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…than I appear to be. All the world’s strength and power rests inside me.
I started a post on my blog on balamadana - all about the five mindfulness trainings….
Here is the first post: http://blog.balamadana.com/2008/05/i-am-more.html
If you follow the link you find my essay on Personal Development - Island Theory.
I wrote about it in my blog before.
- 6th of March about Islands
- 22nd of March about Islands
- 27th of March, the story of the Prince and the Magician
Please leave comments and feedback, I am looking forward to a great discussion.
Volker Ballueder
I spoke to a good friend yesterday, someone I have not spoken to for quite some time.
He is also a Buddhist and when we spoke about job and career and money, salary, family, karma and so on, there was this parallel world. We are both very career orientated, do not mind working long hours, always like to earn a lot of money but also are very keen on our family.
However, nothing of it seems to be the big issue in our life. Not that we are super rich, or work 9 to 5 - no, we are both at this stage of life where we are, what I would call, content.
Our jobs are great. The money related to the job is good and does not let us think we should go somewhere else to earn more. Our family is supportive and we do not mind working long hours if we can combine it with our family. A holistic view of both of our lives is the contentment in what we do and issues we had before, e.g. better job, better money, more time, are not issues anymore.
I wonder if that has to do with Buddhism as well? I need to speak to Marcelo on balamadana about it!
I want to share some insights into my essay with you this morning:
Newton’s 3rd law of motions states that “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
If that is true for all mechanical forces then it should be true for all spiritual forces as well, for all thoughts.
But, Newton’s law can also be applied to another thought, the thought of us giving to other people. “What comes around goes around” is an old saying. If in business I am good to my partner and my employees, they will be good to me.
As an example, if I deliver a bad service/product then people are not very happy about what I can offer them. They create negative energy towards my company. However, if I create a positive product and people like it, they will send me positive energy. This positive energy then continues throughout the company and results in the company getting stronger, whilst on the other hand negative energy will ultimately destroy the company.
However, one might argue that for sure any corporation that creates a bad product will ultimately be destroyed because people would not buy from it. There is a point but how often have you gone into a company or into a shop and noticed that you are not overly happy here and do not really feel like supporting this very business by buying here? Was there not “something in the air” that gave you a sign that something is not right.
So, assumption 10 clients produce positive energy towards a company, the company has to make up this positive energy with positive energy, to stay within the principles of all sums of the forces acting on one body, here the company, are zero. So, this strengthens the company and will ultimately go in circles until the company really prospers.
Would that not mean that the company grows and grows?
Yes, however nothing is perfect and therefore we cannot exclude minor mistakes that might create some negative energy that has be compensated for with positive energy. But yes, ultimately, the company should prosper.
Have a good Sunday.
Volker Ballueder
www.cb-consulting.co.uk
Reading an interesting article about Google, I came across the following line of “sustainable business” as I would call it:
“In five ways should workers and servants as the lower direction be respected by an employer: by allocating work according to aptitude, providing wages and food, looking after the sick, sharing special treats, and giving reasonable time off work.” - The Buddha
That is what I think is work in a respectful way all about:
- do not overload your employees with too much work
- give them the right pay
- care for them when they are sick
- if you get rewarded, share it amongst all
- have a good entitlement of holidays
Bearing all that in mind it is important to look after your employees. It starts with little everyday things to make people comfortable at work, not to shout at them, offering them help and be a true team player - latter one, although often praised in organisations, turns out to be a “I show the team that I am better than them” which has nothing to do with team playing.
So, can we use the Buddha teaching or any other religious teaching to create an organisation that functions better than any other by applying principles like the one above?
There is a site about Buddhism that offers a Daily Mediation - http://www.amidabuddha.org/
Friday’s meditation was as follows:
You are now in control of your life. You see, the ego is never in control. The ego is controlled by wishes for comfort and convenience on the part of the body, by demands of the mind, and by outbursts of the emotions. But the higher nature controls the body and the mind and the emotions. I can say to my body, “Lie down there on that cement floor and go to sleep,” and it obeys. I can say to my mind, “Shut out everything else and concentrate on this job before you,” and it’s obedient. I can say to my emotions, “Be still, even in the face of this terrible situation,” and they are still. It’s a different way of living. The philosopher Thoreau wrote: If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps he hears a different drummer. And now you are following a different drummer–the higher nature instead of the lower. - Peace Pilgrim
The mediation says that the ego is never in control but the ego is controlled by wishes; and that it is the higher nature that actually controls the body, mind and emotions. Ergo the higher nature controls the ego, doesn’t it?
The blue part shows that it is up to you what you decide to do - the higher nature - to decide on what your body does, your mind and your emotions. Buddhist meditation is aimed at being in control as well as letting go of things. Stop hanging on to things and purify yourself. Also, control your mind, emotions and body.
If you achieve that - they say - you achieve a different pace of life. A different balance between controlling and letting go. You will get a “new drummer” who drums you into a life in which you might outperform your companions, don’t you think?
Have a good Saturday night.
This problem is quite interesting in a broader context:
“I cannot find a building to put a new branch location in.” - I just found an office for my new work, so I thought to drill on that as we would eventually need a bigger place.
The suggested solution by the Diamond Cutter is to make sure you help others find places to stay when they need them. That simple?
Sure, if you help and do place a small imprint in the subconscious, it grows there over time, and then it comes up to the conscious mind to make you see a corresponding lack of needed space.
I find this thought very fascinating. Whatever you plan to do you do create it for others first. If I look through essays today for a friend then, if I need help, even in 50 years time, this person or someone else would be happily help me. It is this principle of “what comes around goes around” - if you help your neighbour, they help you.
From a critical point of view I sometimes think it is all about “be good” otherwise you are bad. But, if there is a great universal subconscious out there which has all our thoughts floating about (simplified after Jung) then maybe by creating positive imprints we will reach out for the positive ones to come back to us.
For instance, we do have very noisy neighbours. What should we do? We did talk to them friendly but no change. We talked to them again - we try to be as positive as possible to help them to understand that noise in a block of flats is not acceptable. I truly hope they understood because the next steps would be more negative, e.g. getting the management of the building involved and possibly the police. Neither I nor anyone involved wants to but it might be the only way to do it. Would that create a negative imprint if one is forced to act like it?
Another thought on this is, should I be happy for them to be noisy at 3 am in the morning? I am really not sure.
Have a great week!
I was away all week to start my new job which I really like. It is a great challenge but exactly what I wanted.
Now, revisiting the Diamond Cutter I was talking about before, I would like to give an example of “Business Problem #2″ - Capital investment tend to become quickly outmoded or unreliable….
Why - because the basic functions of my new Blackberry are working fine whilst I try to install some tools and they just do not seem to be working. And I do not know why.
The answer to problem #2 is: Stop being envious…concentrate on making your own company innovative….and don’t be unhappy about the success of others.
Can I apply that to my device and my attitude? I sure can! As with so many things, the basics are working, it is good for business but I want more. Would I be more efficient, better, more reliable, do a better job? No, I would not. Full stop.
We should not look at others all the time. One of the Christian main 10 rules say “do not envy your neighbour” - get on with your own stuff and make sure you are getting your work done. Once that is done, just relax and look at the fun you can have with it. Maybe, with a relaxed mind, the solution why your device is not working, becomes even clearer……
Have a good weekend. And apologies for not writing a lot at the moment.
I was thinking today about making decisions: if people have hope for a positive decision from you and you disappoint them with a negative decision, would you actually create a negative imprint?
From my point of you I do not think so. I mean it obviously depends on how you break the news and how you think people will react to it. If I understand the system right, the one I believe in, then the other person should actually be very happy for you and wish you all the best.
Whilst that happens in most cases that people accept decisions and that people will allow you to decide against what they like, they see beyond and see that the person decides for something else, seeking happiness for the person.
Would that not mean for the person making a decision that they create a positive imprint by accepting one direction whilst creating a more negative, if not negative impression, by deciding against another direction.
Either way, the amount of “negative” can be influenced on how to break the news. Lets use an example:
Your 2 friends A and B ask you to do something with them over the weekend.
You decide to go to the football with A and create a positive imprint talking to him and making him very anxious about the upcoming event. (N.B. if you then cancel last minute due to reasons A would not understand then you would create a negative imprint.)
B will be disappointed if you break the news saying “I will go and watch the football with A”. However, you can create a more positive imprint by suggesting “you want to join” or “why don’t we arrange something for next weekend” or something along those lines. It is up to you on how well you break the news to B. What about “I go to the football with A because I like him/her more”. That would hurt and, even if true, would be unnecessary and create a negative imprint.
NLP differentiates between Conflicts and Dilemmas for decisions (examples from John McWhirter, Sensory Systems Glasgow):
a) Conflict: short term decision on either continuing what you do or stop doing what you do; e.g. if you are having a good time you could continue to do so and will develop on something different. Whilst on the other hand you could stop having a good time and go home, e.g. going to a safe place. Then you make that decision again.
b) Dilemma: if you have a good time and look for a long term decision you can ask for the benefits until both sides agree what is better (sum of imprints zero) and then make a decision on either one way (yes) or another (no). You will still continue to have a good time but in “one way or another”.
To sum it up, we have to make decisions in life and will always create positive and negative imprints doing so. But through the way we make decisions, break news or even decide we can arrange for the imprints to be more or less positive/negative and influence our consequences from it.
Hello All,
Just yesterday I read in one of my many newsletters about spiritual coaching. Very interesting that there do not seem to be too many people out there doing it (from what I gathered from the newsletter anyway). To be fair, what is spiritual coaching and how would one define it?
A definition I found was on http://www.spiritualcoachingcenter.com/
“Spiritual Coaching Center specializes in helping clients move past their fears, discover their true selves, and get on with the passionate pursuit of their dreams. ”
Later on the side they speak about integrity and being oneself, not pretending to be someone. When I spoke to my CMI group the other day and suggested to have a talk on spiritual coaching and spirituality & management or something along those lines, they asked me to explain and I had a hard time doing that.
The normal response I get is that people say “what has church to do with anything in management”. I stop right here because spiritual and church are not the same. Or they can be but not have to be the same.
From my point of view spiritual coaching refers to principles we got within us and values that are related to values people see in “church”. Honesty, Sustainability, Integrity, Fairness, Trust, Gut feeling - but how can you apply it to business.
I need to mention the Diamond Cutter again (see earlier entries) but also, that if you take your time out to reflect on your life and business, e.g. meditate or pray, you might get a better understanding of what you do and how to progress with a situation for instance. Your problem solving nature might change and things will be resolved differently than if you do it in a conventional possibly monetary driven way. Of course we all want to make money in business but if we do it in a sustainable way where we are making others happy and being “good about it” (I guess being a “good person” would be seen as a “church value”) then business is coming back to us. I mentioned that before.
We all say that things come back to us. The negative imprint of the diamond cutter, you remember? If we only create good imprints, then we only get good things in life. Is it all that simple?
Maybe. Spirituality can help to create positive imprints.
Wikipedia writes about spirituality as “connection to a metaphysical reality greater than oneself” and “tradition of perceiving and internalizing one’s “true” nature and relationship to the rest of existence” - what does that mean?
For me it means that from a business point of view, if we connect to something greater (that does not have to be a god but maybe simply “all the good in the world”) and connect to that and apply it to others (being good anytime anywhere to anyone) then we create a positive imprint (to use the Buddhist term). We then might perceive our true nature, our honesty and integrity and connect to ourselves better and that will reflect to the outside.
Let me try to put it into a more “technical term”. If the energy system is always “zero” then if we send out positive energy all the time, we need to get positive energy back. And, if we have the possibility to connect to a higher self - or quite frankly to our inner self which must be in a state of pureness - then we do find the values that create positiveness and happiness for others. And that is the energy you want to send out, because that is what you like to get back.
I hope that makes sense and clarifies the term “spirituality” and how you could use it in business - I am a fond believer that business needs to be built on honesty and true value to be sustainable and that spiritual thoughts can help us with that.
Geshe Michael Roach describes an interesting situation in his business problem no. 43 which I like to write about:
You live in a business and social climate where integrity is simply not respected; where only fools are strictly ethical every hour of their business day - where “Nice guys finish last”.
He writes about people leaving a company. As usual the manager asks if there is anything they can do to help. And usually there is not. The manager gets back in touch with the ex-employee after 3 weeks and the person is usually happy.
Then Geshe Michael Roach writes “the imprints for having bad people around you, you see, aren’t changed by manipulating external circumstances. The Tibetans say that, when most of us go into a room with ten people in it, we find three people we like pretty much, three people that we pretty much don’t like, and four people that we don’t feel much about either way. Then if we go into another room of then people it’s just the same. …..It is not a function of external reality…it is a question of imprints in our own minds. Change your own imprints in our own minds. The change will not come with you running away but by you changing your imprints.”
That reminds me about my most common NLP motivation technique - moving away from is not working, it is the moving “towards to” motivation that gets you where you want to be. If the imprints in this case, your mental stimuli is right, you will work towards something that is worthwhile, that makes you happy. If that is work or any other circumstance.
However, if you keep leaving companies or avoiding situations because of things that seem to be everywhere you are, then you cannot escape them until you have dealt with it in your own mind, because the perception/imprint comes from you. Ergo, you will always end up in the chosen situation until you see it differently.
At the end of the book Roach also talks about “seeing it from other point of views” and “being united with another person’s being”; whilst he then expands on happiness and wealth I was thinking of self-monitoring too.
Because if you monitor yourself and think “what would I like to hear from that person if I was the person asking me something?” - then I would always have a good answer and might be able to motivate people. And, most importantly, I would get a good imprint for myself and even for the other person. Using that in business I create a win/win situation, because a new employee for example would be more motivated, gets a positive imprint, is happier and creates more business.
Let us find out whether those principles work in business.
I am reading the book THE DIAMOND CUTTER at the moment. Again, one of those amazing books you do not want to put down.
In a Buddhist way Geshe Michael Roach is showing how sustainable business really works. And, how you can apply Buddhist principles to it.
My most favourite chapter is about the imprints you left in your life that cause you experiencing similar situations over again.
For an example, if you had a bad boss and you are thinking that is only his fault to be bad, then this leaves an imprint. You then move to another company and somehow you have a similar situation there. Not happy, bad boss. It is your imprint, your perception that let you be in certain situations.
Geshe Michael gives a great instruction on how to change your imprint, to only have positive imprints that lead to a great business, happy work and great situations - it is up to you and how you perceive situations as well as your previous experience.
Definitely a MUST READ. His Website is here, currently under construction. But you find a short abstract here. Also, there is another website.
ballueder
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