STILL JOURNEYING, 1

I've been on a Jason Mraz high for weeks now. It's not entirely surprising, given the wisdom and love he pours into his work and given the journey I've recently decided to take again. Plus, it helps that he's awfully cute. But more on the Jason and my journey later.

First, the background.

A couple of years ago—it was in 2007, if I'm not mistaken—I wrote a piece about the movie The Secret. It was a big eye-opener for millions of people all over the world and, for many of those I personally know who took the lessons they picked up to heart, it was a huge life-changer. Around the time I watched The Secret, I was also taking a personal leadership seminar trilogy, which I also wrote about, with the Organizational Change Consultants International Center for Learning.

Since then, I've tried to stay wired to everything that would nurture all the goodness in my life and let go of everything that would diminish it.

“Wake up everyone. How can you sleep at a time like this? Unless the dreamer is the real you.”

In the first seminar, FLEX (Foundations for Leadership Excellence), I picked up the Be-Do-Have paradigm that has worked for me ever since. Ordinary life tells us that we have to Have (a car) so we can Do (have friends) so we can Be (successful). The Be-Do-Have paradigm tells us to Be successful already (I'll get to how in a minute) and Do what we have to do to Have what we want.

How do we get to being successful? We simply return to who we really are: a child of the God (or the Universe), already perfect in Love, already beautiful, already successful, always loved.

FLEX is an experiential seminar, so I can't really explain what it would be like for students, but for me, it was like waking up for the first time in years.

“Listen to your voice, the one that tells you to taste past the tip of your tongue.”

In the second seminar, ALC (Advanced Leadership Course), I learned about my dark side and how it was affecting my life. Remember Star Wars and how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader? Well, I wasn't about to wage an intergalactic war, but I finally understood exactly what I was contributing to the results I saw in my life.

Bad work environment? Yup, I contributed to that. Bad relationship? Yup, I, the supposed loving martyr who is willing to give it her all, was party to that. No money? Yup, that's me creating that. Unhappy? Ahem, the buck stops here.

But, almost magically, I also saw how little I was helping in making the world a better place. You know how people sometimes go around saying other people should do so-and-so, be so-and-so to make the world a better place? Well, I learned—indelibly, in my heart—that I wasn't helping. Thus:

Uncooperative teammates? Yes. Messed up country? Yes, I'm part of that. Messy environment? Yes. Global warming? Yes.

Remember Mumble in Happy Feet? I stood up, and it was like that.

Again, ALC is an experiential seminar, so I can't go into what it would be like for students. For me, though, it was a slap in the face that made me never to want to hide my light again.

“Leap and the net will appear.”

The final seminar in the trilogy, LEAP (Leadership Excellence Achievement Program) is focused on achieving goals.

Some of my teammates made money goals, others had entrepreneurship goals, others made weight goals, others had preparation-for-a-relationship goals. I had the last one, with the second to the last one under it.

During this seminar, I felt my doubts cropping up—but they were all addressed, with the help of very loving coaches. It is in this part of the trilogy that I got to face my dragon, embrace it as part of me and move forward in my life.

Remember How to Train Your Dragon? I had a moment like that moment Hiccup meets Toothless and realizes that the Night Fury is not as terrifying as he had thought it was.

My biggest take home after LEAP was: Got excuses? They're all busted. Declare what you truly want to achieve, claim it as if you already have it, do everything you want to get it and joyfully receive.

To be continued.

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