gdp's Comments

FinerMinds : The Power Of Full Engagement By Jim Loehr And Tony Schwartz — Last Day Of The PhilosophersNotes C

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:29:01 +0000

Hi Peter, great song. Thanks! The Challenge may be over now, said Brian to everyone. He had a smile upon his face, because we all know it's just begun! All along the watchtower ...

FinerMinds : The Power Of Full Engagement By Jim Loehr And Tony Schwartz — Last Day Of The PhilosophersNotes C

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:56:19 +0000

Thanks for sharing, Misterzee! That's a lovely quote. Thanks for the thoughtful and supportive interaction and for helping us all to face our sacred moments. Best to you and to your many students, Tom

FinerMinds : The Power Of Full Engagement By Jim Loehr And Tony Schwartz — Last Day Of The PhilosophersNotes C

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:04:39 +0000

AF, nice getting to know you a bit in the forum. Thanks for the great resources and encouraging words. May you have many more delightful challenges ahead! ~ Tom

FinerMinds : The Power Of Full Engagement By Jim Loehr And Tony Schwartz — Last Day Of The PhilosophersNotes C

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:01:51 +0000

Brian, thanks so very much for the Challenge and PN. It's been really fun and helpful in many ways. Looking forward to reading your book too -- I'm buying it! Tom

FinerMinds : The Power Of Full Engagement By Jim Loehr And Tony Schwartz — Last Day Of The PhilosophersNotes C

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:00:12 +0000

Thanks, Bernard. Looking forward to getting to know you better. Thanks for candor and insightful observations. ~ Tom

FinerMinds : The Power Of Full Engagement By Jim Loehr And Tony Schwartz — Last Day Of The PhilosophersNotes C

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:37:09 +0000

Maxine, thanks very much for sharing. I'll remember you always! Thanks for your brave example. Hope to catch you flying high on a thermal! I like the way you fly, Maxine! Tom

FinerMinds : The Power Of Full Engagement By Jim Loehr And Tony Schwartz — Last Day Of The PhilosophersNotes C

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:10:33 +0000

Peter, thanks for your steady contributions and encouraging, supportive replies. Much appreciated! After your rest, have a great next 50 day challenge! ~ Tom

FinerMinds : The Power Of Full Engagement By Jim Loehr And Tony Schwartz — Last Day Of The PhilosophersNotes C

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:08:30 +0000

Ted, I second Jayne's response. Thanks for sharing your clear thinking and offering insightful alternate windows into each note -- like facets of a jewel! Also, thanks for sharing your passion for your Solution Multipliers program (www.solnx.org). That's inspiring! As you continue to promote and implement this vision, I was wondering if Bill Mollison's Permaculture group/thinking might be a nice resource/link to Solution Multipliers. Here's the first of multi-part video series on Permaculture and Mollison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofKTgmW_FAg Best wishes,Ted! ~ Tom

FinerMinds : The Power Of Full Engagement By Jim Loehr And Tony Schwartz — Last Day Of The PhilosophersNotes C

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:44:35 +0000

StephanieE, thank you for your kind and thoughtful notes -- they've been nurturing and inspiring! Like the flower icon, your beautiful sprit fills the page. Thanks for sharing it so freely! Namaste, sister! ~ Tom

FinerMinds : The Power Of Full Engagement By Jim Loehr And Tony Schwartz — Last Day Of The PhilosophersNotes C

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:40:55 +0000

Jayne, your book writing project was one that got me excited to begin another writing project. Thank you for that! Really enjoyed reading about your experiences with these materials and wove them into your vibrant life as a training expert and mum. Best wishes on your book, career and mum power! ~ Tom

FinerMinds : The Power Of Full Engagement By Jim Loehr And Tony Schwartz — Last Day Of The PhilosophersNotes C

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:35:25 +0000

It's been a pleasure, Shivana. Thank you! And best to you as you continue to nurture your being and grow from all these wonderful experiences! ~ Tom

FinerMinds : The Power Of Full Engagement By Jim Loehr And Tony Schwartz — Last Day Of The PhilosophersNotes C

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:46:47 +0000

LEARNINGS Hello, PN colleagues! Wow ... what a journey! This is a great note to cap the Challenge! So glad to have participated, to have met many of you, and to have read this note and reviewed the book again. Thanks to all of you for your support and comments, Brian for the Challenge and notes, and Vishen for the forum. I’m grateful to you all! I read this book 4 or 5 years ago after one of the most fascinating time management classes I’ve ever had. This class was run by the co-developer of David Allen’s early GTD philosophy, especially the Outlook integration pieces. The instructor designed the flow and activities of the class using concepts and principles from “The Power of Full Engagement.” He emphasized the periodicity involved with effective learning and had us practicing mental sprints and recharging/renewing throughout the class. It was a very cool and helpful learning experience! My favorite quotes from the note: “To be fully engaged emotionally requires celebrating what the Stoic philosophers called anacoluthia—the mutual entailment of the virtues. By this notion, no virtue is a virtue by itself. Rather, all virtues are entailed. Honesty without compassion, for example, becomes cruelty.” I didn’t remember this word, so thanks Brian! Love the implications of this observation. “You must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the secondary consequences.” ~ Ayn Rand An excellent reminder! “All great performers rely on positive rituals to manage their energy and regulate their behavior.” And: “The more exacting the challenge and the greater the pressure, the more rigorous our rituals need to be.” And how! We had a marvelous introduction to many of these positive rituals during the Challenge. NEXT STEPS The next step from the 50-Day Challenge will be directly to my new book project. Starting Monday, March 22, for the next 50-day challenge, I will write a new book that will feature how to use simple and effective behavioral modeling techniques to give and get the most possible from mentoring and coaching relationships. Best wishes to you all on your next 50-day challenge! Thanks to you all for your support and the fun and perspective you brought to this challenge. If you’d like to contact me, my public Website is http://www.evolutionarylearning.com. Love to hear from you. The book will be available at the end of July! May we work diligently, patiently, persistently, and playfully -- and we’re bound to be successful ... bound to be successful! Namaste ~ Tom Carroll

FinerMinds : Meditations By Marcus Aurelius — Day 49 Of The PhilosophersNotes Challenge

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:49:40 +0000

LEARNINGS Hello, All! It’s fascinating to learn how perennial many of these big ideas are. Really enjoyed Brian’s back story and history on this one. What a cool idea to visit the physical places where these folks penned/quilled/etched their great ideas. Sounds like a really fun idea for a vacation! Some favorite quotes from the notes: “Never confuse yourself by visions of an entire lifetime at once… remember that it is not the weight of the future or the past that is pressing upon you, but ever that of the present alone.” This is a great recipe for eliminating overwhelm. “If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” Sounds like an ancient version of Albert Ellis, who, by the way, regularly quoted the Stoics, with Epictetus being one of his favorites. “When force of circumstance upsets your equanimity, lose no time in recovering your self-control, and do not remain out of tune longer than you can help. Habitual recurrence to the harmony will increase your mastery of it.” Again, some evergreen wisdom that could have been uttered by any modern therapist or philosopher. PRACTICE Really liked Brian’s idea of the “Equanimity Game.” I’m going to start playing. It envelopes all this wisdom and learning in fun, which is a great way to remember this whole experience. I’ll always remember Brian’s Vedanta teacher’s mantra -- and Brian’s addition: “Work diligently ... diligently. Work patiently, persistently, and PLAYFULLY ... patiently ... persistently ... and playfully. And you’re bound to be successful ... bound to be successful.

FinerMinds : The Wheel Of Time By Carlos Castaneda — Day 48 Of The PhilosophersNotes Challenge

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:02:08 +0000

Hi AF, Your comment about Tiger Woods and James Ray is a great reminder that we're all fallible humans -- no matter how great our skill or accomplishments. Thanks for that! Tom

FinerMinds : The Wheel Of Time By Carlos Castaneda — Day 48 Of The PhilosophersNotes Challenge

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:54:27 +0000

John, I'm in strong agreement with you! There are more appropriately descriptive metaphors available. Since you bring up the non-violent approach, one resource that I've found really helpful is the work of psychologist Marshall Rosenberg (Non-Violent Communication). Here's a video of Marshall Rosenberg talking about NVC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dpk5Z7GIFs Thanks for sharing this, John! ~ Tom

FinerMinds : The Wheel Of Time By Carlos Castaneda — Day 48 Of The PhilosophersNotes Challenge

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:47:43 +0000

That's a beautiful thought, Bernard. Thanks for sharing! Also, wanted to thank you for your meditation comment the other day. I'll contact you soon about it. I get locked out the forum once it times out, which it usually does after the first entry. Today's an exception! Take care! ~ Tom

FinerMinds : The Wheel Of Time By Carlos Castaneda — Day 48 Of The PhilosophersNotes Challenge

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:40:59 +0000

All, that Steven Hassan link didn't post properly. Here it is again. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-53514832... In case it doesn't come through again, you can Google this: "Steven Alan Hassan, M.Ed. LMHC, NCC on the Strategic Interaction Approach (2003)" Best to you! ~ Tom

FinerMinds : The Wheel Of Time By Carlos Castaneda — Day 48 Of The PhilosophersNotes Challenge

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:34:04 +0000

LEARNINGS Hello all! I’d like to comment on the juxtaposition of authors -- Joseph Campbell, Abraham-Hicks, OSHO, Jose Silva, and Carlos Castaneda -- and an important learning that I’ve had in my life. I’d like to share a quote from Joseph Campbell to frame things. "Frequently a symbol doesn't open our eyes, but closes them instead. If we concretize the symbol, we get stuck with it." With all of these authors, there exists the potential danger of taking their claims and teachings too literally. In “The Power of Myth,” Campbell goes into great detail about the power, portability, and abstract nature of myth. However, it’s though concretizing and making myths into literal truths that we rob the myth of its beauty, power and miss the forest for the trees or mistake the finger pointing at the moon for the moon. This concretizing becomes a real issue when a sincere or misguided “guru” begins to believe they really are magical, especially in the mind reading, scrying, and prophetic senses. Add a need for power and the belief that they have a direct line to the “truth” or “Source, ” and couple that with disciples (possibly confused) who have lost access to their critical thinking resources and you have a 4-year-old playing with matches near an open gasoline container! The antidote is awareness and some critical thinking. The trick (in my opinion) is to add these elements into the mix without losing our wonder and sense of mystery regarding the experience, teaching, and learning. I believe this starts with acknowledging that life -- even the mundane -- at its very core, is quite a mystery. However, on the physical plane, there is a practical, sensible reality featuring some predictable laws. The scientific method is a pretty good tool (probably the best tool we have) for describing and predicting how the elements of this world interact. It’s possible to get into trouble when one takes ideas like the Hermetic line “As above, so below ...” literally. This is not universally true (on all scales) in a practical sense. For example, subatomic particles can easily move through a wall, but I and every other human I know requires a door or a really frail wall to perform this act comfortably! However, just because an idea like that isn’t literally true at all scales, it doesn’t mean it’s without value. It happens to be one of the underlying tenants of alchemy and was an idea that inspired Isaac Newton, Carl Jung, etc. SHARING Here are a few critical thinking resources that I’ve found to be really helpful for my own spiritual safety. Enjoy! 1. Leon Festinger’s book “When Prophecy Fails,” which was written in 1957. In it Festinger explores what happens to people when their beliefs are disconfirmed by reality -- when a prophet fails to predict something major like the end of the world, for example. He also explores his ‘theory” of “cognitive dissonance” and describes the phenomenon of “cargo cults.” The scary conclusion of this book is that a person’s beliefs can be so firm that a true believer can easily disconfirm/re-explain physical fact to fit those beliefs.  2. Steven Hassan video (1.5 hours) -- a psychotherapist and “cult deprogrammer” talks very personally about cult indoctrination and separation. It’s well worth the time to view: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-53514832... 3. The Psychology of a Psychic by David Marks. This is a great introduction to how one might apply the science and psychological research tools to examine paranormal claims. Wishing you a safe and spiritually fulfilling journey! ~ Tom

FinerMinds : The Book Of Understanding By Osho — Day 45 Of The PhilosophersNotes Challenge

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:53:59 +0000

Hi puresue, yes, this pal is amazing and often very inspirational. He really spontaneous, flexible, fun, yet strongly self disciplined -- what I aspire to! The approach created enough of a delightful surprise to move it the project to the next level, which I happen to be following up on today. I'm wanting to use this approach to improve some transitions in an upcoming presentation. I envision this to be somewhat like the little hooky endings on great mini series shows -- the cliffhangers that have us anticipating the episode or page. I'd like to learn how to do this bet...

FinerMinds : The Silva Mind Control Method Of Mental Dynamics By Jose Silva And Burt Goldman — Day 47 Of The Ph

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:38:46 +0000

Hi Jayne, Thanks for noting the 5 Rules of Happiness. I'm with you on committing this to memory. Great idea!