Newsletter
The Transformer
Inspiration and News from the Center for Transformational Presence
May 2012
Video of the Month: The Power of Connection - Hedy Schleifer
The Rhythms of Your Life – Honoring Your Inner Drumbeat While Dancing With the World Around You
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Photo - Jos Rovers |
After several years of intensely focused and concentrated work, I have created some open space in my calendar during the summer months, and that feels great. April and May, while still quite busy with travel, teaching, coaching, and writing, are feeling like transition months towards that quieter time and open space. During this transition time, I am becoming more aware of the power that rhythm can play in navigating my inner and outer life.
Because everything is energy in motion, one of the ways we relate to the world around us is through a sense of rhythm. We each have a unique inner rhythm, and so do all of the various parts of our lives. Sometimes those rhythms come together in harmony and sometimes they clash. Over the last few weeks, as I’ve paid closer attention to inner and outer rhythms, I am getting clearer insights into what I need at the moment on a personal level, as well greater understanding of how to navigate both challenges and opportunities in the most effective, productive, and even transformational ways.
Since beginning the study of Hermetic Philosophy about 20 years ago, I have been aware of rhythm as a key component in my life. Early on I tuned in to my own inner rhythm and first learned to recognize it as a kind of inner drumbeat. I had always heard people speak of “marching to the beat of your own drummer,” yet not until I studied Hermetic Philosophy did I really understand what that meant.
As time went on, I became aware of how the rhythm of my inner drumbeat shifted according to what my whole system needed in the moment as well as to what was going on around me. I also learned that when I didn’t pay close attention, I could easily get caught up in someone else’s rhythm or the rhythm of a circumstance or situation and lose my own personal rhythm. In other words, I could easily lose myself.
My initial reaction to these lessons was to assume that if I was going to maintain my sense of self, I had two choices – I could either let myself get lost in the rhythms of my outside world, or I could fight against them. Needless to say, neither option was very satisfactory.
Yet as I kept working with this concept, I learned that I could actually let my inner drummer keep his own beat while at the same time learn to dance with outside rhythms. I discovered that there were many more possibilities than I had assumed, and that staying true to myself, regardless of what was going on around me, could actually be easier than I had thought. The key was paying attention to what was going on in my body and deep within my intuitive senses. The more I gave attention to my inner experience and sensed the rhythms of what was going on around me, the more I learned how to intuitively dance with life and circumstances rather than brace myself against them.
Tuning in to your inner drumbeat and rhythm is actually a very simple process. It begins with taking some time to get quiet inside. Meditation, yoga, or a walk in nature can help you find your inner stillness. If you have a lot of mental chatter or distraction, then first give yourself time to find the stillness. The Point of Stillness Meditation, available for free on my website, may also be helpful. (Scroll down the Audio page of the Media Center until you find the Point of Stillness Meditation.)
Once you reach a place of stillness, then almost as you would tune a radio dial to the strongest frequency, let your intuitive senses help you tune in to your inner pulse and rhythm. At first you may become aware of your heartbeat. That’s a great beginning. Continue to explore in the stillness, dropping deeper into the heart of your being until you begin to sense your inner drumbeat and rhythm. It may be subtle at first, so don’t be in a hurry. Let yourself relax into it. If you don’t tune in right away, don’t worry. Each day, take some time in the stillness, listen and feel. Let go of preconceived notions of what you think you should experience and let it show itself to you.
When you do experience your inner drumbeat, allow yourself time to sit in its rhythm. Give yourself time to get used to how it feels. The more you become accustomed to it, the more it can ground and center you. Take a few days to experiment with this and become accustomed to sensing your inner drumbeat and rhythm.
As you become grounded and centered in that inner drumbeat, begin tuning in to the rhythms of life around you – of other people, of circumstances or situations, of relationships, of your workplace, anything. Do this in the same way that you tuned into your own inner rhythms. Start from the quiet place; feel and listen. Then, as if you are in a rhythm circle where one person starts a rhythm, and then others begin to join in with complementary rhythms, feel the rhythms around you and let your own inner drummer create his or her own rhythm that can somehow work with the rhythms going on around you. Stay true to yourself while also seeking the variation on your own rhythm that can serve that situation. Let it be playful and at the same time authentic – stay true to yourself while also seeking the place where you can connect.
During these transition weeks, my inner rhythm is already anticipating the open space and relaxed schedule of summer, yet the pace of my outer life is still moving at a fairly rapid tempo and in rhythms that are sometimes chaotic or inconsistent. As the rhythm and tempo of my inner world is getting progressively slower, steadier, more peaceful, and more centered, I’m having fun discovering complementary slow, steady, deep rhythms that can support forward movement in my outer world. The dance between inner and outer is getting easier, leading to greater clarity, confidence, and ease regardless of what is happening around me.
More importantly, I’ve found an even deeper sense of peace, calm, and happiness within. When I am able to stay anchored in my own deep, slow, steady rhythm on the inside and discover the dance that wants to happen with the outside, I can move quickly and effectively, keeping up with the fast pace around me with much less stress and anxiety.
Rhythms can be just another metaphor in life, and metaphors can be great tools for shifting understanding and perception. Learning to listen to your inner drumbeat and dance with the rhythms around you is a life-long process. There are always new rhythms, new beats, new players, new circumstances. And each brings its own unique challenges and opportunities. Take time to get in touch with your inner drummer and see what new discoveries are waiting for you as you dance with the world around you.
Many blessings,
Alan
Copyright © 2012 Alan Seale
Certified Transformational Presence Coach Profile: Marie Josee Smulders - Transforming Heaven and Earth
by Johnathon Pape
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The latest Certified Transformational Presence Coach, and our profile for May, is Marie Josee Smulders. Regular readers of The Transformer may remember Marie Josee’s Soul Mission Profile in the September 2009 issue (click here to read the profile). Her soul mission, I am heaven on earth, has led Marie Josee to continue bringing that level of connection into her personal life and her work as a coach. She participated in the Transformational Presence Leadership and Coach Training in Holland in 2010, and since then has assisted Alan in each of the TPLC trainings he has offered in the Netherlands.
“Transformational Presence Leadership and Coach Training has brought me and my coaching to a whole new level,” she says. “In a way it is simpler now—lighter, more joyful. This way of coaching (and being!) gives me more energy and more happiness. There are more discoveries for me and the clients. It always helps us take steps forward.”
Johnathon Pape: Congratulations on your Certification! I remember how important bringing heaven to earth has been for you, and I know part of that journey had to do with unlocking and claiming the power of your intuitive mind. Has TPLC training taken that to a new level?
Marie Josee Smulders: Yes. It has given me a greater understanding of life as energy in motion. Knowing that everything is energy, and that energy cannot be destroyed, but only transformed, invites me to stay in the vertical and in choice and opportunity.
JP: You are speaking about vertical and horizontal orientation and the Four Levels of Engagement (Drama, Situation, Choice, and Opportunity). These are important Transformational Presence tools that are all about how we connect with the day-to-day events in our lives within the physical world as well as the bigger picture of our relationship to the universe. Can you say more about how these tools help you and your clients?
MJS: They invite me and the clients to explore things in a more neutral, compassionate, curious way. It allows us to see the whole picture of the change. Change can be challenging for many people, but these tools open up the discussion for questions such as “what if...?” and “what serves you?” Feeling the energy of the potential is important for transformation to occur.
JP: What other Transformational Presence Tools have you found particularly helpful in your work and/or life?
MJS: The three intelligences and scanning for leaks.
JP: Both of those also require a well-developed energetic awareness. With the three intelligences, you must tap into what the heart, mind, and body have to tell you about any given situation. In scanning for leaks, you work with those 3 intelligences to discover what is keeping the client from being able to move forward. The resistance, fear, or doubt creates energy leaks. Entering into dialogue with the resistance helps the client find the inner alignment needed to be able to take their next steps.
MJS: This training really helps me see myself and other people in their greatness. I helps me (and therefore my clients) understand that each challenge brings many gifts.
JP: Since you’ve assisted Alan in the TPLC training several times now, what has been your experience in returning to the work?
MJS: In the beginning, when I took the training myself for the first time, I was very excited. I was always talking about how everybody could have a better life by participating in this training. I was always an idealist in my life and I dreamed about a better life for the whole world. I was still in the “doing.” I had a lot of ideas. But since the TPLC training, I have learned how to bring those ideas into form. In returning to the work I got more discipled, more aligned. I embodied the work more. I became more trusting that the universe responds to what wants to happen. I became more authentic and able to enjoy life in a lighter way. As an assistant, I have witnessed again and again how everybody can transform their lives with the powerful and concrete tools that Alan provides with this training.
JP: It seems like a real way to be “heaven on earth” and thereby create a world that works.
MJS: My dream and the dreams of so many TPLC graduates are made possible by this new way of living and thinking. I am honored to be a part of the transformation and to have the opportunity to have connection with all the TPLC graduates from all over the world through the teleconferences, mentor coaching, and the coaching circles. It is a great feeling that we are all one and that we are creating a world that works, each in our own authentic way. Miracles exist!
Video of the Month: The Power of Connection - Hedy Schleifer
Clinical psychologist Hedy Schleifer’s life work has crystalized into a single overarching idea that, in relationship of any kind, there are three invisible connectors: the space, the bridge, and the encounter. In this 20-minute TEDxTelAviv talk, she invites us into a deeper understanding of what allows for powerful connection in personal relationship, and then expands into a model for healing and connection on a global scale. Her message is part of the essence of what Transformational Presence work is about.
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