Denial: I have to wonder what this is really all about.

Over the decades, as psychology has gone more mainstream, it has infiltrated every aspect of our lives culturally and socially. It’s in our health coverage plans, employee benefits, in the movies, sitcoms, and even more in the advertisements. I’d say they’re having an influence upon our self and group consciousness.

Earlier, I caught myself asking a question to seek the opinion of someone else about my skill, rather than just toot my horn which was what I was inspired to do in the first place. I had just finished work on a project that made me feel pretty good, and true to joy, a little cocky swaggering was called for. Instead, I censored myself and tried soliciting accolades rather than be boastful. I puzzled over this turn-about and what influenced this censoring.

As I have studied and observed the human condition over the years, it has been noted that a steady surge has broken down communion among people by placing more emphasis upon personal satisfaction and fulfillment. With so much individuality pushed in the marketplace, advertising relationships, etc., the subliminal influences shift our value-base unconsciously. With there being so much negative media created to ’sell’ to consumers, the personal identity and place of the individual in context to family and community becomes obscured, questionable, and finally, burdensome, to many.

On yet another side, the self-help industry is so full of individual band-aid stories, that the people seeking solutions typically find themselves discovering more personal problems than they bargained for. It’s like reading the horoscope. There are enough generalities and commonalities among people that we can buy into a prognosis which we then make more real through our own belief. In addition, rational and healthy human behavior ends up falling under close scrutiny while answers are sought amongs all the expert opinions, programs, and books.

As I found myself concluding these thoughts, only one question remained. When will simply being a joyful and sharing human being be okay again?

As part of my work, my professional experience with analysis, business, and technology, I had found more and more that I was getting asked by those who know and interact with me, how to do things with the web and technology. Where I’ve been able, I’ve been quick to answer. Where I’ve not, my own curiosity often lends itself to wanting to check it out regardless if I have time or not. The outcome of all this developing activity launched OMC Social Media Solutions (OMC is One Man Can).

From OMC Social, in partnership with iXLd Media Inc. and their technology, I have been able to offer and do much more. The business has grown, the new product and pricing is soon to be online, and the focus upon educating and empowering the do-it-yourself’ers of our technologically advancing culture.

As an artist, you can be sure you’re going to get some culture.

by echiner1

February 2005 I sat down at my computer and wrote my own Eulogy. It was an exercise from the Career Counselling days, to draw upon the imagination and inner spirit to describe the life well-lived we want to be remembered. I stumbled upon it today and went, “Wow!”

One Man Can make a difference was a deep belief that propelled Lee through the arduous journey to creating a powerful future for himself and those whose lives he touched. Initially, there was a great deal of struggle as he broke down the structures and limiting beliefs that had defined his life experiences. As he worked through these issues, an awakening to his truest self took root and put him directly into the path of adversity and growth. The lessons he experienced, combined with the wisdom of masters, made him available to the larger community to serve as a guide, a teacher, and a loving mentor on their individual journeys.

His belief that we are all incredible spirits, here to manifest some form of greatness in our lives, was the most inspiring quality that he brought forth in his daily walk through life. His understanding of human nature, our propensity for fear, enabled him to offer compassion and forgiveness, both to himself and for others, further empowering everyone to embrace the journey, the setbacks and failures, and further enabling the forward motion the desire for a well-lived life created. No well-lived life is without mistakes, setbacks, and pain. It is through these experiences that he discovered the richness that lives within us all and has the power and potential to create community, abundance, and great joy.

by h.koppdelaney

His legacy has helped to define a shift in human-consciousness that has created space in western thought to realize our spirituality in a cosmic web of cause and effect. This understanding further instructs us to the power of choice in our lives and the power of intent in mind, body, and spirit that creates our future. What we believe we are, we choose to be. What we wish to see changed in life, we BE that change.

Lee will be missed and he will be remembered as he lives on in each of our lives, while we too create the legacy in our lives that he began for his own life; a life representative of the human spirit and human experience.

Reflecting upon experiences recently, I wondered at my steadiness. I didn’t feel it. I felt shaken, maybe even stirred. I just wasn’t sure. So you see? I wasn’t rock solid, and I’d have to confess that I may not yet be rock solid. I certainly don’t feel it. And yet…

The other week I was speaking with an old friend of mine and he reminded me of sage advice I’d meted out to him a few years earlier. “Sometimes we just feel beaten, but we know it isn’t true. The trouble we have is shaking that feeling, and to be true to who and what we are. I understood finally, after years of not understanding, ‘fake it till you make it.’ It means to really feel it, that juice that you felt when you were having a peak experience. The only way there was to recall the memory, to pull that memory so fully into the present that you remember what it felt like. Now hang onto that feeling, because it is you too. Fake it till you make it.” And he did.

Still wondering, I realized that even though I feel shaky, I also feel a certain confidence. This confidence is in something larger than myself, and I can’t quite explain that to you. I think it is something we each have to come to on our own. Even so, another thought also expressed itself in those wondering moments that held a great deal of promise for the future, and yielded beautiful insight to the past: I’m not rock solid.

Like Stanley Park after the wind-storms ravaged her forests, the man that I was has been stripped bare. What once stood mighty and strong is now exposed and vulnerable. It remains that way as the new growth, young saplings, define the character of the new tomorrow. Relying fully on the anchor that remained through it all, that barrenness greets the hardships honing and shaping with the friction of life that bears fruit.

Vulnerable, I remain…. maybe

Sometimes there is so much to say that the stories jumble into a colourful paint-splatter that is meaningless, though beautiful with vibrant life. Focus, focus, focus. This has been the theme for a time now, and in tandem I’m tackling many other areas of my life. Don’t you just hate the stop-go-wait-trip-go-stop cycle of making positive changes in your life? It’s exasperating at times!

It’s quite remarkable how many areas of life are impacted as a major transition is underway. Career, finances, people, friends, social activities, schedule, organization, communication, creativity, and maybe something else I missed. All of these areas are experiencing change simultaneously. For myself, I find the people are the anchors that offer a buffer from the battering winds.

Love is the thing: I’ve been on this kick for years. It’s kind of exasperating too, particularly when it creeps people out. But what are you gonna do? I’ve tried to run and hide from this thing that keeps urging it upon me. Why do any of us do some of the things we do? Isn’t there a sense of purpose behind your choices, actions, particularly with the big decisions? I really know this is true.

Recent experiences have aided in building great momentum – not so much an in my life thing, rather an in my being thing. Again, it is through the connection with people; the stuff (people) that really makes life worthwhile. These connections are what offer opportunities for challenge and growth, and the connections stir things up inside as I see the reflections from within myself. I’m challenged to confront the block and push through it rather than ignore it.

Love is it. That force that emanates from within, that creates the fire-in-the-belly, and the drive in our loins. It is purpose, and when it is clicking, I know my life is demanding nothing less than the best. And again, love is it. Relationship to myself saw remarkable changes and improvements as I regained my footing. This enabled others to come into my life to further support and challenge merely through their presence. We do attract what we need, when we’re ready and put it out there.

This journey isn’t over, it is just reaching toward the beginning. If you’re challenged by change, overcoming negative thinking, or going through any difficult transitions, I think you’ll find these continuing entries useful in their sharing. I’ve found the journey very rewarding, and re-learned that it does not come without effort, pain, or struggle. This is part of the journey from one state to another, as layers of an old-self are stripped away to allow room for the fullest growth of the new being emerging from within. Let’s grow!

From the archives April 27, 2006

The journey through life, full of many twists and turns, can at times leave you breathless, wondering where you went wrong. It appears that going wrong is the only obvious explanation for the turmoil that you face. With the soul parched, struggling to find meaning and purpose, the desolate landscape of a desert saps the life out of each step. With the heel dragging, the footfall landing on cacti, the hot sand blistering the feet, you don’t remember when the lush landscape of abundance deserted you. Yet, as I have ventured through many a long desert-journey as part of my life-path, I have discovered the desert to be an important aspect of a well-lived life.

Each person will have a unique life-story to live, a unique life-purpose to manifest, and a unique passion to embrace and share with the world. This is where the desert really does its most miraculous work. The moving dunes, the sun-baked rock, the flash-floods and weathered and shaped terrain beholds a grandiose beauty that is inspiring to the visitor. There is superb and profound strength found in such a place and a beauty that is hard to deny when the observant and discerning eye stops the chattering mind and really takes it in all the detail.

Often times the parched soul will be unaware of the riches that are all around as they travel the road of life this way and that way in desperation. The desperate struggle to survive this blasted furnace and seemingly desolate landscape causes an anxious panic as one mirage after another is chased into oblivion. Each time a mirage is chased, the traveler will come closer and closer to the lesson and learning that is screaming from within. This inner-voice of wisdom is difficult to hear over the moans of self-pity and cries of anguish and pain.

In time, the traveler will begin to settle as the pain of festering blisters and excruciating thirst bring the attention back to the body’s wisdom. Noticing the state of self and a quiet inner-voice, realizations of what is not wanted, the imagination begins to form a vision of what is wanted that will shape a new reality and reveal an invisible path within the desert landscape.

Although weakened and discouraged, the traveler slows the pace and balances the sight between the horizon and self; what is wanted and what is not wanted. As this awareness grows, panic subsides and surrender takes place, the traveler can now begin to see the fruit blooming in the desert. This is what it is to change the focus from an old lifetime of values to a new path to the truest inner spirit.

New values can be formed and discovering the great wealth in the smallest grain of sand, honoring it with gratitude and blessing, more abundance can be found, allowing the trail toward the oasis to reveal itself. Now aware, the senses are heightened and whispers on the wind tell stories of others who have traveled and learned on this road to inner-truth. Observing the nature of the wild new wisdom is also found and finding that first watering hole bringing temporary relief and refreshment to the weary traveler.

However, the journey is not over it is soon discovered and leaving the waterhole is a must. Staying too long will only lengthen the duration of the journey and potentially leads to new calamities as wildlife and other travelers come with their own stories to live. With a courageous step, the traveler ventures forward again back into the wilderness of the desert, momentarily overwhelmed with the inhospitable heat that wants to consume. Focusing the awareness again, remembering the lesson learned the sight is set back to the present and self, to find the balance between the two worlds so that insight will reveal itself. A personal alchemy is practiced with focus, intention, and attention, showing the way back along the invisible path that reveals itself to the aware. Each step brings many instances to observe and learn, to discern and hone, and the traveler gains clarity of what is wanted and what is not wanted.

The most difficult aspect for some in such an inhospitable landscape is the art of gratitude and yet gratitude is the gift to the teacher within who will grow stronger. Giving in gratitude, the teacher is able to impart the lessons judiciously and expediently, making the hidden path visible and straighter than the meandering wide road of malcontent. The malcontent traveler often finds themselves sitting alone beside the road panting with want while the grateful traveler finds companions that make the journey light. Even so, there are generous lovers of life who will extend a hand to the malcontent, if only they will pick themselves up after a period of encouragement and compassion.

Part of my life-story also saw me in the midst of struggle, blind and groping for the toilet handle so that I might flush the crap out of my life. With the passing of time, my experience lends to observance as my awareness grows and gains clarity. With clarity increasing in focus I clear out what I don’t want in my life and continue to make room for what I do want in my life. With quick refreshing experiences of what success may be, an overwhelming desire to lean into the momentary comfort takes over and I rest. Before long I realize I cannot stay here and must continue the journey.

On the first leg of the struggle my panic kept me lost, blind, and desperate. Then the observance of wants revealed a path as I watched for what showed up, and my gratitude solidified my vision of who I am and where I want to go. Again I continue, able to trust in the process, weathering the storm, grateful for the shade, the sun, the water, and each piece of fruit discovered on the way. The time arrives when I now see the lush green on the horizon, the desert harshness has lost its’ edge, and the truth of who I am blossoms forth bringing riches to the world.

The most miraculous and joyous truth of this journey is that the blossoming riches for the world are also for myself. The grateful heart, the giving heart, the observant wisdom, all know the intimate balance of the elements and forces of nature; not just the raw laws of the wilderness but also those of humanity and spirit. In honouring these lessons and sharing the bounty is service to humanity and to self, to Spirit and to spirit, to Love and love through the gentle art of generously giving and graciously receiving.