NEWSLETTER VOLUME 1, #4
Ideas for people pursuing an empowered life,
NEWSLETTER VOLUME 1, #4
Ideas for people pursuing an empowered life,
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How Nature uses strategy
You can recognize the deep wisdom in Nature by observing patterns in the larger "web of interactions". You'll notice everything is interacting in two ways: Sequentially and simultaneously. Sequential events oblige species to make logical "decision tree choices". Simultaneous events require a more intuitive way of thinking that uses "games theory choices".
In the jungle, many species display great intelligence in terms of their capacity to use strategies requiring both logic and intuitiveness. When the Jaguar stalks prey, for example, it plans every move and calculates all the options of its soon-to-be-meal. Its assumptions form an overall strategy that requires precise moves and it can't afford to be wrong. It has even figured how much effort will be spent and allows for that as well; the awesome cat wastes no energy to achieve its aims - it commits to its plan and acts decisively by darting here, there and where its prey predictably zigs instead of zags - and where the deed is done... lunch.
The ease with which the Jaguars catches food is testimony to a finely-honed "psyche"; its strategic intelligence is so impressive that ancient sorcerers were convinced the cat could read their minds and so they suggested "not thinking" is the strategy to use if stalked by that great hunter - that or to suddenly act unpredictably and unreasonably.
Because you're never sure where you fit into somebody else's game plan, a winning strategy involves "honing your psychic skills" to become a more creative thinker. Many people don't yet realize that there are a lot of ways of perceiving a given situation, a challenge, a resource or an event and that each of them will let you to arrive at different conclusions. Some are more profitable than others. Knowing how to use appropriate thinking modes allows for the emergence of a strategic mind; it's less a matter of "what you think" and more "how you think about it".
Management experts agree that creative self-empowerment is the only sure way to gain an advantage - no matter what the game or the competitive climate. By learning and then practicing creative thinking, you can evolve a more powerful personality. Creativity lets you increase your options and choices.
Peter Drucker, undisputed leader in modern management theory, says: "Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves - their strengths, their values - and how they best perform."
He suggests a three-pronged approach to a life managed around acquiring personal power: 1. Concentrate on your strengths; invest your energy where you best produce results; 2. Work on improving your strengths; self-observation will tell you where to hone or add to your skills; 3. Discover where your intellectual arrogance causes your most disabling ignorance and work to overcome it. He says that it's equally essential to remedy bad habits, i.e. the things we do or fail to do which inhibit effectiveness and performance.
He further suggests we should waste as little time as possible on improving areas of low competence. He warns that it takes more energy to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than it does to move from a great performance to organized excellence. Then will earning our daily bread be as easy as it is for the noble Jaguar.
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Use the power of other people to develop your own "creative capital". A tool called "Empathic Thinking" lets people trigger and mirror streams of thought for each other. Profit from divergent views and create new and larger syntheses. It is an empowering tool in that it allows you to understand other reasoning processes, solutions and resources.
Empathic thinking encourages listening with the creative intent of subjectively reaching a greater depth in one's understanding., See details by clicking here.
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This month you can discover an outstanding 8 day-7 night "Empowerment Program" for students.
Looking for a "WOW" summer break? This budget-priced tour packages eco-adventures, highly dynamic seminars and heuristic workshops and combines them with visits and fun. Learn to learn, excite, empower and keep yourself at your best. A week designed for college and university (click here) teaches important survival skill they can bring to the more "urban jungles". The ability to think creatively and powerfully will allow you to develop "creative capital" Enjoy a magical a week to learn how motivation, innovation, creativity and empowerment are most precious assets and "value adding" in any equation… they transform ordinariness into greatness.
You can find out what the experts think of incentive travel by clicking here.
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The whole of life lies in the verb seeing. Teilhard De Chardin
People only see what they are prepared to see. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Words, falling like dew upon a thought, produce that which makes thousands, perhaps millions think. Lord Byron
Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me. Sigmund Freud
There is only one of you at all times, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. Martha Graham
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The conference speaker found himself at the edge of the jungle, hired to give workers a talk about the power of communication. It is often that - in out of the way places, where the only stories told are about fellow workers and neighbors - people end up demoralizing themselves and thus might need an outside consultant. When the audience arrived at the local restaurant (the only one in the somewhat dismal town) to hear the speaker; he was introduced without fanfare.
He greeted the assembly with the following story. "A group of frogs were hopping happily through the woods, going about their froggy business, when two of them fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit to see what could be done to help their companions. When they saw how deep the pit was, the dismayed group agreed that it was hopeless and told the two frogs in the pit that they should prepare themselves to meet their destiny, because they were as good as dead."
Unwilling to accept a terrible fate, the two frogs began to jump with all of their might. Some of the frogs shouted into the pit that it was hopeless, and that the two wouldn't be in that situation if they had been more careful, more responsible and more obedient to frog rules. Other frogs sorrowfully lamented that the trapped pair should save their energy and give up, since they were already as good as gone. The two frogs continued jumping as hard as they could, and after several hours of desperate effort were exhausted.
Then, one of the frogs took heed of his fellows. Spent and disheartened, he quietly resolved himself to his fate, lay down at the bottom of the pit, and died as the others looked on in helpless grief. The other frog began again to jump with every ounce of energy he had left, although he was wracked with pain and he was almost completely spent. His companions began anew, yelling for him to accept his destiny, stop the pain and just die. The weary frog jumped harder and harder and - wonder of wonders - finally leapt so high that he sprang from the pit.
Amazed, the other frogs celebrated his miraculous freedom and then gathered around him to ask, "Why did you continue jumping when we told you it was impossible?" Now reading their lips, the astonished frog explained that he was deaf, and that when he saw their gestures and shouting, he thought they were cheering him on. What he had perceived as encouragement inspired him to try harder and harder until he succeeded against all odds.
The speaker instantly knew that the audience had "bought in" to his simple story and that they understood his lesson. Switching roles - into that of training consultant - he asked the assembled it they knew similar stories. He then facilitated an hour's exchange in which participants told themselves some amusing and empowering things. At the end, at an appointed time, when moods were much higher and more positive, the conference speaker offered a quote from the Book of Proverbs: "There is life and death in the power of the tongue."
He then summarized his intent: "Your encouraging words can lift someone's spirit and help them make it through the day. And destructive words can cause deep wounds to the soul; they are weapons that destroy the desire to continue trying - and even cause some people to want to end their life. Destructive, careless words can diminish someone in the eyes of others, destroy their influence and have a lasting impact on the way people respond to them. Others' words can do these bad things to you.
"Be careful what you say. Praise life and recognize the importance of encouraging creative effort in those who cross your path. There is enormous power in your words; they are conduits for the creative Spirit. If you have words of kindness, praise or encouragement - speak them now. Someone, somewhere, is waiting for your words, for your power... Thank you for letting me share some of mine with you today."