Be real and be heard...!
Monday, 19 July 2010 10:00
I was sitting in my favourite café the other day and overheard someone make a comment that reinforced a value of mine. He was discussing having attended seminars, and remarked to his friend that he didn’t like attending programs where the presenters raved on about how brilliant and perfect they were, as it just made him feel less about himself and as if what they were ‘preaching’ was impossible to achieve.
My thoughts on this took two directions. Firstly, there is no value in shrinking to make someone else feel tall. To downplay our achievements in order to ensure those around us feel comfortable denies them the opportunity to be challenged and grow.
On the other hand, anyone and everyone who presents, speaks or performs, also has the other side, the element that makes them ‘real’. This is their humanity. It is what enables them to relate to people rather than talk at them. It is what connects them with their listeners and allows their message to be heard.
One of my goals is to be real and truthful. It makes what I am saying easier to hear and connect with and allows others to see that anything is achievable. If I stand on a pedestal and preach, I distance myself. My words will be hollow, and nothing I say will touch the hearts or benefit the lives of anyone listening. Therefore, every time I write one of these emails, it comes from something I have lived and learnt.
Recently I have realised that even though I spend numerous days a year talking about, teaching and facilitating the equilibration process, I sometimes miss the point completely when applying it to my own life. Usually this happens when at some level I am reluctant to truly look and see. Then, I will think through the steps and have the “answers” sorted out in my mind before I pick up my pen and start. The process is then just an intellectual means to an end which I have already arrived at. In this way I can actually use the work as an excuse not to look! So how do I get myself back on track?
I have an innate knowing that there can never be a negative without a positive in any event, situation or circumstance. Knowing this intellectually and ‘getting it’ in my heart, however, are very different. In doing the work, I must look beyond what my head already knows in order to get to my heart. I know I am about to go to my heart when I hit the wall – when my mind goes blank and the process becomes difficult. This is when I have to push through and look deeper. And this is when my work truly begins.
Remember that knowing, and not doing, is not knowing.
With love, light and gratitude,
Emilia
