Characteristics for success. German efficiency and self-discipline also brings victory on the pitch as well as in business success.

I don’t much mind who wins the world cup, but I am interested in the psychological and personal characteristics that are proving the difference in it – particularly when young and supposedly inexperienced teams are trouncing the “world’s best”. But what I see most is the correlation between self-mastery, and achieving the success, or simply the outcomes and compelted projects and tasks, that you wish to.

Germany have just stunned the footballing world by beating favourites Argentina 4-0, and last week beat the (also favoured) English team 4-1, and they’ve reaped more success – much more than most people had predicted, but I think the signs were there earlier, not necessarily in footballing terms, but in general approaches to work, and, in particular, I remember back to the TV programme, Grand Designs, and the extraordinary approach of the German Huf Haus building teams.

“They were so disciplined it was incredible.” – Alan Shearer, ex-England footballer speaking of the German footballers after their victory over England

When I watched England’s disorganised, undisciplined and emotional/historyonics approach, capitulation and eventually failure, it made me think instantly of the Grand Designs show I’d watched previously.

This company of German builders had been called to build a house in England – and incredibly they did so in six days – but not before arriving early in the morning on the first day and having to wait several hours for the British workers to turn up with the crane!

“We bring over our own builders, and a lot of people are happy to hear that the normal building time for a house is one week to make it watertight… I’ve been building in England five years and it hasn’t gone wrong yet.” – Founder, Peter Huf

The video below will show you what I mean.

Whether you like the look and design or not, there’s no arguing about the attitude of efficiency and self-discipline which makes it so successful. Every screw was in place, every tool for the job was there, every worker was in place for each task and ready to do it. They even swept the van out at the end of the long day – as a matter of routine.

“Like in a car factory, Huf employees works as teams. They’re even paid in teams.  Together, the entire workforce produces up to 200 houses a year.” – Kevin McLoud

This was an attitude seen in the Germany football team, but was a far cry from the characteristics shown by the England team, and Argentina also, it has to be said, who both went walkabout in defence and allowed their own frustrations to get the better of them in attack.

So Germany won because they applied the right actions – they were the ones who had the real ‘footballing ability’ because they were able to do so. They had the self-mastery to be able to apply the right actions and do the things necessary for success.

What is this borne out of? The right attitude, self-honesty, self-mastery and self-control. Knowing what you need to do – and then doing it.

To be successful in life, or in a project, you have to actually do it. It’s not enough to ‘deserve’ to win, or to be the favourite, ultimately it’s all about completing basic functions of action and attitude towards a plan. If you do that you complete the task.

There is no magic to it, no points for trying or looking good, forget the fantasy, it’s about getting the job(s) done, and that requires being honest with yourself, keeping calm, and being the epitome of composure in order to function effectively when you need to.

Remember the England Rugby mantra, “T-Cup” (short for “The Cup”), when they won the Rugby World Cup in 2003?: T.-C.U.P. – stands for Total Composure Under Pressure.

Success is not about historyonics and wishful thinking – it’s simply about doing the thing. Do it, and you’ll be successful. Don’t do the things you know are necessary to bring about success, and you won’t be, no matter how talented or ‘destined’ you are to win the World Cup. The World Cup Final is in ten day’s time or so. We know for a fact that the winners will have to do the things necessary to win.

Nobody will give it to them on a plate.

If you look at minutes 11 – 28 on the Grand Designs video above, I suggest you’ll see an insight into why Germany beat England (and Argentina) at football.

Best wishes for your own successes – and I hope I have I inspired you to remember again the valuable ingredients of self-discipline and self-mastery.

Good luck to all nations in the World Cup – you’re all part of the human family to me.

James Blacker

How is it with you also when you quite sensibly plan something in advance but then there are signals and suggestions – moods, thoughts and circumstances change – that almost imperceptibly suggest that maybe it is no longer the right thing to do?  Can you (1) notice and (2) respond quickly to such internal sensory information?  Do you notice when subtle energies of life mean that perhaps something which once was, is no longer a good idea in the new context?

“What you measure, you can manage.” – Chris Newton

There are at least three ways to measure competency in such things, and therefore at least three areas of focus which can be used to aim for and assess improvement and development of the ability of flexibility of mind;

• How often you notice when circumstances change to require a different approach
• How quickly you notice when things have changed to make a different thing appropriate
• And how well you react and respond to that changing of the mood of things.

So the optimum might be to always notice immediately when things have shifted, and respond fully well, congruently and consciously to the new situation, context or environment’s requirements.  A lofty ambition indeed, but quite possibly worth working towards for a more – or most – effective life.

I recently managed to pick up  a very subtle thought sensation that made me realise that something I had rightly felt was a good thing to discuss with someone was no longer appropriate, and would have been a rather graceless “overkill” of the situation.  In and of itself this is just a small thing, a minor preference or better outcome, but over time, and extrapolated over many incidents and occasions of life, it can be a move towards a much better quality of life, as things flow rather than jolt and displease.

How to develop such things?  As with many things, the twins of Practice and Attention can take us a long way, and certainly give us the start to get going and make all other things possible.  This is simply a sub-set of Self-Mastery, Self-Awareness or being fully luminously conscious.

I wonder if one such incidence or occurrence of this will come up for you this week.

Best wishes and happy conscious living, and good luck on your own journey of self-mastery and self-fulfillment, grounded calmly in the grace of inherent beingness perfection.

Until next time,

James Blacker

Related Pages

• Wisdom The Course Module 18. Sensory Acuity: Your Inner Compass

In any kind of investment situation, whether it be of investing money, or time, or even developing an emotional or psychological strength to live the way you want to, there might have to be a period in which the ‘good things’ in life are foregone, at least for a period of time.  The key is to make sure that your future expectation isn’t an illusion. 

If you are certain that you can attain it, and that the basis of it’s plan is real, then you can more comfortably invest yourself in your own future, whilst at the same time enjoying the journey of the experience.

This is the notion of “Jam tomorrow”. An entrepreneur will happily forego or forsake certain things in the present because they know it makes sense in the long run. They can be without for a while if it is neccessary in order to bring their plans to fruition. Is this something you can do? If not, it might be something you can develop, with wisdom and insight, vision and the inner self-control that comes about from developing self-knowledge.

This is a highly valubale skill, though, and not just some platonically given attribute that everyone has automatically.  The ‘have now’ culture has been a cause of this skill being rather lost, with the consequence that most people shut down their own options available to them because of it.  As a friend of mine pointed out recently, most people don’t have the capacity or the patience to focus on a project that may be many months or even years in the making and reaping of the rewards.

Great Plans and Living in the Moment

Many people who are familiar with the spiritual notion of living in the moment will wonder how it fits in with “Jam tomorrow”.  Well, it fits in perfectly alongside.  Living in the moment and living and working on a long-term project are simply two things that you can do simultaneously.

Living in the moment is about mindfulness.  And conscious living.  But it doesn’t mean living in a way that denies the context of one’s life.  Wisdom is a paradox, a mixture of beingness and becoming-ness, a blend of peace and dynamic activity, and if you can hold both in mind, simultaneously, to get caught up in the passion of your plans for life, without living in the future on “Someday Isle”, then you might be able to benefit from developing the capacity for “Jam tomorrow”.   If you can, then you are merely opening up to your full potential, and allowing no blocks to what you can do with your life.

Best regards and wishes,

James Blacker

Related Internal Links

• Strength for Life: Living in the Moment (audio)
• Wisdom The Course: Module 2. The Person: Liberation and Ego, Heaven and Hell (including ‘Living in the Moment’)

It has been said that to feel the earth under your feet is to reconnect with nature, and is a very soul-replenishing, healthy, positive and rejuvenating experience.

It is certainly natural, and while the right choice for all such things is whether you would really like to or not, it might be the sign of a return to self and a remembering of the basic passions and desires that lie within us to choose to do so; the continued ability to play naturally and find joy effortlessly.

Whether it is the sand of a beach, the grass of a field, or the water and pebbles of a cool stream, to occassionally walk the earth skin on ground with our bare feet is to touch base with the glory of the planet, and of ourselves.

You can't witness The Witness, but you can get a sense of your deeper self by dis-identifying with the things it observes.

We can think of The Witness as or our ever-present sense of self – our very beingness, suchness, or unqualified consciousness; the constant awareness that “I am”, whatever else may be happening. The Witness is just a term, though, just a word.  Some people also call it The Watcher…  Some people in Quantum Physics call it The Observer.  Different spiritual or self-awareness traditions may also call it different things.  That sense of “I am” might be aware of different things in different moments, but whilst what it experiences, and how, may change, the underlying sense of existence or “I am” is always there.

The saying goes that ‘the only constant in life is change’, but this awareness or suchness is also a constant.  So we have two things.  And actually, these two can be equated to what I like to think of as definitions of Absolute Truth and Relative Truth; Absolute Truth as this constant presence of pure consciousness or being-ness, and Relative Truth as the ever-changing world around us; the come and go of events, people, conversations, factors, environments, mood, emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and so on. The latter is what we readily refer to or mean by our concept that ‘the only constant is change’. Some people also like to call this ever-changing quality of life as ‘the dance of finite things’, a phrase I, too, like.  And ultimately, we can re-integrate both elements of ourselves, to function effectively, and freely.

I was interested to note in his emailed writing this week, that Peter Ragnar also referred to this only constant as change, yet was also aware of the second constant, by his own name for it, as demonstrated when he wrote…

“I’ve concluded that most people would rather rust or rot than change. Yet few realize that in life, there’s nothing permanent except change. We’re either growing or dying; nothing ever stands still except the still center within us all. Finding that still point allows you to see change as a necessary step of growth.”

What we call The Witness, and what I’ve also known Peter Ragnar to call ‘The Watcher’, he is here referring to an aspect of this as the ’still center’ within us all. This, again, is the essence of wisdom and of wisdom coaching; the awareness that we are not ultimately subjectively the things that dance around us in our awareness; our thoughts, our feelings, our statuses and associations. They can and may come and go as they like – and do. I like the use of different names for this same, ever-present phenomen as I suspect it helps us to get a sense of something that is, by it’s very nature, impossible to pin down.

“You can’t witness The Witness, otherwise what part of you would be witnessing that?!”

So we can now think of life with the mindset that there are two things which are constant; the change that we are by now so familiar with – and we can see how well we can get in touch with what is our own constant essence before any qualifiable content is poured into it. It can’t be witnesssed. You can’t ‘witness The Witness’, because as soon as you say “Ah-hah, that’s it!”, you’re now talking about a relative thing, an object. But we can get a sense of it, and allow that sense to provide us with a ’still center’ of strength to operate ourselves by.

“You kind of have two Selves; an Empirical Self, and a Transcendental Self.”- Ken Wilber

Developing this sense of self that is ultimately dis-identified from final subjective identification with these relative, finite things is the development of wisdom.  They are things we experience, but ultimately not what we are.  The key is not to identify exclusively with this Finite or Empirical Self.

Best wishes ’til next time.

James Blacker

Peter Ragnar – The Watcher

Related Pages

• Ego and The Authentic Self (includes Video of Ken Wilber talking about The Witness)
• Newsletter: Only Two Things in Life Are Constant

Unconditional love. Attachment and fondness or affection are different things entirely.

Have you noticed how love starts as a blossoming flower, fully expressive, radiant and open, and often moves away from that, as expectations replace invitations, creativity dissolves into habit, and fear of loss replaces desire?

Attachment, and Conditional Love, which is really Neediness or fear by a more generous name, are pretty much the same thing, or at least the one causes the other.  In relationship, also, the extent to which we have the one, we exhibit the other.  This is not roughly, this is EXACTLY.  There cannot be any dissociation between the two.  They are totally associated…

Maybe we don’t outwardly express that conditional quality, but if there is Attachment then the Conditional Love is there, internally, working away on ourselves at the very least, gnawing, jarring, and this will also influence how we conduct and approach our relationships – and how we feel about them.

I have recently been discussing how Attachment is a different thing to both fondness, and commitment.  This is an important distinction to make, because we don’t want to become aloof in interpersonal relations as a result of thinking we’re being ’spiritual’ by being cold or withdrawn, because apart from anything else, if we deny these qualities of fondness and desire and commitment, that in itself becomes Resistance – another form of Attachment.

Attachment, and its opposite, Resistance, is any belief or thought process in which we put our sense of self outside of our already liberated nature, and in things.  These things may be people, possessions, protocols, rules or habits, associations, statuses, thoughts, beliefs, our body, or any other things.  To enjoy them may be healthy.  To directly attach to and identify one’s ultimate sense of self with them leads to self-constriction…  and fear.

And with that fear comes self-condition and Conditional Love outwards to others, and in relationships this can be a killer.

So if we can recognise Attachment and Resistance in ourselves in relationship, and we release them and let them go, we shall become naturally and effortlessly unconditional lovers.

Best wishes as always,

James

Related Pages

• Love

So if you fancy a little exercise to get you more in touch with the deepest, most grounded you, your Authentic Self, you might like to say the following along with me, either out loud, under your breath or in your head.

“I have thoughts, but I am not my thoughts.”

“I have emotions, but I am not my emotions.”

“I have desires, but I am not my desires.”

“I have a body, but I am not my body.”

And would you like one more for a variation on that theme?  This one from Deepak Chopra;

“I am not the body, the body is in me.”

“I am not even the mind, the mind is in me.”

As a daily practice mantra, this may really help you to build up steam in your own transformation.

And just to be sure, spiritual practice is for spiritual practice and NOT for Shadow practice.  BOTH have their place.  Don’t mistake denying any shadow elements you may have for transcending them.

So you won’t get at your Shadow by dis-identifying with all things - and you don’t want to deny it either, in the mistaken belief that this practice above implies that it isn’t there.

On the basis that we have a Shadow, we could say;

“I have a Shadow, but I am not my Shadow.”

But today’s blog is all about the Spiritual practice wisdom mantra at the top, above.  So let’s do that.

Best wishes,

James

Related Pages

• Ego and The Authentic Self
• The Shadow Website Area

Strength

“Tell a person they are brave and you help them become so.” – Thomas Carlyle

Persistence

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein

Stability

“Let us never confuse stability with stagnation.” – Mary Jean LeTendre

The one slight caveat I have with the strength one is that if we think we need to tell people they’re strong in order to believe that we’re strong ourselves, we’re kind of suggesting to ourselves that we’re not already strong or brave, which I’m concerned might reinforce the belief.  But other than that I think there’s still a good message in the strength quote and I do it all the time anyway and I know it automatically has a positive rub-off effect back on me, so worth developing as a habit, I say.

And I’m also reminded of the Tony Robbins definition of Persistence, which is always worth another hearing…

“PERSISTENCE: The willingness to keep seeing that even though nothing has worked up until now, the next thing can.”

Happy New Year!

James

Someone has placed a comment on the YouTube site under John’s video clip on Charisma, which explains the act of uncovering one’s natural charismatic self, asking if there is any way you can speed that process up?

Yes, you can. 

I’ll embed the video in question here, but here below that is the answer to the question which I’ve also posted back as a comment reply;

This kind of inner achievement is known as Transformation – we could say from an Ego-nagging mind to a naturally expressing one (Authentic Self).

There’s also what we call Translation – uncovering what we call The Shadow – the bits of our True Personality we suppress – often when we’re young.

Working on all this is known as Transformative Practice – primarily Meditation – which is the only thing proven to date to help people transform (overcome the nagging Ego mind).

Speeding up Transformation. Integral Life Practice was pioneered to give you 'the most bang for your buck'.

…that’s not to say that other things can’t, but that as yet they haven’t been demonstrated to get people up what we call ‘Vertical Stages’ – the ability to take deeper perspectives on one’s own self, and on life.

But to make this as quick as possible, pioneers have designed INTEGRAL Transformative Practice, and now Integral Life Practice, with Mind, Shadow and Body exercises put next to the Spirit (mostly Meditation) element.

Our own colleague, Gary Hawke, also runs the London Group for this Integral Life Practice.

So as this Transformation and Translation is the cornerstone of everything, this is why we’re considerably focussed on developing support areas for this;

http://wholelifewholeworld.com/practice/

AND if you live in London, you can even come along and join us in person…

http://ilp-london.wholelifewholeworld.com/

Regards,

James Blacker

We are in the process of developing a series of support areas for an Integral Life Practice, the first of which, Body, is already live and underway.

If you want to get straight into it as quickly as possible, we recommend the book, ‘Integral Life Practice’.

Related Pages

• John Christian Seminars

Related Links

• ‘Integral Life Practice’, The Book

You can click here to go to the page if you wish.

I will put up a further blog when any of the other pages of that new section, and a planned, further advanced section of wisdom-based coaching principles, are added.

Best wishes,

James