July 30, 2007

Challenging Your Belief System:
Galileo, Copernicus and Christopher Columbus

I was thinking about belief systems today: those things that keep us in check, that make us follow the rules, that have us thinking we might be doing something wrong, or right...that we might not be "conforming" to the rules of "society."

Belief systems are exactly that: a system, or way of learning, that we have been taught to believe. Were you an Irish Protestant growing up in Belfast during the years of the "troubles?" My husband was and he learned that many of the kids from "the other side" as they were called, believed that Catholics were descended from the devil: that they were evil: that they were not smart: that they were to be feared. These kids learned this from their parents, who learned it from their parents, and so it goes....Thankfully my husband was able to immigrate to Canada with his family before he turned 14 and was able to stay away from the personal conflicts. Thankfully he had a mother who knew that people had hearts and souls and were not really intending on being mean spirited. Thankfully she was a wise and kind woman: I say thankfully because she taught her family well. My husband married me and I'm "from the other side" so to speak. We've been married 28 years and dated for 4 so s! he must have been right. Criag Keilburger, of Free The Children, wrote a great story in the Toronto Star on Monday July 30 about a Catholic boy who was blinded by a Protestant soldier in Derry many years ago. These two men recently met and both realized that they had been in a situation of "beliefs" of the day. They held no ill feelings toward one another and, remarkably, they stay in contact. Talk about overcoming a belief system...

I read about Galileo today. Brilliant man born in Italy in 1564. His dad was a musician but he wanted his son to be a doctor so he shipped him off to Pisa to study. And study he did. This was the man who studied pendulums and created the first pendulum clock. This was the man who proved, by dropping things off the tower of Pisa, (how cool is that?) that the weight or density of an object did not affect it's rate of fall and that all objects drop at the same rate (when air resistance is not an issue,) thereby proving that yes, a feather and a rock do both fall at the same rate... Galileo was interested in the work of Copernicus who had suggested that the Earth and other planets revolved around the sun. This was not the belief of the time and to proclaim so was to be considered a heretic. This was a charge worthy of death. Galileo invented the telescope and was able to prove that Jupiter had more than one moon, some of the features on the moon and Venus: such events verified the testimony of Copernicus. The Catholic church was so outraged that this man would try to disprove their beliefs that they charged Galileo with heresy and offered him a deal. If he said his discoveries were merely a "theory" he would not be charged. Galileo, choosing to follow what he knew was truth, did not accept this deal and was ordered to spend the remainder of his life in exile.

Galileo was, of course, correct in his findings but the belief system of the time was so entrenched in their own beliefs that he was considered a non-follower and banished. Christopher Columbus proved that the world was not flat but he took a big leap of faith in doing so. Prior to his trips around the oceans it was thought that one would fall off the edge of the world once they reached it. Columbus chose to refute that belief system and re-create his own. When I was a young girl it was absolutely foolish to think that people could fly into outer space. Most people agreed, but not all.......today my children can, if they have enough cash, buy a trip to space on a rocket.....How cool is that? Talk about challenging belief systems...

Did you know that an elephant, if chained up for a while, will no longer try to free himself, even if the chains are no longer attached? Belief systems can hold you back, tie you down, chain you up or set you free if you wish. If you choose to be fearless, to challenge those belief systems, to be like Galileo or Columbus, where would you go? What would you do? What would be different in your life? Up to the challenge?

Me? I try to work on this on a daily basis. I don't do something simply because it's "what is supposed to be done" or because "that's what good people do." I decide on what my heart tells me to do, I listen with compassion and non-judgement, I consider my actions with integrity and grace and then I either do, or do not......

Living la vida fearless,

Jan

The Eye of the Storm

I had the chance to spend six wonderful days with my girlfriends last week. It was our 18th annual summer cottage "weekend" away....just the girls....10 of us, no kids, no husbands, no distractions: the only rule, have fun, relax and enjoy.
The weather was a little funny for this time of year up north: hot, chilly, cloudy, some showers, overcast and, of course, humid and sunny too. We made the best of it and managed to fit in time for swimming, sitting and reading on the dock, canoeing, board games, star gazing and shopping! For five days the weather report was something similar to "cloudy today with chance of severe thunderstorms." We paid no heed and had fun in spite of the pending storms. They didn't actually appear until the very last night we were all together. Good thing we didn't plan to do things waiting for the weather to co-operate.
Half the group left on Sunday night while the other half were happy to stay one more night. We are so lucky to be able to do this!
Well just as the first group was packing up to leave the storm broke...it promised to be full of fury and ferocious winds. We said our goodbyes to our women of the weekend and ran indoors to watch the storm. It was a blessing to be indoors on a night such as this: I am grateful for such blessings. The lightning looked like fireworks in the sky, lighting everything as far as the eye could see. Then the thunder, booming like cannons, right overhead of where we were staying. Crack, flash of light and then, the lights went out. No worries, we'll just wait for them to go back on: hmmmm.....they're not going back on, perhaps this is a problem....Yikes, the power is out. Now what? (all of this great detective work took place within ten minutes!) Thankfully some of the group had grown up on farms and/or spent time in girl guides so they were prepared. We were instructed to find candles, flashlights and matches. There was still a hint of daylight left so we quickly searched for, and found, the coveted objects. I felt like I was in a scavenger hunt but we were all winners in this game.
As darkness set in I was grateful for the practicality of those wise women: the power would be out for many hours. I had never realized how dark darkness can be. Being a girl who spent most of her growing up time in the "burbs" the lights from distant cities marred the darkness. I sat back and waited for the show to begin. I was not disappointed. The sky would just be black, like the darkness of a cave underwater, and then a bolt of brilliance would light up the vista for miles. You could see the silhouettes of the trees, the clouds, the lake: it was eerie, awesome and spectacular. Mother Nature in all her glory providing us with a show we'd never witnessed before.
It never occured to me to be frightened by the storm. I was just so awe struck at the entire sight that being frightened never occured to me. We were safe, indoors, had lots of food and light(since we had found the candles and flashlights) and morning was only a few hours away.
I stood by the big picture window overlooking the deck and the lake and mused....as I am wont to do about the storm. We were in the eye of the storm if you will, full of chaos, fury and flashes of electric currents that could cause severe damage. But, we were also witness to the beauty of the storm, the pitch dark of a place without lights, the vulnerability of dependence and the knowledge that we would be safe where we were. I got to thinking about life and living and how "being" in the centre of the storm can offer up many teachings. Being in the centre of the storm provided me an opportunity to know that, this too shall pass, and, when it does, the sun will rise again in all of it's glory. I appreciated the sunrise much more the next day, that's for sure.
Being in the eye of the storm taught me to see differently: to take on a new perspective: to change my view and, you know, I liked what I saw.
Thanks for listening. Living la vida fearless, Jan

I am seeing a theme these days with the work I do....People saying to me that they are not feeling present with their lives: like things are passing them by and they haven't had a chance to enjoy the moment. That got me thinking.....are we human beings or are we humans "being?" Being is tough, it requires staying power and concentration and full presence of the moment..not thinking about what might happen next, or what's the next thing to check off the list or where they have to be next....Humans "being" is about staying in the moment and enjoying it in all it's fleeting glory. Feeling the sun or the rain on your skin as you go for a walk, the soothing calm of an ocean, lake or stream as you dive in to cool off in the heat of the summer, the sounds of the wind as it dances with the fullness of the summer trees....animals, people, flowers....sounds, faces and aromas. That's a human "being." I pick the latter for my choice. What about you? Are you a human being or one of the "humans being?" Living la vida fearless, Jan

And then one more....

t's been six weeks almost to the day that I first spotted mama swan in the harbour near the lighthouse. It was an odd spot for her to create a nest given that the space is right beside a main road, a place where people gather often and festivals are held. It's noisy, dirty and seems a really bad place environmentally to raise a family.Mama, and daddy, swan did not go unnoticed by the locals. There has been a daily parade of people coming by to see how the family was coming along. The local government even cordoned off the area to protect the prospective family from people predators.
I would visit often on my daily walks. Mama would always be sitting in the nest, once in a while stretching and turning over the eggs. Daddy was never far away and if mama ever needed a break daddy swan would take over. They seemed like good soon to be parents. I was shocked when my husband reported to me that one day last week one of the eggs had been broken open by daddy himself and the baby had died. I actually cried at the loss for the parents. But there were still three eggs left and they were diligent about caring for them.
Today, after the torrential downpour we had, my husband and I ventured out to see the family again. And, tada, we saw a baby under mama's wings in the nest....only one and one egg left we think. Not sure where the other egg has gone but the baby swan was born today and it's cute....Mama was covering it over with her broad wings and keeping it dry: so protective. Daddy didn't seem to be around and then, suddenly, there he was. As soon as the baby made it's way out from under the safety of mama swan and started to wander a bit around the nest daddy was there. Keeping guard, making sure nobody, and nothing, was going to harm his precious little one.
They were so cute and so lovely and so kind to the baby. That got me thinking...as I am wont to do, about care and love and instincts.
Nobody taught those swans how to be loving parents they just knew how. Nobody showed them how to feed the baby, how to sit on the nest, how to find food and how to cover the baby over in the rain. They just knew....they just followed their instincts. People used to be like that too. We used to follow our instincts if you will: to listen to our intuition: to trust the feeling of just knowing what you were doing was right. Somewhere down the line a lot of people have lost that belief in themselves. They have lost the ability to tap into theirSELF and trust that part of them.
Intuition is heart work: it's trusting and knowing that your heart is right. Living la vida fearless is like that too. Living with heart, loving with heart, being afraid and facing the fear anyway knowing that the end result is worth the fear....
There were quite a few people hanging around the bridge today when we were there. Everybody was excited to see mama and daddy swan and the new baby. You know the tradition of handing out cigars when a baby is born? I felt like doing that: except I don't smoke and I didn't have any with me...but the thought was there. I loved the sense of community this little family has created. They chose a spot that didn't seem great to build a nest, they sat on that nest for a long time waiting patiently while those of us on shore became impatient and then they showed us that, despite all those odds, they had a baby and they are caring for it just as they should....What a great lesson.
If you want to see a picture of the baby swan let me know and I'll try to get it up on my blog...
Are you living la vida fearless? Are you trusting your intuition: listening to the truth in your heart? Want to know more? I'd be happy to hear from you and offer you a sample coaching session....

Oh, and there's no name for the baby yet. I'll keep you posted on that one.

Living la vida fearless,

Jan

Oh the Places You'll Go...
a rewrite by Aunt Jan

Oh the places you'll go
And the wonders you'll see
Won't be half as much fun
As the things you could be....

You could be a this
You might be a that
You may even, my gosh,
Be the Cat in the Hat....

But what's this I'm seeing
Are you shedding a tear?
Tell my why you have water
All over your ears...

What set that off
Is the question my dear.
You can't be a anything
Til you've faced all your fears....

Your mom or you dad
or the bilbobigman
Told you you couldn't
But I say YOU CAN!

Oh yes you can
my littlest friend
From the start to the middle
and Up to the end....

But....you have to quit fearing
and wondering if.
The top of the mountain
isn't always a cliff...

Here's how to do it
I'll give you the plan.
Take one step and one breath
And then you've began....

The road will be twisty
and bumpy and curvy
You'll fall on your face
You'll tip topsy turvy

People will tell you
that's never been done
Keep quitting those fears
and laugh when you've won.....

One step and one breath
Keep quitting those fears
and when it's all over
You'll have lived all your years......

Living la vida fearless, Jan