When I am teaching I am usually inviting people to move to a level of discourse that is deeper than what they conventionally experience. I do this because it opens possibility. Yesterday I spent two hours with some finance and development people. I started with a discussion of deep personal change and invited them to invest. A woman shared that she lost her husband so she had to start doing things she never thought she could do. As she did her new behavior was challenging her old assumptions about who she was. As her assumptions changed she became still more courageous. She changed her career, she went out and adopted two children and she made other big decisions. She evolved into a new version of herself.
Another woman told a similar story of evolving into a better self. She said that in her moments of deep change “magic” seems to occur. She feels a greater power. She feels more courageous, honest, caring. I pointed out that she was listing virtues. When we evolve into a better self, it is a self of elevated virtues.
A man shared that he does yoga and as he does he tries to peel off layer after layer until he gets to his essential self. He said, “When I get to my essential self, something happens, I feel transcendent, I feel that I am connected to every other person on the planet.”
I responded that when “we search for that which is most unique about us, we find that which is common to all.”
As we continued I was able to refer back to these observations and build on them and then invite more authentic expressions. As this happened we were deeply connected and we were all able to feel, think and see potential beyond convention. Afterwards many of them shared new ideas that they wanted to implement. I am grateful for the deep learning that occurred and for the new ideas that emerged. I am grateful for what happens when we speak from our most essential self.
