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The Growth process

August 14, 2020 Michael Leave a comment

A great Zen Master once said ….

“We are all traveling in a big circle.

Does not matter much where on the circle you are.

What is important is that you keep moving.”

There are many ways to view movement. One way is through the lens of growth and development…..

THE GROWTH PROCESS:

Stage 1 – CONFUSION: What is the desired outcome? What is the challenge? What game are we playing? What is the objective?

If the cup is full there is no desire to grow. This is the awareness stage. What is not known is allowed to be included. Every journey starts with the first step. This is step one in the process. There may be several objectives that are identified that are in need of attention. It is best to start with one. Stage one is the process of confronting confusion with conscious awareness and resolving to engage with a positive, solution oriented and responsible approach and attitude.

Stage 2 – EXPLORATION: What are the components/functions involved? What must be accounted for? What are the ingredients? This is the brainstorming stage.

We have identified the game or ‘movie’ we have decided to play out. Now, we must equip ourselves with what is needed to play. When in brainstorming mode, it is important to cultivate an open and non judgmental mind set. Good practice is to list everything that is thought of and then go through and prioritize in order of importance.

Stage 3 – INCUBATION: What is our strategy? How are we going to play? What systems and procedures do we need to put in place? This is the creative step. We take our list of ingredients, component parts and functions we identified in stage 2 and create innovative, design oriented processes to get done what needs to get done. We create checks and balances and feedback loops.

It’s analogous to obtaining and mixing together all the ingredients needed to create a cake and putting it into the oven to bring it all together.

Stage 4: ILLUMINATION: Time to Implement. This is the Action step in the process. In the game analogy, this is play. This is the engagement stage. We are working the systems, procedures and training that we identified and created.

The seed that was planted in stage 1 blossoms.

Stage 5 – CELEBRATION: If there is growth then there is a result or outcome. This stage in the process is about managing outcomes. What do we do with them?

The fruit has manifested. Optimal outcome management celebrates this with enjoyment and appreciation.

The fruit contains the seed.

This is about giving back or sharing and going “back” to stage 1 to continue a new growth cycle.

I have created and discovered multiple perspectives of this five step process.

An important part of my philosophy involves the concept of restriction.

It is through the process of restriction that all things of value are birthed.

Think about the birth of a human being or the outcome of the energy that an accomplished athlete puts into the countless hours of working out and practice.

Every business flow or system should have restrictions built into it.

Without restriction the flow will bleed out quickly, the system will short circuit or burn out.

Uncategorized

Creation story?

October 1, 2019 Michael Leave a comment

There is a Kabbalistic Concept that is encompassed in the quote…”The seed of Desire is Fulfillment.” God; The Creator is ‘Fulfillment’; The Emanator. Our souls are the vessels of “Desire’; The Emanated. Prior to the world we currently find ourselves in, our souls were united in oneness in The Endless World (The Or En Sof). There was a direct connection between the Emanated and The Emanator. Time, as we know it, did not exist in this world. Cause and Effect was immediate. Every Desire that the vessel had or could imagine was fulfilled immediately. However, there was a “problem.” The vessels of desire began feel an uncomfortable feeling. They began to awaken to the realization that they were receiving without doing anything for it. It was like having a magic golf club that shot a hole in one every time you teed off. The vessels started wanting to be a part of their own fulfillment and opportunity to share instead of only receive. In order to satisfy this Desire the Creator needed to change up the “System of Things” a little bit. HE/SHE needed to create a new world that included space and time so that the vessels had an opportunity to experience the sense of earning their own fulfillment and a world that they could share with others. BOOM! The “BIG BANG! Instead of a 2 ‘column system’ we now exist in a 3 ‘column’ or 3 dimensional system where there is not a direct connection with The Creator.

Injecting a Big Picture (Spiritual) element to the question might be a path of inquiry that may lead to an answer. Desire; Want is the nature and essence of the human soul. Total Fulfillment is the essence of The Creator. In our world there is a 3rd ‘column’. Kind of like the way electricity works in a simple light bulb. There is a source of the power (The power station, the positive pole, the yang). There is a receiver (The light bulb, the negative pole, the yin). But deep within the light bulb there is an essential third element; The filament. The role of the filament is to push back; to resist; to restrict. When the filament plays its role then the result is “Lasting Light.” If the filament is not engaged then there is a big spark of light and a short circuit; burnout. Our souls’ biggest desire is to get back to The Endless (The Garden) but, this time, with the awareness of Receiving, not for ourselves alone but, Receiving for the sake of bestowing. This 3rd column is called “The Middle Path” in the Buddhist/Zen environment. Ir is called Restriction by the Kabbalists. It is “The Secret” to seeking True Fulfillment. Namaste. Michael.

Diabetes

The Mobile

September 14, 2019 Michael Leave a comment

“At most, someone else’s realization can act as an inspiration for others, offering guidelines for them to follow, but ultimately we each must do the work ourselves.” The Buddha. Does anyone who doesn’t have T1D really know what it is like? I think they can come pretty close. Others mourn for and with those of us afflicted. Those that are really close to us obviously feel it most intensely. Especially our mother and our father. The essence of the job of a parent is to create a safe and learning environment for us. A diagnosis of T1D of a child is a major “blow” to the family system. I remember learning about family dynamics and counseling in grad school and it being compared to a “mobile.” Some of you younger than 40 might not know what that is. I found an image to share with this short post.

Dear Parents. I’ve lived with this condition for 43 years now. I don’t know how I would ever have made it without my father, mother, brother and two sisters. They all were “affected” by my diagnosis and all that comes with it. Initially, I felt as though I was walking a tight rope and had no experience. No one else could get up there with me and hold my hand. Everyone else was down on the ground cheering me on, noticing with compassion when I “cheated” and catching me when I fell. As I entered college and through my twenties and early thirties I felt more like I was performing a balance beam act. The falls were less dramatic. I had learned enough to put a pad on the ground. The balancing was easier but the “degree of difficulty” was very high. Add to that, behavior that was not on the recommended list for people with T1D and, well….It was a daily struggle with a lot of bruises.

Then a major paradigm shift occurred in my life. At it’s core was the realization that I was 100% responsible for everything in my life, including the diabetes. I eradicated victim consciousness. Of course, it tries to pop its head up when I am vulnerable but I know that this is the real battle. This realization led me to more tools to use to manage my life from day-to-day. Instead of performing on the balance beam I was piloting a plane. The physical plane was/is my body, the fuel is the food I eat, the accelerator and acceleration system is the insulin and its delivery. I use test strips to check my ‘Altitude” (bg level). I had a CGM. Can’t handle the additional port hole after all these years. Plus it drove me a bit batty; it exacerbated my already borderline OCD.

I’ve developed three “levels” of pilot and co-pilot training. It is couched in a yogic and Chinese Medicine ‘canvas.’ The objective, of course, is to maintain a safe and healthy altitude level with regards to blood sugar. Can’t go high for too long, Can’t crash. Can’t land. Got to manage turbulence like stress and illness. Must be aware of and constantly checking things like port site and insulin degradation. Must learn how to negotiate fast swings in altitude levels. I like to glide. Level 1 training is the minimum requirements to staying in the air. Level 2 is exploring and discovering one’s current edge. Level 3 is how to push against and expand one’s edge.

In my opinion, the best thing a parent can do for a child with T1D is to teach, guide, bring him/her to the water, be in inspiration to “fly the plane.”

Diabetes, Metaphysical/Spiritual

Intuition

September 13, 2019 Michael Leave a comment

After 43 years of injecting insulin and surviving I can tell you that your most important and useful tool in your “bag of tools” is your intuition. It takes time to develop but as those of us know who have been dealing with this physical condition and the daily minimum requirements needed to stay here, the “math” does not always work. There are times when I am in the 200’s and I can do a correction according to the numbers and I can check 2 hours later and I am 25 points higher. Too many factors at play for the numbers to work the same all the time. It’s kinda like playing whack-a-mole all day long sometimes. I realized about 20 years ago that I could develop my intuition. Make it stronger. Bring it more into play. I understand it. That’s why, after being introduced to yoga, I continued to inquire into it, practice it and even went to a 30 day intensive 200 hour yoga teacher training. I use to be a corporate trainer; hiring and training sales people and managers. I think I will make the yoga room my new training room.

It is my experience and my current working assumption that what is within is what is worth seeking. Having to live with T1D is like turning up the volume on needing, wanting. We now need insulin, a way to deliver it and a way to continually check where our blood sugar is at. The focus is put on us. There is a saying or quote you may come across when exploring Chinese Medicine. …. “The bigger the front, the bigger the back.” SUDDENLY, upon diagnosis we are confronted with a bigger front; tremendous work to stay healthy and alive. I am here to tell you it is doable and it is made more doable when you cultivate your intuition. This is not a condition to rely on the Doctor, Nurse, or CDE for. They are excellent in introducing you to the “game” and monitoring your “results.” But they can’t do what you have to do. And knowing the math and the grams of carbs and your stressors is important. More important is you connecting to, inquiring into, awakening and growing your intuition.

We all struggle with the daily grind of this dis-ease. All of us. I have always seen it as a curse. And I am not here to tell you it was a blessing in my life. It freakin sucks a#@. However, there is an opening that appears with this struggle that I am saying is worth, at least inquiring into. And this opening can lead to a tremendous blessing. It is the opening of going within and knowing thyself. There are many ways to do this. Stay safe today.

Diabetes

The Battle is a moving forward

September 9, 2019 Michael 1 Comment

“We are here to transform our Desire to Receive for the Self Alone into a Desire to Receive for the Sake of Sharing. That is the only real spiritual battle of our daily lives.” I have been “battling” with T1D since being diagnosed in November of 1976 at the age of 14. WTF happened? I was playing soccer and hockey and golf and just getting to the age of being capable of inquiring into who I really am and BOOM! Can you imagine? I’m sure you can. I took one injection of about 20 units of NPH insulin made from a pig. It “worked” for 24 hours, peaking somewhere between the 7 and 12 hour mark. No blood sugar monitors. No A1C tests. No pump. No short acting insulin, Everyday I felt like I was going to the circus to perform the high wire act all day and night. I did pee on strip every once in awhile to see how much “sugar” I was “spilling” in my urine. THEY put me on a 2500gm calorie diet and showed me the different food groups and some kind of an exchange system for monitoring carbohydrate intake. I was released on Thanksgiving day in the late afternoon. If you know Rochester, NY you know it can be one of the most dreary locations on the planet in late November. It was about 37 degrees with a spitting rain and a strong wind of 15-20 mph. It was already dark as f$#k. The traffic lights were blurry. I remember that. I got to my Aunt Karen’s house just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. What a lay out of all the best and, now for me, worst of delightful food choices. Cranberry’s, mashed potatoes, candied yams, gravy, pumpkin pie, apple pie, cherry pie, whipped cream……..I had lost 25 lbs in three days before getting to hospital. I surely could afford to partake in this dinner?? Well….one tablespoon of mashed potatoes, 2 ounces of turkey and a small piece of cherry pie would pretty much match all I was suppose to eat all day. Was this some kind of cosmic joke? Or was it foreshadowing of the lessons I would learn over the next 43 years? Was there a blessing in the curse?

I’m preparing for a shift in my life. I’m moving. It’s a long story which I will share some time if we ever have the opportunity to meet. I am developing a 3 tier training/healing/transformational/awakening skill building type of training for people with diabetes and those that care for them. Training has been my career and over the last 21 years I have had the opportunity to integrate my personal experience living with the condition of T1D (btw, this training will be equally applicable for T2D’s with a few tweaks) with yoga, meditation, acupuncture, massage, walking/running, weight lifting, food choices and other paths of inquiry.

What I have developed is a process which increase one’s RESPONSE-ABILITY in dealing with the condition. Tier One is about proper alignment and the awareness of the minimum requirements needed to stay alive and healthy. Tier Two is a process that journeys to one’s current personal edge with awareness, skill development and optimal attitude required to push on that edge; to expand one’s capacity and desired outcomes. Tier 3 is an intensive “push” into one’s untapped potential. So few of us have the opportunity to experience the kind of attention, intention and focus to do a Tier 3 Type of Training. I had the opportunity to engage at this level for a consistent 3 months several years ago and it is my desire to share this with others. I have found that short intense pushes are one of the keys in dealing with the physical, mental and spiritual conditions brought on by diabetes.

Keep an eye out for future posts. My dream is to have a place in south Florida for the winter months.