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Where is Wisdom? Why is it So Hard to Come By?

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Roger Kenneth Marsh| Leave a comment

“We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.”  Marcel Proust (1871 – 1922)

Wisdom is deep inside each and every one of us. If wisdom is right here, right where we are, why are so few truly tapped in?

Today I am attending the Wisdom 2.0 Business Conference at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. This is a conference dedicated to exploring and developing the role of wisdom in the world of work. This is a topic I am keenly interested in, for I know there are untapped depths to be plumbed in each and every employee in the working world today.

In the working world of the past we have been asked to “check our souls at the door,” or said another way “to sell our souls to the corporation,” and blindly follow their lead, performing like automatons for the glory of a bigger bottom line. There was no place in this old working world for passion, heart, love, and dynamic solutions that address and fulfill the whole of human existence.

But today is a new day. And what used to work is increasingly failing us. The successful companies of tomorrow will have figured out how to employ ALL of their employees’ being – not just their minds, but also their bodies, hearts, and souls – and to employ those powerful and unique resources to truly meet the needs of the communities they serve. This will be divine work that includes the bottom line, but goes far beyond it.

In this blog we explore why wisdom is so hard to come by. Being able to access your own wisdom is a major outcome of the Major Good Mojo System.

Read on and enjoy!

Where is Wisdom? Why is it So Hard to Come By?

Wisdom comes from a deep place inside us, where most people rarely visit. Wisdom can be defined as thoughts, feelings, concepts, and ideas that are bigger than you and facilitate the greater good of the whole. The only way to have and experience these types of thoughts, feelings, concepts and ideas for yourself is to connect with something bigger than you. We can call this God, Universal Intelligence, Great Spirit, or Source.

This is no longer about religion, or faith, or philosophy. Today’s world demands we go beyond these limiting mental constructs deep into the felt experience of true wisdom. This depth, this experience, this wisdom, is available to each and every person willing to let go and surrender their “smaller self” into this larger “bigger than you” reality.

Both my book NexGen Human and my ´”10 Step Major Good Mojo System” are all about establishing a strong partnership with God, Universal Intelligence, Great Spirit, or Source. I see this as THE most critical skill to survive and thrive in the 21st century. With the amount of change, information, and choices exponentially increasing in our lives, it’s ESSENTIAL we connect with the changeless, infinite, wise guidance inside.

While Spirit communicates with us in many ways, one of the most powerful and effective ways I have found to partner with the power of the Universe is to tune into my own body. If it’s true that we and Great Spirit are one, then we need look no further than right here, right where we are, to tap into divine intelligence and guidance.

So why aren’t more people doing this? If wisdom is available to each of us, inside us, why are we not tapped into it? Well, in our western paradigm of living we are accustomed to thinking of intelligence arising, or coming from, the head. Familiar terms like “Use your head” and “Get your head in the game,” exemplify this way of thinking.

However, what science has discovered in recent years is that intelligence actually exists all over the body; in fact there are neurons, similar to those in our brain, that exist in the heart and as well in the stomach. The new field of neuro-cardiology has called this bundle of neurons in the heart the heart-brain, and those in the stomach have been named the belly-brain.

In addition, studies have shown there is more communication going from the heart to the brain, than from the brain to the heart. The brain does not run the heart – in fact, in a fetus, the heart is formed and starts pumping before the brain is formed. And if you know anything about heart-transplants, you’ll know that a heart removed from the body can continue to beat with no connection to the brain. And those neurons in the gut, they produce the familiar “gut instinct.” We haven’t really understood these things until now.

Someone once said “There is more wisdom from the neck down, than from the neck up.” This is an amazing thing to truly realize, and starts to turn our brain-centered, head-centered western way of thinking and being “on its head.” The bottom line here is that there is wisdom, insight, and intelligence coming from other parts of ourselves!

So why don’t we hear the wisdom from our body? First of all the head is so dominant with its screaming and yelling and nonstop fear-based messages that the subtle aspects of ourselves get drowned out; you just can’t hear them. The voice of wisdom coming from our body is the often-talked-about but seldom heard “still small voice.” It really is still and small. You have to want to hear it, get still, and really listen. If you don’t do this the head continues to dominate you with fear-based, survival-oriented commands. This is unfortunate, because with your head running your life, your life becomes a death march that’s all about avoiding pain, seeking pleasure, and controlling as much as possible. This is called survival and it’s completely void of God-like experiences including joy, unconditional love, compassion, inspiration, deep peace and serenity.

Here’s an interesting insight. Spiritual practices are pretty much ALL about one thing: connecting to Source. That’s it. In one way, shape, or form they are ALL doorways to connecting with Source. Chanting, meditating, prayer, postures, mudras, mantras, etc. etc. etc. Anything you can think of. Every single one of these things is A MEANS TO THE END. Mostly they are about calming and quieting our mental, physical, or emotional distractions. Why? So we can finally connect, hear, and EXPERIENCE that still small voice that is the God Inside each and every one of us.

Think of the mind, or your head, as the manager, and think of your body, and especially your heart, as the leader, as the visionary. Without a divinely inspired vision, the manager, or your head, is just spinning its wheels doing busy work. Your mind is there to serve your heart; however most people are so in their mind, and disconnected from their body-based wisdom, that the mind is dysfunctionally running the show. With these insights your practice becomes about getting connected to your body and accessing ALL your wisdom.

To develop your felt experience of true wisdom, your strong connection with God, Universal Intelligence, Great Spirit, Source I invite you to engage The Major Good Mojo System.

Your Major Good Mojo Assignment:

Sit in a comfortable position with your feet flat on the ground and your hands resting on your thighs. Take several deep belly breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Close your eyes and feel your awareness draining down from your head, down into your body. You can literally sense this energetic shift of awareness-energy coming down from your head, down into your body. Imagine your awareness just melting down from your head down into your body as you breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth. Do this for a minute or two and longer if you want.

Once you have moved your awareness down into your body, just sit calmly in that state for a few moments and notice the quality of your thoughts and feelings. If you have truly succeeded at moving your awareness-energy down into your body, your will likely notice your thoughts are more peaceful, calm, confident, courageous, loving, inspired, and actually wise.  More, one might say, “God-like” in their quality.

Congratulations – you are one step closer to Major Good Mojo!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hell Is Other People – Or Is It?

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Roger Kenneth Marsh| Leave a comment

Friends at Esalen

This picture was taken at The Esalen Institute during an ITP (Integral Transformative Practice) Mastery Program Retreat. I always have a smile on my face when I’m at Esalen. Beauty, peace, and joy are so easily experienced there. It’s like Heaven On Earth, especially when you’re there with kindred spirits.

This past weekend I was with Dr. John Gray at his Mars/Venus Soul Mate Seminar. What a great program – I highly recommend it. He offered many profound and helpful ideas, when it comes to finding your soul mate. Here is one of his ideas that struck me: He suggested that you ask yourself, “Do you like who you are when you’re in their presence?” If your answer is “yes, most of the time,” that’s a good sign. If “no,” then you might want to reconsider the relationship. You can apply this to any relationship, group, or community. Do you like who you are when you are with them?

Have you ever heard the statement “Hell is other people”? I really laughed when I first heard that because of course there is some truth to it. However, the opposite is just as true or even truer: “Heaven is other people.” The key is: WHAT people? And to a very large extent, this is up to you. Of the seven billion or so people now living on Planet Earth, you get to choose the ones you are going to spend time with. Isn’t that amazing?

In this issue of Major Good Mojo we take a closer look at this very important element for your personal power and fulfillment: finding kindred spirits on your path. This is Step 10 of the Major Good Mojo System: “Connect with a Loving, Supportive, Inspiring Community.”

Read on and enjoy!

Hell is Other People – Or is it?

Step 10 of The Major Good Mojo System is: Connect with a loving, supportive, inspiring community.  As the old saying goes, no man is an island. To live a truly fulfilling life we need others. This is especially true when beginning to step out into new ways of living for the first time. You need a group of supportive people who can love and support you.  Who see and believe in the best for you. Who know who you really are and what you are hoping to achieve. The reason we are not alone on this planet is because we need each other. The key is to find your tribe, to find YOUR people. This is not always an easy thing to do.

I remember I was working with a professional life coach in the late 90s and he kept repeating to me, “Roger, you gotta get out there and meet your people.” I was sharing all this stuff with him about consciousness and living a creative life, and pouring my passions out to him in our sessions. He kept prodding me to get out there, to find those places where I and my ideas would be welcomed. I finally took his advice and found several communities where this was true. It made all the difference in the world to be with people who could understand me, who would support and encourage me, and even challenge me to get better, clearer, or more committed.

You know you’ve found your community, your people, or your tribe when you are accepted for who you are, you naturally fit in, and it’s easy for you to be yourself, say what you are thinking and feeling, and grow in the relationship.

One very interesting element of community is that “who we are with others, is not who we are when alone.” Think about it. Who you are, the thoughts you are having, the things you say, the things you do, are different depending on who is with you. This is a very interesting characteristic of relationships. We’ve all been around people who make us feel good or who inspire us. And on the other hand, we’ve all been around people who depress us and suck the energy out of us. Clearly, we are affected by the people with whom we are interacting.

In the spring 1996 issue of “The Noetic Sciences Review,” Margaret Wheatley (Organizational Consultant and author of Leadership and the New Science: Learning About Organization from an Orderly Universe) wrote an article about the hidden intelligence orchestrating and organizing all things in the Universe. In this article one of the things she pointed out was: who we are when we’re with others, or who we are in community, is different than who we are when we’re alone.

Margaret reveals the seldom realized and amazing fact that you cannot understand the power of an individual by assessing or understanding who they are when alone. You have to look at them when in community and in relationship with others! However, she pointed out, “none of the personality assessors or indicators (e.g. Myers-Briggs) let us know who or what we are capable of being when we are in community with one another.”

As your mission becomes clearer and your confidence in who you are becomes greater and greater, your ability to identify, attract, and engage people on your path gets stronger and stronger.On the flip side, your ability to know who and what is NOT on your path gets stronger and stronger as well. And eventually, what comes along with this knowledge is your ability to say NO to who and what is not on your path. The funny thing is, people and opportunities NOT on your path will likely keep showing up, especially in the early stages of engaging your mission. These become opportunities for you to continue embracing who and what you are, by saying NO to who and what is not on your path. (Side note:  these people actually ARE on your path, however they are there for you to say and strengthen your “no”).

Eventually you get to a point in life where it’s about living your mission and making your contribution to the world. This is what becomes most important. If someone does not support, or is not aligned with this highest purpose and vision for your life, then it serves no one (including them!) to spend your time and energy with them. Having this kind of capacity requires that you are very clear on your own authentic life path and mission (achieved through Steps 5 and 6 of The Major Good Mojo System: Get connected to your Purpose and Passions). When you have clarity on this, it becomes a lot easier to say YES and NO to best facilitate your service and gifts into the world.

Connecting with loving, inspiring, and supportive people, groups, and communities is an essential element for living a truly fulfilling life. To bring this alive in your life I invite you to engage the The Major Good Mojo Coaching System.

Your Major Good Mojo Assignment:

Reflect on the following questions:

-       Who in your life right now does NOT support the highest vision of yourself? Who do you NOT feel empowered and good in the presence of? List these people, groups, and communities. Decide right now to give less of your time, attention, and energy to these people on your path that are not serving you (nor is it serving them!).

-       Who in your life right now DOES support the highest vision of yourself? Who do you feel empowered and good in the presence of? List these people, groups, and communities. Decide right now to give MORE of your time, attention, and energy to these people on your path that ARE serving and supporting the highest vision of yourself.

Congratulations – you are one step closer to Major Good Mojo!

 

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How to Stay Connected to Spirit and Passion

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Roger Kenneth Marsh| Leave a comment

This picture was taken at the Esalen Institute on California’s Big Sur Coast, as I gazed out over their “Great Lawn” to the Pacific Ocean. I selected the picture for this eZine because the two art pieces nicely demonstrate the typical path one follows living in Spirit and creating a passion-filled life. It’s never a straight line! However, over time, with a consciously engaged practice, there is progress, and often significant, beautiful progress.

One of my favorite quotes from human potential pioneer Michael Murphy, co-founder of the Esalen Institute, is “The question isn’t whether to engage a practice or not, because you’re already practicing something. The question is what are you practicing?” Michael is referring to our ability to consciously choose what we practice in our lives. Are you choosing to practice fear, worry, and concern? This choice, if you can call it that, is typically made unconsciously and by default. Or, are you choosing to practice joy, love, and generosity? This choice is usually made in a more conscious and intentional way.

In this blog we look at one of the most important ingredients for creating your life’s dreams and desires: having and establishing a consciously created daily personal practice. This is Step 8 of the Major Good Mojo System: “Stay connected to Spirit and Passion.”

Read on and enjoy!

How to Stay Connected to Spirit and Passion

Step 8 of the 10 Step Major Good Mojo System is “Stay connected to Spirit and Passion.” Spirit and your passions go hand in hand. As Chris and Janet Attwood, authors of “The Passion Test,” often say, “What you love and God’s will for you are one and the same.” As you deepen your connection to your Higher Self and become more and more adept at listening to and following its guidance, you’ll find you’re led to your passions. You’re led to move and take action on what it is you love. Step by step you’ll be fulfilling your passions, your dharma, and your purpose. This step, Step 8, is about putting in place a practice that keeps you connected to Spirit and your passions day in and day out.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of a long-term, daily practice. It’s inside of this long-term context that your true transformation and evolution will be most powerfully facilitated. In a long-term practice you have the time to experience what does and does not work for you, what is and is not efficient. Then you are able to tune and optimize.

Living and fulfilling your passions is the result of the path of practice, and it occurs and is engaged OVER TIME. Therefore you need to be on a path of regular practice that marks your way, guides you, supports you, and keeps your evolution on track. It’s like creating a groove in a piece of wood with a rock, or perhaps on a piece of glass with a diamond; the first time you practice you just scratch the surface of the wood or glass. But then each time you practice, over and over again, you deepen that groove, and subsequently those things you are working on. Your connection to Source and Heart Wisdom, seeing the good in everything, going with the flow, transcending limiting beliefs, embracing the contraction and low energy times in your life, and expressing and creating your authentic life purpose, all eventually become the natural path for divine energy flow in your life.

It’s also important to note that for your practice to have deep transformational value it must continue independent of what is going on in your life. If you allow life to rule you, you will soon stop your practice. However, if you engage your practice independent of the conditions in your life, you can persist. This means you choose to do your practice for no reason and you do it no matter what.

You can look at your life as your ultimate long-term practice. Over your years on this earth you discover what works and doesn’t work for you, making adjustments, learning and deepening your connection to Source, until you ultimately and literally do dissolve into the oneness. Your long-term practice can be a microcosm of this ultimate and real long-term practice of your life – becoming more free, present, powerful, and joy-filled – while still alive and animating your physical form.

And don’t be afraid to try out different practices. Do what works for you. I’ve engaged many different forms and my transformational practice has continually evolved. Know that something may work for you and be very powerful at one stage of your life, then you grow beyond it and are ready for something else. Don’t feel like you have to select something and stay with it forever. Be free to evolve and engage and create what works for you.

Establishing your own, customized, daily practice that keeps you connected to Spirit and your passions is a major benefit of the Major Good Mojo System. To experience the power this can provide in your life, I invite you to engage the The Major Good Mojo Coaching System.

Your Major Good Mojo Assignment:

Take a look in your life to identify any daily practices you have that keep you connected to Spirit and your passions. If you have some, great, keep doing those. If you don’t, spend a few minutes right now to think of one or two things you might do each day to get more connected. Perhaps you’ll choose to read some uplifting and inspiring words, or start a gratitude journal, or walk in nature, or even meditate. These are all simple things that, if engaged consciously each day, can become a powerful practice in and for your life.

Consciously choosing, creating, and engaging a long-term daily practice is one of the most powerful things you can do.

Congratulations – you are one step closer to Major Good Mojo!

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Top 10 Reasons to Get Divinely Connected

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Roger Kenneth Marsh| 2 Comments

Some of you may recognize the two men in the picture above. One of them is me! The other is Neale Donald Walsch, author of the Conversations with God book series.  These books were life changing for me when I read them more than 15 years ago.

While there are many thought provoking ideas and concepts in those books, what impacted me most was the concept that I could actually HAVE a conversation with God. In most traditional models this is considered blasphemy. You see, not that long ago (relatively speaking) “God” was taken out of the world and put up on throne in the sky – separate from us and separate from this world – with some very specific (and controlled) means for accessing “him.” Like everything (thank God!) things evolve and new models and approaches have emerged that bring God/Universal Intelligence/Great Spirit much closer to home!  

In this blog we’ll explore the Top 10 Reasons for Getting Divinely Connected. We’ll take a closer look at the benefits, explore why it’s important, and why someone would even want to do it! Getting Divinely Connected is something that can be learned, practiced, and developed. In fact, it is a key piece of the Major Good Mojo System. Since the Divine literally IS the source of your life, quite frankly, I can’t think of anything more important and powerful than getting Divinely Connected.

The Top 10 Reasons to Get Divinely Connected

When you think of “The Divine” or “God” or “Great Spirit” or ”Infinite Intelligence,” what do you think of? Do you think of love, compassion, wisdom, inspiration, and miracles? In my experience, these are all characteristics of The Divine. The more I get connected to The Divine, the more these characteristics become a part of me, and the more I experience them in my life. One could say that getting Divinely Connected is about becoming “more like God” in your life. Pretty cool, yes?

Here are the Top 10 Reasons to Get Divinely Connected. These are not in any priority or order – they are ALL incredibly valuable and important. I’ve found that their relative importance tends to depend on the particular life experience and situations one is in.

1) Peace. No matter what.  When Divinely Connected you KNOW everything is always OK, no matter what, and no matter how it may look.

2) Wise guidance for life choices. When Divinely Connected you have access to the most wise and informed friend, which is hugely beneficial and an amazing stress and time saver! Also, invaluable for those “tough times” in life.

3) Unconditional love.  Some people say that “getting the love you want” is what life is all about (at least that’s what everyone is subconsciously trying to get) – “All I want is to be loved!” When Divinely Connected, you already got all the love you want – unwavering, always there, and supremely satisfying. There is no substitute.

4) Synchronicities, miracles, and magic. This is one of my favorites. When Divinely Connected the Universe is always “winking at you.” Things happen (far beyond coincidence) that you could never have orchestrated on your own.

5) Power. This is somewhat related to number 4, but different. When Divinely Connected you can trust in a “power greater than yourself.” This means you KNOW you don’t have to do it all (and you can’t anyhow!). You can “share the burden” and have everything turn out.  This GREATLY reduces stress.

6) You’re never alone. When Divinely Connected you’re always with the most loyal, loving, supportive, inspiring, compassionate presence. The ideal friend/spouse/companion!

7) Wonder and awe. When Divinely Connected you can see beyond the flat material world into the animating energy of it all. This is related to the Einstein quote “Either everything is a miracle, or nothing is.”

8) Compassion for others. When Divinely Connected you see the bigger picture and know that everyone is doing the best they can, with the consciousness they have, inside the circumstances of their life. Instead of anger, your heart goes out to people since you know that if they were Divinely Connected they wouldn’t be doing some of the things they do. (One definition of “evil” is simply “absence of the Divine”).

9) Gratitude and humility. When Divinely Connected every moment is a gift. You’re present to the undeniable beauty of the world and amazed and humbled by it all.

And last but not least:

10) No fear of death. When Divinely Connected you see, experience, and KNOW the infinite, eternal nature and reality of life. You know there is no death – only transformation and transitions. This provides a huge degree of freedom to simply live!

All of this can be had with practice. Without a practice, without intentionally and consciously looking for the Divine, without actively creating your Connection, it will remain a mysterious fantasy, a non-reality, perhaps even as a “crutch for those that can’t handle the real world.”

However, the more you look and have faith, the more you see. The more you see, the more you believe. The more you believe, the more you experience. And the more you experience, the more you KNOW. You don’t “think” and “believe” in God, you KNOW God. You are Divinely Connected!

Getting Divinely Connected is something that can be learned, practiced, and developed. In fact, it is a key piece of the Major Good Mojo System. If you want to get Divinely Connected, I invite you to engage the The Major Good Mojo Coaching Program.

Your Major Good Mojo Assignment:

Explore your current connection and relationship with God/Universal Intelligence/Great Spirit/Source. How strong is this connection? How clear? How free and empowered are you in that relationship? Is there an opportunity for you to strengthen this relationship?  Then make yourself comfortable, take a few deep breaths, close your eyes, and ask yourself “How might I increase my connection with the Divine?”  Then listen to what comes forth.  Perhaps you’ll start a meditation practice, or journal, or sit quietly in your garden in the morning, or maybe even engage The Major Good Mojo Program!

 

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Finding Your Wisdom Within

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Roger Kenneth Marsh| Leave a comment

This is a picture of me with Michael Beckwith, Author, Visionary, and Founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center in Southern California.  During some of my Advanced Passion Test Certification Training I was fortunate to spend some time with Michael in some relatively intimate settings.  This man is one of my heroes.  Why? Because he is one of the most amazing, clear channels for Divine Wisdom I have ever seen.  This man knows how to put his “small self” in service to the Big Self and let the Big Self come on through -him clearly and powerfully.  If you ever have a chance to see Michael speak, definitely go!

Michael is a wise man full of wisdom.  But how do I KNOW that?  How can any of us know real wisdom from plain old psycho-babble B.S.?  The only way we can KNOW it, is because it’s in US too.  The reason anything Michael says makes sense and “rings true” for me is because I have that wisdom in me too.  Michael will even say that.  In fact, the best spiritual teachers will always say something like this at the beginning of their talks, “I am not going to tell you anything you don’t already know.  I am simply going to be the vehicle that re-minds you.”   

Here’s a nice analogy for this: picture two guitars sitting next to each other.  When you pluck a string on one guitar, the corresponding string on the other guitar will start to vibrate.  It is “resonating” with the vibration that is “already in it” as potential. It is then “activated” by the external source.  This is what happens when someone is giving voice to a truth or wisdom that already resides in us, but just needed a little “coaxing” to come into our consciousness.

In this blog we take a closer look at where real wisdom resides and how we can learn to coax it into our awareness (Hint: this is what Key #1 of the Major Good Mojo System is all about – learning to consistently and reliably access your innate wisdom).

If it’s true that we and Great Spirit are one, then we need look no further than right here, right where we are, to tap into divine intelligence, wisdom and guidance.

In our western paradigm of living, we are accustomed to thinking of intelligence arising, or coming from, the head. Familiar terms like “Use your head” and “Get your head in the game,” exemplify this way of thinking. However, what science has discovered in recent years is that intelligence actually exists all over the body – and that in fact there are neurons, similar to those in our brain, that exist in the heart and as well in the stomach. The new field of neuro-cardiology has called this bundle of neurons in the heart, “the heart-brain.”

Studies have shown there is more communication going from the heart to the brain, than from the brain to the heart. The brain does not run the heart – in fact, in a fetus, the heart is formed and starts pumping before the brain is formed. And if you know anything about heart-transplants, you’ll know that a heart removed from the body can continue to beat with no connection to the brain. There are also neurons in the gut – we’re all familiar with “gut instinct” – but we haven’t really understood it until now. So there is wisdom, insight, and intelligence we can access from other parts of ourselves. However, we have to pay attention, and this is the key.

There’s an old saying “The longest journey a person will ever take is from their head to their heart.”  While it’s only a foot or so in actual distance, why do you think it may be the longest journey a person will ever take?  It’s because the head wants to run the show.  The head can be so dominant and loud with its fear-based warnings, worries and concerns that the subtle aspects of ourselves (like our heart-based messages) get drowned out. You just can’t hear them.  This is why the heart, or your deeper body-based wisdom, got the name “the still, small voice.”  It’s quiet and unassuming, waiting for YOU to choose to hear it.

Think of the mind, or your head, as the manager, and think of your body, and especially your heart, as the leader and the visionary. Without a divinely sourced vision, the manager (or your head) is just spinning its wheels doing busy work. Your mind is there to serve your heart. However, most people are so in their head, and disconnected from their body-based wisdom, that their head is dysfunctionally running the show.  This imbalance is the source of much of the suffering people experience in their day-to-day lives….and it does not have to be this way.  This is why I became a Licensed HeartMath Provider.  The HeartMath Institute has created the best path I have ever seen for bringing heart-based wisdom alive in life.  It’s a practice, and HeartMath has shown the way.

Through the heart you can access WISDOM, far beyond what your head alone can access. (In fact, I will go so far as to say that no true WISDOM arises from the head at all!).  When living from the heart there is a tangible experience of being guided by and serving something far larger than your self (small “s”). This wisdom could be called God, Infinite Intelligence, Great Spirit, or Source. Ultimately it cannot be labeled. Nonetheless we can have a direct EXPERIENCE of it, through the heart, and ultimately through the entire body itself.

If you’d like to learn how to reliably and consistently access your heart and body-based wisdom and guidance, get started with the The Major Good Mojo Coaching Program now.

Your Major Good Mojo Assignment:

In a nutshell, your assignment is to connect with your body and pay attention to the messages it has for you.  You can start right now, right where you are by simply using your breath.  The breath is an incredibly powerful instrument for cultivating awareness. Because of this, many spiritual traditions use the breath as a cornerstone in their practice. 

Try this:  Sitting comfortably in a chair, put your feet flat on the floor, place your hands on your lower abdomen, and breathe deeply, down into your abdomen, so that you can feel your hands moving outward as your lungs fill with air. While forward is the most obvious expansion, see if you can also feel your lungs and abdomen expanding downward toward your pelvic floor and sacrum, backwards into your lower back, and sideways into the lower part of your rib cage.  Do this at least three times then notice how your experience of being alive changes.  How does your body feel different from before doing this? Notice if your thoughts have changed, and perhaps your emotions, too.  Have fun with this and do this simple practice throughout your days.  

Your body is a wise and well informed teacher– literally the wisdom of the Universe resides inside. By consciously choosing and cultivating your practice of listening, you can bring this wisdom alive in your life for more peace, power, and Major Good Mojo!

 

2011 © Beyond Belief, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

 

 

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Be the Change You Wish to See In the World. Literally!

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Roger Kenneth Marsh| 2 Comments

This is a picture of me at the Osmosis Spa in Freestone, California, meditating in their authentic Zen Garden.  The space is magnificent and facilitates a deep and wonderful mindful state.  I stayed in the garden for more than two hours doing a combination of sitting and walking meditations.  If you look closely you can see ripples on the water from a light rain that contributed to the magical environment.

Meditation is a powerful tool for consciously cultivating your “inner world.”   In my last blog “How to Create Anything In Your Life.  Really!” I talked about the four stages we typically go through in the process of personal growth and learning anything new:  Unconscious Incompetence, Conscious Incompetence, Conscious Competence, and Unconscious Competence.  In this blog I want to further illuminate what is happening IN OUR INNER WORLD as we go through these stages.  

Change tends to cascade through “less dense” energy fields into more dense energy fields.  Very simply, “just an idea” becomes a physical reality.  Or said another way, from the spiritual, to the mental, to the emotional, to the physical.  As an idea/concept/desire moves through us and through these energy fields, what is it that is changing?  What exactly is going on with this process?

In this blog we take a closer look at what it means to change our inner world and literally to become the change we wish to see in our world. 

Be the Change You Wish to See In the World. Literally!

You’ve probably heard of the new science of neurobiology that is demonstrating we can change our brains by the thoughts and experiences we engage.  The concept is neuroplasticity and states our brains can, and do, create new neural pathways and networks based on the training we give it.  Wow!  We may be creatures of habit, but we can change those habits if we want to.  With this as our starting point, let’s go a little further:  

You have probably heard the statement that every five to seven years every cell in your body is new – has been replaced (Deepak Chopra, MD, and Quantum Physicist John Hagelin, as well as other doctors and scientists have said this). You have an entirely new body every five to seven years. Isn’t that amazing? Just that fact alone suggests you are not your body. “YOU” get a new one every five to seven years, but what is the “you” that is getting it? What is the “you” that is staying around and is consistent through all that physical world change? Great and powerful questions, but not why I bring this up. 

Quantum Biologist Bruce Lipton, author of The Biology of Belief, has scientifically demonstrated that our beliefs live in each and every one of our cells. Beliefs are not just “in our head” but actually are resonating in each and every cell of our entire body. This has far-reaching implications for health and well being, but again, is not why I bring this up. 

Quantum Physics, as represented in popular movies such as What the Bleep Do We Know, The Secret, and more, posits that our thoughts and feelings create and attract our reality. Another way to say this (less mystically) is, “What you focus on expands.”  We all know that what we pay attention to we tend to get more of. So, if your thoughts and feelings (aka your beliefs) are creating your reality, AND they live in your each and every cell, AND it takes five to seven years to replace every cell in your body, then it stands to reason that it will take about five to seven years to totally transform your beliefs and hence your life. 

If you ask around and pay attention to success stories like I do, you’ll find that from the time a now-successful person started engaging their new field of endeavor (whatever that is), it took about five years until they were really experiencing the success they imagined. Over that time they transformed their beliefs, cell by cell, thought by thought, feeling by feeling, experience by experience, until most of the cells in their body were resonating the new beliefs and desires. And viola! Via the laws of Quantum Physics, they were able to attract, create, and experience that reality in physical, tangible form.  (Additional evidence for this are the studies demonstrating it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at something. If you do the math, that is 5.5 hours per day for five years, or about four hours per day for seven years).

Notice that this whole chain of inner world transformation begins with you consciously choosing your thoughts and feelings.  Your thoughts and feelings “cascade” down into your physical body, literally into your each and every cell, and then out into the world!  This is cutting-edge stuff, guys!  As a human race we are just beginning to understand how it is we are woven into our world.  It’s pretty obvious now that our thoughts and feelings affect the health and well-being of our physical body. However, there is a large body of emerging evidence that our thoughts and feelings affect our physical “world” (outside our body) as well!

Now, five to seven years may seem like a long time to some of you, but what we’re talking about here is life-level transformation and manifestation – where your whole world changes, not just some small part.  And, in the context of the average human life span of 75 years, it’s less than 10%!  Think about it, you can totally transform your life and your world every five to seven years.  Of course people have done this – I know some of them, you probably do too – and are living what seems to be many totally different lives in one lifetime!

As you engage your path of personal growth and development and begin creating the things in your life you truly desire, THIS is the path you are on, THIS is what you are changing….YOU!  From the inside out.  This is what the Major Good Mojo Coaching Program is designed to support you to do!  Click here to find out more and Be The Change You Want To See in Your World.

Your Major Good Mojo Assignment:

Knowing that your thoughts cascade into your feelings, cascade into your physical body, and cascade out into your world, take one day and watch your thoughts throughout the day.  Keep a notepad with you that day. How many of your thoughts are you consciously aware of and choosing, vs. just automatically running? Are they mostly positive?  Negative? Neutral? Notice what kind of thoughts you are having throughout your day, and hence, what are you creating yourself to be?  Consider if there is an opportunity for you to be more aware, to choose more wisely. Begin to consciously create yourself as the change you wish to be and see in your world.

Congratulations!  You’re one step closer to your Major Good Mojo!

 

2011 © Beyond Belief, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

 

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How to Create Anything In Your Life. Really!

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Roger Kenneth Marsh| Leave a comment

One of the things I’m now noticing showing up in the popular “you can change your life and have anything you want” messages, is an acknowledgment that it takes time and effort - that you can’t just “wish it true.” You actually have to take action and PARTNER with the process and birth it into the world.  You cannot change the world without first changing yourself – and changing yourself is something that typically happens OVER TIME, one step at a time.

One of my mentors, Fabienne Fredrickson, says the Universe always answers and fulfills your requests – however not necessarily in the way you think it will. It typically shows up as an OPPORTUNITY to take some small action that will lead you toward the fulfillment of your request.  So you ASK, and then watch for opportunities showing up that you can say YES to and take action on.  That’s how it works.  NOT ask, ask, ask, and sit on the couch waiting for it land in your lap.

Real change requires a surrender of your old ways. To make way for the new you showing up, you must let go of old, comfortable habits…. and that typically takes some time.  This is really hard, if not impossible, to do on your own.  This is why structured programs like the Major Good Mojo System – where you systematically engage a process in partnership with me – are so helpful for realizing the changes and results in your life that you desire.  Without the structured process and power of partnership, we tend to stay in the same old grooves and get the same old results.

How to Create Anything In Your Life, Really!

Have you noticed that life has a certain inertia to it, and when you press in on it, it tends to press back a bit? It’s called homeostasis. In their book, The Life We Are Given (Tarcher Putnam, 1995), George Leonard and Michael Murphy point out, “Our body, brain, and behavior have a built-in tendency to stay the same within rather narrow limits and to snap back when changed – and it’s a very good thing they do.” It’s what keeps your body together and all its systems running smoothly. The body works very hard at maintaining homeostasis and keeping things balanced. Homeostasis is the natural resistance to change; it’s the tendency of the Universe to maintain the status quo.

This does NOT mean things don’t change; things are always changing. They change over time, however, ONE STEP AT A TIME. And as you travel your path of growth and development you are definitely going to run into this naturally occurring phenomenon. Knowing about it in advance will help you identify the mechanism when it shows up and wisely choose to continue on your path. Transformation can happen in an instant, but it usually doesn’t.

Here’s how it usually goes:  we start off Unconsciously Incompetent.  In this stage of evolution we don’t know what we don’t know.  In the case of our subconscious habits and patterns, they are running our lives without our conscious awareness of it. We perceive and interact with the world the way we see it and “that’s just the way it is.”

Then, as you clarify your passions and begin engaging your personal vision, you will move into the next stage: Conscious Incompetence. You are now becoming aware of what you previously did not know. You are now aware of your incompetence in a particular arena and, in the case of subconscious habits and patterns, you are becoming aware of how they are running your life in ways that you no longer desire. Although this stage can be a bit painful, it is a MAJOR first step, because things you want to change or develop have moved from unconsciousness into your CONSCIOUS AWARENESS where you can now see them and begin working with them.

Over time, as you become more and more aware of how your subconscious habits and patterns have been running your life, and you build your ability to choose differently, you move into a new stage of development:  Conscious Competence. This is a great place to be because you are now competent at choosing and creating your life, using your new skills, empowering truly authentic choices (rather than unconsciously reacting), and therefore experiencing success in the way you have envisioned.

It’s important to note that most of the progress and “work” happens between these second and third stages. You will take one step forward, then two steps back, and two steps forward, then one step back. You bounce back and forth between your incompetence and your competence, until you finally develop stability:  your old habits and patterns lose their grip while your new skills take hold and you are able to competently create your life in a new, consciously empowered way.

Finally you move into stage four:  Unconscious Incompetence. You become so competent at using the new skill and believing your new beliefs, that the new skill, or competency, eventually becomes “just the way things are.” At this point it moves into your unconscious mind. This is a great stage to be in because now your experience of yourself and your world, as you have consciously chosen and created it, goes basically on auto pilot. Whether it is health, wealth, love, or peacefulness, these new skills and competencies become a deeply integral part of who you are.

Simple, common examples of this process are learning to tie our shoes, brush our teeth, or learning to drive. All of these things at one point in our lives were difficult for us to do.  But now we do them automatically without giving it a thought. They are literally programmed into our subconscious and our ability to do these things is “just the way it is.”  This is also true of other “ways of being” and beliefs you have learned and practiced over the years,  whether they are empowering or not.

As you step onto your Hero’s Journey and begin embracing your unique passions, purpose, and mission, you will experience those places in yourself ready for transformation and evolution. Keep this model in mind and you will be better able to stay on the path and create the Major Good Mojo you desire.

Your Major Good Mojo Assignment:

Ask yourself:  “What do I want to change or create in my life right now?” Jot down the things that come to mind.  Then, knowing that change typically happens over time, one step at a time, ask yourself, “Am I really willing to do what it takes to have these changes I want in my life?”  If the answer is yes, congratulations, you are embarking on an exciting journey. And if the answer is no, that’s fine too. It just means either what you want isn’t really what you want, OR, you really are not ready to make the change right now.  Either way, yes or no, honor your truth.

Congratulations!  You’re one step closer to changing your life, creating what you want, and accessing Major Good Mojo!

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Who You Are Changes With Who You’re With

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Roger Kenneth Marsh| 1 Comment

This past weekend I was at Esalen Institute on the California Big Sur Coastline co-facilitating an ITP Mastery program (Integral Transformative Practice). The picture is me with my awesome co-facilitator Georgie Weston in the garden on the grounds with the Pacific Ocean stretched out behind us.

It was an AMAZING weekend of transformation, community, magic, and fun.   The cool thing about a program like this is it has “a life of it’s own” when you gather the participants and begin engaging the materials.  You can do all the planning and organizing you want, but real transformation and magical moments usually happen organically.  You just can’t plan when you’ll have those super juicy, rich, ripe, authentic, potent moments – the best you can do is create the context and the container in which they can happen.

So what is it about the context and the container that encourages magical moments? Well, there are many factors, however one that I’d like to focus on in this blog is THE COMMUNITY – the people that are gathered.   Every person is their own unique vibrating energy field – some vibrating at higher frequencies, some vibrating at lower frequencies.  When you gather a group of people vibrating at higher frequencies, the GROUP energy is palpable – this was the case with our gathering this past weekend.  We were all there, fully present, open, and ready to go.

Science is finding who we are is different when we’re in a “community energy field” than when we are alone! Although this is an amazing fact, we’ve all experienced people and groups that inspire us, and people and groups that depress us. It’s obvious we are affected by others.  These are energetic fields that are affecting our own energetic field, the thoughts and feelings we are having, AND the actions we are taking. With this in mind, you can see why carefully choosing who you hang out with is a very important choice!

There’s an old saying “Where two or more are gathered, I am there among them.” To me, this is pointing toward the “group energy field” or even “The MasterMind,” and it only takes two to create it.  This is an active field of intelligence that we both contribute to and receive from as a member of a group.

This is one of the most powerful aspects of 1-on-1 coaching - you participate in a field of energy that brings new insights, inspirations, and ideas that you would never get while alone. See the “Raving Fan” testimonial in this issue for an example of a client experiencing exactly that within the “Major Good Mojo Program.”

While walking the path of transformation there are good days and bad days, and all kinds of days in between. However, I have found that walking with others not only makes it a whole lot more enjoyable, it also makes possible things that just aren’t possible when you are walking alone. We are on this planet with other people for a reason! If life was meant to be lived alone, you would BE alone. But alas, at last count, there are some 6 billion of us walking around!  For Major Good Mojo, finding your friends, the folks on your team, is essential.

One very interesting element of being with others is that who we are with others, is not who we are when alone. Think about it, who you are, the thoughts you are having, the things you say, the things you do, are different depending on who you are in the presence of. This is a very interesting characteristic of relationships. We’ve all been around people who make us feel good or who inspire us. And on the other hand, we’ve all been around people who depress us and suck the energy out of us. Clearly, we are affected by the people we are interacting with.

In the Spring 1996 issue of The Noetic Sciences Review, Margaret Wheatley (Organizational Consultant and author of Leadership and the New Science:  Learning About Organization from an Orderly Universe) wrote an article about the hidden intelligence orchestrating and organizing all things in the Universe.  In this article one of the things she points out is that who we are with others, or who we are in community, is different than who we are when alone. She stated, “You cannot understand the power of the individual by assessing or understanding who they are when alone.”  In our individualistic, lone-ranger society, this is a revolutionary concept!

To understand who someone is and the powers they possess, you have to look at them when in community and in relationship with others! Our gifts are designed for, and come foward, in the presence of others!  Margaret further pointed out that “none of the personality assessors or indicators (e.g. Myers-Briggs) let us know who or what we are capable of being when we are in community with one another.”  We are mistaken if we think we can understand what an individual is capable of by looking at them only when alone.

I almost always experience this phenomenon when presenting to or leading groups. Things I say and do are often emergent, in the moment, and something I’ve never said or done exactly that way before.  Often someone will ask “Can you say that again?” and I’ll be at a loss for saying it exactly the same way I just said it BECAUSE it was a channeled moment of non-thinking coming forth in the presence of others – not something I consciously and intentionally assembled in advance.  Another interesting aspect of this emergent capacity when in groups is that people will come up to me and say “What you said was so perfect for me – it was spot on for what I am dealing with in my life right now.”  This happens when I am in THEIR presence.  I could never have planned that in advance by myself.

Margaret provides a great example of 20-foot tall termite towers on the Australian savanna. When entomologists study the individual termite what they find is they are only capable of digging dirt piles. However, these 20 foot towers are amazingly complex feats of engineering, built on a north-south axis, with tunnels and arches inside designed to move air into a darkened interior where it is cooler. “The nests are also designed to move moisture in so the termites can farm a form of fungi they require for digestion. These are very sophisticated structures.”

Entomologists looked for years for the leader, for the engineer, for the “brains” behind the operation. But they never found one. What they found when they looked closer was an emergent capacity in the termites that was only present when in community. If you looked just at an individual termite, all you saw was that they could dig. But when they got together, new capacities for building began to emerge. “Isolated, they barely have any significance. But as a coordinated group they perform like a hive-mind. Like neurons, they emit chemicals for communication… they’re very tuned in… and they respond.”

The main take-away for accessing Major Good Mojo, is to realize that your capacities are different when you’re alone vs. when you’re with others. Choose wisely the company you keep!

 

Your Major Good Mojo Assignment:

Ask yourself:  Who and what in my life right now does not support my highest vision of myself? List out these people, groups, activities, and things. Decide right now to give less of your time, attention, and energy to these things on your path that are not serving you (nor is it serving them!).

Then ask yourself:  Who and what in my life right now does support my highest vision of myself? List out these people, groups, activities, and things. Decide right now to give more of your time, attention, and energy to these things on your path that are serving and supporting the highest vision of yourself.

Congratulations!  You’re one step closer to surrounding yourself with inspiring energy fields and accessing Major Good Mojo!

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Embrace Your Blooming – and Divine, Right Timing

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Roger Kenneth Marsh| Leave a comment

The picture above is an amazingly beautiful amaryllis flower I have that blooms every year. Eventually, it will have 20 to 24 flowers like this in full bloom. If you look closely, you’ll see there are flowers at various stages of blooming – some wide open, some just beginning to open, and others not open at all.  They all bloom in their own right, divine timing.

Someone once said, “There’s man’s time and there’s God’s time.” Man’s time is typically the forced time of trying to make things happen when WE want them to. God’s time is the natural unfolding of events happening when THEY are ready to happen. Understanding there is a natural timing to all things, and then allowing that and working with that, is a great skill and awareness to have, especially for Major Good Mojo.

The tomato plant goes from seed to gorgeous tomato OVER TIME. A baby is created and, over nine months, grows to readiness for birth. The tomato plant and baby are good examples because so much happens behind the scenes – under the earth and in the womb. It would be easy to assume nothing is happening since you can’t see it. However, you would be very mistaken (setting ultrasound and the enlarging mother’s belly aside, there is still a lot going on that is out of sight).

Then, BOOM!, in a relatively short instant the tomato plant breaks through the surface of the earth, and, BOOM! the baby is born. Both the baby and the tomato plant begin to very visibly grow and our minds are relieved because we can now see the progress and trust that all is OK. But it is still happening one step at a time. The baby grows into a man or woman over years! And the tomato takes months before it is ready to eat. These are natural processes of living organisms growing and transforming in the world, just as we are, and it doesn’t happen in a weekend.

Much of what we are exposed to completely dishonors the natural process of transformation, growth, and learning.

Many of us want our happiness, success, and wealth in an instant and are all too ready to believe the promises of someone saying they can give it to us. Many “Fast-Track to Success” seminars do a major disservice to those new on the path by setting them up for disappointment.

Let’s take the baby example.  Here’s the seminar pitch you hear on the radio (be sure to read this in your best “announcer” voice):  “Tired of waiting for babies to be born? Want the beauty and brilliance of a baby of your own without having to wait? Come to the “Your Baby Now” Seminar where you will learn how to create a real human baby in only 2 days! Yes, that’s right, from conception to delivery in just 2 days! This amazing miracle has been transforming the lives of thousands. Call now!” Of course this is ridiculous, but the example points to the absurdity of ignoring natural law. Your growth and expansion are no different.

Promises for amazing transformation are rampant, especially in key areas of life such as health, wealth, and relationships. The truth is YOU CAN transform yourself and any area of your life, and programs and products CAN and DO help you do this. At the right moment, the right program can bring on a catharsis, a breakthrough, or a significant insight. All of these contribute to your growth. However, the REALIZATION of most breakthroughs, as recognizable change on a day-to-day basis, happens over time, not over night. If change does manifest instantaneously after a breakthrough, you’ve likely been working on that area or issue prior to the workshop/seminar. If you haven’t been working on that breakthrough, then it’s likely you’ll be working on its manifestation and realization into your life AFTER the breakthrough. Either way, it didn’t miraculously fully manifest into your life in an instant.

Like the old saying goes: “It takes a lifetime to create an overnight success.” Ask any successful person in any arena. If you can get their true story rather than the nutshell or magical version, you’ll discover it took them years. And even if they did produce some amazing result in what appears to be a year or two, if you look closely, you’ll find that in the years before the crucial year or two, they were working toward that “magical” success in one way or another. The truth is, in ALL areas, it’s a process. It takes time! What we are talking about here is your personal process of evolution and growth as a human being. For Major Good Mojo, you are wise, you respect the natural process of life, and you take it one step at a time.

Your Major Good Mojo Assignment:

Take a moment to look in your life for places where you may be holding tight, resisting the bloom, and/or places where you are forcing the bloom, pushing for results, and trying to open too fast. Where can you trust and open a bit more? And where can you relax, back off a bit, and allow some space for grace?  Make a note of your insights and let go and open in those areas you are holding back. Back-off and relax more in those areas you are pushing.

Next, take a moment to look and see what Spirit is calling forth in you, for you, in your life right now? Perhaps a whole new area, or perhaps a familiar area in a whole new way or at a whole new level.  What is wanting to bloom in your life right now? Make a list.  Then, with your list, ask each item “What is my next step?”  Then take it!

Congratulations!  You are one step closer to Embracing Your Blooming, Divine Right Timing, AND Major Good Mojo!

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