My friend Malena Gamboa from We On Earth - http://www.weonearth.org - first showed me this, and it's absolutely brilliant!
Or Click Here to see this brilliant video about the Lost Generation the refuses to accept...
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
How is the New (Social) Media Affecting Your Kid's Brain?
If you have a kid, you MUST watch this video. Especially if they're in their teens.
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Why 2012 is So Frickin Exciting...
"If you're watching this video, you are one of those people who is being charged to share what you know with the people.
Or Click Here to see this on YouTube
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Or Click Here to see this on YouTube
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Who Am I When I'm Living Most Authentically? (Reflections on Burning Man)
One of my favorite mentors and friends is Alexis Martin Neely. She is a legal, marketing, business and celebrity expert (with the income to back it up) and she's unabashed about living her life Authentically.
She recently returned from Burning Man with her family, and shared her experiences on her monthly call: Mindset, Motivation, Marketing & Money You can fan her at http://www.facebook.com/PlayBigWithAlexis (click this link to see a picture of her in pink dreads, bikini top and WWII fighter pilot goggles ;-)
She asked such great questions about 20 minutes in to the call that I literally had to disconnect and journal. She talked about how 50,000 people spend 10 days in the desert under horrendous conditions for one common purpose - to live their lives as authentically as possible. Why I have yet to attend is one of the 11th mysteries of the world... maybe Rochester needs my authenticity more than Black Rock City.
Her battery of questions began with: Who would you be if you were living most authentically, how would you feel, what would you be doing... so I ran with it.
Here's an excerpt from my journal. It's rough, but isn't that more authentic?
So, what about YOU!!! How would you be living if you were totally coming from your most Authentic Self... at least more often, if not most of the time?
Very curious to read your responses!!
Enjoy ;-]
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
She recently returned from Burning Man with her family, and shared her experiences on her monthly call: Mindset, Motivation, Marketing & Money You can fan her at http://www.facebook.com/PlayBigWithAlexis (click this link to see a picture of her in pink dreads, bikini top and WWII fighter pilot goggles ;-)
She asked such great questions about 20 minutes in to the call that I literally had to disconnect and journal. She talked about how 50,000 people spend 10 days in the desert under horrendous conditions for one common purpose - to live their lives as authentically as possible. Why I have yet to attend is one of the 11th mysteries of the world... maybe Rochester needs my authenticity more than Black Rock City.
Her battery of questions began with: Who would you be if you were living most authentically, how would you feel, what would you be doing... so I ran with it.
Here's an excerpt from my journal. It's rough, but isn't that more authentic?
Living most Authentically with Who I TRULY Am…
Be: Who AM I?
I am a fragment of the spiritual heart of pure light that many call God. I am here for only one reason – to be a vessel and conduit for that light, attracting others together so that our light can grow and we can all see more clearly the reality of who we are so that the world can eventually transcend its own darkness and a renaissance of spiritual consciousness can “tip” the balance towards a world of great harmony and joyous co-creation with our like-minded reflections in the world of manifestation. So we can ALL live authentically, and we can all experience wholeness and fulfillment, and on THAT we can build a world of great artistic complexity and beauty.
I feel whole, connected, fully in love and reveling in the joy of living my passion, being seen and appreciated by others who really marvel at the way I’m bringing my vision into the world for all to share.
Do: How do I do this? And How do I generate income?
The way I do it is by creating art and sharing it with the world. Then teaching others what I know, and connecting those who are interested with those who I learned from so that we call enjoy a greater understanding of ourselves, our relationships, and our world. From this, money pours in to me from patrons, students and interns I work with who help me steward this arc.
Have: What do I have as a result of living in alignment with my core Authenticity?
I have everything I need and more, so much abundance that I am able to share my work with the world freely and feel like there are zero restrictions on my time and my freedom to create and to give from my deep soul.
So, what about YOU!!! How would you be living if you were totally coming from your most Authentic Self... at least more often, if not most of the time?
Very curious to read your responses!!
Enjoy ;-]
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Holy Crow - Wireless Electricity is HERE!!!
Watch this video - he actually demos untethered power on a TV and iPhone!
The only thing I might add is that the story I heard went something like: JP Morgan was the financier of the Tesla tower on Long Island... he had it summarily destroyed once he learned of the purpose - Free electricity around the globe.
Corporate Policy is to put a meter on EVERYTHING.
Notice how the demo in this video requires access to the same power grid we're already on - it just distributes the power locally in an untethered fashion.
What about TESLA!!! He dismantled his engineering notes and distributed them among a couple dozen nations and said, "When you can play nice, you can have my secrets to unlimited free power anywhere in the world."
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
The only thing I might add is that the story I heard went something like: JP Morgan was the financier of the Tesla tower on Long Island... he had it summarily destroyed once he learned of the purpose - Free electricity around the globe.
Corporate Policy is to put a meter on EVERYTHING.
Notice how the demo in this video requires access to the same power grid we're already on - it just distributes the power locally in an untethered fashion.
What about TESLA!!! He dismantled his engineering notes and distributed them among a couple dozen nations and said, "When you can play nice, you can have my secrets to unlimited free power anywhere in the world."
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
An Open Letter to Michael Strong (draft)
My mission is to Illuminate.
I do that by teaching what I know, or at least sharing my experiences with others - both successes and failures.
Sometimes I want to create a whole curriculum, with formal outlines and all that fun stuff. Then I realize if I can simplify amplify the example I am setting, that can be enough for those who are ready to learn what I'm laying down.
This is an example of a conversation I initiated with Michael Strong. A man who I would consider one of my top candidates for mentoring, if he were so inclined, based on his experience developing Socratic Montessori schools in Alaska, and his current work with John Mackey - founder of Whole Foods.
These are the types of people I want to get around if I am going to really serve the world with the vision I carry in my heart.
I invited Michael's input around my interest in finding a Grad program to deepen my confidence in how I present my vision to the world, and how I develop a community of inquiry around it.
He responded in true Socratic fashion with this clarifying questions:
"Do you know what role you would like to play in the world of education?"
My response, while involved, is the best I've been able to articulate both what I am doing, and how I aim to get there. I post it here both for anyone interested in the Enlightened Child vision, and also for Michael, since I will reply to him with a much truncated version of this stream of consciousness draft.
If you're looking for mentors of this caliber, there are a lot of lessons contained in every part of this blog post.
There are also a lot of suggestions I'd love to hear from anyone who has more experience with this than me.
Below begins my response...
~~~~~
Michael - such wonderful questions. Thank you.
This response is long - I won't be offended if you skip to the bottom where I do finally boil it down to one, tripartite sentence explaining what I am after.
~~~~~
From the hip: I want to foster a Community of Inquiry that spreads globally (via social media networks) like a mycelium network, attracting the brightest minds and deepest hearts and helping them launch a life of True Purpose according to their individual nature.
My methodology is to start with Truth, express it through Beauty, and simply invite those who are interested (find this Good) into a dialogue, into a community of inquiry where we explore the truth and get it working for us, get our lives on track because lord knows the current administration and schooling system all but insidiously intends to knock us off track, knock us senseless. Grrrrr...
So, my vision is to enter the educational process at any age - pre-birth to maturity - with a series of principles that quite frankly "Make Sense!"
I create Montessori-inspired toys and games and books that model core principles every child must come to know to be successful in life. They begin learning about Art, Morals and Science... Compass, Mentors, Maps... Health, Compassion, Wealth... from a very early age because I provide a format for discussing the big questions in life using the symbols for truth that have been refined over millenia - the Oroborous, Yin-Yang, Chakras, Enneagram, Kabbalah, Zodiac. "Graduation" from my "school" means a student is financially self-sufficient, well-connected and able to obtain new mentors, radiating health & has a clear compass in hand at all times.
My materials are patterned after Montessori materials because I attended 2 years of Primary. My daughter is in her 6th year now, and her mother just completed her 3 summer Primary certification. They are very simple - a coloring book that represents numbers 1-12 in a multi-cultural expose of principles. Oroboros, Yin-Yang, Triquestra, Zia, 5 Chinese Elements, Hexagram, Chakras, Ba-Gua, Enneagram, Kabbalah, Planetary Archetypes, Zodiac. I also create games - like painting a Mancala board with the chakras, using it to teach about cause & effect, relationship dynamics and how to create a windfall of success.
Imagine if the Tri-nomial Cube was a popular toy made by Mattel for the mass-market. You and I know Pythagorean mysteries are contained in the concrete operational artifact, and its purpose is to hardwire the child's brain for the abstract understanding to be overlayed several years later (assuming the child is able to stay with the Montessori curriculum!) My materials invite deeper mysteries - the deepest, most relevant ideas for the greatest number of humans. Who am I? What do I want? How will I get it? In a Good Way?
As a Dead Head, I developed my materials to "get around" and operate like a modular, supplemental education system. Since they are primarily tools for pattern recognition, it doesn't matter what "else" the child has learned to that point, interacting with the materials spontaneously organizes the accumulated data in the child's mind. A formal schooling environment is welcome to incorporate them as well as any homeschooler, as well as any curious child who happens upon these in a Dead parking lot ;-)
People of all ages can be attracted to the beauty, and allow the deeper meaning to seep in over time - like a young child or a thick adult ;-p, or for young adults, even teens, I want to create a series of coaching nad information products that invite them to dive into the deeper meaning and explore the principles I present them through coaching, group calls, events and workshops, and yes, perhaps physical schools... though this is not where I intend to focus. Too slow for me, though I respect the value of a well run institution when I see one ;-)
My own daughter has proven to me that children can understand the rudimentary principles as young as 3, probably younger if I knew how to test for this. I've developed a handful of proto-type toys and games and books over the years. People LOVE them. It's my passion to create them, delving deep into the mystery schools from which they have been passed into the world.
What has held me back from living this mission wide open to this point is critical deficiencies in my development. Ken Wilber's AQAL map has been the most helpful in pin-pointing the deficiencies, and now after a 5 year jaunt through the world of slash and burn economics, I have "graduated" back to a more Integral worldview, with the lessons of Marketing and Business Development seared into my heart like a cattle brand.
I'm ready to launch, to teach what I've learned to my entrepreneurial interns, and work out the organization of this "school" that also serves to administer my business (a social media marketing firm based on Authenticity). I have 12-15 young men paying $100/mo and doing these weekly and monthly coaching calls. That money accumulates until it is enough to scholarship one of these young men who is really showing earnest desire to teach and master through mentoring his cohort - send him to a national workshop or seminar that will completely alter his map of reality and transform his character. Integrate his energy across the rest of the cohort, and strengthen the frame of consciousness I am intent on fostering.
Come spring, I want to be enrolled in a program that will give me the CONFIDENCE (not just credentials) to really step things up to a national and international level. I want to fast-track my Authority positioning by writing some profound papers, possibly a book, that will explain this unique educational framework - the mentoring pyramid informed by inquiry into the principles of deep presence... Living Embodied Enlightenment if you will.
My hunch is, with enough exposure to enlightening ideas, the developing soul will spontaneously burst into a full blown Enlightenment experience. Even if only for a moment. And THAT is what I believe the world needs - more of us informed by a True vision of our Soul's Purpose. Along with the influence and resources to do something profound with that Vision.
And, like Ghandi says, I gotta be the change I wanna see. I have to model this and entrain the DNA of my "lineage" by aligning myself with mentors of strong character and penetrating insight - both into the world, and into me.
There is so much I know I'm capable of... I'm ready to start experiencing life with the guidance of worthy mentors who SEE me, Feel me, and draw me into the world in an extremely skillful way - much as you have done with your question today. Heheh - an Educator. One who 'draws forth from within.'
Michael - I'm open to creating this scenario for myself through some college that facilitates independent study. Or a program that is already in place (Fielding's MA in Educational Leadership & Change with an Integral Certificate caught my eye). Or even just diving in with some steady guidance by a man like yourself, and perhaps others you recommend to round out the experience and guidance.
What I mostly need is a focused course with a clear outcome - develop and publish an educational manifesto per above outline, secure mentoring relationships with a stellium of exceptional mentors, and grow this "school" that is really a business that pays the bills while paying interns to learn and stay close to me. Yep. That's it, in a nutshell.
Apologies for building you a clock when you asked for the Time. First opportunity anyone's ever given me to truly un-pack all that I've been carrying in my soul the past decade.
Thanks again,
Craig
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
I do that by teaching what I know, or at least sharing my experiences with others - both successes and failures.
Sometimes I want to create a whole curriculum, with formal outlines and all that fun stuff. Then I realize if I can simplify amplify the example I am setting, that can be enough for those who are ready to learn what I'm laying down.
This is an example of a conversation I initiated with Michael Strong. A man who I would consider one of my top candidates for mentoring, if he were so inclined, based on his experience developing Socratic Montessori schools in Alaska, and his current work with John Mackey - founder of Whole Foods.
These are the types of people I want to get around if I am going to really serve the world with the vision I carry in my heart.
I invited Michael's input around my interest in finding a Grad program to deepen my confidence in how I present my vision to the world, and how I develop a community of inquiry around it.
He responded in true Socratic fashion with this clarifying questions:
"Do you know what role you would like to play in the world of education?"
My response, while involved, is the best I've been able to articulate both what I am doing, and how I aim to get there. I post it here both for anyone interested in the Enlightened Child vision, and also for Michael, since I will reply to him with a much truncated version of this stream of consciousness draft.
If you're looking for mentors of this caliber, there are a lot of lessons contained in every part of this blog post.
There are also a lot of suggestions I'd love to hear from anyone who has more experience with this than me.
Below begins my response...
~~~~~
Michael - such wonderful questions. Thank you.
This response is long - I won't be offended if you skip to the bottom where I do finally boil it down to one, tripartite sentence explaining what I am after.
~~~~~
From the hip: I want to foster a Community of Inquiry that spreads globally (via social media networks) like a mycelium network, attracting the brightest minds and deepest hearts and helping them launch a life of True Purpose according to their individual nature.
My methodology is to start with Truth, express it through Beauty, and simply invite those who are interested (find this Good) into a dialogue, into a community of inquiry where we explore the truth and get it working for us, get our lives on track because lord knows the current administration and schooling system all but insidiously intends to knock us off track, knock us senseless. Grrrrr...
So, my vision is to enter the educational process at any age - pre-birth to maturity - with a series of principles that quite frankly "Make Sense!"
I create Montessori-inspired toys and games and books that model core principles every child must come to know to be successful in life. They begin learning about Art, Morals and Science... Compass, Mentors, Maps... Health, Compassion, Wealth... from a very early age because I provide a format for discussing the big questions in life using the symbols for truth that have been refined over millenia - the Oroborous, Yin-Yang, Chakras, Enneagram, Kabbalah, Zodiac. "Graduation" from my "school" means a student is financially self-sufficient, well-connected and able to obtain new mentors, radiating health & has a clear compass in hand at all times.
My materials are patterned after Montessori materials because I attended 2 years of Primary. My daughter is in her 6th year now, and her mother just completed her 3 summer Primary certification. They are very simple - a coloring book that represents numbers 1-12 in a multi-cultural expose of principles. Oroboros, Yin-Yang, Triquestra, Zia, 5 Chinese Elements, Hexagram, Chakras, Ba-Gua, Enneagram, Kabbalah, Planetary Archetypes, Zodiac. I also create games - like painting a Mancala board with the chakras, using it to teach about cause & effect, relationship dynamics and how to create a windfall of success.
Imagine if the Tri-nomial Cube was a popular toy made by Mattel for the mass-market. You and I know Pythagorean mysteries are contained in the concrete operational artifact, and its purpose is to hardwire the child's brain for the abstract understanding to be overlayed several years later (assuming the child is able to stay with the Montessori curriculum!) My materials invite deeper mysteries - the deepest, most relevant ideas for the greatest number of humans. Who am I? What do I want? How will I get it? In a Good Way?
As a Dead Head, I developed my materials to "get around" and operate like a modular, supplemental education system. Since they are primarily tools for pattern recognition, it doesn't matter what "else" the child has learned to that point, interacting with the materials spontaneously organizes the accumulated data in the child's mind. A formal schooling environment is welcome to incorporate them as well as any homeschooler, as well as any curious child who happens upon these in a Dead parking lot ;-)
People of all ages can be attracted to the beauty, and allow the deeper meaning to seep in over time - like a young child or a thick adult ;-p, or for young adults, even teens, I want to create a series of coaching nad information products that invite them to dive into the deeper meaning and explore the principles I present them through coaching, group calls, events and workshops, and yes, perhaps physical schools... though this is not where I intend to focus. Too slow for me, though I respect the value of a well run institution when I see one ;-)
My own daughter has proven to me that children can understand the rudimentary principles as young as 3, probably younger if I knew how to test for this. I've developed a handful of proto-type toys and games and books over the years. People LOVE them. It's my passion to create them, delving deep into the mystery schools from which they have been passed into the world.
What has held me back from living this mission wide open to this point is critical deficiencies in my development. Ken Wilber's AQAL map has been the most helpful in pin-pointing the deficiencies, and now after a 5 year jaunt through the world of slash and burn economics, I have "graduated" back to a more Integral worldview, with the lessons of Marketing and Business Development seared into my heart like a cattle brand.
I'm ready to launch, to teach what I've learned to my entrepreneurial interns, and work out the organization of this "school" that also serves to administer my business (a social media marketing firm based on Authenticity). I have 12-15 young men paying $100/mo and doing these weekly and monthly coaching calls. That money accumulates until it is enough to scholarship one of these young men who is really showing earnest desire to teach and master through mentoring his cohort - send him to a national workshop or seminar that will completely alter his map of reality and transform his character. Integrate his energy across the rest of the cohort, and strengthen the frame of consciousness I am intent on fostering.
Come spring, I want to be enrolled in a program that will give me the CONFIDENCE (not just credentials) to really step things up to a national and international level. I want to fast-track my Authority positioning by writing some profound papers, possibly a book, that will explain this unique educational framework - the mentoring pyramid informed by inquiry into the principles of deep presence... Living Embodied Enlightenment if you will.
My hunch is, with enough exposure to enlightening ideas, the developing soul will spontaneously burst into a full blown Enlightenment experience. Even if only for a moment. And THAT is what I believe the world needs - more of us informed by a True vision of our Soul's Purpose. Along with the influence and resources to do something profound with that Vision.
And, like Ghandi says, I gotta be the change I wanna see. I have to model this and entrain the DNA of my "lineage" by aligning myself with mentors of strong character and penetrating insight - both into the world, and into me.
There is so much I know I'm capable of... I'm ready to start experiencing life with the guidance of worthy mentors who SEE me, Feel me, and draw me into the world in an extremely skillful way - much as you have done with your question today. Heheh - an Educator. One who 'draws forth from within.'
Michael - I'm open to creating this scenario for myself through some college that facilitates independent study. Or a program that is already in place (Fielding's MA in Educational Leadership & Change with an Integral Certificate caught my eye). Or even just diving in with some steady guidance by a man like yourself, and perhaps others you recommend to round out the experience and guidance.
What I mostly need is a focused course with a clear outcome - develop and publish an educational manifesto per above outline, secure mentoring relationships with a stellium of exceptional mentors, and grow this "school" that is really a business that pays the bills while paying interns to learn and stay close to me. Yep. That's it, in a nutshell.
Apologies for building you a clock when you asked for the Time. First opportunity anyone's ever given me to truly un-pack all that I've been carrying in my soul the past decade.
Thanks again,
Craig
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Just Catching My Breath!!!
The past couple weeks have been a whirlwind of adventure and connection with some of the people I love most in all the world.
Most notably, I completed a 108 Day Men's Leadership and Initiation training with Jayson Gaddis out in Boulder: www.revolutionaryman.com
The 5 Pillars of a Revolutionary Man are:
1.) Self-Knowledge - As Socrates admonished 2000+ years ago, "The unexamined life is not worth living." I think that's true, and I think it's even more true when we're talking about a group of men (or women) getting together to examine life together. There's power in our ability to work together towards a shared vision. After several nights around a campfire, I think we boiled down what our common vision was - the thing that brought us all together from 1000's of miles apart.
All totalled, the 108 days of working with Jayson and these men has totally transformed my life. They have supported me through a major life transition - from employee to entrepreneur (again) - and also helped me experience my own power in ways I only suspected were possible.
Bringing what I have learned back to Rochester, NY where I mentor a fair number of young men is an exciting challenge. It's my strategy for teaching what I need to learn so I may begin to master it.
There are several options I know of that can serve a boy as young as 10, and a man as old as they come, for initiation and deep growth. I'm more than happy to invest some time out of my day into discussing my experience and the options I know are available.
If you're interested, don't be shy.
Contact me: Craig (at) EnlightenedChild.com or via social media.
I look forward to being of service on your journey.
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Most notably, I completed a 108 Day Men's Leadership and Initiation training with Jayson Gaddis out in Boulder: www.revolutionaryman.com
The 5 Pillars of a Revolutionary Man are:
1.) Self-Knowledge - As Socrates admonished 2000+ years ago, "The unexamined life is not worth living." I think that's true, and I think it's even more true when we're talking about a group of men (or women) getting together to examine life together. There's power in our ability to work together towards a shared vision. After several nights around a campfire, I think we boiled down what our common vision was - the thing that brought us all together from 1000's of miles apart.
TO GET BETTER, IN A GOOD WAY
2.) Service - Something happened to me when I was 21 or so. I realized that service is actually a gift for MEEEEE!!! Can't explain it, maybe call it Karma, or the Golden Rule, I just notice that when I am engaging with the world from a place of service - both opening doors for old ladies, and anyone else passing by, as a well as, serving the world with my deepest gifts - I am much more connected, and much, much happier.
3.) Leadership - I had a hard time coming up with a spontaneous definition for this one, so I googled it and found this in Wikipedia: "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen." That fits for me, and I witnessed first hand how Jayson invited all 8 of us to participate in making something truly extraordinary, likely unprecedented, happen. It's something I aim to repeat. I am in the process of leading a group of young men and the results are shaping up to be nothing less than extra-ordinary.
4.) Fun/Celebration - This is a biggie. So much of my adult life I've had my nose to the grindstone, or just been too tired to make much room for celebration. Tanking several businesses doesn't lead to a lot of celebration either... even though every "no" has gotten me so much closer to a "YES!" in that game too, I really feel I need to accomplish something worthwhile before allowing myself to celebrate. Well, this past weekend in Boulder was certainly an occasion for fun and celebration, and I thank J. and my bros for making sure we danced and howled and ran amok "In a Good Way" :-]
5.) Community (relationships) - This is where it all comes together. To me, all the previous Pillars are great, and necessary, and true. What is most powerful, I find, is doing all these TOGETHER. The relationships J. fostered among the 8 men who participated in the first Revolutionary Man training are among the deepest I have known in this life. For a kid who grew up mostly in a day-dream of my own inventions and adventures, relating to people with authenticity and presence is a real edge. Dropping in with these men, and the women J. wove into our weekend, has been some of the best work I've done in my 15 years in pursuit of personal growth.
3.) Leadership - I had a hard time coming up with a spontaneous definition for this one, so I googled it and found this in Wikipedia: "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen." That fits for me, and I witnessed first hand how Jayson invited all 8 of us to participate in making something truly extraordinary, likely unprecedented, happen. It's something I aim to repeat. I am in the process of leading a group of young men and the results are shaping up to be nothing less than extra-ordinary.
4.) Fun/Celebration - This is a biggie. So much of my adult life I've had my nose to the grindstone, or just been too tired to make much room for celebration. Tanking several businesses doesn't lead to a lot of celebration either... even though every "no" has gotten me so much closer to a "YES!" in that game too, I really feel I need to accomplish something worthwhile before allowing myself to celebrate. Well, this past weekend in Boulder was certainly an occasion for fun and celebration, and I thank J. and my bros for making sure we danced and howled and ran amok "In a Good Way" :-]
5.) Community (relationships) - This is where it all comes together. To me, all the previous Pillars are great, and necessary, and true. What is most powerful, I find, is doing all these TOGETHER. The relationships J. fostered among the 8 men who participated in the first Revolutionary Man training are among the deepest I have known in this life. For a kid who grew up mostly in a day-dream of my own inventions and adventures, relating to people with authenticity and presence is a real edge. Dropping in with these men, and the women J. wove into our weekend, has been some of the best work I've done in my 15 years in pursuit of personal growth.
All totalled, the 108 days of working with Jayson and these men has totally transformed my life. They have supported me through a major life transition - from employee to entrepreneur (again) - and also helped me experience my own power in ways I only suspected were possible.
Bringing what I have learned back to Rochester, NY where I mentor a fair number of young men is an exciting challenge. It's my strategy for teaching what I need to learn so I may begin to master it.
There are several options I know of that can serve a boy as young as 10, and a man as old as they come, for initiation and deep growth. I'm more than happy to invest some time out of my day into discussing my experience and the options I know are available.
If you're interested, don't be shy.
Contact me: Craig (at) EnlightenedChild.com or via social media.
I look forward to being of service on your journey.
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
The EC Sampler Booklet - Phase 2: Development 1
This is part 2 in a series documenting the process of how I created the most recent Enlightened Child coloring book sampler.
Last post I showed the first couple models that I made up to prove the concept would work in reality.
Here you can see the note cards laying on the computer, the Publisher file with the signs, and a copy of the front and back of each page.Last post I showed the first couple models that I made up to prove the concept would work in reality.
I taped them together, back to back...
So, when you fold them together, they work like a real book...
Just like in the note-card model!
Next post I'll show how I came up with the writing that ultimately graces the pages.
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: http://www.enlightenedchild.com/
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
The EC Sampler Booklet - Phase 1: Design
My original Enlightened Child kids book cost me $66 to produce six. What I wanted was something that cost 25 cents... something I could just as easily give away.
With Rusted Root coming up, and all the fun I had at RatDog & Michael Franti, I decided to invest some of the money from a local patron and print up some promotional coloring books for kids who come play my Mancala game at concerts.
At one point I had an idea for a coloring book, but I didn't have line-drawings of all 12 signs. To save myself the time and effort, and just "get er done" I decided to make a sampler book with the first 4 signs and an explanation the parents can appreciate.
So I made up a little model of how it would work, and what it would say...
Then I folded it up to test it and see if I was on the right track...
Everything looked good, so I made transfered the model to Publisher and printed a shell version...
With a solid base to build on, I roughed in the content...
What I ended up with made enough sense to move forward with the plan. In the next post, I'll show what steps I took to bring it all together.
Would you like a copy?
Cool...
There's two ways you can get one. Just refresh this page and sign up for the newsletter, or join us at www.facebook.com/EnlightenedChild.
Everyone who joins will receive a free copy of this coloring book and a license to print them and share them with your friends.
Cheers,
Craig
want a free postcard print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: http://www.enlightenedchild.com/
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Cool...
There's two ways you can get one. Just refresh this page and sign up for the newsletter, or join us at www.facebook.com/EnlightenedChild.
Everyone who joins will receive a free copy of this coloring book and a license to print them and share them with your friends.
Cheers,
Craig
want a free postcard print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: http://www.enlightenedchild.com/
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Realized
Would you like a Free Postcard of the 'Realized' Buddha?
I made the 5' tall collage out of National Geographic photos my grandfather gave me. You'll love it!
It's wicked cool, and it is just as easily framed and mounted on the wall as it is pinned to a cork board or stuck on the fridge with a magnet. You'll find the vibrant colors and captivating gaze of the witness make this piece a delight to behold, and a wonderful conversation starter.
If you'd like a free postcard as my welcome gift to you, please click here to enter your address.
I can't wait to see how you like the Print!
Cheers,
Craig
PS - It's 100% Free - and I promise you'll LOVE the postcard!
PPS - Why am I doing this? Well, for one, I think you'll love it and I want to send it as my gift to you. Also, I will be selling these postcards and prints again at some point in the future, so I want to test deliverability and quality on arrival with this new postcard system I have.
Your Feedback is Appreciated!
I made the 5' tall collage out of National Geographic photos my grandfather gave me. You'll love it!
It's wicked cool, and it is just as easily framed and mounted on the wall as it is pinned to a cork board or stuck on the fridge with a magnet. You'll find the vibrant colors and captivating gaze of the witness make this piece a delight to behold, and a wonderful conversation starter.
If you'd like a free postcard as my welcome gift to you, please click here to enter your address.
I can't wait to see how you like the Print!
Cheers,
Craig
PS - It's 100% Free - and I promise you'll LOVE the postcard!
PPS - Why am I doing this? Well, for one, I think you'll love it and I want to send it as my gift to you. Also, I will be selling these postcards and prints again at some point in the future, so I want to test deliverability and quality on arrival with this new postcard system I have.
Your Feedback is Appreciated!
Who's Your Daddy?
With Father's Day rolling up this Sunday, one of my men's groups invited me to share some of the experiences I was blessed with this past weekend.
What did I experience? I "Reclaimed my Teenage Fire"... or rather discovered that I had never lost it.
It took some powerful workshop exercises led by teams of some truly incredible young men (JourneyMen) and their mentors to fully realize that truth. This post is a reflection on what I've come to understand after completing the workshop this past weekend.
The RTF training is actually a mentor training for the Boys to Men network. You can read more about the tradition of masculine initiation by clicking here.
Here's a picture of the JourneyMen...
What did I learn about myself and the world this weekend?
1.) By hearing the stories of other men and what their lives were like back in their teen years I really came to understand how hard life has been for many men. That kid who I thought was really popular, or was a real jerk to me at school, for instance, might have been living a nightmare at home. How could I have known? This weekend gave me that perspective and it was very healing for me.
2.) Being adopted is hard, but nothing compared to what some of these other men have been through with death after death in the family, the psychological fall-out of their own uninitiated fathers, the brutality, the abuse, the abandonment, the unloving, uncaring, dis-interested lack of presence... I really came to appreciate my own father with a profound depth.
3.) I realized that growing up we all feel lack of love and being seen. We all feel slighted in some way, and we all have our crosses to bear... including my own father - both my biological father, and my adoptive father. At one point I broke down in tears of gratitude for how much love I feel, that I didn't even know because I have been holding onto the grievances from childhood. Somehow I must find a way to express that to my father... that I appreciate him for everything he is, and while he's not perfect, he certainly held a lot of the cruelty in the world at bay for me. That alone is a magnificent gift, and one I can never be too grateful for.
4.) I realized what an incredible father I am for my own child. It's amazing to see how far we have come in just 3 generations. Men have really opened up in the past several decades, and the macho jerk is no longer the ideal. Tender caring and nurturing masculine energy are so much more accepted, and the young men on this weekend are an incredible example of how powerful a healthy male presence in a young man's life can be.
5.) And at the same time, I am humbled by the faults and failures I can't even see that I'm sure Corrina will have to forgive me for some day. I better start a therapy account right next to her college account. I'm sure she'll have plenty to process that I don't even realize I'm giving her cause for. Still, I resolve from all this to grow and move forward from where I am, not where I wish I could be. All I can do is be the best dad I know how with the resources available to me. It's a constant learning process.
6.) Lastly, as I mentioned, I went through a process led by an 18 year old Journeyman whose father is a dear friend of mine through MKP.
Shawn & Mike Fallon... (and Andrew Corey ;-)
Together they helped bring the Boys to Men training to Upstate, NY and the East Coast. He had me reflect on a picture of myself from a time in my younger life when I felt like I was really on top of the world. Reflect on my "fall from grace" and reclaim my teenage fire... Well, after several minutes into the process he turned to me and said, "I mean, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I just want to tell you that from my perspective, you've never lost your fire. It's burning so brightly in you... you're the kind of man I want to become!"
Well, I felt such relief and elation. I turned to him and accepted the candle that represented that fire, and I told him that I simply needed to be seen for that. It was so simple, so complete... I can't express what it did for me in words, though.
Here's the picture, and the candle...
All this I share with you a few days before Father's Day to say: Reflect on how much your father has given you IN SPITE of all he's been through. He probably had to figure it all out for himself. This type of mentoring didn't exist, and even today, many boys, men and fathers will walk the long, lonely path to their grave without the support and nurturing energy of a healthy masculine presence.
Be grateful for your father, and for any mentoring you have received. Reach out to these men, and let them know you have felt the impact of their care for you in your life. If you have the ability, let them know how you have taken their foundational presence and built upon that to be an even stronger, even more conscious man... and invite them to open up to you in a deeper way. They need you as much as you have needed them. This world is full of so much pain and suffering, when it comes down to it all we have is one another and the ability to connect through our tears, and our joy.
This Father's Day I will be reflecting on my weekend past, and finding a way to bridge the gap between my own father and me. I encourage you to do the same.
Here's a song they played on the weekend. I remember sitting in my dad's car hearing this song on the radio as a teenager and feeling not a little uncomfortable. Without weekends like this I don't know if I could allow the meaning of this song to every reach my heart. Enjoy!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
What did I experience? I "Reclaimed my Teenage Fire"... or rather discovered that I had never lost it.
It took some powerful workshop exercises led by teams of some truly incredible young men (JourneyMen) and their mentors to fully realize that truth. This post is a reflection on what I've come to understand after completing the workshop this past weekend.
The RTF training is actually a mentor training for the Boys to Men network. You can read more about the tradition of masculine initiation by clicking here.
Here's a picture of the JourneyMen...
What did I learn about myself and the world this weekend?
1.) By hearing the stories of other men and what their lives were like back in their teen years I really came to understand how hard life has been for many men. That kid who I thought was really popular, or was a real jerk to me at school, for instance, might have been living a nightmare at home. How could I have known? This weekend gave me that perspective and it was very healing for me.
2.) Being adopted is hard, but nothing compared to what some of these other men have been through with death after death in the family, the psychological fall-out of their own uninitiated fathers, the brutality, the abuse, the abandonment, the unloving, uncaring, dis-interested lack of presence... I really came to appreciate my own father with a profound depth.
3.) I realized that growing up we all feel lack of love and being seen. We all feel slighted in some way, and we all have our crosses to bear... including my own father - both my biological father, and my adoptive father. At one point I broke down in tears of gratitude for how much love I feel, that I didn't even know because I have been holding onto the grievances from childhood. Somehow I must find a way to express that to my father... that I appreciate him for everything he is, and while he's not perfect, he certainly held a lot of the cruelty in the world at bay for me. That alone is a magnificent gift, and one I can never be too grateful for.
4.) I realized what an incredible father I am for my own child. It's amazing to see how far we have come in just 3 generations. Men have really opened up in the past several decades, and the macho jerk is no longer the ideal. Tender caring and nurturing masculine energy are so much more accepted, and the young men on this weekend are an incredible example of how powerful a healthy male presence in a young man's life can be.
5.) And at the same time, I am humbled by the faults and failures I can't even see that I'm sure Corrina will have to forgive me for some day. I better start a therapy account right next to her college account. I'm sure she'll have plenty to process that I don't even realize I'm giving her cause for. Still, I resolve from all this to grow and move forward from where I am, not where I wish I could be. All I can do is be the best dad I know how with the resources available to me. It's a constant learning process.
6.) Lastly, as I mentioned, I went through a process led by an 18 year old Journeyman whose father is a dear friend of mine through MKP.
Shawn & Mike Fallon... (and Andrew Corey ;-)
Together they helped bring the Boys to Men training to Upstate, NY and the East Coast. He had me reflect on a picture of myself from a time in my younger life when I felt like I was really on top of the world. Reflect on my "fall from grace" and reclaim my teenage fire... Well, after several minutes into the process he turned to me and said, "I mean, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I just want to tell you that from my perspective, you've never lost your fire. It's burning so brightly in you... you're the kind of man I want to become!"
Well, I felt such relief and elation. I turned to him and accepted the candle that represented that fire, and I told him that I simply needed to be seen for that. It was so simple, so complete... I can't express what it did for me in words, though.
Here's the picture, and the candle...
All this I share with you a few days before Father's Day to say: Reflect on how much your father has given you IN SPITE of all he's been through. He probably had to figure it all out for himself. This type of mentoring didn't exist, and even today, many boys, men and fathers will walk the long, lonely path to their grave without the support and nurturing energy of a healthy masculine presence.
Be grateful for your father, and for any mentoring you have received. Reach out to these men, and let them know you have felt the impact of their care for you in your life. If you have the ability, let them know how you have taken their foundational presence and built upon that to be an even stronger, even more conscious man... and invite them to open up to you in a deeper way. They need you as much as you have needed them. This world is full of so much pain and suffering, when it comes down to it all we have is one another and the ability to connect through our tears, and our joy.
This Father's Day I will be reflecting on my weekend past, and finding a way to bridge the gap between my own father and me. I encourage you to do the same.
Here's a song they played on the weekend. I remember sitting in my dad's car hearing this song on the radio as a teenager and feeling not a little uncomfortable. Without weekends like this I don't know if I could allow the meaning of this song to every reach my heart. Enjoy!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Is Masculine Initiation Really Necessary?
For millions of years men have initiated boys into manhood in their early teens.
Women have a built-in initiation - menstruation is a clear demarcation of that life transition. For men, it requires a trial, a challenge that forces a young man to face something within himself and claim that sacred masculine force within. Then he can return to his village, his tribe, his mother with a new sense of identity. He has individuated, or begun the process.
We've lost that sacred ritual in our culture... I mean, what mother do you know that would willingly let her son go off in the woods to have his tooth knocked out or his face tattooed, or go alone for a week with no food or water in the wilderness... zero.
Initiation is dangerous, and it must be for it to have the psychological impact a young man requires in order to understand the sacred masculine within. It's also crucial, and the African proverb says it best, "If we don't initiate the boys, they will burn the village down.
Today, the Mankind Project initiates men who have sought out that ritual in every which way but a healthy, mature one. Prison, armed forces, gangs, drugs, and all sorts of other rights of passage have sprung up in the shadows to accommodate this genetic need in our DNA.
But there's a problem. Frederick Douglas said it best, "It's easier to raise healthy boys than to repair broken men." So, the Boys to Men initiation experience has arisen to meet that need.
If you have a son, or are an uninitiated man who is called to the sacred masculine, these organizations offer some of the most profound, modern initiation weekend trainings on the planet. They are both international organizations and well worth the investment.
If you have any interest in either of these weekends I would be more than happy to answer any questions for you.
I was initiated in MKP at age 18. Boys to Men did not exist then, though it would have been a better experience for where I was at around that age. That's why I am so stoked that we are finally giving young men their birthright and initiating them at the appropriate age, before they spend decades seeking the experience in every place but the right one - with healthy, initiated men who can guide and mentor them to their true power.
Contact me with any questions - you'll be glad you did.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Women have a built-in initiation - menstruation is a clear demarcation of that life transition. For men, it requires a trial, a challenge that forces a young man to face something within himself and claim that sacred masculine force within. Then he can return to his village, his tribe, his mother with a new sense of identity. He has individuated, or begun the process.
We've lost that sacred ritual in our culture... I mean, what mother do you know that would willingly let her son go off in the woods to have his tooth knocked out or his face tattooed, or go alone for a week with no food or water in the wilderness... zero.
Initiation is dangerous, and it must be for it to have the psychological impact a young man requires in order to understand the sacred masculine within. It's also crucial, and the African proverb says it best, "If we don't initiate the boys, they will burn the village down.
Today, the Mankind Project initiates men who have sought out that ritual in every which way but a healthy, mature one. Prison, armed forces, gangs, drugs, and all sorts of other rights of passage have sprung up in the shadows to accommodate this genetic need in our DNA.
But there's a problem. Frederick Douglas said it best, "It's easier to raise healthy boys than to repair broken men." So, the Boys to Men initiation experience has arisen to meet that need.
If you have a son, or are an uninitiated man who is called to the sacred masculine, these organizations offer some of the most profound, modern initiation weekend trainings on the planet. They are both international organizations and well worth the investment.
If you have any interest in either of these weekends I would be more than happy to answer any questions for you.
I was initiated in MKP at age 18. Boys to Men did not exist then, though it would have been a better experience for where I was at around that age. That's why I am so stoked that we are finally giving young men their birthright and initiating them at the appropriate age, before they spend decades seeking the experience in every place but the right one - with healthy, initiated men who can guide and mentor them to their true power.
Contact me with any questions - you'll be glad you did.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Does Your Child Know Her Purpose Yet?
It's no joke - we are all born with a purpose, and the schooling system couldn't care less.
Most teachers are just grown up products of the same system and are so deep into it that most teachers either have no idea what their own true purpose in life is (I hardly believe that a teacher would tell you "my purpose is to brainwash hundreds of kids into consumer society drones") or they have no tools for consistently liberating children from this cycle of consumer socialization to a true realization of their inborn purpose. So, the cycle perpetuates itself in mass-unconsciousness.
(pardon me while I go puke out the window...)
One of the most important exercises I've ever done (and I have worked through it dozens and dozens of times over the last decade) is discovering and defining and deciding what my purpose is.
I learned it first from Michael Gerber in the E-Myth Mastery Academy - which is an entrepreneurial coaching program. He understands that, in order for a business to serve the entrepreneur's life, we must begin with what's in our heart first, then build the business around that clarity.
Michael Losier's book on the Law of Attraction walks us through a nearly identical exercise. Tony Robbins, and all the classic success gurus say pretty much the same thing. Seems there's a pattern here:
1.) Write down everything you DON'T want in your life
2.) Use that list to come up with clarity about what you DO want in your life
3.) Boil that down to the essence of who you are and what your life is all about
Why were you born?
10 words or less!
Hold this mantra as a compass. Something you never forget. If I come to your house at 3am and shake you awake and say, "WHAT'S YOUR PURPOSE?!!" you should spit it right out.
Do you have this clarity?
Well, I walked my 8 year old through this same exercise last fall and she came up with a list that's just as legit as anything an adult could conjure up. After all, it doesn't take a PhD to know what you want in life, and if you look a little deeper, to see where those wants are coming from.
Look closely at this picture, you can see her two separate columns...
What did she come up with?
"To love and take care of animals"
Simple.
What's better than that!
So, here's where it comes into play, and the reason I'm inspired to post about this. Last week she demonstrated this on a handful of occasions:
1.) She rescued a baby bird from the playground at school
2.) She rescued a guinea pig that was to be "given a shot that would make him sleep until it was time for him to die"
3.) She rescued a baby chipmunk from the clutches of her cat Stella
4.) She captured a moth and brought it home, set it free in my bedroom and pet it good night by the lamp
5.) She gingerly carried around the snails she captured by the trainyard where we find em
6.) She does research on koalas and other animals at school...
And that's just ONE WEEK!!!
I applaud her for living her purpose and it settles into her psyche that she is fundamentally good and rooted in a core purpose that serves the world and makes her feel whole and complete.
It's an incredible thing.
I highly recommend it.
If you're a teacher or a parent who would like more information on how you can help kids discover their own Purpose in life, please contact me.
After all, my purpose is: To Enlighten the World!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Most teachers are just grown up products of the same system and are so deep into it that most teachers either have no idea what their own true purpose in life is (I hardly believe that a teacher would tell you "my purpose is to brainwash hundreds of kids into consumer society drones") or they have no tools for consistently liberating children from this cycle of consumer socialization to a true realization of their inborn purpose. So, the cycle perpetuates itself in mass-unconsciousness.
(pardon me while I go puke out the window...)
One of the most important exercises I've ever done (and I have worked through it dozens and dozens of times over the last decade) is discovering and defining and deciding what my purpose is.
I learned it first from Michael Gerber in the E-Myth Mastery Academy - which is an entrepreneurial coaching program. He understands that, in order for a business to serve the entrepreneur's life, we must begin with what's in our heart first, then build the business around that clarity.
Michael Losier's book on the Law of Attraction walks us through a nearly identical exercise. Tony Robbins, and all the classic success gurus say pretty much the same thing. Seems there's a pattern here:
1.) Write down everything you DON'T want in your life
2.) Use that list to come up with clarity about what you DO want in your life
3.) Boil that down to the essence of who you are and what your life is all about
Why were you born?
10 words or less!
Hold this mantra as a compass. Something you never forget. If I come to your house at 3am and shake you awake and say, "WHAT'S YOUR PURPOSE?!!" you should spit it right out.
Do you have this clarity?
Well, I walked my 8 year old through this same exercise last fall and she came up with a list that's just as legit as anything an adult could conjure up. After all, it doesn't take a PhD to know what you want in life, and if you look a little deeper, to see where those wants are coming from.
Look closely at this picture, you can see her two separate columns...
What did she come up with?
"To love and take care of animals"
Simple.
What's better than that!
So, here's where it comes into play, and the reason I'm inspired to post about this. Last week she demonstrated this on a handful of occasions:
1.) She rescued a baby bird from the playground at school
2.) She rescued a guinea pig that was to be "given a shot that would make him sleep until it was time for him to die"
3.) She rescued a baby chipmunk from the clutches of her cat Stella
4.) She captured a moth and brought it home, set it free in my bedroom and pet it good night by the lamp
5.) She gingerly carried around the snails she captured by the trainyard where we find em
6.) She does research on koalas and other animals at school...
And that's just ONE WEEK!!!
I applaud her for living her purpose and it settles into her psyche that she is fundamentally good and rooted in a core purpose that serves the world and makes her feel whole and complete.
It's an incredible thing.
I highly recommend it.
If you're a teacher or a parent who would like more information on how you can help kids discover their own Purpose in life, please contact me.
After all, my purpose is: To Enlighten the World!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
What's the Worst That Can Happen?
I won't deal in cut-throat business environments. There's nothing I want bad enough to tolerate that type of back-stabbing behavior. I can't imagine any good would come of it anyway even if I got what I thought I wanted... seems like it would come back at me with some price far in excess of any joy I felt.
That's not to say I haven't been double-crossed before. In business. In love. Not nearly as bad as it could have been. Sort of like the way I feel about my car accidents - just enough to rattle me and hopefully drive home the lesson.
Robert Ringer says there are three types of ways people will screw you:
1.) Tell you right to your face they're gonna grab all your chips
2.) Tell you they wouldn't dream of taking all your chips then doing it anyway
3.) Tell you they wouldn't dream of taking all your chips then, when it happens anyway, really telling you how bad they feel it worked out that way.
I guess the reason this is on my mind is because I'm contemplating some Joint Ventures (JVs) for my new business with people I have only met on Facebook.
As I approach the possibility of working with people who could easily swipe my idea and run with it, I steel myself with the conviction that the Enlightened Child mentoring component of the new business will make it immune to being ripped off 100 times by marketing sharks. What I aim for instead is a collaborative platform that brings social media experts together and creates a dynamic learning environment between them, their clients, and the mentees.
The mentees are learning marketing through implementing the social media profiles for the clients of my various Social Media Experts.
This way, the Social Media Experts can all offer a personally branded Done-For-You package and the mentees can get a world-class education that is relevant, and actually pays them to learn and achieve according to their interests.
That's the concept for the business that I'm creating to help me transition from a 9-5'er and free up time to write my Enlightened Child book and teach kids all about the wonders of the universe at concerts and other places I travel to.
Maybe there are still people out there who will habitually screw me over. Maybe I still have a lot naivete to get burned out of me. Whatever happens, I feel the Enlightened Child mission will keep marching my feet, keep creating with my hands, keep speaking with my tongue.
Looking at everything in life as a learning experience, I feel very little fear anymore.
What's the worst that can happen?
I'll learn.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
That's not to say I haven't been double-crossed before. In business. In love. Not nearly as bad as it could have been. Sort of like the way I feel about my car accidents - just enough to rattle me and hopefully drive home the lesson.
Robert Ringer says there are three types of ways people will screw you:
1.) Tell you right to your face they're gonna grab all your chips
2.) Tell you they wouldn't dream of taking all your chips then doing it anyway
3.) Tell you they wouldn't dream of taking all your chips then, when it happens anyway, really telling you how bad they feel it worked out that way.
I guess the reason this is on my mind is because I'm contemplating some Joint Ventures (JVs) for my new business with people I have only met on Facebook.
As I approach the possibility of working with people who could easily swipe my idea and run with it, I steel myself with the conviction that the Enlightened Child mentoring component of the new business will make it immune to being ripped off 100 times by marketing sharks. What I aim for instead is a collaborative platform that brings social media experts together and creates a dynamic learning environment between them, their clients, and the mentees.
The mentees are learning marketing through implementing the social media profiles for the clients of my various Social Media Experts.
This way, the Social Media Experts can all offer a personally branded Done-For-You package and the mentees can get a world-class education that is relevant, and actually pays them to learn and achieve according to their interests.
That's the concept for the business that I'm creating to help me transition from a 9-5'er and free up time to write my Enlightened Child book and teach kids all about the wonders of the universe at concerts and other places I travel to.
Maybe there are still people out there who will habitually screw me over. Maybe I still have a lot naivete to get burned out of me. Whatever happens, I feel the Enlightened Child mission will keep marching my feet, keep creating with my hands, keep speaking with my tongue.
Looking at everything in life as a learning experience, I feel very little fear anymore.
What's the worst that can happen?
I'll learn.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Montessori is NOT Self-Help...
Back in college I read a lot of Spiritual and Self-Help type books. I was interested in growing and becoming a better person... or stopping the gnawing existential pain I kicked up in the process.
When I got into Sales I was pleased to discover a culture of personal and professional development. Guys like Zig Ziglar and Jim Rohn were instrumental in helping me ground my mind in this worldly reality and get a grip on who I am becoming as a man. Mentors and friends helped as well. But ultimately it all comes down to experience.
Since I never took a marketing or finance class... EVER... I had to teach myself these things through experience (aka repeated failure). I started businesses and made sales calls and did all the things the gurus said. And I've gotten much better. But something still nags at me... about the potential I have within me that I fear may never see the light of day.
Reading some Maria Montessori this morning (founder of the Montessori schools - AMI) I thought back to my two years as a Montessori kid. They made sense. I grew and understood how I was growing. I engaged in playful mastery of the material and I was recognized as a young, developing soul. It was joyous times.
The chapter I read this morning talked about how to really mess up a child for life. Luckily I spent the rest of my schooling in institutions that read THAT manual and my jaw dropped in astonishment at the aftermath and how it has played out in my life.
When I say Montessori is NOT Self-Help, what I mean is that as I read the chapter and thought about the impact these negative schooling experiences have had on my life, I realized that the next page would not be some treatise or meditation exercise designed to free my soul from the bondage of psychological anguish these naughty naughty institutions have inflicted upon me.
No. There would be no Self-Help epiphany today.
What I see very clearly, though, is a need to assist parents and teachers in honoring the soul of the child and not foisting the habituated traumas we acquired in our own schooling and socialization on our children, but truly "Following the Child" and learning something of our own humanity in their innocence and joy.
Montessori is a recipe for a child who will not need much, if any, self-help work. There will always been an edge to grow to, but the negative feelings that we were saddled with in childhood need not hinder that growth or create mind-boggling challenges that make us say things like, "I'm afraid of success." Something is wrong with a culture that instills fear of completion and the joy of accomplishment in its populous.
What can we do to help our children grow up free from the weeds of the antiquated schooling and socialization process?
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
When I got into Sales I was pleased to discover a culture of personal and professional development. Guys like Zig Ziglar and Jim Rohn were instrumental in helping me ground my mind in this worldly reality and get a grip on who I am becoming as a man. Mentors and friends helped as well. But ultimately it all comes down to experience.
Since I never took a marketing or finance class... EVER... I had to teach myself these things through experience (aka repeated failure). I started businesses and made sales calls and did all the things the gurus said. And I've gotten much better. But something still nags at me... about the potential I have within me that I fear may never see the light of day.
Reading some Maria Montessori this morning (founder of the Montessori schools - AMI) I thought back to my two years as a Montessori kid. They made sense. I grew and understood how I was growing. I engaged in playful mastery of the material and I was recognized as a young, developing soul. It was joyous times.
The chapter I read this morning talked about how to really mess up a child for life. Luckily I spent the rest of my schooling in institutions that read THAT manual and my jaw dropped in astonishment at the aftermath and how it has played out in my life.
When I say Montessori is NOT Self-Help, what I mean is that as I read the chapter and thought about the impact these negative schooling experiences have had on my life, I realized that the next page would not be some treatise or meditation exercise designed to free my soul from the bondage of psychological anguish these naughty naughty institutions have inflicted upon me.
No. There would be no Self-Help epiphany today.
What I see very clearly, though, is a need to assist parents and teachers in honoring the soul of the child and not foisting the habituated traumas we acquired in our own schooling and socialization on our children, but truly "Following the Child" and learning something of our own humanity in their innocence and joy.
Montessori is a recipe for a child who will not need much, if any, self-help work. There will always been an edge to grow to, but the negative feelings that we were saddled with in childhood need not hinder that growth or create mind-boggling challenges that make us say things like, "I'm afraid of success." Something is wrong with a culture that instills fear of completion and the joy of accomplishment in its populous.
What can we do to help our children grow up free from the weeds of the antiquated schooling and socialization process?
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
The New Puppy Downstairs Keeps Howling!!!
The guy downstairs got an adorable new puppy. Half doberman, half husky. It's howling all the time when he's not around, and I just started working from home!
Here's the thing about dogs. They are born into one social matrix that is very comfortable and familiar to them. Then they are transplanted to a completely foreign situation that they must adapt to in order to thrive as an organism.
If you've been around trained dogs, you know that the master/dog relationship enhances their lives greatly. When a dog is well-trained and it understands how to behave and receive praise from its master it is infinitely happier than a dog who is constantly given shifting expectations and intermittent punishments.
How does this relate to education and children? Well, to a certain degree, I believe raising young children is a lot like training a new puppy. The child has little if any higher reasoning and consistency is the key to all trust in the relationship.
Once we get older, however, we venture into the world. In the world, expectations and rewards are constantly shifting. It's hard to adapt ourselves to that social matrix without latching on to a sub-culture within it that is easier to navigate. Church tells us how to live. Being cool means dressing like this... Like a small harbor where our boats are safe... but that's not what boats were built for.
Listen, I don't know how to get to the point elegantly, so I'm just gonna cut to the chase.
If the world is full of shifting expectations, and it's our responsibility as parents to give our children a quality experience of life - where expectations are not shifting. Where they are safe and they know they can consistently receive love and compassion and sustenance...
How do we prepare them internally to have the fortitude to thrive out there?
Principles.
Teach Principles.
Don't teach them 2+2=4
Teach them what numbers are, how they work, what plus and equals means, drill them on it and let them go about their lives doing math. The principle of numbers, arithmetic don't change just because the world shifts its expectations. Cling fast to principles and teach your children to do the same. Chaos is all about, so be certain the light-houses of truth that you use to guide you are steady and grounded in reality. Teach your children to do the same.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Here's the thing about dogs. They are born into one social matrix that is very comfortable and familiar to them. Then they are transplanted to a completely foreign situation that they must adapt to in order to thrive as an organism.
If you've been around trained dogs, you know that the master/dog relationship enhances their lives greatly. When a dog is well-trained and it understands how to behave and receive praise from its master it is infinitely happier than a dog who is constantly given shifting expectations and intermittent punishments.
How does this relate to education and children? Well, to a certain degree, I believe raising young children is a lot like training a new puppy. The child has little if any higher reasoning and consistency is the key to all trust in the relationship.
Once we get older, however, we venture into the world. In the world, expectations and rewards are constantly shifting. It's hard to adapt ourselves to that social matrix without latching on to a sub-culture within it that is easier to navigate. Church tells us how to live. Being cool means dressing like this... Like a small harbor where our boats are safe... but that's not what boats were built for.
Listen, I don't know how to get to the point elegantly, so I'm just gonna cut to the chase.
If the world is full of shifting expectations, and it's our responsibility as parents to give our children a quality experience of life - where expectations are not shifting. Where they are safe and they know they can consistently receive love and compassion and sustenance...
How do we prepare them internally to have the fortitude to thrive out there?
Principles.
Teach Principles.
Don't teach them 2+2=4
Teach them what numbers are, how they work, what plus and equals means, drill them on it and let them go about their lives doing math. The principle of numbers, arithmetic don't change just because the world shifts its expectations. Cling fast to principles and teach your children to do the same. Chaos is all about, so be certain the light-houses of truth that you use to guide you are steady and grounded in reality. Teach your children to do the same.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
What Can You Teach with Two Rocks?
Today was a long day. I just got back from hiking in Letchworth State Park here in the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate NY. It was gorgeous.
We hiked down in the river bed, and up to the top of the waterfalls. There's even a train trestle that I refused to walk across, because I neither bungee jump for pleasure, nor did I have a bungee cable on hand to keep me from plummeting to my death. So I just stayed near terra firma.
The gorges in Upstate NY (think: Ithaca is Gorges) are some sort of shale or slate stone that chips off easily into thin, jagged fragments too sharp to skip - sharp enough to skin a hide with when freshly broken off. I selected a stone from the river bank to represent the freshly broken off masculine energy that is cutting its way through the world.
On the other hand, in the river bed, there are rocks that have broken off many many years ago, and have been washed downstream for miles. They are not nearly as jagged and many of them are worn smooth from their interactions with other rocks, and nature in general. I selected one of these rocks to represent the feminine energy that is gently softening all the other rocks around it.
These two rocks are a simple example of a natural process that occurs in a mind pre-disposed to see patterns in the world. It could have been anything.
Today, it was two rocks and the energies they represented on opposite poles of the masculine-feminine energy continuum.
Are you more jagged or smoothed over?
I know I'm mellowing with age, but I certainly still have an edge or two to smooth over.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
We hiked down in the river bed, and up to the top of the waterfalls. There's even a train trestle that I refused to walk across, because I neither bungee jump for pleasure, nor did I have a bungee cable on hand to keep me from plummeting to my death. So I just stayed near terra firma.
The gorges in Upstate NY (think: Ithaca is Gorges) are some sort of shale or slate stone that chips off easily into thin, jagged fragments too sharp to skip - sharp enough to skin a hide with when freshly broken off. I selected a stone from the river bank to represent the freshly broken off masculine energy that is cutting its way through the world.
On the other hand, in the river bed, there are rocks that have broken off many many years ago, and have been washed downstream for miles. They are not nearly as jagged and many of them are worn smooth from their interactions with other rocks, and nature in general. I selected one of these rocks to represent the feminine energy that is gently softening all the other rocks around it.
These two rocks are a simple example of a natural process that occurs in a mind pre-disposed to see patterns in the world. It could have been anything.
Today, it was two rocks and the energies they represented on opposite poles of the masculine-feminine energy continuum.
Are you more jagged or smoothed over?
I know I'm mellowing with age, but I certainly still have an edge or two to smooth over.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Why is Social Media SOOOO Important for Your Child?
I'm not gonna lie to ya - I'm a social media addict. Ever since I got on Facebook last summer I haven't been able to get away from it. It's my preferred mode of communication. If someone needs to get me more rapidly, text is best. Otherwise, Fbook me... if it's too big or you need to attach something like a word.doc... I'll consent to receive an email, but it doesn't get checked as regularly, and neither do voicemails.
In my newly discovered passion, I've done a fair amount of scouting on the horizons of social media. I just read today that social media sites are moving in the direction of becoming total communication hubs - taking over email functions and even communicating across sites.
What this means is that your child will use some form of aggregated and highly personalized social media as the primary mode of communication beyond personal, face-to-face (and even that is a guess at this point).
So, get your kids on Social Media sites. Go through and adjust the security settings so they are safe from creepers, and get their feet wet with this stuff the same way you would with a pen and paper... and don't be frightened when they get sucked in. It's natural.
The trick is to keep their minds engaged and help them join networks of friends who are doing worthwhile things on and off social media, to connect offline whenever possible, and to contribute something meaningful and of value.
Getting them on this curve early will help your child really thrive in the 21 Century.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
In my newly discovered passion, I've done a fair amount of scouting on the horizons of social media. I just read today that social media sites are moving in the direction of becoming total communication hubs - taking over email functions and even communicating across sites.
What this means is that your child will use some form of aggregated and highly personalized social media as the primary mode of communication beyond personal, face-to-face (and even that is a guess at this point).
So, get your kids on Social Media sites. Go through and adjust the security settings so they are safe from creepers, and get their feet wet with this stuff the same way you would with a pen and paper... and don't be frightened when they get sucked in. It's natural.
The trick is to keep their minds engaged and help them join networks of friends who are doing worthwhile things on and off social media, to connect offline whenever possible, and to contribute something meaningful and of value.
Getting them on this curve early will help your child really thrive in the 21 Century.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
How to Get a Mentor?
It seems counter-intuitive... "Take a Millionaire to Lunch! but HE'S the one with all the money and I'm broke!"
What about the offering of gifts is so irresistible to Mentors?
Narcissism. The Mentoring relationship is more than merely training or teaching. It's probably got roots in some Freudian complex, which none-the-less means there's great power in the relationship.
Mentors are on a path. They have conquered the mountain, or are well on their way to it. They don't have time for nambi-pambi bologna. They want results because the results they are known for is what qualifies them as a potential mentor for you (or your child) in the first place.
WARNING: It's a common fallacy, and a sure set up for disappointment, to project guru status on someone who is expert in their field. This shows up most often in the way they are seen as expert in an omni-potent sense - they know it all... about everything - when really they may be woefully unqualified to mentor you(r child) in any other area. Think starving artist or pervert guru. They have one field of competence nailed - clearly to the detriment of other areas like sustenance and morality. So, just be careful of this.
So, mentors see themselves in the mentee. They won't work with someone in a TRUE mentoring capacity unless they can see the inner nature of the protege as clearly as they see their own hand. Everything else is just passing advice and well-wishing one another on your way. True mentoring is a durable, ongoing relationship that can last decades or lifetimes.
How do you find these potential mentors and then get them to mentor you(r child)?
Good question - because Mentors save you so much time and heartache it's not even funny. Taking a millionaire to lunch could change your life. So, don't hesitate when you see an opportunity to obtain even passing advice. And when you find someone you really feel is right for you - I mean, you've checked each other out in person, learned about what you each want in life, where you're going and how your mentor can help you get there... then you can follow these steps:
The steps for obtaining a mentor, as given to me by a mentor I'm courting:
1.) Identify a burning desire in your heart.
2.) Learn as much as you can about this on your own.
3.) Identify individuals who have gone and done what you envision going and doing.
4.) Approach them and interview them. It's always a mutual interview.
5.) Suggest a mentoring relationship - they may be experienced in this or not.
6.) Tell them you'd like to make a formal offering for them to consider.
7.) Prepare and deliver a package of some sort the represents something meaningful to the atmosphere or relationship dynamic that you are entering in to. Something that the Mentor can consider in the gestalt of his life and how much he is willing and able to commit to this process.
8.) Be on time for meetings, be professional with communications, keep all commitments in a timely fashion, and be generally grateful for all instruction and reflection.
9.) Watch for pathologies that may disrupt or interfere with a True Mentoring Relationship - never abdicate responsibility for your mental and emotional safety to ANYONE. You are your own best protector. Keep your eyes open.
10. Continually obtain new mentors on your journey of life. This will provide a blend of perspectives, and give you a roundtable of reference points to call on when advancing through life's choppy waters. Collect Mentors and keep in touch with them. They truly care about you and want to share your journey. The more you keep in touch, the easier you will find it to call on them even years down the road.
So, this is my run-down on Getting Mentors.
I'm sending a wooden box of natural tobacco to my chosen mentor. If he accepts, I will be heading to Vermont, near Burlington, to be Mentored as a Water Pourer for sweat lodges several times a year - Solstice and Equinox sweats.
Today I found the box I will send. So, this was on my mind.
Hope you find it helpful and certainly hope you're share it with your teens and their friends!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
What about the offering of gifts is so irresistible to Mentors?
Narcissism. The Mentoring relationship is more than merely training or teaching. It's probably got roots in some Freudian complex, which none-the-less means there's great power in the relationship.
Mentors are on a path. They have conquered the mountain, or are well on their way to it. They don't have time for nambi-pambi bologna. They want results because the results they are known for is what qualifies them as a potential mentor for you (or your child) in the first place.
WARNING: It's a common fallacy, and a sure set up for disappointment, to project guru status on someone who is expert in their field. This shows up most often in the way they are seen as expert in an omni-potent sense - they know it all... about everything - when really they may be woefully unqualified to mentor you(r child) in any other area. Think starving artist or pervert guru. They have one field of competence nailed - clearly to the detriment of other areas like sustenance and morality. So, just be careful of this.
So, mentors see themselves in the mentee. They won't work with someone in a TRUE mentoring capacity unless they can see the inner nature of the protege as clearly as they see their own hand. Everything else is just passing advice and well-wishing one another on your way. True mentoring is a durable, ongoing relationship that can last decades or lifetimes.
How do you find these potential mentors and then get them to mentor you(r child)?
Good question - because Mentors save you so much time and heartache it's not even funny. Taking a millionaire to lunch could change your life. So, don't hesitate when you see an opportunity to obtain even passing advice. And when you find someone you really feel is right for you - I mean, you've checked each other out in person, learned about what you each want in life, where you're going and how your mentor can help you get there... then you can follow these steps:
The steps for obtaining a mentor, as given to me by a mentor I'm courting:
1.) Identify a burning desire in your heart.
2.) Learn as much as you can about this on your own.
3.) Identify individuals who have gone and done what you envision going and doing.
4.) Approach them and interview them. It's always a mutual interview.
5.) Suggest a mentoring relationship - they may be experienced in this or not.
6.) Tell them you'd like to make a formal offering for them to consider.
7.) Prepare and deliver a package of some sort the represents something meaningful to the atmosphere or relationship dynamic that you are entering in to. Something that the Mentor can consider in the gestalt of his life and how much he is willing and able to commit to this process.
8.) Be on time for meetings, be professional with communications, keep all commitments in a timely fashion, and be generally grateful for all instruction and reflection.
9.) Watch for pathologies that may disrupt or interfere with a True Mentoring Relationship - never abdicate responsibility for your mental and emotional safety to ANYONE. You are your own best protector. Keep your eyes open.
10. Continually obtain new mentors on your journey of life. This will provide a blend of perspectives, and give you a roundtable of reference points to call on when advancing through life's choppy waters. Collect Mentors and keep in touch with them. They truly care about you and want to share your journey. The more you keep in touch, the easier you will find it to call on them even years down the road.
So, this is my run-down on Getting Mentors.
I'm sending a wooden box of natural tobacco to my chosen mentor. If he accepts, I will be heading to Vermont, near Burlington, to be Mentored as a Water Pourer for sweat lodges several times a year - Solstice and Equinox sweats.
Today I found the box I will send. So, this was on my mind.
Hope you find it helpful and certainly hope you're share it with your teens and their friends!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
SHOULD Your Child Be Working From a Checklist?
Making the "checklist" process conscious has a lot of value. It's a life-skill that is never really taught, unless by a mentor who either discovered it or learned it from his own mentor. Most people are not proficient at it, and it's like playing an instrument, learning a language - you have to practice for years.
So, here's this insight:
Teach your child to consciously develop mental checklists so they know how to make and improve checklists in their minds. (Hint: put the steps on paper and run through them while revising, then memorize/habituate the new routine.)
I like to use my hand as a counting tool. I think 3 things are manageable for a young child, so I'll put up my fist and stick out my pinky and call that the step where we do what Corrina wants to do. Then I'll stick out my thumb and have that be the next step I want her to take. Usually it's something simple just to get her on track and feeling accomplished. So, when she was 4-5 it was taking our shoes off when we get in the house and putting them away properly. Something consistent that she could rely on. Something familiar to reduce anxiety and build good habits around the house or whatever teaching environment. (Which I learned from Montessori Primary - Practical Life skills.)
So the conversation would go something like this:
Corrina: Dad can we wrestle when we get home?
Dad: Absolutely. What has to happen before we can wrestle?
Corrina: Ummmm...
Dad: Okay when we get home what's the first thing we always do?
Corrina: Put away shoes!??
Dad: okay and what has to happen after we put away our shoes, before we can wrestle?
Corrina: eat dinner!
Dad: What else?
Corrina: what else?
Dad: Do the dishes...
Corrina: Brush Teeth!
Dad: Bingo!
So, then whenever she gets off track, I just hold up my hand and reiterate the process. Oftentimes, simply holding up the fingers of the items we've completed will jar her memory of the next thing we gotta check off the checklist.
As she got older and was excited to learn how to write we would make checklists on notecards. Now, I was experimenting with notecards in my business, and she saw me using them on a daily basis. It intrigued her, so we made lists for ourselves during Daddy-Daughter time.
She now knows how to use them. Even though we've gone back to the ever-convenient hand for tracking what we gotta do, she has worked with the process on paper and it is like the rings of a tree as she develops that patterning will resonate out and shape her future experience. When she is older, I expect we will revisit this, and it will not be totally foreign. Something inside her will resonate with the principles, and respond to another lesson around upgrading her checklists - both mentally and on paper.
Making checklists is something we all do anyway. They are powerful scripts running in our lives that we would do well to master. Helping our children master these scripts by teaching them how to write and improve them in their own minds feels almost like a moral obligation to me.
What do you think?
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
So, here's this insight:
Teach your child to consciously develop mental checklists so they know how to make and improve checklists in their minds. (Hint: put the steps on paper and run through them while revising, then memorize/habituate the new routine.)
I like to use my hand as a counting tool. I think 3 things are manageable for a young child, so I'll put up my fist and stick out my pinky and call that the step where we do what Corrina wants to do. Then I'll stick out my thumb and have that be the next step I want her to take. Usually it's something simple just to get her on track and feeling accomplished. So, when she was 4-5 it was taking our shoes off when we get in the house and putting them away properly. Something consistent that she could rely on. Something familiar to reduce anxiety and build good habits around the house or whatever teaching environment. (Which I learned from Montessori Primary - Practical Life skills.)
So the conversation would go something like this:
Corrina: Dad can we wrestle when we get home?
Dad: Absolutely. What has to happen before we can wrestle?
Corrina: Ummmm...
Dad: Okay when we get home what's the first thing we always do?
Corrina: Put away shoes!??
Dad: okay and what has to happen after we put away our shoes, before we can wrestle?
Corrina: eat dinner!
Dad: What else?
Corrina: what else?
Dad: Do the dishes...
Corrina: Brush Teeth!
Dad: Bingo!
So, then whenever she gets off track, I just hold up my hand and reiterate the process. Oftentimes, simply holding up the fingers of the items we've completed will jar her memory of the next thing we gotta check off the checklist.
As she got older and was excited to learn how to write we would make checklists on notecards. Now, I was experimenting with notecards in my business, and she saw me using them on a daily basis. It intrigued her, so we made lists for ourselves during Daddy-Daughter time.
She now knows how to use them. Even though we've gone back to the ever-convenient hand for tracking what we gotta do, she has worked with the process on paper and it is like the rings of a tree as she develops that patterning will resonate out and shape her future experience. When she is older, I expect we will revisit this, and it will not be totally foreign. Something inside her will resonate with the principles, and respond to another lesson around upgrading her checklists - both mentally and on paper.
Making checklists is something we all do anyway. They are powerful scripts running in our lives that we would do well to master. Helping our children master these scripts by teaching them how to write and improve them in their own minds feels almost like a moral obligation to me.
What do you think?
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Does Your Child Work From a Checklist?
Pilots work from a checklist. There's a LOT to remember. Any one thing forgotten could cost lives and fortunes. Firemen, doctors, attorneys, great salesmen, even artists and dancers if you look closely enough... they all use checklists. True, some of them aren't on paper, in binders called Operating Manuals. Precisely my point...
We all do it, actually. We get up in the morning and we run our routine. When we go to take our shower we have a little routine that we run. Firs this, then this, then this... oh I better trim these... we are running through a mental checklist.
When I got up to leave the park yesterday my mind did a quick scan: keys, cash, cell phone and anything... anything... oh, yeah - sunglasses that I left in the grass!!! (That's actually what prompted today's post.)
What I was suddenly conscious of (though I've studied this application in personal and professional development for years) was the UN-consciuos process, or "checklist," that my mind went through to take care of me. I can think of LOTS of times in my life when I haven't had good checklists, and I forgot things... like deodorant ;-p
So, here's the insight:
If your child is developing checklists unconsciously, help make them conscious. I like to ask Corrina after she enthusiastically asks me to move on to the next activity, "What's gotta get done before we can do that?"
This puts her in a helpful, receptive state and she begins to seek answers to the question in her mind. She knows she can't proceed until certain things are complete, and she's apt to lay a shoulder in if she can help speed things along. This is a great parenting device, and it gets her thinking in checklists.
So, the next step is to make that checklist process conscious. I'll discuss that in my next post.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
We all do it, actually. We get up in the morning and we run our routine. When we go to take our shower we have a little routine that we run. Firs this, then this, then this... oh I better trim these... we are running through a mental checklist.
When I got up to leave the park yesterday my mind did a quick scan: keys, cash, cell phone and anything... anything... oh, yeah - sunglasses that I left in the grass!!! (That's actually what prompted today's post.)
What I was suddenly conscious of (though I've studied this application in personal and professional development for years) was the UN-consciuos process, or "checklist," that my mind went through to take care of me. I can think of LOTS of times in my life when I haven't had good checklists, and I forgot things... like deodorant ;-p
So, here's the insight:
If your child is developing checklists unconsciously, help make them conscious. I like to ask Corrina after she enthusiastically asks me to move on to the next activity, "What's gotta get done before we can do that?"
This puts her in a helpful, receptive state and she begins to seek answers to the question in her mind. She knows she can't proceed until certain things are complete, and she's apt to lay a shoulder in if she can help speed things along. This is a great parenting device, and it gets her thinking in checklists.
So, the next step is to make that checklist process conscious. I'll discuss that in my next post.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
What is Friendship?
Normally, I'd go straight to Dictionary.com and settle this straight away. Whatever prompted me to write about this is also prompting me to come up with my own definitions first. I think that's a sound plan, so let's proceed ;-]
Friendship is one of those maleable terms. It means a lot of different things to a lot of different people and tends to mean different things at different times.
The simplest definition I can come up with is simply: affinity, liking
Friendship is mutual liking. It's feeling connected on some level and desiring good relations with another.
Certainly things only get more complex from there, but as a basic definition, that satisfies me.
What sort of complex manipulations we pull on ourselves and one another. The other day I saw two three-year-olds playing and getting acquainted. Maybe it was their astrology, or mutual cute-ness, or proximity and gender, or maybe that's just 3-year olds for ya... but they engaged in mutual liking of the purest form.
What happens to us as we get older that causes us to ply our friendships with emotional and psychological posturing in order to get our way? Is communication that difficult?
Being in touch with my heart and speaking congruently with its purity is one of my highest life aspirations.
In this regard, I'm pray that I end up learning more from my daughter than she from me.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Friendship is one of those maleable terms. It means a lot of different things to a lot of different people and tends to mean different things at different times.
The simplest definition I can come up with is simply: affinity, liking
Friendship is mutual liking. It's feeling connected on some level and desiring good relations with another.
Certainly things only get more complex from there, but as a basic definition, that satisfies me.
What sort of complex manipulations we pull on ourselves and one another. The other day I saw two three-year-olds playing and getting acquainted. Maybe it was their astrology, or mutual cute-ness, or proximity and gender, or maybe that's just 3-year olds for ya... but they engaged in mutual liking of the purest form.
What happens to us as we get older that causes us to ply our friendships with emotional and psychological posturing in order to get our way? Is communication that difficult?
Being in touch with my heart and speaking congruently with its purity is one of my highest life aspirations.
In this regard, I'm pray that I end up learning more from my daughter than she from me.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Oh Baby, That's the Ticket!
You can't ride without ticket... You can't see the show without a ticket... You can't get where you're goin without a ticket!
So, what's your ticket?
Maybe you're a teacher or a CPA or sales person. Whatever it is, the thing you do well, that gets you paid, gets you through doors that others can't pass through... that's your ticket.
Everyone needs at least one ticket. Life is about taking yourself where you wanna go. It's about having a compass and a direction. It's about overcoming obstacles and challenges to realizing your true nature. It's about exploring and experiencing and expressing all that life has to offer within, without and through you.
So, what's your ticket?
I didn't have a ticket for a long time. I had pieces of a ticket. I had a little of this and little of that... but I didn't have a TICKET. I didn't have something I could use to get me around in this world.
With a Philosophy Degree, minor in Art and another in Religion... that didn't really open a lot of doors, or get me where I was doing. I had no interest in the corporate world, or college for that matter. So, to the best of my ability I set myself up to NOT be admitted into the long, grey line of American manhood.
After Corrina was born, I realized I needed a ticket. I needed something to give me access to the world where people make money and take care of themselves and their families. I was substitute teaching - I was hanging around, but I didn't have a ticket. Teaching is my thing, but institutionalized schooling is not. So I bailed on that path.
Sales welcomed me with open arms. The world can always use another hack salesman. After a while of monkeying with that I realized it wasn't a ticket unless I could ACTUALLY sell something. Starting a business seemed like a ticket, but it took so long to figure it out. Finally, after moving to Chicago and getting involved in the Real Estate boom, I found my ticket.
I'm a serial entrepreneur with a sales and marketing bent. If there's a market, and I can live with the product, I can sell it.
That's my ticket.
It gets me the money I need to get where and what I want in my life. It gets me backstage into some pretty cool meetings and businesses that I would never have access to otherwise. It takes me to cool seminars and conferences where I meet incredibly powerful and intelligent people who also have a Sales/Marketing ticket... I couldn't be happier.
Here's the moral... it took me nearly 30 years to find my ticket. That's a long time. That's a long time being a scared, naive kid with no ticket. That's a lot of missed shows, a lot of missed trains... not the way I want my kid to grow up.
Most of what I've learned about sales and marketing could be taught to a 3rd or a 6th grader fairly easily. Especially when we get talking about information marketing and online businesses. Teens could acquire a lifetime ticket to ride by simply laying off the XBox 360 a few hours per day and learning the principles of marketing and internet sales.
Getting that ticket means your child will be able to go see shows, take rides, meet cool people, get an education, travel and explore... Whether it's sales or anything else, make sure your child knows that they will need a ticket, and help them start figuring out what that may be for them. It takes years to get a handle on it - no point in waiting to figure it out until after school and all the pressure that brings.
Better to get it handled early, so that the 20's are a time of radical self-exploration with a base of financial freedom that affords educational experiences impossible to obtain through school.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
So, what's your ticket?
Maybe you're a teacher or a CPA or sales person. Whatever it is, the thing you do well, that gets you paid, gets you through doors that others can't pass through... that's your ticket.
Everyone needs at least one ticket. Life is about taking yourself where you wanna go. It's about having a compass and a direction. It's about overcoming obstacles and challenges to realizing your true nature. It's about exploring and experiencing and expressing all that life has to offer within, without and through you.
So, what's your ticket?
I didn't have a ticket for a long time. I had pieces of a ticket. I had a little of this and little of that... but I didn't have a TICKET. I didn't have something I could use to get me around in this world.
With a Philosophy Degree, minor in Art and another in Religion... that didn't really open a lot of doors, or get me where I was doing. I had no interest in the corporate world, or college for that matter. So, to the best of my ability I set myself up to NOT be admitted into the long, grey line of American manhood.
After Corrina was born, I realized I needed a ticket. I needed something to give me access to the world where people make money and take care of themselves and their families. I was substitute teaching - I was hanging around, but I didn't have a ticket. Teaching is my thing, but institutionalized schooling is not. So I bailed on that path.
Sales welcomed me with open arms. The world can always use another hack salesman. After a while of monkeying with that I realized it wasn't a ticket unless I could ACTUALLY sell something. Starting a business seemed like a ticket, but it took so long to figure it out. Finally, after moving to Chicago and getting involved in the Real Estate boom, I found my ticket.
I'm a serial entrepreneur with a sales and marketing bent. If there's a market, and I can live with the product, I can sell it.
That's my ticket.
It gets me the money I need to get where and what I want in my life. It gets me backstage into some pretty cool meetings and businesses that I would never have access to otherwise. It takes me to cool seminars and conferences where I meet incredibly powerful and intelligent people who also have a Sales/Marketing ticket... I couldn't be happier.
Here's the moral... it took me nearly 30 years to find my ticket. That's a long time. That's a long time being a scared, naive kid with no ticket. That's a lot of missed shows, a lot of missed trains... not the way I want my kid to grow up.
Most of what I've learned about sales and marketing could be taught to a 3rd or a 6th grader fairly easily. Especially when we get talking about information marketing and online businesses. Teens could acquire a lifetime ticket to ride by simply laying off the XBox 360 a few hours per day and learning the principles of marketing and internet sales.
Getting that ticket means your child will be able to go see shows, take rides, meet cool people, get an education, travel and explore... Whether it's sales or anything else, make sure your child knows that they will need a ticket, and help them start figuring out what that may be for them. It takes years to get a handle on it - no point in waiting to figure it out until after school and all the pressure that brings.
Better to get it handled early, so that the 20's are a time of radical self-exploration with a base of financial freedom that affords educational experiences impossible to obtain through school.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
How To Get Your Child Thinking Entrepreneurially...
I think a lot of parents, especially those who had it rough growing up, tend to try to make life easier on their kids.
To a certain degree this makes sense. On the other side of the scale, what's wrong with teaching kids about the 1st Noble Truth: Life is Suffering. We can't always get what we want, and if we are conditioned as children (as we almost all are) to become attached to the outcome we desire, it's only going to set us up for frustration and failure in the end. Teaching kids that they can always get what they want - crying or otherwise - is a recipe for disaster as they grow up. Better to suffer and understand the nature of suffering by adulthood than to grow up sheltered and then be hit by reality after school.
What about teaching kids a work ethic? I mean, I know there's a lot of advice about allowance and I admit I haven't read all the research. I've been told kids should get a certain amount of money regardless of chores. The thinking goes: Kids need to learn how to spend money... or something to that effect.
I take a very different approach. To me, money has to be a reflection of what my child has done to consciously go out and obtain money. Washing the dishes, sweeping the floor... these are just part of being on the team. Corrina likes to eat, she likes a roof over her head... there's nothing wrong with chipping in a little with the mealtime chores, and making her bed. I don't get paid to feed myself and take care of my kid. Maybe people on welfare do. Maybe that's a welfare mentality - that someone should provide for me simply because I'm breathing and taking up space. Not my kid.
She used to blog every week - she would listen to something by Jim Rohn or Brian Tracy and then blog about the simple idea or Principle and translate it into kid-speak (www.markiding.com). When she felt like stopping I agreed because, as far as I know, every labor contract in America is "at will" so there's no use in forcing her to do something she doesn't want to do. It's not realistic - it's not preparing her for life in capitalist America.
(Whether the state becomes fascist in her life-time remains to be seen - so we'll prepare her for the best...)
Of course, she does not earn her allowance either. Her mom wants to waffle. She wants me to just give her the money anyway. I refuse. She may give Corrina money - and I feel that would be a mistake, but I also intuit that Corrina will start to se the contrast in philosophies and eventually make the right choice.
As for working kids too hard and not letting them play and be kids... well, for thousands and thousands of years kids grew up milking cows and tilling soil and getting eggs from the hen house before the crack of dawn. There was no Sponge-Bob, there was no Cartoon Network or Doritos or Pop-Tarts.
To me, it's red flag when parents are losing the Humanity of their children for the convenience of television and snack foods. Our bodies are wired up the same way they were for millenia before these recent products became available.
So, toss out the kiddie-crack and give your kid a broom and then when they come begging for a quarter tell them it's part of being on the team, and they'll lend a hand if they want to be fed tonight (feed them vegetables and whole foods)... then kick them outside to play in the sun and tell them not to ask for money until they come up with something over and above the basic chores they should be doing anyway. Reading a book is good - if it's a challenging book and maybe if they write a book report. Washing the car, completing some additional math or grammar equations... anything more than they are expected to do. Anything to get them thinking entrepreneurially - looking for opportunities to serve and contribute more than they are asked.
As Zig Ziglar says - there are no traffic jams on the extra mile.
As always - love to hear your feedback!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
To a certain degree this makes sense. On the other side of the scale, what's wrong with teaching kids about the 1st Noble Truth: Life is Suffering. We can't always get what we want, and if we are conditioned as children (as we almost all are) to become attached to the outcome we desire, it's only going to set us up for frustration and failure in the end. Teaching kids that they can always get what they want - crying or otherwise - is a recipe for disaster as they grow up. Better to suffer and understand the nature of suffering by adulthood than to grow up sheltered and then be hit by reality after school.
What about teaching kids a work ethic? I mean, I know there's a lot of advice about allowance and I admit I haven't read all the research. I've been told kids should get a certain amount of money regardless of chores. The thinking goes: Kids need to learn how to spend money... or something to that effect.
I take a very different approach. To me, money has to be a reflection of what my child has done to consciously go out and obtain money. Washing the dishes, sweeping the floor... these are just part of being on the team. Corrina likes to eat, she likes a roof over her head... there's nothing wrong with chipping in a little with the mealtime chores, and making her bed. I don't get paid to feed myself and take care of my kid. Maybe people on welfare do. Maybe that's a welfare mentality - that someone should provide for me simply because I'm breathing and taking up space. Not my kid.
She used to blog every week - she would listen to something by Jim Rohn or Brian Tracy and then blog about the simple idea or Principle and translate it into kid-speak (www.markiding.com). When she felt like stopping I agreed because, as far as I know, every labor contract in America is "at will" so there's no use in forcing her to do something she doesn't want to do. It's not realistic - it's not preparing her for life in capitalist America.
(Whether the state becomes fascist in her life-time remains to be seen - so we'll prepare her for the best...)
Of course, she does not earn her allowance either. Her mom wants to waffle. She wants me to just give her the money anyway. I refuse. She may give Corrina money - and I feel that would be a mistake, but I also intuit that Corrina will start to se the contrast in philosophies and eventually make the right choice.
As for working kids too hard and not letting them play and be kids... well, for thousands and thousands of years kids grew up milking cows and tilling soil and getting eggs from the hen house before the crack of dawn. There was no Sponge-Bob, there was no Cartoon Network or Doritos or Pop-Tarts.
To me, it's red flag when parents are losing the Humanity of their children for the convenience of television and snack foods. Our bodies are wired up the same way they were for millenia before these recent products became available.
So, toss out the kiddie-crack and give your kid a broom and then when they come begging for a quarter tell them it's part of being on the team, and they'll lend a hand if they want to be fed tonight (feed them vegetables and whole foods)... then kick them outside to play in the sun and tell them not to ask for money until they come up with something over and above the basic chores they should be doing anyway. Reading a book is good - if it's a challenging book and maybe if they write a book report. Washing the car, completing some additional math or grammar equations... anything more than they are expected to do. Anything to get them thinking entrepreneurially - looking for opportunities to serve and contribute more than they are asked.
As Zig Ziglar says - there are no traffic jams on the extra mile.
As always - love to hear your feedback!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Hey Baby... What's Your Enneagram Number?
It's a lot like Astrology, or what we'd call a Type system where you can lookup all the aspects of your personality according to some cookbook recipe correlated with your birthday or name or something...
Except the Enneagram is more than that. The Enneagram is a total mystery. I've never heard the straight story on where it comes from, though I heard a rumor it's Sufi, another that it came out of Chile in the last 50-60 years or so, and the one I like to retell - Jesuits were using it to secretly decode the temperaments of their parishoners in things like marriage counseling sessions.
Since the Enneagram also tells you what your path of growth is, as well as healthy and unhealthy manifestations, you can pretty much pinpoint how you're doing on a soul level.
My men's group is currently running their profiles. Here are some of the resources they've posted on our forum. I'm revisiting mine and teetering on a 4 with a 3 wing or a 3 with a 4 wing.
If you don't know what that means, here's the standard rundown on the Enneagram: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality
Here are some tests:
$10 - http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/dis_sample_36.asp
$0 - http://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test.php
Facebook even has an app! Just search Enneagram on Facebook and click on the Applications tab.
But ultimately, your best resource will be this book: The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types
Coincidentally, I just completed the Enneagram on the new Enlightened Child Mandala.
I gotta go back and review my notes from years ago. I wonder if you can change types! Maybe I'm just coming to know my true self...
Take the Enneagram test - - let me know what you think!
And try to complete one for your child. It will do wonders for your communication and understanding to put words on what you already intuit. Let me know!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Except the Enneagram is more than that. The Enneagram is a total mystery. I've never heard the straight story on where it comes from, though I heard a rumor it's Sufi, another that it came out of Chile in the last 50-60 years or so, and the one I like to retell - Jesuits were using it to secretly decode the temperaments of their parishoners in things like marriage counseling sessions.
Since the Enneagram also tells you what your path of growth is, as well as healthy and unhealthy manifestations, you can pretty much pinpoint how you're doing on a soul level.
My men's group is currently running their profiles. Here are some of the resources they've posted on our forum. I'm revisiting mine and teetering on a 4 with a 3 wing or a 3 with a 4 wing.
If you don't know what that means, here's the standard rundown on the Enneagram: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality
Here are some tests:
$10 - http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/dis_sample_36.asp
$0 - http://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test.php
Facebook even has an app! Just search Enneagram on Facebook and click on the Applications tab.
But ultimately, your best resource will be this book: The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types
Coincidentally, I just completed the Enneagram on the new Enlightened Child Mandala.
I gotta go back and review my notes from years ago. I wonder if you can change types! Maybe I'm just coming to know my true self...
Take the Enneagram test - - let me know what you think!
And try to complete one for your child. It will do wonders for your communication and understanding to put words on what you already intuit. Let me know!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
What is Your Kid Ever Gonna Do Without an AUTO-RESPONDER?!!
What the heck is an Auto-responder, anyway?
It's when you enter your name and email address in the little purple form that pops up on a website and then immediately get an email message with your name in it.
There are all sorts of these things. I've had them as part of a text-messaging service I subscribed to (http://www.trumpia.com) that helped me promote social events at bars and clubs. You can have cool services like http://www.youmail.com set up customized voicemail messsages for every number you receive calls from.
The one I set up today is from a service called Aweber. And if I was smart I'd be putting in an Affiliate link right about now. But I'm getting tired of this computer business, so I'm letting it go.
You can test this new system out by entering your name and email in the purple box that pops up. If you closed it just refresh the page and wait 5 seconds.
When you get the email, please reply back to me with suggestions on how to improve the experience and the message I send. Your feedback really helps - so thanks in advance.
If you're reading this on facebook, click here to read the original blog and enter your email.
And start thinking about how to introduce your child to the idea of autoresponders. It's a tool they will use like a farmer uses tractors and ploughs. Give them the tools earlier while they have time to simply play with them, before it's a matter bankruptcy and starvation if they fail.
Maybe that's a little obscure for some readers, but marketers get it.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
It's when you enter your name and email address in the little purple form that pops up on a website and then immediately get an email message with your name in it.
There are all sorts of these things. I've had them as part of a text-messaging service I subscribed to (http://www.trumpia.com) that helped me promote social events at bars and clubs. You can have cool services like http://www.youmail.com set up customized voicemail messsages for every number you receive calls from.
The one I set up today is from a service called Aweber. And if I was smart I'd be putting in an Affiliate link right about now. But I'm getting tired of this computer business, so I'm letting it go.
You can test this new system out by entering your name and email in the purple box that pops up. If you closed it just refresh the page and wait 5 seconds.
When you get the email, please reply back to me with suggestions on how to improve the experience and the message I send. Your feedback really helps - so thanks in advance.
If you're reading this on facebook, click here to read the original blog and enter your email.
And start thinking about how to introduce your child to the idea of autoresponders. It's a tool they will use like a farmer uses tractors and ploughs. Give them the tools earlier while they have time to simply play with them, before it's a matter bankruptcy and starvation if they fail.
Maybe that's a little obscure for some readers, but marketers get it.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
What Do 21st Century Knowledge Workers Need To Know if They Are Only 13 Still...
First of all, MOST of the fundamentals still apply. Gravity will get ya, and so will a lot of other truisms about life. so stay keen for them and collect them like jewels.
Secondly, a lot of what you hear floating around that passes for advice or common sense is DEAD NUTS WRONG. You gotta be prepared to make up your own mind on EVERY SINGLE ITEM of Information or Emotion that crosses your radar field. That means you have to have a well-tuned mind and an ability to recognize patterns.
Pattern recognition is huge. The sooner you learn to generalize with pattern recognition, the more time you save yourself figuring out that if you keep doing what you have always done you will keep getting what you've been getting all along.
So learn to recognize patterns and think in constructs. You have to actively build your philosophy of life, and that's why I recommend starting with the fundamentals - Jim Rohn is a good place to start.
Then finally, make sure you are in touch with your genius. Know the answer to or be asking these three questions at all times until you have a lock on the place they all overlap. Then DIG DEEP! Life is short and you gotta take your chances when you see them line up in your sites!
Here are the 3 questions:
1.) What can I be the best in the world at (hint: there's Riches in Niches)
2.) What do I LOVE doing so much I'd do it for no pay at all. (or, if you had a $100MM inheritance...)
3.) How can I monetize what I know and deliver it in a way that supports my purpose and lifestyle?
When you have an answer to those questions, then you'll be free like Neo in the Matrix!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Secondly, a lot of what you hear floating around that passes for advice or common sense is DEAD NUTS WRONG. You gotta be prepared to make up your own mind on EVERY SINGLE ITEM of Information or Emotion that crosses your radar field. That means you have to have a well-tuned mind and an ability to recognize patterns.
Pattern recognition is huge. The sooner you learn to generalize with pattern recognition, the more time you save yourself figuring out that if you keep doing what you have always done you will keep getting what you've been getting all along.
So learn to recognize patterns and think in constructs. You have to actively build your philosophy of life, and that's why I recommend starting with the fundamentals - Jim Rohn is a good place to start.
Then finally, make sure you are in touch with your genius. Know the answer to or be asking these three questions at all times until you have a lock on the place they all overlap. Then DIG DEEP! Life is short and you gotta take your chances when you see them line up in your sites!
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."
~Goethe
Here are the 3 questions:
1.) What can I be the best in the world at (hint: there's Riches in Niches)
2.) What do I LOVE doing so much I'd do it for no pay at all. (or, if you had a $100MM inheritance...)
3.) How can I monetize what I know and deliver it in a way that supports my purpose and lifestyle?
When you have an answer to those questions, then you'll be free like Neo in the Matrix!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Why I'm Stoked For My Young Friend!
Or "How to Cure Depression in Teenagers" This is a good read for anyone with a bitchy teenager hoggin up the couch all summer and aggravating you with their pent up teenage energy that just gets stuffed and strung out into a passive-aggressive depression.
Where do I begin...
A young man I know, recent new friend of mine, is a real sweet guy. He lives in a rural area with his mother and attends the local college. He's just starting to spread his wings - he chose to drop engineering to major in psychology. This is in response to an inner urge to understand himself, his emotional and mental states.
He meditates daily with Holosync, and he gave me the book in which Bill Harris explains the science behind meditation and how his product helps the brain meditate better. (My marketing mentor, Dave Dee, recommended I pattern Enlightened Child on this model - so I needed to read it, and here I receive a copy!)
Anyway - what I'm most excited about is my friends new job.
He is dealing with a low-grade depression which I recognize from what I experienced around his age. He's not sure of what he wants in life, he doesn't have a good support structure for his soul or his masculinity, and he is tired all the time because of it. Good recipe for a down-ward spiral.
Well, he recently started a new job. He mentioned it in reference to how it helps him get up and get ouf of bed in the morning.
Not only that, I'm fired up for him because it takes 30 days to make/break a habit and he's gonna have 3 months of daily yard and landscape work to occupy his days. Think of the benefits:
1.) He has a reason to get out of bed - that's a good first step to ending depression
2.) He is outside in the sunlight, breathing fresh air, working with his body - that'll change your neuro-chemistry
3.) He is working with his hands - he can stand back and say, "I did that - it's DONE!"
4.) He now has some cash resources and he's entered the economic marketplace - he can start considering how he wants to generate income... a perfect lead in to the Four-Hour Work-Week by Tim Ferris
5.) He can start to think about what he WANTS! I told him to think about spending $300 out of the entire summer income and put it towards something he really wants.
He had no idea what he wanted, so it has now become an opportunity to explore that. Solve that one, and he'll never be chronically depressed again.
So that's why I'm stoked for him.
If you know any teenagers - especially boys - explore initiation rites for them. Don't keep them pinned down in some "good-little-boy" mold until he's out of the house. Give him his birthright. Here are a couple places to begin your exploration. Feel free to get in touch with me using the email box on the right. I'll be happy to help in any way I can.
Why Your Teenage Son Needs a Rite of Passage - Jason Gaddis' Revolutionary Man Blog
Journeyman - Watch this movie!
Boys to Men - Find a Local Training Weekend
For Uninitiated Men - It's Time... time to clean up the residue of your boyhood and take full responsibility for your life (even the parts we hide, repress and deny)
I hope this information is helpful - and I'm super psyched for my new friend!
Go play in the sunshine ;-]
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Where do I begin...
A young man I know, recent new friend of mine, is a real sweet guy. He lives in a rural area with his mother and attends the local college. He's just starting to spread his wings - he chose to drop engineering to major in psychology. This is in response to an inner urge to understand himself, his emotional and mental states.
He meditates daily with Holosync, and he gave me the book in which Bill Harris explains the science behind meditation and how his product helps the brain meditate better. (My marketing mentor, Dave Dee, recommended I pattern Enlightened Child on this model - so I needed to read it, and here I receive a copy!)
Anyway - what I'm most excited about is my friends new job.
He is dealing with a low-grade depression which I recognize from what I experienced around his age. He's not sure of what he wants in life, he doesn't have a good support structure for his soul or his masculinity, and he is tired all the time because of it. Good recipe for a down-ward spiral.
Well, he recently started a new job. He mentioned it in reference to how it helps him get up and get ouf of bed in the morning.
Not only that, I'm fired up for him because it takes 30 days to make/break a habit and he's gonna have 3 months of daily yard and landscape work to occupy his days. Think of the benefits:
1.) He has a reason to get out of bed - that's a good first step to ending depression
2.) He is outside in the sunlight, breathing fresh air, working with his body - that'll change your neuro-chemistry
3.) He is working with his hands - he can stand back and say, "I did that - it's DONE!"
4.) He now has some cash resources and he's entered the economic marketplace - he can start considering how he wants to generate income... a perfect lead in to the Four-Hour Work-Week by Tim Ferris
5.) He can start to think about what he WANTS! I told him to think about spending $300 out of the entire summer income and put it towards something he really wants.
He had no idea what he wanted, so it has now become an opportunity to explore that. Solve that one, and he'll never be chronically depressed again.
So that's why I'm stoked for him.
If you know any teenagers - especially boys - explore initiation rites for them. Don't keep them pinned down in some "good-little-boy" mold until he's out of the house. Give him his birthright. Here are a couple places to begin your exploration. Feel free to get in touch with me using the email box on the right. I'll be happy to help in any way I can.
Why Your Teenage Son Needs a Rite of Passage - Jason Gaddis' Revolutionary Man Blog
Journeyman - Watch this movie!
Boys to Men - Find a Local Training Weekend
For Uninitiated Men - It's Time... time to clean up the residue of your boyhood and take full responsibility for your life (even the parts we hide, repress and deny)
I hope this information is helpful - and I'm super psyched for my new friend!
Go play in the sunshine ;-]
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Have You Seen the Enlightened Child Mandala?
When Corrina was born Jen's uncle gave us a family ToyBox, which I promptly turned into a canvas, adding the elements of astrology, the yin-yang and other esoteric symbols. Four years later, it looked like this:
Corrina just turned 8 and I am preparing to launch the whole "Enlightened Child Philosophy of Education" this year.
A big part of launching the philosophy is reacquainting myself with the tools and elements of the curriculum that I compiled in the original birthing of the ToyBox Mandala.
If you can't see it, the Mandala showcases esoteric representations for each number 1 through 12.
Recently, after cleaning the Yoga studio at the Zen Center, I found some old display panels that I thought to myself, "These would make a great canvas!"
To follow the saga of the Enlightened Child Mandala, check out my flickr site.
I'll post pics here from time to time as well. Or check back: flickr site.
Looking forward to hearing from you about what you're learning, or what you can teach about each aspect of the Mandala!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Corrina just turned 8 and I am preparing to launch the whole "Enlightened Child Philosophy of Education" this year.
A big part of launching the philosophy is reacquainting myself with the tools and elements of the curriculum that I compiled in the original birthing of the ToyBox Mandala.
If you can't see it, the Mandala showcases esoteric representations for each number 1 through 12.
Recently, after cleaning the Yoga studio at the Zen Center, I found some old display panels that I thought to myself, "These would make a great canvas!"
To follow the saga of the Enlightened Child Mandala, check out my flickr site.
I'll post pics here from time to time as well. Or check back: flickr site.
Looking forward to hearing from you about what you're learning, or what you can teach about each aspect of the Mandala!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Why Follow Through On Committments is Important...
When we were kids, a lot of times we got roped into doing things we didn't want to do. As we got older, more and more choice became our own.
In my late teens I started to notice a pattern. I learned most when I followed through on commitments. If and especially when I didn't feel like doing something, that's when I learned the most.
Learning how to only make commitments that I know I will follow through on has been a big part of the learning. Renegotiating agreements works under certain circumstances, but for the most part, I do my best to keep my word and do what I said I would. Somewhere along the way, objectives can be tweaked and course corrected... the original intent is always to see the path through.
One of the things that bums me out the most is when someone else does not keep a commitment with me. It's never the end of the world, but it really leaves a wound when someone no-shows or falls short.
I do it to. And to the best of my ability I am aware of when I miss my commitments. At that point I do whatever is necessary to be accountable for the commitment and any make-up needed to get back into harmony with those I let down.
It's not a perfect science, but it's kept me from amassing and carrying around massive amounts of guilt and shame. It's also something I practice with my daughter. She's a very sensitive human being. When I mess up I feel privileged that she's willing and able to forgive me and trust me again. Lord knows how many relationships are marred for life by parents who have yet to learn the skills of accountability and make-up.
What do you do when you break a commitment?
What do you do when you break a commitment with your child?
Have you forgiven your parents, et al, for any shortcomings they have demonstrated here?
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
In my late teens I started to notice a pattern. I learned most when I followed through on commitments. If and especially when I didn't feel like doing something, that's when I learned the most.
Learning how to only make commitments that I know I will follow through on has been a big part of the learning. Renegotiating agreements works under certain circumstances, but for the most part, I do my best to keep my word and do what I said I would. Somewhere along the way, objectives can be tweaked and course corrected... the original intent is always to see the path through.
One of the things that bums me out the most is when someone else does not keep a commitment with me. It's never the end of the world, but it really leaves a wound when someone no-shows or falls short.
I do it to. And to the best of my ability I am aware of when I miss my commitments. At that point I do whatever is necessary to be accountable for the commitment and any make-up needed to get back into harmony with those I let down.
It's not a perfect science, but it's kept me from amassing and carrying around massive amounts of guilt and shame. It's also something I practice with my daughter. She's a very sensitive human being. When I mess up I feel privileged that she's willing and able to forgive me and trust me again. Lord knows how many relationships are marred for life by parents who have yet to learn the skills of accountability and make-up.
What do you do when you break a commitment?
What do you do when you break a commitment with your child?
Have you forgiven your parents, et al, for any shortcomings they have demonstrated here?
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Are You a Government-Issue Parent?
What are the attributes of an exceptional parent?
A few big obvious areas to begin our exploration would be:
1.) Moral and heart-connected relations.
2.) Insightful about the child's development needs.
3.) Grounded in the present socio-economic realities affecting freedom and success.
Most parents, the standard, government-issue type, will abdicate the majority of these functions to the State and Schooling system, the Church, or the kids on the corner and whoever they are influenced by.
The State is so far out of touch with your child's individual developmental needs that to trust the schooling system with the soul of your child is like trusting your lamb to a pack of hyenas. That's not to say lessons can't be learned in schooling systems. Just relative to what your child is capable of, it seems a tragedy to allow a brilliant mind to be dumbed down by an insidious process of socialization that itself is no longer grounded in present socio-economic reality.
In the 21st Century, assembly line work is no longer the primary occupation of school graduates. The modern schooling system is a muddled adaptation of an outmoded industrial revolution era system that taught reading, writing, 'rithmetic. What our kids need is a way to clearly translate ideas and connections into profits.
An exceptional parent is going to do what it takes to get their child the true education required to thrive in the world ahead.
So how do we give our kids a 21st Century Education?
Or are you one of those "government-issue parents" too?
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
A few big obvious areas to begin our exploration would be:
1.) Moral and heart-connected relations.
2.) Insightful about the child's development needs.
3.) Grounded in the present socio-economic realities affecting freedom and success.
Most parents, the standard, government-issue type, will abdicate the majority of these functions to the State and Schooling system, the Church, or the kids on the corner and whoever they are influenced by.
The State is so far out of touch with your child's individual developmental needs that to trust the schooling system with the soul of your child is like trusting your lamb to a pack of hyenas. That's not to say lessons can't be learned in schooling systems. Just relative to what your child is capable of, it seems a tragedy to allow a brilliant mind to be dumbed down by an insidious process of socialization that itself is no longer grounded in present socio-economic reality.
In the 21st Century, assembly line work is no longer the primary occupation of school graduates. The modern schooling system is a muddled adaptation of an outmoded industrial revolution era system that taught reading, writing, 'rithmetic. What our kids need is a way to clearly translate ideas and connections into profits.
An exceptional parent is going to do what it takes to get their child the true education required to thrive in the world ahead.
"...your old road is rapidly aging. Get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand, for the times they are a changing."
So how do we give our kids a 21st Century Education?
Or are you one of those "government-issue parents" too?
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
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