Radical, you say???

That we change is not what separates us from the rest of the world. HOW we change, is.

We are not the first (and likely will not be the last) who claim to have found a way to accelerate their personal evolution; to create profoundly meaningful lives for ourselves. Given that I’ve been in the ‘personal growth’ world both as a participant and as a facilitator/coach/educator for more than 40 years, I’ve seen more come and go than most people experience in a lifetime! I have made it my life (not just my life’s work) to explore, experience and express all that offers a gateway to transformation.

My explorations of what was ‘out there’ to help me change my life covers a wide range of what was and ‘has beens’, starting in the late 60’s all the way up to the current moment. I’ve been through every kind of therapy/process known to both novice and avid practitioner, alike.

I’ve been analyzed (from a range of counsellors, psychologists and mentors/guides to twice a week for 52 weeks with a psychiatrist… and for sure, after THAT, I really needed therapy!) and self-actualized. I’ve EST’ed, been tested (diagnostic kinesiology) and wandered the world of energy (Reiki attuned and chakra balanced from stem to stern). I’ve spent two decades of my life in ‘traditional’ therapies, not to mention 12 years spent in 12-Step programs for addictions and families of addicted people.

I’ve stretched my body (10 years of high-impact aerobics, running, weight lifting and yoga), my mind (read everything I could get my hands on from ‘New Age pookie-pookie’ as Anne Wilson-Schaef would say, to quantum physics, neuroscience, anatomy and physiology, NLP and hypnosis) and my soul (searching for god in all the wrong places… where even god would never hang out!). I’ve searched close to home and travelled across North America and Europe in my desire to discover…. myself.

And through it all, I launched myself body, mind and soul into every new discovery! I journaled, meditated and grouped process’ed. I sat in silence and talked myself silly! I held my breath, pinched my nostrils and twisted my body into as many tight little balls as I could manage. I read and I wrote. I talked and I listened. I struggled with it by myself and I shared myself into oblivion! And over time, I generated the most impressive and expansive library of books and audio/video programs that you’ll find anywhere in the world! Guthy Renker and I were on a first-name basis. I should have just given them my bank account number and had them put me on a monthly stipend and keep the rest!

Through it all, I learned a great deal. I could hold my own with anyone trained academically in human behaviour, often knowing more than they did. My entire life for more than 20 years had been devoted to finding myself! That’s a lot of discovery and information and education – and it was also a lot of disappointment and (sometimes) hopelessness.

Not that long ago, I sat across the table from a woman about my age who had just decided to engage in one of our intensives. Tears streamed down her face as she declared: “I can’t take one more disappointment! I can’t take one more unkept promise or undelivered result! I am spent – physically, emotionally and financially – and I don’t have much left to see me through one more failed attempt!” I knew exactly what she was talking about.

From 1968 to 2008, I’ve seen a lot of ‘pet rocks’ of the human evolution kind. I’ve seen things repeat, as they drifted onto the stage in one form, reappearing in new clothes 10 to 12 years later. In truth (at least my truth and that of many others), not much is really ‘new’ in this whole area. So much of what is touted as ‘revolutionary’ is a rehash of what already was expressed some four decades ago. The good stuff recycles – and so does much of the useless.

The arrival of Deepak Chopra and the notions of a quantum world began to touch the edges of something different and compelling; something that we could not easily parrot and yet, instinctively knew was worth exploring and figuring out. In the decades that I had been searching, there was finally something that was an invitation for me to reconsider WHAT I was and not just WHO I was, moving me beyond the content of my ‘psyche’ or personality and offering me a significantly and profoundly different perspective on my humanity and its expression.

So, color me radical in my approach to transformation! And ‘radical’ is a word that has been used to describe the things I say and a WEL-Systems perspective. And radical it is, when compared to what has been going on in this world of personal transformation for more than 40 years!

That we create change is not considered ‘radical’ – it’s how we do it that either really catches people’s attention in pure delight or with great annoyance. Because ‘how’ we change is really what makes the huge difference – in both approach and outcome.

It’s radical to consider that we are not WHAT we’ve been told to believe we are. It’s radical to consider that we are the very god we seek. It’s radical to consider that our bodies are quantum biological processors and that what they process are signals or chunks of energy/information that ultimately define the quality of our lives. It’s radical to consider that what goes on inside of me is far more relevant, pertinent and significant to the quality of my life than anything that goes on outside of me. And it’s radical to consider that the future is not something that we are captive to but is a constantly emerging invitation of potential and possibility that we have been taught to say ‘no’ to… and can learn to say ‘YES’ to!

I, for one, have found a very different way to consider my own evolution…. my own accelerated evolution. And I am not alone on this journey. Many, many more have discovered that when they become willing to reconsider WHAT they are, they become able to reconsider HOW they are.

Breathing is good….