God & Treasure Hunting

What if life is one big glorious treasure hunt?  Close to my home there is a man made pond, populated by lovely Canadian geese, surrounded by wildly growing plants and trees and a walking path for suburbanites.  I have taken up praying there, offering God my day and I do this physically using movement.  Yesterday I was almost finished when I heard someone on the path and this quickly brought my worship to a close.  As I walked toward the hill to leave, I looked toward the stranger to say hello and he said "you don't have to be afraid of me". I said I wasn't afraid, that I had been praying and I didn't want him to think I was weird~while I am clearly not embarrassed about praying and honouring God publicly, I prefer to be alone with God at His lovely pond.  This prayer comment brought us into conversation and the man spoke about his important work as a scientist. He has "invented" several healing pharmaceutical products and believes he will be the man remembered for helping many. I didn't insult him by pointing out I had never heard of him before, nor would I likely hear about him again. He doesn't believe in God and told me that as a scientist, he has learned that everything "is built from bottom to top, not from top down".  A God in the "sky" does not exist because it doesn't match up with the facts, or so it would seem. The Buider, He was taken out of the equation, nullified in this mans mind and heart. His own hands and mind could only and will only ever be able to "build" from what is, the treasures that he discovers before him, nothing of his own...he has created from what is, not from what isn't, as we all do.  He had a half bag of bread in his hands, to feed the geese.  Somewhere inside of him, he knows, he cannot explain the beautiful geese that Grace the pond, nor the flowers that grow wildly in riotous colour, honouring The One who made them for His own pleasure and ours. Today, I glorified God for His creation and the gift of the treasure hunt, my hope is that the friendly bird feeding stranger will one day do the same. 

Danger

I see lies in the eyes of a stranger, you'll be living in danger~these words come from an old Ace of Base song, Living in Danger.  I was raised to suspect others, to be fearful of them, to lock my car doors while driving and check, check constantly, surveillance like for predators, rapists, murderers. That is the extreme and the more "subtle" part of my education was that "no one can be trusted". That's not me, that's NOT ME my soul has cried out. I like people, I believe in them, I want to be with them and share, love, grow...trust.  I have always looked for points of connection, how is that person over there similar to me, so that we can bond and I can feel connected with them, safe in their company and visa versa?  Safe, there is the word~I was taught fear, to feel unsafe, at risk. This fear has been a trap and contrasts sharply with my natural inclination to be wild and free, untethered and a rebel who sees truth, speaks truth, living with arms wide open for whatever and whomever comes my way. Built in is instinct and intuition, we all have this, natural safety alarm systems that say nay or yea to people, places, activities and things and I am learning to trust mine by listening, sensing, feeling.  Not everyone can be trusted and clearly, others are worthy of trust and so much more. This is the power of coaching, the self awareness becomes a heightened 6th sense of knowing me, knowing you.  One of the beautiful gifts in all of this is the differences, the knowing that I can be connected to others AND be so different from them, without fear of, of...REJECTION, which ultimately hurts and jeopardizes my sense of well being and safety.  There, I have said it now, it is out there and phew, that feels really great! I am losing my fear of rejection and along with this, the self protective mechanisms, the saboteurs, that would have me see other humans as threats, rather than beautiful beings created in Gods own image.  I accept the challenge of embracing differences and staying in relationship with others in a loving way, including with myself.

Bud Carter

Limitations are self imposed, other imposed, imaginary and made up. They are the lies we believe and the words we speak and they do not exist and they must be exposed as deceivers, life theives, the thin membrane of fear that wraps us, keeping us mummified and muted, preserved in a frozen in time semblance of life.  What I can do for myself gives me great pleasure, autonomy, freedom of choice. If this is truth, and it is, then who am I to take this away from others?  I do not serve when I rescue another from the work that is theirs, the self healing and body strengthening, soul edififying and life affirming that comes only when I, when you, do the work ourselves as witnessed, encouraged, acknowledged and championed by those around us that love us and want nothing more than to see the joy that comes from being free.  Bud Carter, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are the Freedom Fighter and I follow where you lead. 

Fundamentals & Crystal Clear

Today I had coffee with a recent attendee of the first of five core curriculum courses that CTI (Coaches Training Institute) offers. The course is called Fundamentals and it is a taste of coaching with the lingering flavour of more after the experience as the participants see the world in a brand new way with possibilities helping to keep eyes, ears and hearts wide open. My hot beverage partner is aptly named Crystal...her vision is Crystal clear and her understanding of what she experienced and the benefits from the experiential learning took me back in time as I absorbed the details and her discoveries, remembering my first coaching course and the nervous excitement I felt when I first fell in love with the profession.  Mastery is the just out of reach goal for the novice and continues to be for the initiated. The delight with the profession is that perfect is never the goal for coach or client and the relief that comes with this knowledge is quite simply, freeing. Hierarchy does not exist either, with the view that each individual is brilliant and knowing in their own unique and wonderful ways and the gift herein is that a partnership can develop, not just between coach and client but EVERYWHERE there happens to be people. Power imbalance does not lend well to safety in relationship and the CTI coaching model adheres to the principal of speaking to the leader within each person we encounter, honouring them where they are NOW in their lives and remembering that we are all naturally creative resourceful and whole.  It takes time to shake old patterns, to remember that it is I, it is you, that is at choice at any given moment in time in our adult experience. Equality is claimed, offered, encouraged by coaches that believe in their clients vast abilities to self actualize and live on purpose, after clarifying what they want and often times, what they really DON'T want in their lives.  Coaching has changed my life, enriched it and continues to daily. I have my own powerful life affirming coach and I am blessed. Crystal McLachlen I am thrilled for you and I look forward to witnessing as you naturally, intelligently and intuitively move through core curriculum, certification, Leadership and beyond, helping people claim their lives one coaching session, one workshop one audience packed speech at a time~Crystal, this one is clearly dedicated to you, with admiration and affection. 

Sleep

Today I shared with a friend what has been going on in my life. There are exciting items of interest to report and while I wrote my email to him, tired washed over me, a truly physical lack of sleep do to circumstances beyond my control tired. As I wrote I said I don't know whether to go out and save the world or eat ice cream.  The thought has stayed and my saboteur, the one that tells me I am not doing enough and that rest is a waste of time, attempted to beat me up and make me feel the familiar guilt of having the luxury to choose rest when many in the world are struggling to survive. Useless, the argument is useless and so was I, until after my afternoon nap. Jesus lived on the earth for thirty three years. He spoke about Heaven and His Father and salvation for the last three of those years before His predicted crucifixion, all the while performing miracles of healing and resurrecting the dead, the foreshadowing of what is to come for believers, those who except his gift of perfect sacrifice for our sins, mine and yours. Jesus took time alone, to meditate and commune with His Father and be tended to by angels. He modelled the balance of work and rest that we as humans need. Does God need rest?  Biblically, on the seventh day He rested...I don't think He needed it, I think He modelled it for us and it is every humans right to do so when the need arises.  This brings me to purpose, the command of loving one another and helping the vulnerable, the sick needy orphans and widows and whomever else in the world that God puts before me, before you, to remind us of how good it can be and how sometimes very hard it can be in life.  Sleep is restorative and inarguably natural, even Jesus slept during raging storms while others thought they would perish.  If these sound like excuses to rest and nap, then I dare you, stay awake every night for the rest of the week and see how useful you are as each day slips into the next!  We are wonderfully made, for work, for rest, for play and I will not let a saboteur suggest otherwise without calling on the facts to prove it wrong~but for the Grace of God go I, whether it be off to work or bed, it's all alright with Him.

Sisters

Ooooooow, it feels so good to be right, doesn't it?  I mean really, I have been invested in being right for sometime now and it's great going to bed at night with the comfort of righteousness as my pillow...until a little voice whispers consider this Linda, what if you are wrong, what if your perception is skewed, what if you were, pasted tense, right on a couple of items and didn't have the whole picture making you kinda right, kinda wrong and self righteous was well, a little extreme?  My world is getting bigger and brighter and expansive as I see that being right can interfer with relationship and while I do believe in Truth and not just MY truth, there are ways of seeing myself and others with the eyes of compassion. Looking back in time is helping me see what I need to do to heal my now, the relationships that I want to honour and count as precious, the people that God Almighty placed in my life not for me to teach them something but for them to teach me a thing or two. Becoming a wise sage means I must watch listen learn and heed the lessons. My older sister is a teacher and I have always admired her work ethic, her go get em in the face of adversity attitude. Her tenacity speaks volumes about her character and vision for her future as she works diligently to master her craft and speak life and encouragement to the youth that are her students.  I usurped her in many ways when we were young, with me as pony wanting to be a big horse. She let me have my way because she never wanted to compete and has always been a dedicated sister and admirer, proud of her siblings. This week I gave up being right because I had been wrong and the whisper in my head became a scream telling me now, now tell her...I'm sorry are the words I used and while she wanted to let me off the hook, big sister style, I stayed accountable and gave her her place, the older wiser one, the one God put in front of me to lead me, to follow me, to walk beside me. Healing is a gift, it requires listening to Spirit, the corrective voice of Peace amongst brothers and sisters, family. Today, my blood sister, I commemorate you.