Out of silence all things are made manifest.

But the stuff of silence is complex. It has many faces.

In meditation we seek to sit in the silence between our thoughts, that place of no-thing-ness. In our ever busier lives, there is a soul yearning for this kind of silence. It is the same place we reach in deep dreamless sleep. But to do this while conscious is a worthy aspiration.

From the silence we can pluck a thought, a word, and idea. It is when we are relaxed that the brilliance of the Universe most finds access to us. When we let go of remembering the name we have forgotten…it finds us.

It is in silence we can sit with another human being and truly be with them. Not doing, not wanting, not seeking. But to do this requires great comfort with our own not doing not wanting not seeking. As well as the comfort to be present to another.

It is in silence that we lose our voice. That we are too afraid to speak what we want or need to speak. That the words become stuck, inhabiting a world somewhere deep inside, like orphaned children, lost to love. It starts somewhere in our early life, when speaking extracts a high price. Scorching shame, wrath, ridicule, criticism and isolation from our tribe. So we hold our tongue. And the habit continues. Until we find ourselves in our silence saying yes to things we have little desire for. We say yes to a job, or a rule, or a marriage, or sex, or being attacked, because the word for no is lost to us.

It is in silence that we fall into the abyss of depression, lost in our inner word where all the words are at war with each other. Until one day even they stop fighting and we succumb to hopelessness, and in our hopelessness we forget even the words that were fighting.

We use silence as a weapon to punish. It can be the ultimate cruelty. Our withdrawal from connecting with another, even in touch.

Not speaking can be lying. All the myriad things we withhold in our silence. The flirting we did today at the office, the affair we had last summer, the task we did not do. Whole worlds can be held in the place of silence, separate from another, yet ultimately enabling a lie.

Silence can be an indication of our dissent. We stay silent in disapproval, a whole stream of unsaid words present in the silence.

We stay silent because it is easier. Silent to the lies of others, to cheating of politicians, to the crazy stupid rules and bureaucracy that we deal with every day at work, to the person who treated another badly or the service that was delivered so ineptly. Our silence is our laziness, our carelessness. But in this silence we have no rights. We lose them in our very silence.

It is in silence that we are captivated by beauty, awe, nature and love. Words lose their ability to express anything of what we observe and feel. The only reverent act is silence.

Silence we gift to another human being to allow them to find their voice. This silence is gracious and open, with infinite patience. It is this silence we bring to the Dare to Care conversation. There is no judgement, no ridicule, no shaming. The other feels safe and respected. If we bring enough grace to this silence people will voice words they have rarely if ever spoken. This is the greatest privilege. To bare witness to the soul spoken.

“Perhaps the most important thing we bring to another person is the silence in us, not the sort of silence that is filled with unspoken criticism or hard withdrawal. The sort of silence that is a place of refuge, of rest, of acceptance of someone as they are. We are all hungry for this other silence. It is hard to find. In its presence we can remember something beyond the moment, a strength on which to build a life. Silence is a place of great power and healing.”
― Rachel Naomi Remen

Silence is the discipline to say nothing when there is nothing to be said. It is the courage to stay silent. To not fill a space with meaningless words. To be comfortable in the not speaking. To not add when there is nothing to add.

“You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts; And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a pastime. And in much of your talking, thinking is half murdered.”
― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

Silence is the path to our soul. It is the place we find our true voice. If we stay present in silence, with a blank canvass of listening, then we will find our voice, our truth. In this silence we do not seek. We allow silence to speak for us. This is the silence of trust, and faith, and patience. In this silence the great mystics of the ages spend a large part of their day. It is said the Dalai Lama spends up to four hours a day in meditation. Every day, for 70 years.

“The true contemplative is not one who prepares his mind for a particular message that he wants or expects to hear, but is one who remains empty because he knows that he can never expect to anticipate the words that will transform his darkness into light. He does not even anticipate a special kind of transformation. He does not demand light instead of darkness. He waits on the Word of God in silence, and, when he is answered it is not so much by a word that bursts into his silence. It is by his silence itself, suddenly, inexplicably revealing itself to him as a word of great power, full of the voice of God.” Thomas Merton

“Realize this – your anger with God does not drive a wedge between you and Him. It is your silence that drives the wedge. – Prodigal Life”
― Pauline Creeden

When we are willing to journey to the silent spaces within us we find our lost treasures, the forgotten bits, the broken bits, the parts of us that were shamed into hiding.

It is in this silence that we find our voice.

Please share your meditation on silence here.

I have been a squad swimmer for about 17 years, 3 times a week, minimum of 3.4 kms per session. Regular. As. Clockwork.

For the last 8 months my swimming has not been up to par. Effort has been present. Certainly willingness and commitment. But my times have been down.

Last week my coach got me to do one thing completely differently. I had to stretch my arms out so much, over exaggerating the movement so I felt like I was slightly sculling the water before I shifted into the catch part of the stroke. Phew…it felt so weird. It was hard. It hurt muscles I had not felt for a while.

Then my coach added a few other little changes. I had to pause my head turn to breath. Now that made me feel very discombobulated. And I had to keep my kick continuous. Ok, so this is like learning to drive a manual car, when you feel like arms and legs and head and eyes are all going everywhere and surely I will never be able to get this.
Really really weird, really uncomfortable, difficult. And occasionally I was feeling myself move through the water in a much more efficient way. But only occasionally.

The changes in my life outside of the pool have been massive. Scary. Disorienting.

I know inside I am being called to a much higher ‘something’ but while I sense the something, I am unsure exactly what it is, or if I know what it is, how to describe it or make it manifest. And on the way to this, I have had to let go of many things.

The wonderful metaphor of the swimming, the gift it has provided for me this last week, has been the opportunity to look at deep change.

I knew I needed to do something different. My swimming was going backwards.
The change, while on the surface looks minor, in experience is massive.
I had to get the objective view of a coach, because I would never have been able to see what I couldn’t see was wrong with my stroke without him.

And then I have had to feel like I am way off course while I adjust to the new way of being. I had to be willing to let go of what felt normal.

I have been considering the famous comment of Albert Einstein. ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.’

What has been my thinking in the past to the present, and what do I need to change in my thinking for a different result? Surely this change will also feel really uncomfortable. Even alien.

Therefore, lets examine my sacred cows. All of them. Sacred cows like….
I couldn’t do that?
This feels uncomfortable.
Would this be trying to squeeze a round peg into a square hole?
Does this fit with my integrity?
Does this fit with the picture (rightly or wrongly) of who I am?

This is where the need for a coach is so important. We cannot see what we cannot see. Until we can see it. Or as Clare Graves said, people cannot be until they are.

But not just any coach, because there are many who will overlay their world view on yours.  Having me go out and sell cigarettes to make a living would be a violation of my life. Not the slaughter of a sacred cow. I would much rather do something more honest for me, like wait tables, or clean toilets, even if selling cigarettes earned me many times more income.

Seeking the advise of some hard headed commercial person, they would have me sell the metaphorical cigarette. (Also known as prostitution, which really is about selling your soul) Not because they are bad people necessarily, but because their world view is so different to mine. The money first, always…forget about the soul, or integrity…

So to find a coach who see’s me, knows me, my truth, my gifts, my shadow…and who wants to see my light shine brighter, not duller, this is the kind of coach you need. Just like my swim coach, I trusted him to see what I needed to do that would make a positive difference. But without his input, I would be still lost, maybe never figuring it out.

And then it’s the practice, practice, practice as the change takes hold. It feels awkward, ugly, strange. I am unsure if I am doing it right. Again, that is what the trusted coach is for. Go left a tiny bit, more elbow, keep your little finger up….micro adjustments on top of the macro. Without this I would not be able to embed the change. And I may go off course.

To pay for someone to see what we simply cannot see, and to be able to do it in total alignment with the truth of who we are…this is a worthy investment. That is, if you are up for the very ‘in your face’ truth…because often what we cannot see about us is scary ugly.

Lucky me, I have many coaches in my life…because I want the lessons and the oversight to come hard and fast, delivered with love.

What are your sacred cows…? What needs to change in your thinking? Doing? Please share here…

And yes, if you are interested in having me coach you, send me an email reply and we can talk.

Imagine you are walking down a path towards a goal, very focused, clear on your intent, and all of a sudden, completely unexpectedly, you hit a major speed bump, brick wall or even a mountain. This mountain is right in your path. It is not supposed to be there.

After you have expressed your feelings about this mountain, what do you do?
Do you look at the mountain in front of you and say it is all too hard. Can’t do it, no way to get around or through the mountain? Impossible!
Do you get angry at the mountain for thwarting your goals, then spend the next 5 minutes, or ten years, or lifetime, blaming the mountain for you not getting the things you want in life? Blame.
Do you feel crushed, life isn’t fair, why do I get all the bad luck? Poor me!
Do you feel hopeless, incapable, inept? Hopelessness.
Do you feel that these are the cards you have been dealt, so you might as well just accept them? Resignation.
Do you feel challenged? Wow, a mountain, where did that come from? Cool….how do I get around this thing? Possibility.
Do you feel excited. Its about time I had something big to test me out. Now…what do I do next? Stimulated.

Most people come to their mountains in life and give up, turn around, or stagnate. They do nothing, or go back along the very same path that got them to the mountain in the first place. Few people will look at the mountain as an opportunity. A great opportunity. Those people that do are the ones that will look at the mountain and practice staying in the question.

In this case, the core of staying in the question is how do I get around/through the mountain?
Possible alternative questions may be..
Do I know anyone who has experience at this mountain?
Do I know of anyone who has experience at mountains in general?
Is there something about this mountain that I am not seeing?
Is there a way through that I have not considered?
If I could get to the other side, what might I need that I don’t currently have?
Is there someone else I need to bring into this inquiry who may be able to offer a different perspective? If so, who would be the best person, or people?
What is this mountain trying to tell me?
Am I listening deeply enough?
Do I need to go back to be able to find a way forward?
If I were in a helicopter, looking down on the mountain, what might I see?
If I were in a helicopter, looking down on my journey so far to the mountain, what might I see?

We could ask a million questions. And that is just the point. Staying in the question is what it takes.
When we are open for questions, our mind immediately opens to possibility and opportunity, allowing us to move ever closer to truth. Questions have this amazing power to do that. When we stop staying in the question, our mind shuts, and all hope of openness and flexibility is gone. We immediately become rigid, righteous, arrogant, inflexible, closed, fundamentalist.

Staying in the question requires active participation. It is not a passive activity. You can’t just go along for the ride. You must keep the question and the mind open. The answer may not be immediately forthcoming. And that is the point…that is why we must stay in the question.

Staying in the question is like saying yes to the world. We evoke the possible. We invite solutions. We allow our minds to seek to find by looking under nooks and crannies we would not have looked under without staying in the question. It is a very potent change model.

The quantum space starts to organise itself to bring in the answers. Synchronistic and magical events occur. People show up with ideas, answers, or ways of challenging our suppositions. A book will fall into our lap, literally. We will see a movie that shifts our view, or opens our eyes. A child will ask us a seemingly innocuous question that will open a door and shine a light on the issue of our mountain. Or we will wake from a dream and know, mysteriously, exactly what we need to do next.

Staying in the question takes rigor and commitment. It is often the road less traveled and the harder of the paths. Yet it is also the path that brings the extraordinary. It is the path of the positive deviant.
Great scientists, entrepreneurs and philosophers may spend decades staying in the same question. The question becomes the tuning fork for much of what they do.

An example is Dee Hock, the creator of the Visa card  who started life as a bank manager. How did an average bank manger get to create Visa International, a company that espouses no political, economic, social or legal theory, transcending language, custom, politics and culture to successfully connect more that 21,000 financial institutions, 16 million merchants, 800 million people in 300 countries and continues to grow in excess of twenty percent compound annually? He says the reason is simple. He sat in some very significant questions for many years.
“Why are organizations everywhere, whether commercial, social, or religious, increasingly unable to manage their affairs?”
“Why are individuals throughout the world increasingly in conflict with an alienated from the organizations of which they’re a part?”
“Why are society and the biosphere increasingly in disarray?”

Now these are obviously extraordinary questions. And they are probably questions you have toyed with in your own mind off and on. Dee worked these questions like a terrier. For years. And his answer was that there had to be something fundamental that we were simply not getting. To cut a long story short, he surmised that our institutions and organizations were going against the law of nature. For example, take the human brain, one of the most complex, and still to this day, deeply mysterious organs. Just imagine if we organised the human brain as we do an organization. We would need to appoint a CEO neuron, and Board of Director’s neurons, the Human Resource Neuron department….and so on. Then you must write the operation manual for the organization. If we did this, we would be instantly unable to breath until somebody told you how and where and when and how fast. You wouldn’t be able to think or see. Yet in a world where change is on a path of accelerated acceleration, our organisational systems have really not made much progress in 400 years. They are still largely built around a command and control structure that doesn’t have rapid response time.

From this line of inquiry, an ordinary bank manager created an extraordinary business. (For a great read on this, see his book, Birth of the Chaordic Age).

We simply haven’t asked the right questions? We haven’t created the way. Yet. No matter how dire the situation, we always have more choices available to us than we are aware. Victor Frankl (author of “A Man’s Search for Meaning”) was faced with an extreme mountain in the form of Auschwitz concentration camp. While his physical choices were extremely limited, he always had a choice about how he thought and acted within that extreme environment. He found meaning in a situation that few of us could begin to comprehend.
Interestingly, many of the people who have been held up as great leaders in the last couple of millennia have come from very humble beginnings. They were nobodies. Christ, Muhammad, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King. Gandhi was an average lawyer, Mother Teresa, an ordinary nun. Even their ideas were not that unique. Why then did they create such a profound effect?

As Dee Hock says, maybe they were incredibly successful in asking four major questions.
“How were things in the past? What was the history?”
“How are things today?”
“How might they become if we keep on the same path?”
“How ought they to be?”

Then they took how things ought to be and they lived it. As if it were already true. Right away. They didn’t need to wait for someone to give them permission…they created their own permission. And they didn’t waiver. No matter what the obstacle or mountain. Even to the point of death.
And of course, because we recognised the profound need for what they did, and how they lived their lives, they have become our hero’s.

At no time did Mother Teresa sit down and say…it can’t be done. Brick walls and mountains were not even visible to Mother Teresa. If she saw any at all, she dissolved them in a heartbeat. This tiny little woman from Europe moved mountains, and never doubted that she could.

Some questions to ask yourself.
When you reach your own mountain, which choices do you take? (Use the examples above.)
What are the questions you need to ask yourself now that you have been avoiding, denying, or simply refusing to ask?
If you knew the answer to your most important question, what would you do?
What do you know you need to do now that you have been avoiding?
Where are you closed, inflexible, rigid in your thinking?
What are you resisting? In any area of your life?
What would be a question you could ask yourself to shift your inflexibility?

Sometimes we have created our brick walls and mountains because we have made poor choices. Or even been unethical. Sometimes brick walls come in the form of a person or people. Usually the brick wall offers us an opportunity to evolve our ways of living and being in the world. Asking powerful questions to get us through the brick wall will ask of us to change. We cannot be the same person on the other side of the wall.

However, life is about eternally becoming. The illusion is that we can freeze anything. The illusion is that we can sit back and cruise. We know this as parents, accepting that the behaviour of our 2 year old will not (for the most part) be same as the child 10 years later. Yet somewhere along the life path, we live from a place that expects your family and friends and work to be the same, year in and year out. Lack of change, lack of movement, is opposite to the laws of nature. It leads to entropy and decay.
Brick walls are designed to cure us of our complacency, and our laziness. They are our greatest opportunity in life.

You gotta love your brick walls and mountains.
Oh…and by the way…all brick walls are made easier by seeing them through a different lens. When you next bump up against a brick wall, call a friend, or, even better, a brick wall specialist, your coach. That is if you want to move through it more efficiently and faster?

What are your current brick walls…and what are the questions you could ask? Leave your comments here.

You are awake at 12.53 am. 12.54 am…..1.32 am…

Life is just not playing your tune. The heavens and all the gods seem to have packed up and left the building.

You toss and turn. “Why oh why?” you beseech to the silent heavens.

Of course there is no answer.

This is the desert. This is the mouth full of sand, and the scorching heat and a yearning for water.

Your soul craves, craves water. Cool. Quenching.

But there is no water. There is no quenching.

From ‘why oh why’ you shift to ‘what do you want from me?”

The silence is consistent. SILent. Deeply, immovably silent.

You yearn for rescue. Its not guaranteed.

Of course, I want to be rescued. Someone, someone, in the seen or unseen world, please save me?

And the silence remains. And the rescuer stays at home, where he belongs.

What do you do then? What do you do when all options are gone?

Do you give up, or do you surrender?

For one is a tragedy, and the other is humility.

Tired of trying, striving, keeping it together, you let go.

Completely. Into the arms of surrender.

Your will not mine. Your will not mine.

Surrender. Into her arms.

Sleep comes. Peace comes. A death comes.

You surrender into no-thingness.

And here you meet faith. And without warning the planets shift, the gods return from their picnic.

And you are once more purified in the flames of surrender.

Until we meet again. And so it goes on.

What are the parts of us that we deny? Or ignore? Or push away for what ever reason?

It has taken me 52 years to really get that I am and have always been passionate about being a world change agent. And 52 years to get that I am never going to fit in a neat box that says Christine is an expert at “x”. ‘Neat’ and ‘boxes’ just do not fit my DNA. Positive Deviant has always been there.

I have often been envious of the person that had one glaringly obvious outstanding talent or gift. They had a fabulous singing voice, like Adele, or Beyonce. Or they could run like the wind. How easy was their ability to make choices about who they are. (Sure a whole lot of other skills are also required to bring their talent to the fore, but when talent is a shining star in one dimension, it is hard to argue with.)

When you are multi-talented, but not particularly outstanding in any one area, do we have to choose one area, or can we shine in all of them?

For years I denied being a specialist as a coach. ‘Niched!’. Despite the business case that this was the best path to take. It felt impossible for me to contain my interests in one skinny domain. This choice to walk a different path did come at a price, for it has been way harder to leverage (make money from) being a generalist.

We are finally entering the age where the generalist, trans-disciplinarian is becoming vital to the success of humanity. Fast Company magazine wrote two pieces about Generation Flux. Generation Flux is not a demographic, like Gen Y, but a psychographic. People who express their work in multiple domains. These people develop the skills to be able to see multiple aspects of the world through a generalist lens and not the specialised lens. This is a gift and talent in its own right.

And it if becoming OK for people to make their income from multiple skills. Where as in the past, there was a general distrust of the person who was not a specialist. Surely they did not have the skills required to go deep?

We still need specialists. But we also need the generalist.

I want a specialist surgeon to do the surgery, but I also want the generalist to look at this surgery in light of my whole health, my whole well being.

I want the specialist alternate energy scientist to build fabulous ways to convert sunlight into power, and I want the generalist systems person to integrate this into the complexity of what we have now so that it works for everyone.

Today I celebrate that I am…in no particular order….skilled to a reasonable degree at the following…
…being a mum, global politics, some parts of history, the economy, systems theory, R.Buckminster Fuller, Integral Theory, writing, coaching, endurance sport particularly running and swimming, facilitation, world current affairs, theology and mysticism, baking cakes, healing, chiropractic, communication skills, teaching, pop culture, fashion, conflict resolution, anything to do with the relational dynamic, forgiveness, compassion, speaking the truth…

It is the comprehensivist view that is my ‘specialty’. My value is in seeing the whole and being able to apply that to the parts.

What are the parts of you you have denied, or suppressed..that need to be brought ‘out’?
And have you, like me, refused to submit to the specialisation demand of society? Was this easy, or has it been a challenge to maintain? Leave your comments here.

Dawn over the Pacific Ocean

For over 18 years I have had a morning practice. It goes something like this. Awake before 4 am (usually without the need of an alarm). Do some contemplation, meditation, prayer, writing… as best feels appropriate for the day. Eat something light. Check emails.

On Tuesday’s, Thursdays, Saturdays an Sundays I am running by 5 am, sometimes at 4.30 (Summer on a Saturday, where it is daylight, warm and beautiful). The run is between 14 and 25 k depending on the day and what I am training for. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I leave home at 6 and do a squad swim for a total of 3.8 kms.

This practice is such a habit that I simply no longer argue with it, just as most people don’t argue with cleaning their teeth before bed. Some days if I am traveling I mess it up, or miss. And if I am very tired, or not well, I will surrender to not training and enjoy fully the sleep and rest.

While many of my companion runners have an obsessive approach to their training, over the years I like to think that I have transcended the obsession, and it has become about supporting my health and vitality on the physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological levels. (Occasionally I slip into obsession which means my energy is more consuming than peaceful and need to recalibrate.)

Here is how my daily habits support me.

My body thrives on staying moving. I am a visceral, embodied kind of person. After two days of not moving I feel sluggish. My elimination system starts to back up. There is a lethargy that appears that I find physically uncomfortable. I am more tired when I don’t train than when I do. I am also not as bright and vital.

I am a morning person. I love the dawn, the beginning of a day. It is where I feel most alive. (Mind you, I get a good sleep, at least 7 hours, so I am rarely sleep deprived). It is also where I am most creative, and most connected to source. Its my best time. I love to celebrate aliveness at this time, through movement.

My sport is all outdoors. Even in the pool, it is outdoors. At least several of the runs are beside the Pacific Ocean, and the others in the forest. Nature is the greatest nurturer. The ocean is my spiritual home, the birds and trees and forest a place for me to feel free and beautiful, and in awe.

When things in life are not going as planned, and I may be suffering from despair, if it were not for my morning practice, I may surcomb to the despair and not get out of bed. This is a simple truth. Many times the very act of putting my feet on the ground just after 4 am each day keeps me from falling into the abyss. I do not know what I would do without it.

The conversation I get to have with my body, the tuning in, on a daily basis, builds a muscle that is quite an extraordinary gift. I am able to tune into even the slightest ‘off’ signals. Not all dedicated athletes do this tuning in. Many override the signals. But time and experience are wonderful teachers, and overriding signals always ends in break down. I practice listening with exquisite attention.

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I have struggled with committing to other practices like meditation. Even to writing this blog every week, which on one level is good as it shows I am as human as anyone, and not a habit machine. I fall down.

I do think we need to question some of our habits, actually question all of our habits on regular occasions, as at some point they may no longer support the best in us.

Habits that nourish and support, that keep you alive, that engage your body, mind and spirit, that allow learning, communion and joy..these are good habits. At some point in the building of habits we get that they support us in far greater ways than the pain of getting out of bed and doing them. And this is where the argument stops. This is where the choice to practice becomes life serving, and sometimes life saving.

Study the habits you have. Are they life serving?
What are the habits that you know will be life serving if you did adopt them?
What stops you from adopting them?
Please share your thoughts here.

For me, I know there are a few other habits that will be life serving. To dance and sing more, for entirely no reason than to dance and sing. To laugh way more. To spend at least 10 minutes each day in the silence of a question, not seeking for the answer, just being with the question.

For the last 15 years I have been a coach. Not the one of the sports field blowing the whistle, but the coach of executives, business people and entrepreneurs and their teams. I have also been an adult squad swimmer for 17 years, 3x per week, regular as clockwork.

I define coaching for individuals as the ability to see your clients true identify/skills/attributes etc more clearly than they see them, and then facilitating the conditions for their best selves to show up as much as possible. Often this means I tell the hard truth.

For teams, coaching has a similar definition, except a coach will see the best synergistic response from a collective team of people (synergy = where 1 plus 1 plus 1 may equal anything greater than 4), and facilitate the best conditions to enable this synergy to show up as much as possible. This means that nothing is stepped over, as anything toxic usually starts with a very minor transgression, which left unchecked escalates.

This week the independent report on Swimming Australia and the 2012 Olympic Team was released. It showed a toxic culture, abuse of curfew, abuse of rules, bullying, hazing, favouritism and various other assorted nasties.

No names have been named, as it was a confidential review.

What I find quite remarkable is that all the focus has so far been on the swimmers, nearly half of them first time Olympians, and young, and almost zero focus has been on the coaches, specifically the head coach and the team team management.

If I am paid by a client to get the best from their team and I step over any form of mis-behaviour, then I am not doing my job. It usually means I will get fired. However, from a personal point of view, it means I am not taking responsibility for my contracted agreement.

Of the 10 Australian Olympic team swim coaches, 6 of them apparently were not included in the inquiry. I know one of these coaches went to the head coach with his concerns, and nothing was done. This in itself is alarming.

Why is this conversation not been had? Why is the focus almost all on the swimmers?

I do not have the full story, as none of the public does, so unless there are some very extenuating circumstances, 100% of the responsibility rests with the head coach and the leadership team. (I am guessing as well that the governing body of Swimming Australia has much to answer for as well, but that is a different issue, as  they were not on pool deck for the Olympics and their job is not the performance of the swimmers. However their job is to ensure that the team behave to the highest standards, and achieve the greatest possible performance success.) The report indicates that the head coach was only in the role from 2010, and had his hands full with other issues, without much support, and so his performance cannot really be assessed.

I disagree. What is the main reason the head coach is paid? Is he paid to be a coach for the team, using my definition of coaching? Or is he paid to do other things, like administration? Often they may be paid to do both, but anyone in a leadership role who does not clarify the single most important priority and then focus on that, often at the cost of the other areas, is not a good leader, particularly in times of high focused performance.
Someone is responsible for the team culture and performance. Usually that someone is the head coach.

To shift the blame to the swimmers, and away from the head coach/coaching staff is as much the creator of a toxic culture as anything the swimmers did. What is happening is the continuation of a blame based, divisive culture.

In this case the head coach initially denied that anyone came to him reporting incidents, and then recently changed his tune.

How can any team culture be built into a positive one if the leader lies, refuses to take responsibility for the job for which he is paid, and allows the team to take the hit?

Part of what makes a great team is one where people who screw up, at any level, take responsibility. And it always starts with the head coach/leader. They need to be the first to put up their hand, no matter what the extenuating circumstances. And they need to do this with dignity, and without blame. If they don’t they are setting a very poor example. Failure to do this will result in the culture becoming more blame based, lacking in personal accountability, responsibility and trust.

This blame based culture is happening everywhere, not just in swimming?

We are creating a societal culture where holding people to account is rare indeed. Our society wants a scapegoat, wants to avoid responsibility, and wants to be sure the blame is directed ‘over there’, away from us.

The head coach needs to take full responsibility, and he needs to get focused on head coaching. The swimmers need their slap on the wrist, and they need to grow up. Everyone needs to own their contribution. Until they do, the toxic culture will not go away.

Its always good to consider where we contribute to a blame based culture.
Where do you point the finger? Your family, your boss, the tax man, the government?
What  personal behaviours are you stepping over over?
Where do you know you need to own more responsibility? Your behaviour, around money, in your commitments, keeping agreements?

This is not about being a saint. It is about owning our contribution.

For a great story on this, see the story on Captain Asoh. He took a different approach, taking 100% of the responsibility for landing an aircraft in San Francisco Bay, 2 kms from the runway.

I would love to hear your views….please post them here.

For at least 120 seconds after the movie ended no one stirred in the cinema. We all knew the ending. Lincoln was assassinated. It is an indication of a great movie that an audience, and an Aussie audience at that, stay silent and moved, long after a movie ends, deep in the story. Perhaps wanting the ending to be different. Wanting history to have rewritten itself. Maybe even, like me, wanting, so deep in my marrow, for a leader like Lincoln to rise again in the world, somewhere, and have the fortitude and courage to speak up, stand up, take the kind of bold and daring action we so long to see.

But at what price this action that needs to be taken? For Lincoln, it was war, and the death of so many people. We look back in history and we know that there was a descent into darkness for there to be light. Most of the great leaders of history have had to choose a path like this…where there are casualties, and those casualties are children of mothers and fathers.

Lincoln was a great man. Like all of us, he was deeply floored. Greatness is not an easy path. It is why so few walk it. Yet he risked everything for what he believed was right, even his life.

As I looked out across the magnificent blues and whites and brights of the Pacific Ocean this Sunday morning, I thought about truth… and honestly… and ethics… and Lincoln. He was willing to blur the line of ethics, through his journey, to get the vote to end slavery.

Does the end ever justify the means? Is there ever a time to manipulate, to bribe? And how do we not fall from the very thin precipice of blurred ethics into pure evil? Where does wisdom live? Is death and war ever justified?

Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant “Each of us has made it possible for the other to do terrible things.”

These are questions few of us regular mortals have to face in our own decision process. But our leaders do face these decisions. Our leaders of industry and public life. The CEO that says go drill for oil in Alaska, no matter what the cost. The president who says bomb here, kill there.

Wisdom asks us to consider why? Why do we drill? Why do we send men and women to war an death? Why do we coerce someone to vote yes, or no? Is the why ever big enough?

These questions have challenged us through the ages. The power of asking these questions opens us to wisdom. There is no right or wrong answer. There is only the answer that is right in the larger context of this moment in time. And few of us take into account that larger context. Few of us consider the whole, as we decide on the parts. As we judge the Obama’s of the world, never really knowing the back story, the story that doesn’t live in the public domain.

It is so easy to be black and white…that truth should be spoken 100% of the time, that to stray from the path of truth ever is a descent into the abyss of evil. That war is always wrong. I am mindful that the moment I utter the word ‘always’ and any other absolute, I invoke righteousness.
I have reflected on this, on this glorious Sunday morning, as I recognise that I have been one who held truth as inviolate, no matter what. And that maybe, just maybe, this stand of mine may, on some rare occasion, be the opposite of what is called for. That great leadership is the ability to know the difference, and to not then descend into evil. To bare the full measure of your decision.

Now that is a cross to bare.

History has shown, again and again, that there are times when it is called upon for leaders to make very hard choices that have a high price. The leader that can make these kinds of decisions, the leader that chooses to descend and yet returns again from the darkness without letting evil inhabit his soul, is a rare leader.

Wisdom is acquired through rigorous development of the interior. The tragedy, and perhaps one of the reasons why we have so few wise leaders at this time in history, is that we give little credence to developing our interiors in our business schools, corporations and institutions of higher learning. Adult human development is simply not something that people see as that important.

Without it, without an intentional focus on evolving wisdom in leadership, we are doomed.

Please share your thoughts on this rich and somewhat controversial topic.

Oh..and by the way…this is the work I have done for the last 15 years…the development of leaders, not through brief coaching conversations over a short 6 or 12 months, but through hours and hours over years and years of skillful stewarding of another human to step into their evolving wisdom. It is the most privileged work I know.

 Ha…after years of practice I have found that there is a name to my practice. Karma Yoga. I was listening to a dialogue between Ken Wilber and Roger Walsh and Roger mentioned the practice of Karma Yoga. It is what Bucky Fuller did for most of his adult life…what has informed the ground of my life and work for most of my adult life, even though I have been challenged, stretched, and fallen down many times in my practice. Which is what makes it such a great practice.

These notes are taken from the interview…full credit to Roger Walsh.

Karma yoga is a millennium old tradition spoken about in the Bhagavad Gita. It is one of four foundational yoga’s. (In Vedic Sanskrit, the more commonly used, literal meaning of the Sanskrit word yoga which is “to add”, “to join”, “to unite”, or “to attach” from the root yuj, already had a much more figurative sense, the yoking or harnessing of oxen or horses.)

Karma Yoga is the yoga of doing. Transforming ones work in the world into a spiritual practice. It is service oriented, the practice of awakening service or as Sri Aurobindo said,  transforming the whole act of living into an uninterrupted yoga.

The act of Service;
1. Should draw and attract us- in other words, you do what is spontaneously arousable from within you to do.
2. Make use of our talents – do what you are good at, that you have skill in.
3. Draw satisfaction – enjoy your service.

There are 3 keys to Karma Yoga

Before any activity is done
1. The activity is offered up with the understanding the activity will be done in the service of a higher goal. For example, the welfare and awakening of all. The aspired goal is one of trans-egoic purpose. In other words, the goal of the service transcends the gratification and reinforcement of ones ego.
2. One then attempts to do the activity as impeccably as possible while adhering to the transcendental  goal. This is where integrity comes to play. Service that is whole and complete.
3. Paradoxically, one simultaneously attempts to release attachment to the outcomes. That is, one releases any egocentric cravings that the outcomes should match ones personal goal’s.

Is this easy? No way. You might be able to embrace one of the steps, maybe even two, but all three together, and to keep doing this…hard. Which is why it is a spiritual practice.

That little constant voice that says I can become wealthy and famous for doing this. Or…I can just fudge this area a little…not aim for impeccability and integrity here. Or..I really want to do this for myself..for my own means and ends. (Nothing wrong with that as long as you don’t pretend you are doing it for other reasons.)

The net result…Inner exploration  and outer service become one

Karma Yoga is a powerful way of transforming ones work and ones contribution in the world into a deep spiritual practice.

We go into ourselves to go more effectively out into the world, and we go out into the world to more effectively go deeper go into ourselves.

Our challenge today is to heal partial perspectives, which depends on our level of human development. The more able we are to hold multiple perspectives, the more able we are to face the most complex of challenges we face as a society. Psychological and spiritual maturation only occurs through a constant commitment to practice.

I love the idea of Karma Yoga because it is not something you have to put aside time for. It is a way of being. And it asks of you to show up in the purity of service to something far bigger than the little self.

I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences of Karma Yoga.

Is Lance Armstrong the first person to be a pathological liar over decades? No…

Is he the first person to seemingly get away with cheating, deception and betrayal for years while the people he cheats, deceives and betrays pay the price? No..

Is he the first person to start a lie, and then start believing the lie, becoming arrogant and a bully in the process? No..

Will he be the last?…no…

What fascinates me about this case is the timing in the larger global context. We are surrounded, right now, by massive liars and cheats who are still getting away with their lying and cheating. Hmm…the banking industry? Politicians?

Why is it OK for ‘we the people’ to not demand these liar’s and cheats be brought to justice? Its our money they are using to line their coffers? And line it they are, with amounts of money most of us cannot comprehend.

So why is Lance Armstrong going down in flames, while the CEO’s of most of the world’s major banks get away with obscene financial rape? Again and again? (Not to mention the big oil companies, the agri companies, mining…?)

And what is the global cultural significance of this occurrence, now, at this time?

We love a hero. We yearn for a hero. The child from the single mother family who raised himself up, survived cancer and then went on to be a 7 time hero, with each victory his star rising higher. It gives us hope that we too may find a hero inside. That we may rise. We want that hope. Desperately. We want to believe in the hero who raises up against all odds, to pave the way for us.

Its called hope.

We want to feel our own hero by seeing it in others. And we yearn for the true hero…the one that has conquered all, who has the wealth and fame and fabulous life. Or the illusion of such.

Our moral compass is so skewed that the hero is defined by media success, wealth success, and occasionally, talent success, with a good back story thrown in as highly beneficial. We fall at the alter of celebrity. Often cleverly manipulated by the lords of industry to keep our illusions fed and watered, to distract us from the larger game being played right under our nose.This trance like state over celebrity says so much about our own inner bankruptcy and the absence today of any true hero…the Mandel’s and Gandhi’s of our time.

When the hero turns out to be a fraud, forgiveness is almost impossible, because in forgiveness we also must accept that we participated in the deception by being so easily duped. Its our anger at ourselves for believing that we need to forgive. Our anger at being seduced and betrayed.

And in remaining unforgiving we inadvertently become trapped in their own self betrayal.

Yet our lying cheating lords of industry and public office have not been placed in a such a office of hero. The very system they inhabit is designed to allow the cultivation of lying and cheating. They merely play the game. Many of us know they play the game. Yet what do we do? We stand by and watch, accepting for now some illusion that we are powerless.

Where is their remorse?

Why should they be remorseful? Like Lance believed, rightly or wrongly, they play in a game where lying and cheating is the playing field.

Does that make it right?

And this is where it gets down to integrity. Integrity is hard. Its one of the hardest things to build as a practice. Its foundations are de-stabalised the moment we allow one small, seemingly insignificant little atrocity to be perpetrated. Then we have chosen the path of evil. That is the first act that makes all the other acts easier.

Most people, with the exception of those who have a psychological disorder, know the difference between a lie and the truth, right back to the first lie when you were a child.

But that first act allows the next to follow. And the next. And the more we get away with it, the more arrogant we become, until we do believe that we cannot be caught. That we are bullet proof. Above the laws of good and evil.

This time in history is the age where lying and cheating has become pathological in our systems and institutions. The new ‘normal’. At the personal level, where lying and cheating lives in our own hearts and minds as ‘normal’. From an historical view we have been here before. Look to the fall of most empires and you will see the lies, corruption, hubris and vast inequality as normal right before the fall.

Like any system that has disease, there is only so long until the diseased system breaks down. It has to break down. For each lie is a deposit into the bank of pathology.

Like Pandora’s box, the lid is now wide open. The Lance Armstrong story is the metaphor of the times.

By coming out of his illusion we may come out of a larger collective illusion we are all under.

We are being lied to. By the media, by the politicians, by the money men, by celebrity. We lie to ourselves to continue to prop up the illusion. And the price is far higher than the Lance Armstrong case.

The break down of the larger collective lie and illusion won’t happen overnight. Its a process, just as Lance is now in his ‘process”.

We also need to come out of the illusion that we are powerless. We the people have the power. We always have. It lies within the community voice, the collective voice. The one that says enough! The voice that says I will not compromise my soul to this system.

The price is our lives and the lives of our children’s children, as reflected in our ability to do worthwhile work for a lifetime, to be paid well, to have money for retirement, to have a viable environment to enjoy life in, now and in the future, to contribute to the larger community. To live with dignity, justice and in integrity. Behind the heroic quest, this is what we truly yearn for.

Leave your comments and thoughts here…