Day 20

Today's Lesson:

I am determined to see.

Before we can see things differently, we have to come to the realization that the way we currently see things may not be the most effective. But this Course is very deliberate in its efforts to not be coercive. As we know from our own experience as employees, parents, friends, co-workers, it just doesn't work to "make" anyone do anything. Today's lesson shows us that the only thing that is required for seeing the world the way we want to see it (seeing happiness and peace instead of sadness and upset) is our decision to see.

Today we are asked to think of the lesson at least twice an hour and apply the lesson to any situation, person or event that upsets us. It is possible to see them differently, and we will. What we desire we will see. The lesson tells us that this is the law of cause and effect as it operates in the world.

Miracles I've noticed:

Today's lesson really reinforces some of the coaching I've been using during my training session the past two weeks. One of our "assignments" is to fight the 2 D's (defensiveness and debating) with the 2 L's (listening and learning). We start to realize that anything that causes us to be defensive or want to debate is just a signal to us that if we listen differently we surely will learn something. That's why we have the physical reaction to the upset.

Another part of the training is defining our objective when we want to solve a problem. We need to be very clear about our intention and to also be committed to solving the problem. Sometimes it's as simple as realizing that what we have been doing hasn't given us the results we'd like - hasn't helped us achieve our objective. We've all heard the definition of insanity: to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Now is the time to stop the insanity.

It is no coincidence that today's lesson reinforces the points from this week's training. And I think that's probably true for everyone who reads this blog. I'm pretty sure if we all recognize in our own lives the way we are determined to see, we will notice how the lessons reinforce whatever we're dealing with in our own lives.

Here's another miracle: Lisa Haneberg called me yesterday to interview me for her Fireside Chat podcast. She asked me questions about my book, The 100% Factor, and one of the topics of dialogue was the whole notion of there being no coincidences. She said she's kind of on the fence about that. I don't think it is a coincidence that she would pick that topic to talk about. And it's also no coincidence that Lisa's first interview for 2007 was Curt Rosengren, a North Dakota native and writer for Motto Magazine; and Lisa's second interview is Kevin Salwen, editor of Motto Magazine. Her third interview is me, a North Dakota native who has made an intention for 2007 to write for Motto Magazine. I know Lisa didn't know that when she set up these interviews, so what could it be except a miracle?

As I am determined to see, the results of my seeing - both "positive" and "negative" - become very clear to me.