AWARENESS

This is a snapshot of a 51-year, self-awareness journey to uncover the what’s, how’s, and why’s of the true self and life’s behaviors and experiences: simply awareness of how one chooses to “show-up” in life via the personality, character, and mentality. “Once upon a time” of the awareness trek started during a pre-meeting walk with a new boss in a state-of-the-art, two-piece aluminum can manufacturing plant in Golden, Colorado.

Grateful for four years at West Point; eight years in the Army, including promotions to Major, military decorations, and two years of combat during the Vietnam War; three civilian jobs; and a wife with a child on-the-way, it was good fortune to land a Purchasing Manager position (1973) with Coors Container Company. During a walk in the pounding can plant, the new boss commented that unless the author began to manage his stress, evolving life would be hectic and stressful. This comment unleashed a life-long challenge and opportunity to look under the rug and uncover the “stuff” that makes this human being tick. The first tee and green were to read I’m OK, You’re OK: Practical Guide to Self-Analysis (Thomas A. Harris, 1967, NY, NY: Harper Collins) and to attend (1974) an “I’m OK, You’re OK” seminar at the Mountain States Employers Council, Denver, Colorado. The unfolded curriculum vitae (plus approximately $93,000 for the awareness search) includes five educational degrees and 27 years of assorted corporate leadership positions; targeted academic courses and seminars; study abroad and retreats; club, committee, and panel participation; group memberships, workshops, and associations; teaching and public speaking endeavors; published books and unpublished papers; and the student journey of living, family, reading, piano, writing, golf, experiencing, seeing, and learning continues. Here are some discoveries:

• Life is an accumulation of our stories.
• Golf is a guru and can be fun and simple.
• Be grateful and say “thank-you” every day: life is a gift and priceless treasure.
• Simple is on the other side of complexity: keep looking for it.
• Commit to integral health, wellness, and well-being: program the subconscious to be perfectly healthy; and exercise the physical body, subtle body (felt energies), and causal body (resting). Integral Life Practice inspires uncovering the existing treasure of insights, methods, and practices for cultivating a more enlightened life. (Wilber, et al, 2008, Boston, MA: Integral)
• Meditation (concentration and awareness) offers visibility of how one chooses to show-up via the personality, character, and mentality. Meditation fixes nothing: it helps uncover the watcher and offers insight into how one behaves. Simply be a good personal sentinel.
• The subconscious is 90% of who we are: learn how to program it, re-program it, and trust it.
• Create solid core of virtues: gratefulness, compassion, trust-hope, courage, honesty, integrity, and prudence. Other guiding values: generosity, discipline, patience, effort, knowledge, and wisdom.
• A great code of conduct: I will not lie, cheat, or steal nor tolerate those amongst us who do.
• 100% responsibility: life happens because of me, not to me. Accept responsibility and determine what needs to be done to move forward: no blaming, lying, defying, or denying.
• Be objective, not self-serving, and make decisions in the best interests of the organization or folks served.
• Look for “what” and not “who.”
• Manage by agreement: agree on “what” will be accomplished by “when.” If the “what” and/or “when” cannot be accomplished, re-negotiate prior to “when” arrives.
• Walk the talk.
• Some folks wonder what happened, some folks watch what happens; and some folks make things happen.
• Be a “lifter” of others: inspire, encourage, support, be bubbly, and help.
• The spouse, kids, and grandkids are the best gurus: be open and listen to the messages.
• I am silent self alone: just sit, be with triggers, listen to mind chatter, and be a good sentinel.
• Become master of Self, integral life practice, mind”full”ness (conscious, subconscious, and superconscious), awareness, and self-restraint.
• A nice goal: master of authentic Self and model the way as a person, in relationships, socially, institutionally, culturally, and by helping others and caring about others. Put quality, common good, and authenticity in all one is and all one does.
• Self-restraint is a learned skill.
• Leadership is an earned, influence relationship skill.
• There are two types of power: earned and position.
• Communication skill is fourfold: intrapersonal, interpersonal, person-to-persons, and mass media.
• Mindfulness and awareness differentiate folks.
• Anti-racism is a must have quality of character, personality, and mentally.
• Racism has very deep pillars that have evolved for 600 plus years.
• Be open to learn and grow.
• Political party sorting creates division, distraction, chaos, and hate.
• Fool-proof business plan: create a vison; accurately assess current reality; and prepare gap closers that move reality closer to the vision.
• Five master skills for leaders: delegation that avoids monkeys and gorillas; project management; team building; selection of quality folks; and completed staff work.
• Let the boss know about “screw-ups” before he-she learns about them from others.
• Customers are king.
• Emotions and projections: own them; sit in the flames of them; and just be with the anger, pride, attachment, ignorance, jealousy, envy, and fear. Face everything and fear nothing.
• Transcend and include to create unity.
• Just go to the breath; and breathe deep, frequently.
• Be aware of the fruits of energy psychology.
• Go deep into personal genealogy and your inner journey since conception.
• The root of happiness is peace-of-mind; and the root of suffering is desire, thirst.
• The foundation of genuine purpose and connection is compassion.
• Love is an assortment of causal energies with an essence beyond words.
• When you keep hitting a wall take a different direction.

And the self-awareness journey continues, simply a student of life, living, golf, and evolution!