“Often people attempt to live their lives backwards;
They try to have more things or more money, in order
To have more of what they want, so they will be happier.
The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first
be who you really are, then do what you need to do,
in order to have what you want.”
Margaret Young
Welcome to Part Two of The Vision Quest Program.
This aim of this stage is to start to get the Vision down on paper.
In your daily practice you should now be:-
- Setting intention in the morning
- Reviewing your day and asking – What did I do right? at night
- Capturing your internal stories and re-writing the ones that aren’t supportive
You can also begin to add the practice of asking ‘What am I grateful for?’
The next two readings are designed to provoke some thought and get you ready for Exercise 4.
When you have read the articles move onto Exercise 4.
Fill in the relevant parts of your Personal Development Plan as you do the exercise.
Now do the ‘Open Your Heart Exercise’.
Review your Vision and Goals as needed.
You may need to sit with these exercises for a few days and allow them to evolve until you are totally comfortable with the results.
Congratulations you have finished Part 2 – you can now begin Part 3.
"Remember that you only have one soul; that you only have one death to die; that you only have one life, which is short and has to be lived by you alone; and there is only one glory which is eternal. If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.”
St. Theresa of Avila, Maxims for her nuns
Your first task is to create a picture in your mind of what you want to create (plant the seeds of possibility).
To do this – take yourself off somewhere quiet. Still your mind and then project yourself forwards to the time you have set for your Vision. Imagine you are sitting comfortably in a favourite spot reflecting backwards on the time that has passed since you did this Vision Quest.
See if you can write a statement about what has happened and how you FEEL about it.
When you have finished writing the statement read it back to yourself and see if it is 10/10 – if not re-write it and keep re-writing it until it is 10/10.
Now see if you can anchor some of the statements and feelings to past events that were similar in nature. For example – if you are writing ‘I am fit, energetic and feel great about myself’ then think back to a time in your life when this was the case – connect the two times together.
If you can’t connect to an experience you have had then consider someone else who is how you want to be. Take a moment to imagine what it is like to be them. FEEL what it is like to be them. Anchor your Vision to this feeling.
The language of creation is the language of FEELING.
Write your Vision Statement into your Personal Development Plan.
Note that in doing this exercise different things are going to work for different people. So, you may wish to get a large sheet of paper and your coloured pencils out and draw the Vision. You might want to cut things out of magazines and stick them to a sheet of paper. Whatever works for you is ok.
You may wish to stick this up on a wall somewhere you will see it.
Next take this Vision Statement and break it down into the 5 elements – Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual, Material. Use the format in the Personal Development Plan
Under each heading write a ‘Being’ statement and a ‘Doing’ list for each element - that is for physical the ‘being’ part might be 'To live a life with boundless/limitless energy'. Then the ‘doing’ list could be – ‘I exercise 3 times per week, I do yoga and stretching every day, I eat healthy organic food’.
When you have completed this part of the exercise you may feel like it’s all a bit overwhelming so the next step is to take a step back and consider what are the 80/20 projects? That is the key issues that when addressed will get you 80% of the way there but take only 20% of the effort. It’s an energy management question.
When you have determined what these issues are fill them in on the Personal Development Plan.
“Your Vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.
Who looks outside dreams. Who looks inside awakens.”
Carl Jung
This exercise is about locating the place within you where you hold the things that are most dear to you. It is aimed at opening you up to this place and allowing you to tune in to that guidance when you need to make difficult decisions. And also to check that the path you are on is in alignment with what you feel deep within yourself.
The more deeply and realistically you can visualise this exercise the better. So if you can take yourself off to a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for about half an hour that would be perfect.
First imagine that you have recently been to the doctor to have a complete physical check up so that you can update your life insurance.
The phone rings and it is your doctor’s receptionist telling you that the doctor would like to see you to discuss the results of the tests. You work out an appropriate time with her and soon you are sitting in the waiting room ready to see your doctor. Think at this point about what your doctor’s waiting room looks like. What do you see? How many people are there? What do you hear?
After a short wait your name is called and you are led through to the doctor’s room. The doctor sits down in their chair and invites you to sit also. Visualise what the room looks like, what your doctor looks like, what the room smells like.
The doctor looks you in the eye with a grave expression,
“We’ve got all your results back” they say “but I’m afraid there are some anomalies in your tests and I have some bad news for you. You are going to die in thirty days. There will be no pain or degeneration. In thirty days from now you will simply and peacefully pass away.”
Think now about this news. Look at today’s date – think that on the same date in a month’s time you will be dead.
Now – what are the three to five most important things you would like to do in that time??
Assume here that you can teleport yourself all over the place instantaneously so if you wish to see loved ones who live far away you can do that immediately.
When you have written the three to five things down continue the visualisation.
Now – go back into the vision of being in the doctor’s room. Same scenario except his time the Doctor says to you that you have seven days to live. So, if today is Saturday – next Saturday you will be dead.
What are the three to five things you would most like to do in that time? These may be exactly the same as the first part of the exercise or they may change.
When you have written these down – continue below.
So – back to the vision again, except this time the Doctor says you have one day to live. So this time tomorrow you will be dead.
What are the three to five most important things you wish to do?
Write these down and continue.
Back to the vision again for the last time. This time the Doctor says you have one hour to live.
What are the three most important things you wish to do in that time? And
What are the thoughts that are going through your head?
What are the feelings that you are having?
What is your sense of self?
What are the physical sensations you are having?
When you have written all of these things down tune into them all and determine where in your body is all of this located? Where is the centre of this feeling?
When you have located this spot you have found the place where you hold the things that are most dear to you.
Now imagine a sphere of white light in this place. Imagine this sphere as a portal into which you can place things and get a feeling reaction.
From now on you can use this to make intuitive feeling based decisions about crucial things.
Take the work that you have done on your Vision Statement and Goals - place it within your white light sphere. Now without thinking about it just feel whether or not it feels right or not.
If yes – move into action, if not – rewrite them.
This is the process of opening yourself up to feeling based intuitive guidance. The more you use this method the easier it will become to ‘hear’ what you heart and gut are telling you.
by Chuck Salter
First appeared: Fast Company issue 30 page 198 December 1999
"When you learn how to die, you learn how to live."
Morrie Schwartz used to say that he wanted to be remembered as "a teacher to the last." Well, he got his wish. Four years after he succumbed to Lou Gehrig's disease, Morrie is teaching more students than ever -- millions all over the world. And his class is still growing.
For nearly 30 years, he taught sociology to students at Brandeis University. But in the last year of his life, he taught anyone and everyone -- family, friends, colleagues, journalists -- something even more profound: how to live a meaningful life, and how to die with no regrets. Now he's best known as the old sage in "Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson" ( Doubleday, 1997 ), a loving tribute written by one of his former students, Detroit-based sportswriter Mitch Albom. With 2.8 million copies in print, the book has remained on the "New York Times" best-seller list for two years running. It has been translated into 22 languages. And earlier this year, "Morrie: In His Own Words" ( Walker and Co., 1999 ), a collection of his aphorisms, was republished.
Why the enormous interest in what a retired college professor had to say? The answer is simple: Morrie offered candid, heartfelt insight into many of the philosophical questions that so many of us ask ourselves ( or should be asking ourselves ) about life, work, community, relationships, aging, and death. And he offered all of this insight from a unique perspective. After being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( ALS ) in the summer of 1994, he decided to make the act of dying another educational opportunity: The living would learn from his experience with death. "When you learn how to die," Morrie said, "you learn how to live.”
So he taught Albom, who had lost touch with him after graduating from college. And he taught Ted Koppel, during three touching "Nightline" specials. In the process, Morrie became a mentor to millions of readers and viewers, regardless of their age, wealth, or occupation. But his lessons hold special power for businesspeople, who are consumed by the opportunities of the new world of work -- yet often unaware of the costs associated with their achievements.
Slow down long enough to take stock, Morrie advised Albom during the first of his weekly visits: "Have you found someone to share your heart with? Are you giving to your community? Are you at peace with yourself?" The biggest mistake that most people make, Morrie said, is being shortsighted. "One hundred and ten years from now no one who is here now will be alive," he wrote. "When you look at it that way, you can see how absurd it is that we individualize ourselves with our fences and hoarded possessions."
It's easy to understand why people lose perspective. The pressure to perform is overwhelming, Morrie said. It pushes people to strive for status, power, and money -- regardless of the sacrifice. It pushes them to go it alone. "We have a sense that we should be like the mythical cowboy ... able to take on and conquer anything and live in the world without the need for other people," he wrote. Morrie believed that the opposite is true: that a community is far more powerful than an individual and that making an impact on that community is far more fulfilling than focusing only on individual goals.
If we're all so smart, then why aren't more of us happy? That was a question that Morrie was happy to wrestle with. Happiness, he said, comes from figuring out what gives your life purpose and then devoting yourself with passion to that purpose. For Morrie, that defining passion was teaching. Happiness comes from opening up to people, emotions, and experiences. For Morrie, the key experience was dancing, always dancing. But happiness also comes from knowing and accepting your limitations and imperfections. For Morrie, the key limitation was his body, which grew weaker as ALS limited his ability to walk, to feed himself, to breathe freely.
Laugh at yourself, Morrie urged. Forgive yourself for not doing the things that you should have done. He didn't pine for lost youth: "You know what that reflects? Unsatisfied lives. Unfulfilled lives. Lives that haven't found meaning. Because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward."
Much of his advice may seem like common sense. Yet people often fail to act on such common sense, Morrie said, because they're either sleepwalking or sprinting their way through life. Dying provides the kind of clarity that people need earlier in life but usually lack, Morrie said. Why not practice that greater awareness in your daily life now? "We're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going," he wrote. "So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing? ... Dying is only one thing to be sad over.... Living unhappily is something else."
Is his message sappy? Sure. That was Morrie. Is it simplistic? Well, Morrie didn't think that the best answers were necessarily the most complicated answers. Sometimes, the simplest advice is also the truest advice, and, in that spirit, Morrie liked to quote this line from W.H. Auden: "Love each other or perish."
"Everything that gets born dies," Morrie wrote. "The best way to deal with that is to live in a fully conscious, compassionate, loving way.... Don't wait until you're on your deathbed to recognize that this is the only way to live."
The only way to live. Take it from Morrie, a teacher to the last.
Stay loose. Learn to watch snails. Plant impossible gardens. Invite someone dangerous to tea. Make little signs that say Yes ! and post them all over your house. Make friends with freedom and uncertainty. Look forward to dreams. Cry during movies. Swing as high as you can on a swingset, by moonlight. Cultivate moods. Refuse to ‘be responsible’. Do it for love. Take lots of naps. Give money away. Do it now. The money will follow. Believe in magic. Laugh a lot. Celebrate every gorgeous moment. Take moonbaths. Have wild imaginings, transformative dreams and perfect calm. Draw on the walls. Read everyday. Imagine yourself magic. Giggle with children. Listen to old people. Open up. Dive in. Be free. Bless yourself. Drive away fear. Play with everything. Entertain your inner child. You are innocent. Build a fort with blankets. Get wet. Hug trees. Write love letters.