I quoted these thoughts from the Brahma Kumaris in last night's AQ Community Call:

"Rest does not come with sleeping, it comes with waking. This is both an insight and an action of enlightenment. When we are enlightened we relise that real rest is possible only when we become free of illusion and we no longer struggle against life. Illusion is the idea that people should be, and do, what we want them to. The truth is, all is as it should be, despite appearances, or our perceptions of others to the contrary. This means you can be easy on yourself, easy with others and easy with the world around you. Easiness is a virtue, an attractive one at that. It is much more influential than force. So quit forcing, end the struggling and . . . relax!"

Remember, struggle is strictly overrated!

Posted by Kim George at 08:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New to AQ - Abundance Intelligence?  Here's a quick synopsis for you:

Abundance Intelligence is a form of intelligence that is made up of aptitudes, conscious patterns and beliefs that enable us to do what we CAN do consistently and authentically.

Your AQ is measured by identifying your Abundance Quotient - the prevalence of Abundance Aptitudes in your life.  Your SQ - Scarcity Quotient - is measured by the prevalence of the Illusions in your life.  Illusions are sources of scarcity thinking.

For every Illusion there is an equal and opposing Abundance Aptitude:

Self-Worth:  you are complete, you have more than enouch exactly as you are; conscious patterns: capacity, greatfulness, catalyst

Empathy:  compassionate internal awareness -- the degree to which an individual consciously directs his or her awareness inward; conscious patterns: internal drivers, discernment, effectiveness

Self-Expression:  the ability to consistently give voice to who you are; conscious patterns: receiving, simplicity, flow

Actualization:  consistent and authentic action; conscious patterns: stepping back, curiosity, perseverance

Significance:  knowing who you are and living into that greatness every day, shifting from external expectation to internal realization; conscious patterns: engagement, decisiveness, inquisitiveness

Surrender:  the willingness to let go, allowing life to unfold through us so that we can remember who we are; conscious patterns: personal responsibility, intention, vulnerability

Inquiry: the ability to question your answers consistently; conscious patterns:  willingness, strategic thinking, adventuristic

Posted by Kim George at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New to the Illusions of Scarcity?  Here's your handy, dandy quick reference guide.

An Illusion is a layer of conditioning that provides evidence we are living in scarcity.  Each of the 7 Illusions is made up of conditioned patterns and beliefs.  All of the Illusions keep us from doing what we CAN do.

The Illusion of Not Enough: where the belief that you can't trust who you are results in feeling incomplete; conditioned patterns: more, scriptwriting, contingency

The Illusion of Comparisons:  consistently comparing ourselves to the external world to validate our belief of who we are; conditioned patterns: external drivers, personalization, busyness

The Illusion of Struggle:  the cycle of resistance, striving, and complexity that keeps people from doing what they can do; conditioned patterns: resistance, striving, complexity

The Illusion of Time:  focusing on what you don't have instead of what you do have; conditioned patterns:  rushing, attachment, distractibility

The Illusion of Hope:  waiting for other people or events to solve our uneasiness of who we are; conditioned patterns:  expectation, powerlessness, assumption

The Illusion of Control: when a person's happiness depends on re-arranging the world to fit their idea of how things should be; conditioned patterns:  care-taking, role-playing, self-defense

The Illusion of Certainty:  when the need to know an outcome keeps you from acting, making authentic decisions, and doing what you CAN do; conditioned patterns: complacency, tactical thinking, perfectionism

Posted by Kim George at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Realistic:  Of or relating to the representation of objects, actions, or social conditions as they actually are.  (American Heritage Dictionary, 2000)

Truly abundant goals are realistic goals.  What does that mean?  To implement goals and get the results we want, we have to first carefully consider what we want.  A realistic goal is based who we are -- not who our boss, parents, spouse or any other external driver thinks we are.  The most successful goals are based on intentions that are in alignment with our values, our vision, and our capacity. I may have a big audacious goal to be a millionaire by the end of 2006.  However, if I am not even making $20,000 and I'm not taking specific, actionable steps to change my reality, this is an unrealistic goal.

I've seen a lot of unrealistic goal setting in business people.  It's great to dream big and everyone can benefit by creating a big vision, but if that vision is not grounded in practical, tangible ways, it is unrealistic.

So why do so many people recycle unrealistic goals year after year?  I believe it's related to the Illusion of Struggle and the Illusion of Control.  A lot of us have a love affair with struggle, don't we?  We identify with struggle.  We think it shows us the boundaries of who we are.  When things are hard, they may be more familiar.  By always striving, we negate who we are by buying into the idea that we're incomplete, less than, not enough.  When we create goals that are ungrounded and always out of our reach, it's a way to keep things safe, predictable. We can stay in control of our lives, because we can predict how it's going to turn out.

Unrealistic goals are like the tug of war you played at those family picnics as a kid.  There's a lot of effort back and forth, struggling to win, but in the end, there's only one winner.  When a person creates unrealistic goals, they're not the winner - complacency is.  Unrealistic goals set us up for failure and more struggle.  They're mighty convenient that way.  They keep us playing small.  They keep us from living into our greatness and being abundant.

Could you benefit from a little reality in your goal setting?

Posted by Kim George at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just got back from visiting my dad in Pennsylvania over the holiday weekend.  I took the train so that I could work on my book.  An interesting thing happened during my travels yesterday and I thought I would share it with you.

I was sitting in the Philly station waiting for my next train which was due to arrive in 2 hours.  A couple sat down next me, with what appeared to be a complete 8 piece matching floral print luggage set.  The woman was clearly anxious.  She kept figiting, standing up to look at the board displaying train details and then sitting down and making the same statements:

Where do we go to get the train?

I don't see any elevators.  Do they have elevators?

I don't think the luggage will fit on the escalator, do you?

What if we don't have enough time to get on the train?

This went on for about 40 minutes, as I continued to read the latest issue of Fast Company magazine.  Her husband was doing a pretty good job of ignoring her.  I was trying to ignore how she was annoying me.  I wasn't doing as good a job.

Her husband walks off and she now turns to me and starts asking me the same questions.  I smile at her and let her know how boarding the train works (I won't bore you with the details.)  She asks me several times about the luggage.  Will it fit?  Will they have enough time?

At that point, I suggest that she ask one of the Amtrak employees that has been standing about 15 feet away from us for the past hour.  She pauses, looking at me, and then rolls into another long string of the same questions.  When her husband finally came back, she got him to go and talk with the employee.  He arranged for someone to come and cart all there luggage down to the train for them and it was over before you could blink an eye.

Why am I telling you this story?

Because it points out a reoccurring pattern of scarcity.  That woman clearly had the Illusion of Struggle going on.  Her inability to ask for help kept her in a state of constant anxiety for over an hour.

What caused her inability to ask for help?  That's something we'll never know for sure.  Yet it points to an issue around scarcity.  That set of luggage really represented all the baggage this woman may have been carrying.  I couldn't help thinking that she needed permission to go and ask for help.  How interesting that a simple thing like boarding a train could be turned into a huge anxiety filled ordeal.

What could you ask for help with today that would lessen some of your struggle?

Posted by Kim George at 03:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last night I was flipping through a business magazine when I noticed an ad by Philips Electronics.  The full page ad shows the picture of a very happy baby with a big smile on his face, laying on his back.  But it wasn't the happy baby that caught my attention, it was the headline underneath:

Things start uncomplicated.  Why change them?

Think about that.  When you were born, you were uncomplicated.  In one way, you were a clean slate, waiting to be imprinted by society and culture and norms, but in another way, you already had your "DNA of Greatness" coded within you.

And then what happened?

You were taught by your parents, reigned in by your teachers and influenced by the "anonymous they" - you know these people - you refer to the "anonymous they" when you say things like:

I couldn't do that - what would "they" think?

Everyone knows that's the way it should be.

Well, you know, "they" say it takes (insert your favorite saying here).

And so on.

This conditioning has a way of making things more difficult than they need to be.  When things are complicated, we give ourselves permission to get caught up in them.  Not only is this a convenient distraction, but it keeps us in the Illusion of Struggle.  It gives us something to identify with.  We can relate to it because we've been there before.

What difficulties have you become comfortable with?

Posted by Kim George at 09:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)