–  Edmund Burke

In 1991 I was on a business trip in China.  I worked for Kodak and we were visiting key customers throughout the country.  During the early part of the trip, when we were in Guangzhou visiting a photolab, I was approached by a small boy who was begging for money.  The boy couldn’t have been older than 5 or 6 — in wet socks, on the busy sidewalk in front of the customer’s business.  I immediately reached in to my pocket to grab some change when the local rep I was with stopped me.  He informed me that these kids are kidnapped from rural China and brought into the cities and used as begging slaves.  By giving money to the child, I would only encourage this behavior.  I looked into the boy’s eyes and shook my head no — and then walked away.  He stayed there for a few seconds with his hand out, and then left.

My own kids — Ashley and Tyler — were 5 and 7 at the time.  I thought about them, safe and warm and going to nice schools back in Tokyo — I thought about the little kid — a little begging slave — full of the same perfect potentional we all have, yet thwarted by horrible people in a horrible world.  I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  What was I supposed to do?  Could I solve this unbelievable travesty? 

Would I really have been doing the child and everyone else an injustice by giving him some money?  If I had given him money, would it have helped him?  My mind had paralyzed me into inactivity. 

What did my heart have to say?  I wasn’t sure.

A few days later I was in Beijing.  After visiting customers there, then taking a guided trip out to the Great Wall, I had a free evening.  I was warned by our local sales rep about giving the street beggars money — but my heart was telling me to get a couple of pocket fulls of change and to go hand it out until it was gone. 

So I did.

I made a point of looking into the eyes of every person I handed a coin to. After I handed out a couple of coins, I was mobbed — so I just moved in a circle and made sure that I handed out the money to different people until it was gone.  When I was out of coins, I held up my hands to show I had nothing left.  They didn’t believe me at first — and a few followed me for a bit as I walked around, but the excitement finally dissipated and I was left alone.

Had I taken too much of a risk?  Had I made a difference in the Chinese poverty rate?  Had I encouraged begging by my actions? All excellent questions, but my heart, now with a much clearer voice, confirmed to me that I had followed my path.

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.”              

            — Carl Jung

Listen to your heart — then act.  By doing this your path will be illuminated.

Peace to you.

Rob, Mary and Wes

Join us each week as we learn and apply the Laws of Manifestation and Attraction to achieve ANYTHING!!

Intention Circle — Tuesday’s, Noon – 1pm — Heartsong (in Grants Pass, on 6th, between “G” and “H”)  NO CHARGE — Just a tiny donation of $1 to cover the room — bring your lunch!

I believe in the Law of Attraction — I really do. I believe that if you set your heart on something and put it out to the Universe — and subject your intention to the Highest Good of everyone — you will manifest all that you desire.

But the thing is, you can’t just sit around and expect the Universe to drop your dreams into your lap — you have to take Inspired Action when the time is right.

In August of1993 I hiked Mt. Fuji with three friends.  We left Tokyo at about 4am and arrived at the trail head at 6am.  We had some green tea, bought staffs and flags and headed up the trail.

The trailhead is at about 7,000 ft. and the beautiful summit stands, often above the clouds, at 12,385 ft.  Many Japanese people hike the mountain at night and arrive at the summit when the sun rises in the morning — a special pilgrimage to a sacred place.   As we started our hike, there were several older folks — many at least 70 years old — headed up the mountain and moving very slowly following an english-speaking guide with a flag.  I asked him how long it would take the folks to go up and down the mountain and he responded that it would take about 10 hours and that each one of them would definitely make it — that they would focus only on each bend in the trail until they got there — and then they would focus on the next bend — a sort of progressive, physical, mental and physical meditation — until they reached the top.  It took us about 3 hours to get to the top, we stayed on the summit for about 30 minutes, then headed down.  On our way down, we recognized our friends from the bottom of the trail, still about 2 hours from the summit, focused on each and every step they were taking — and they were slowly making it.

In the 50s, the US was on top of the world and Japan was rebuilding.  Dr. W. Edwards Deming offered his thoughts to US industry on increasing quality, but his ideas didn’t get much traction.  He took his work to Japan and it was embraced whole-heartedly — in fact the Japanese have a word for slow, methodical, continous improvement — Kaizen.  They used this principle to steadily increase and improve their position in the industrialized world and now stand as a world power — largely due to applying these concepts.

Are you ready to get unstuck and start living your life?  Identify your Core Values, write your Personal Mission Statement, identify your Key Goal Areas where you want to take Inspired Action.  Identify the key steps you need to take — very, very small steps — one at a time — THEN START TAKING THEM.  Each of those very, very small steps needs to find their way to your DAILY “TO DO” LIST. 

Take the steps, check them off and keep moving to the next bend in the trail. 

It is only in this way that the Laws of Attraction and Manifestation work.  The Universe will conspire with you and will bring you what you need — but you need to take the first step.

Need help?  Let me know.
Peace to you.

Rob, Mary and Wes

I’ve had so many opportunities to explain what Soul Canyon is all about this past couple of weeks that I thought it would be a great idea to give you an integrated view of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.

Our signature series of workshops are our Adapting & Connecting seminars aimed at helping people understand their own and others’ personalities in ways that will help them work and live together more effectively and lovingly.  We approach these seminars by focusing on the dynamic, holistic and ever shifting nature of personalities and how simple tools can be used to eliminate the source of 95% of interpersonal stress: personality conflicts. 

We teach that your personality is not you, but a “mask” you systematically build to protect and present yourself to the external world.  Your personality is a gateway, or portal, to the real you — the inner you.  Being able to Adapt and Connect to the different personalities of others allows you to ultimately connect at a deeper level — which is what we want our clients to achieve.

Our other major workshop and seminar series, our Inner Development Series, is focused on finding, connecting to and using the power of your “true”, “inner” or “higher” self to live your life — personally and professionally — in pure authenticity.  This approach is also the foundation of our Coaching System. 

This message is titled “White Light” because at Soul Canyon we believe that transparency and extreme adaptability are worthy goals for personality development.  In our seminar titled “Secondary Colors, Beyond The Label”, we move beyond the concept of the fixed points of Fiery Red, Sunshine Yellow, Earth Green and Cool Blue to the concept of shifting and flexing continuously and instantly so that, at any point in time, you can be comfortable in any of the personality spaces. Such adaptability and lack of fixation in any particular “color” lends itself to detachment and universal adaptability — and therefore transparency — to the “inner self”.  Ironically, it’s as if, from an ever-present, heartfelt desire to connect more deeply,  the “fixed personality” ceases to exist. 

Mary and I are gratefully intending to make a quantum shift in Soul Canyon by taking two major steps now.  First, we intend to have Soul Canyon Retreat Center operational very soon.  The vision of Soul Canyon Retreat Center includes conference space, lodge accomodations, a labyrinth, trails, a ropes course and other experiential and transformational activities.  Soul Canyon Retreat Center will operated sustainably off the grid and will be a place for individuals, couples, families, teams and organizations to come and have a transformational experience. 
The second step we are taking is to get our material further out into the world in the form of video and audio programs, teleconferences and other materials.  Expect to see these rolling out very soon.

Why are we telling you all of this?  Two reasons:  Sharing goals and visions dramatically increases the probability they will be achieved and we’d love to have your help.  If you’d like to have any part of bringing Soul Canyon Retreat Center into reality — any part at all — please let me know.  The same goes for getting our materials out there.

Finally, a word about this “weekly” email.  We will be discontinuing this format very soon and converting to a blog — for many reasons.  When we make this change, we will be asking you to re-subscribe so, if you like getting these emails, watch for this in the very near future.

If you think that we may be able to help you in any way through our workshops, coaching or consulting — please give us a call or send an email and we’ll explore it with you.

Peace to you.

Rob, Mary and Wes

~Alvin Toffler

In his book “The Road Less Travelled” Dr. Scott Peck develops the concept of a “mental map.”  As we each grow and experience the world our unconscious minds systematically build a map that incorporates all of the cause and effect relationships that we are taught and discover as we experience our lives through the lenses of our developing belief systems.

When occurrences come along that disagree with our mental maps, or when we experience something completely new, all of us make decisions as to whether or not to alter our maps to allow for this new information — like the discoverers of the New World.

History reveals that not all discoveries were welcomed at first, and so it is with our unconscious minds.  New information that disagrees with what we already “know” is often rejected and dismissed — which is a major challenge, especially as we get older.  Challenging and upgrading our existing “knowledge” starts with the process of “Unlearning.”

Altering our map gets tougher as we get older, especially if we haven’t engaged in a continuous process of challenging our map.  Challenging your map involves a process of continuously seeking and learning.  Most stop doing this when we complete our formal education — gradually getting more and more rigid, just as our muscles get stiffer and stiffer with age.

How do you keep from dismissing something new, just because it’s new?  That is, how do you filter and validate new information that conflicts with your existing belief system– retain what’s valid, unlearn what’s not — and upgrade your mental map?  

Whenever you come across something new and you have an emotional, gut level reaction of “WRONG!”, take a moment, slow down and ask yourself:

1) Why do I think that is wrong?  As I look at it with adult eyes, in the full light of day, what does my the evidence and my heart tell me? 

2) Where did I learn my existing beliefs on this topic?

3) Read further.  Ask questions.  Research, and come to your own conclusions.

Very often huge parts of our mental maps, or belief systems,  were installed by teachers, adults, parents and others who had power over us.  Many aspects of the learning we received was, and is, valid — but many, many parts are not.  As mentally and spiritually healthy adults we need to actively question everything we believe, especially as it comes up against different belief systems in a diverse world.

Peace,
Rob, Mary & Wes

            –  Ralph Waldo Emerson

In the late Spring of 1979, I had just finished my first year of college and I was ready for a break. I had worked for the BLM on a fire crew the previous summer and planned to do so again that summer.  I had three weeks until I had to report to work, so I decided to make the drive from Idaho to Tehachapi, California to hang out with my Mom and Step-Dad in their Airstream trailer for a couple of weeks.

My Step-Dad — Jim –  was a cropduster at the time.  We would get up at 4 AM and head out to the fields where I’d either flag or load for him.  Jim was an amazing pilot and I’d watch him navigate over, under and around trees and powerlines in that bi-wing, Ag Cat plane. 

When it got too hot to fly, we’d back to the trailer, into the mountains or out into the desert for an adventure.  After a couple of weeks of that, it was time to make the 12-hour drive back to Idaho to start my summer job.

I left at 6 AM in my ‘73 Pinto Station Wagon, loaded up with my Mom’s chocolate chip cookies and a full tank of gas.  The drive was incredibly beautiful and meditative.  I followed the route that skirts the east side of the Sierra’s, the foot of Mt. Whitney, through Lone Pine, Bishop and Tonopah — and some of the most beautiful and desolate parts of Nevada you could ever hope to see. 

As I was crossing into Nevada, I started to get a prompting to turn the car around and go back.  I as 5 hours into a 12 hour drive — so I wrote it off to missing my Mom and kept going.  With each mile that I drove, my heart got heavier and the voice inside got progressively louder.  After an hour of this, I pulled off to the side of the road to gather myself.  My head said to keep going, my heart said to turn around and go back.

This was before the days of cell phones and I wasn’t within 50 miles of a town, so I was on my own in making this decision.  I broke into tears — and sat there for about 10 minutes — in my Pinto Station Wagon, crying, with a half-eaten bag of chocolate chip cookies in the seat next to me.   When I finally made my decision, it was as if 1,000 pounds had been lifted off my chest.

I turned the car around and made the drive back to Tehachapi — pulling in my Mom and Jim’s place at about the time I should have been arriving in Idaho.  My Mom, as usual, was understanding and congratulated me on listening to my heart.  My Dad, when I called him, was equally understanding.

I didn’t make it back to Idaho in time to be on the BLM Fire Crew that summer.  Instead I worked various construction jobs and decided to take the next school year off — a very different path than the one I’d been on.

What if?

I have no idea what would have happened if I’d not listened to my heart that day and stayed with My Agenda.  I do know what it felt like when I made that decision — and it has guided the way I navigate life’s intersections and crossroads since that confusing day in the Nevada desert.

Peace,

Rob, Mary & Wes

Join us each week as we learn and apply the Laws of Manifestation and Attraction to achieve ANYTHING!!

Intention Circle — Tuesday’s, Noon – 1pm — Heartsong (in Grants Pass, on 6th, between “G” and “H”)  NO CHARGE — Just a tiny donation of $1 to cover the room — bring your lunch!

Having fun doesn’t have to be expensive.

Here are a few ideas:

•  Have an office putting championship. Set up a small miniature golf course in your office on Friday each week and have a tournament.
• Play a game of “Big Team Pictionary” using flip charts and markers. Divide up into two large teams and play a game.
• When the weather warms up, pick one Friday afternoon each month and take the team to the golf course and play a scramble format tournament.
• Take the team to Indian Mary park and play disc golf.

I have lots more ideas that I’ve successfully used with many different kinds of teams including boards of directors, sales and marketing and finance teams — so I know they work. If you want me to help you plan a fun day with your team, give me a call.

Do you have some fun things that you do with your team that you’d like to share? If so, please send them to me and I’ll share them with this group.

I suggest have at least a 30 minute meeting with each person that reports to you at least every other week.  Generally, I would suggest dividing the time equally between tactical and strategic issues.  The first part of the discussion can be an update of key activities and issues while the second part of the discussion should be focused on how the employee is progressing on the longer term goals for the month, the quarter, or the year. EVERYONE should have long term goals — linked securely to the goals of the company — that they are focused on.  Some of these goals should also be focused on the development plan of the individual.  The meeting should always be open and unintimidating so you can get to the real issues that will ultimately affect effectiveness and achievement of goals. 

Regardless of what you talk about — setting aside a regular time to sit, uninterrupted, together with regular frequency is vitally important to morale and effectiveness.

Color Powers?

Fiery Red = Hard charging, goal oriented get it done energy.

Sunshine Yellow = Social, have fun with it energy (look closely, you can read it!)

Earth Green = Deep, caring, empathic energy

Cool Blue = Process, data, information oriented energy 

Try this:

Have each team member, independently, write down all the things they LOVE, or WOULD LOVE to do at work.  Also, have each team member write down all of the things they DO NOT LIKE DOING.   

Next, have each team member identify with one of the colors on above. 

Finally, have a team meeting and have everyone share their lists.  Have a facilitator write down each persons LOVE TO DO, WOULD LOVE TO DO  and DO NOT LIKE DOING items.  As a team, consider how you might move tasks around to fully take advantage of the Color Power of your team!! 

Simply sharing this information will put you miles ahead and will make your office a happier place.  Doing something about it will make things even better!