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?

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

"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

Have You Seen the Enlightened Child Mandala?

ToyBox

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

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

Who's Responsibility Is It Anyway?

Yesterday I posted about the before and after of modern schooling systems. Before schooling, we are all growing at a staggering rate. After schooling, most humans are stuck in their identity of who they are, what they know, how they get by, who they'll be friends with, etc...

Is it nature or nurture? Do our neurons stop developing through the school-age period, and we're simply DONE at age 18 o3 22? Or does the schooling system take it out of us and leave us a shell of the curious, creative soul we were born to be?

I'm sure there's studies and arguments on both sides. This is a fun, light-hearted blog, so I'm not going to get into it.

What I want to consider tho, is what an educational system might be like that fully embraced curiosity, creativity, questions and exploration.

Do you think an adult who was socialized to see failure as growth, change as life and questions as the keys to the kingdom would allow him or herself to be locked into a frustrating job with a mountain of debt and a cocktail of mood altering prescriptions to numb the soul and tolerate the madness of our modern social systems?

I hope not.

Even a slightly inquisitive mind with enough experiences playing sports or music will know that practice is the key to mastery. What if that inquisitive mind turned itself on solving the problems we really face, not just the problems posed to us by big media and a morally absurd social norm that allows us to jet around sipping our collective lattes in our sweat-shop clothes and disposable lifestyles like we're more important than the 200-300,000 starving and impoverished laborers (per each of us) that have been shafted into making this possible?

What if we simply raised our kids to ask bigger, more important questions?

What if we gave them tools and introduced them to teachers or mentors who could help them answer those questions?

What if a generation of young adults emerged like a force of nature and swiftly implemented new solutions to problems that, as Einstein warned us, could not be solved at the level we were at when we created them?

Because we can't solve war with bombs.

And we can't solve the schooling system problems with teachers and administrators who are a product of that schooling system.

I'd love to hear what you're personally doing to take your child's education into your own hands.

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

When It's All Said and Done...

At the end of the day, who do you become?

Are you the same person who woke up that morning?

Have you seen anything, met anyone, learned anything, had some "a-ha!"?

Or are you pretty much the same as this morning, same as yesterday, same as last year or 10 years ago?

Your child is not.

Your child is learning and growing at a staggering rate.

Modern schooling systems are (intentionally or unintentionally) retarding your child's growth in many dimensions. True, the social and emotional intelligences are developing, but the bulk of your child's true potential is slipping away moment by moment as they waste away in schooling facilities around the country.

Perhaps in emerging nations this type of wrote memorization system works. Not for the future 21st Century Knowledge Worker.

We used to work with our food and sustenance directly. We farmed and herded.

In the 21st Century, your child is 99.9% likely to work for food and sustenance indirectly. This means that simple reading, writing, 'rithmatic ain't cuttin it. Not to mention the archaic model of transferring this knowledge to the children.

Can you imagine if, at your age, you continued to grow and learn and stay present with your experience - full of wonder and awe - as though still a child?

Matthew 18:3 Verily I say unto you, Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Seems simple enough...

Zen, really.

Stay in the flow of the moment and you'll never walk through the same river twice.

Who said that?

Heraclitus?

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

Are You Harming Your body with Yoga?

It's true - Yoga can seriously wreck ya!

I have been practicing on and off for 15 years. My back is not trashed, but it's not as solid as it should be.

In Chicago I practiced with various teachers 3-5 times per week for 18 months.

Now that I'm in Rochester, I'm taking with Francois Raoult at Open Sky and I am realizing how poorly my practice has been affecting my body due to a lack of TRUE understanding about how the body works and what certain poses are intended to stretch.

Doing anything improperly over a period of time is deleterious to our health. Smoking and drinking are a good example. Have a smoke, have a drink... it won't kill ya. Smoke & drink a pack a day and you will see steep declines in health, energy and self-esteem. Eventually, it will rot you out.

While a well-informed yoga practice is one of the best things you can do on a regular basis for health, longevity and well-being, all yoga teachers are NOT the same. In fact, most yoga teachers suck (there, I said it) and you should NOT trust them with your body.

Taking a weekend-long "yoga fit" certification does not a teacher make. Even dedicated practitioners with decades of experience could steer you wrong, or leave you hanging. It's true of any teacher, mentor or professional.

The reason I trust Francois is because he CLEARLY understands anatomy, physiology, energy, meditation and how poses can help or hurt the body depending on minute nuances that most teachers are ignorant of.

He is currently training a batch of students - some of whom have traveled from across the country to spend 6 months with him. We've had several conversations about their shock, awe and excitement about how their understanding is deepening. Who knew???

So, the question is: How do you know when your teachers are truly serving you, or hindering you from true health, wealth and connection?

It's critical. Especially for our children. I know I've had many guitar teachers in my youth that ruined me as a musician. Not because they made me "worse" but because when I was young and unfettered by responsibility and had all the time in the world to practice they failed to challenge me, inform my mind and body with truly worthwhile training and inspiration, and in general just sucked.

Here's the deal:

1.) Interview 5-10 local teachers for yourself or your child.
2.) Ask them about their philosophy, teaching style and experience.
3.) Ask them who THEY would take lessons from.
4.) Call the 1-3 people whose name keeps coming up.
5.) Don't skimp on price or distance.

If you have to, take fewer, higher quality lessons with the best teachers you can find. Teachers who, as Emerson admonishes, "will inspire us to be what we know we could be."

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

Wanna Know What I Got from My Weekend in Boulder?

This weekend I met 9 other men at the Boulder Integral Center for an intense 2 days of men's work.

The biggest thing I got from the other men was feedback about how I show up in the world and how I'm received.

Suffice to say, the second day I laid off the caffeine and was able to really drop into my feeling-sense rather than going a million-miles-a-minute with my mind.

The feedback I got on the second day was so consistent and direct. It was challenging to hear, sure, but better than not hearing it... and through the process of asking each man what he needed from me in order to feel connected with me and to trust me, I heard reverberations of a lot of other feedback I've received in my life, though far less directly than these 9 other men were able to offer it to me.

What I'm faced with now is a life-challenge. How can I live in my authentic, emotionally grounded self?

Living in my mind is so comfortable (as it is for the majority of men I've met over the years I've been involved in men's work). Feeling into my heart, my gut, my 'nads... it's a real challenge and requires a tremendous amount of conscious awareness to not only catch myself escaping into my rationality, but to release the need to "know" something and just be in my fear, my grief, my uncertainty.

While this is a major piece of work that I will continuously revisit over my lifetime, I want to offer a question more related to the Enlightened Child theme of this blog...

How can we raise our boys into powerful, heart-connected men with the courage to step into (and through) fear, grief, anger, shame... even joy (yes, it's easy to avoid or become attached to feeling anything, including joy) so that the world is served by their mature leadership, rather than the tyranny of adolescent manipulations we all develop in our youth to keep our self-sense "safe"?

One such organization I know of that is taking on the work of initiating young men into sacred masculine consciousness is Boys to Men. Here's the trailer of a great movie that relates the power of the modern initiation experience: Journeyman. I hope you'll check it out - and share this with others you know who are raising or responsible for boys (and girls).

If you know of any other resources, please feel free to share them!

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

Where I'm Goin Today...

In a half hour I leave for Boulder, CO to kick off a 108 day Men's Challenge that will focus on Health, Consciousness, Income, Relationships and some other cool stuff that I don't even know about yet.

I'm looking forward to having both a coach and a cohort of men to take this journey with. It was originally going to be a year - and I was all in. 108 days is a long time. There's a lot of space to cover in a field of time that large.

Making the process conscious by kicking things off with a weekend intensive, then weekly group calls, and some coaching calls sprinkled in... should be a fantastic learning vehicle and accountability support for taking my life to the next level in all 4 of the above areas.

To me, life would be a lot simpler if we just contextualized our education and socialization process around mastering these 4 areas of life - health, wealth, relationships and vision.

Art, Morals, Science...

Why does it have to be more complicated and fragmented than that?

Having a mentor that can help a child discover the truth, beauty and goodness in each area of life and a cohort of peers to share and feedback the experience with is such a powerful model for learning. Adventure, experience, mind-blowing times for every age and interest...

That's a vision I'd like to see manifested.

That's why I'm going to the Revolutionary Man: 108 Day Challenge. http://www.revolutionaryman.com/contest.html

I'll keep you posted ;-)

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

How Do You Define Genius?

Have you ever thought about it?

What really is a genius, or "genius" itself?

Google it, you get a Wikipedia entry at the top that says:

A genius is an individual who successfully applies a previously unknown technique in the production of a work of art, science, or calculation, or who masters and personalizes a known technique. A genius typically possesses great intelligence or remarkable abilities in a specific subject, or shows an exceptional natural capacity of intellect and/or ability, especially in the production of creative and original work, something that has never been seen or evaluated previously. Traits often associated with genius include strong individuality, imagination, uniqueness, and innovative drive[citation needed].

The term may be applied to someone who is considered gifted in many subjects[1] or in one subject.

Although the term "genius" is sometimes used to denote the possession of a superior talent in any field, e.g. a particular sport or statesmanship, it has traditionally been understood to denote an exceptional natural capacity of intellect and creative originality in areas of art, literature, philosophy, music, language, science and mathematics.

Which makes good sense.

A dear friend of mine once defined a genius as, "someone who knows what they don't know."

How could you know something you don't know?

Look more closely at the grammar: Knows what they don't know. They can say, without feeling inadequate, that they do not know something. they are self-aware enough to honestly appraise their situation and admit to themselves, or others, that they are ignorant on the details of some categorical subject matter. They don't throw out some "intuitive" guess, or gloss over it in their own minds, operating semi-consciously on erroneous assumptions.

So, by that definition, a genius is someone who questions assumptions, norms and mores.

I'm not saying I'm a genius because I question the government, the FDA, the schooling system, etc... Though I do claim there is a correlation between genius and asking the big questions in life.

So, maybe a genius is someone who asks good questions, and doesn't seek to resolve complex conundrums, but tolerates the ambiguity and paradox long enough to open their mind to something profound and transcendent, embracing the light of experience and a new perception not previous available at the level of thinking that the question was asked at.

What do you think defines genius?

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

Don't Miss!!!

There's a lot of wisdom in this advice I learned from Jim Rohn.

He says, "Don't Miss! ...don't miss the show, don't miss the party, don't miss the game"

So much of my younger life I spent in a bit of a shell. Not sure of myself or what I wanted from life, I played it safe. I stayed home. I kept my need for adventure under wraps.

Now that I've spread my wings once or twice, I have a sense of who I am and what I want. I know what I like because I've tried a lot of things. They haven't all been that greatest of experiences, but I've corrected course based on the feedback I got.

Monday night I had an opportunity to see a band rolling through town. I wanted to go. I met the band, they seemed cool... my friend has been raving about them for weeks... and I missed the show. I fell asleep and didn't wake up in time to go.

So last night we drove 2 hours to Ithaca and saw them (and another really cool band) and I didn't miss the show. I felt great about simply not missing the show. I was there. I saw that band. Those memories are mine. Those pictures, those are genuine article. And the band was INCREDIBLE!!! Check them out - http://www.myspace.com/theseunited

What made the difference between me now and me 10 years ago?

Somewhere along the way I reached some philosophical point where I was somehow different.

Maybe I discovered who I am. Maybe I decided what I want. Maybe I delved into life because it became more painful to stand on the sidelines watching than to go out and play a few hands of my own.

I wonder if you've had any kind of shift like that... where you looked back and said, "Wow, how did that happen?"

Seriously, let me know...

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

3 Steps to Helping Your Child Find the Answers to their Heart's Desire

The simplest thing we can teach our children is how to learn.

Children are innately curious about everything. If we just did our best to help them get answers to their questions they would grow up in the 21st Century better prepared than any of their generation to meet the challenges we've posed to ourselves as a species.

What are the 3 Steps to Helping Your Child Find the Answers to their Heart's Desire?

1.) Clarity - help clarify the question they want to know the answer to

2.) Territory - locating or constructing a map of the territory they will explore

3.) Guidance - help your child source up an expert in the field to be a mentor/teacher

For the rest of your child's life, if they can get clear on their objective, get a feel for the territory in which they are exploring, and seek guidance from qualified experts... they can accomplish anything they desire in their heart.

What better gift could you give your child than this amount of freedom?

We'll talk more about the 3 Types of Freedom in the next post.

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

What Happens When We Teach Kids to "Know Thyself"?

Know Thyself.

It’s the simplest, most fundamental admonition of all personal growth and power.

Yet, it’s the least taught, least experienced, least discussed topic in any curriculum.

To Educate means to draw forth from within. To me, this is the verb form of “coming to know thyself” since what you find when you sit quietly and look deeply within is that your True Self is the God you have been looking for. To draw this Self-awareness to the fore of consciousness is the process of education that Enlightened Child proposes.

Why not?

I mean, if it’s true what all the seekers and gurus say… why not give every kid a fighting chance to realize their life’s purpose and travel the world sharing spiritual knowledge grounded in the sagacity of entrepreneurial leadership and classical wisdom.

Can you think of anything better to raise kids to realize?

I mean, besides a 9-5er with a good company and a mountain of debt…

Think about it. Would you need all that if you truly “Knew Yourself”?

Let’s do what’s never been done. Let’s raise kids to Wake Up to their true identities.

Who’s with me?

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com