked well back on other work I did. I learned that in some settings painting could be cathardic and healing just by concentrating on the process. I also learned that if I was following my bliss it was easier to overcome fear associated with projects. In other words if my soul was connected with my activities I was much stronger and brave.
Another remark from this lesson that I observed but never emphasized was that leaving work that is your bliss and returning to mundane activities subjects that are not connected to your bliss or soul you lose your spirit doing such work. So while some may need high salariies as a payoff from working on a blissful job I found that aliveness was the most important payoff for me.
14 years ago @ FinerMinds - The Power of Intention... · 0 replies · +1 points