In This Edition Of Mystical Scuttlebutt:
Upcoming Events
Practical Tip
Dilemma Of The Month
Clues For When You\'re Stressing Out
Testimonial

May 20, 2006 - Labyrinth Walk for Couples
Explore the twists and turns of your committed relationship in this Labyrinth Walk for Couples. Within the ancient mysteries of the Labyrinth, you will open to a new awareness and rhythm of relating. Come and dance a deeper connection with your beloved. Facilitated by Narayana Granatelli. Fee: $125 per couple Discount: $100 if paid in full by May 1st. To register, call 425.681.0017. Registration closes on May 6th

May 27, 2006 - No More This Or That Seminar
In this profound and fun seminar, you will discover Facticity - the missing link in practical spirituality. You will learn the core tool of Facticity Training - a simple, fast, and proven six-step process based on the Psychology of the Mystics. This will help you surf the interface between your material life and your spiritual life with less indecision, a new sense of Inner Peace, and a fresh approach to Practical Wisdom.
$175 - $25 Discount if paid in full by May 1st. 9:30 to 5. Registration closes on May 15. Click here to register.

May 30 - June 4 - Paradox Management Certificate Training
Polarized thinking is but a stage in the evolution of human understanding. Paradox Management delivers you to the next stage for your personal and professional growth. This training fills an important gap in the professional and spiritual training of Coaches, Corporate Consultants, Business Leaders, Educators, Therapists, and Spiritual Teachers. 6 Days  $2,500  Discount: $150 if paid in full by April 30th.
Registration closes on May 15th. Click here to register.

For a quick shift in this unpleasant scenario, take a breath and imagine as if you could take a step and move to the side of this inner mental/emotional dilemma. Shift your focus from the conflict to the space around the conflict like suddenly becoming aware of the empty sky behind the clouds, or the air that is surrounding and holding your body right now. With your focus on this spaciousness surrounding the inner tug of war, contemplate for a moment how the dilemma looks and feels differently from this perspective.

The Mystics tell us again and again that what we seek is always right Here and right Now. When you are able to access this spaciousness that holds the dilemma within it, you are in the presence of this Presence that our Mystics tell us is who we are. See if you can set your cynic aside and contemplate that possibility for the rest of your day. Then notice whether the indecision around your dilemma begins to shift, and whether clarity from a deeper intelligence begins to arise. This is one of those life mysteries to be lived rather than a puzzle to be solved. Enjoy the exploration!

Dilemma of the Month: Control Vs. Surrender

Curiously enough, this fundamental struggle between control and surrender rests at the root of most our battles with both big and small life choices. Western culture is particularly conditioned to consciously, and unconsciously, choose control as an obviously better choice than surrender. This is mostly due to our way of unconsciously approaching both concepts.

We generally find the notion of control surrounded by questions revolving around our prowess our ability to manipulate have power over be in command of direct or be in charge of. We put out inordinate amounts of energy almost every day exploring strategies to dominate, influence, restrict, sway, rein in, contain, keep in check, restrain, regulate, or constrain.

We generally understand surrender to mean something like giving up, or giving in, or throwing in the towel. Or we equate it with the feeling of resignation that arises from a sense of frustration, hopelessness, futility, defeat, or submission. We unconsciously believe surrender means we are capitulating, relinquishing, or admitting failure.

With all of these ideas swirling around us, we rarely even realize what is going on. Can I control this situation? Or should I let go of it? Can I manipulate this circumstance? Or should I step back and take the high road??  Most of us are so attached to control and frightened of surrender, that we rarely even recognize when this dilemma is actually unfolding. Yet, it consumes an amazing amount of time and energy in the privacy of our minds each and every day.

Managing The Dilemma:

To manage the dilemma of control vs. surrender, it is most important to revisit the actual experiences these words refer to. What is the Mystical perspective on these two questions: What can we really control in life? And what is the actual experience that surrender is referring to??

The Marketplace Mystic begins to realize that the only thing we can actually control or influence is our relationship to life. This translates directly into the notion of becoming the master of your mind instead of letting your mind be the master of you. You do have the capacity to consciously create thoughts, and from the karmic model of cause and effect, the nature of those thoughts determines the content of your future moments. You have no control over the content of what life is actually bringing you right now. But you can influence what life will bring to you in the future.

Surrender, from the Mystic's perspective, refers to seeing each moment bare and exactly as it is. This means perceiving it without the lens of your story about what the moment means. Surrender is the experience of relaxing into the moment as it is because you understand and see the nature of things. It refers to feeling the moment in your body, and allowing it to be there, accepting it as fully as you can. It is not an act of giving up or giving in from frustration or resignation.  Again, paradoxically, this relaxation and acceptance does not negate doing all you can do to make the future a more pleasant one.

An example would be a situation where someone was actively being angry with you. Surrendering to this event as it is simply means realizing that this is what is happening  without making it mean anything about you or about the other person. Someone is in anger and you are perceiving it being directed at you. At the same time, you can consciously change your relationship to this circumstance by redirecting your thoughts from retaliating anger, confusion or hurt to thoughts of compassion and understanding. This is not an easy task, but it is achievable. And with this ability in hand, daily life becomes more workable and more joyful.

For the Marketplace Mystic, control and surrender becomes a simultaneous event. You surrender to the moment for what it is by literally perceiving it for what it is (minus your personal story surrounding it). Simultaneously, you create a response to the moment consciously and purposely to influence and direct the content of future moments. In this way you are neither choosing one over the other, nor setting up the one you like against the one you dis-like.

I invite you to explore this very interesting and challenging Mystical perspective, and discover for yourself how it transforms this very familiar inner tug of war into a sweet sense of sanity and inner peace.

1) When you're exhausted and keep pushing yourself in the name of efficiency, productivity, or accountability.
2) When you keep pushing away thoughts and sensations that give you the sense you're going in the wrong direction for your health and well-being.
3) When you're running so fast that you're short tempered, impatient, frustrated, with tension in your belly, and annoyed with all the idiots who keep getting in your way.

Remedy:
These are times when the simple question, What am I doing? can produce great results. It is amazing how exquisitely we have learned to interrupt the harmonious flow of life by forcing things to remain beyond their time. With every contraction, there is a natural drive toward relaxation. With every tension, there is an inherent pull toward release. With every movement, there is a growing urge for stillness. This is the way of things. I invite you to watch, look, and listen. The evidence for this undeniable and unalterable rhythm of life is all around  all day everywhere unfolding before your eyes, whispering in your ear, and tapping on your awareness through the tensions in your body.

I invite you to consider the question, What am I doing? in light of the fact that with every beginning, there comes an end - and with every life, there comes a death. Take a moment and remember what you were taught as a child  to stop, look, and listen. Our doings in life bring greater joy and peace when immediately juxtaposed to the wonder and mystery that we are existing at all. Contemplating the outrageous and stunning fact that you are here, alive, can free you to relax and trust the natural rhythm of life revealed in your every breath first in and then out, and then in again.

As a Marketplace Mystic, all of your doings will flow with efficiency and clarity when the dance of duality is allowed to unfold the in and the out the contraction and the relaxation the tension and the release the movement and the stillness. The dance is yours to explore and to enjoy.

"The information and experience you have put together is truly transformative, delightful and enlightening!? I believe everyone could benefit from this work. . . I am completely satisfied and impressed!

Jesse Reeder, Consultant, GSH Trainer, Author of Energy Vampires In The Workplace

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