It’s OK To Admit To Sometimes Being The Cowardly Lion

If we leave the highways and main roads where everyone travels, and explore that unknown path that is uniquely ours, it’s Ok to admit that we will sometimes get lost and become afraid. Being the main character in our own comedy-drama, we like to always remain the hero in our, and other people’s, eyes; but acknowledging the less than heroic truth may be exactly what is necessary to get to us to our true destination.

When our attempts to achieve a goal are repeated frustrated, we tend to internalize that experience and develop feeling of powerlessness even when external obstacles are no longer present. This phenomenon, called learned helplessness, was discovered by psychologist Martin Seligman in the 1960’s. This emotional reaction corresponds to a pessimistic or depressed attitude, in which obstacles are seen as personal failures, and as pervasive and permanent. In addition to being painful, this pessimistic or depressed attitude also leads to unmotivated behavior, in which we don’t explore, perceive or take advantage of available opportunities for success.

Though most of us will experience this sense of powerlessness and become unmotivated and intimidated in the face of repeated frustration, we can do something about it. The first step is to recognize that we have become the cowardly lion. As in many things, self awareness is the beginning of wisdom. In fact, I consider self-awareness and self-management as the first of 7 Dimensions of Wisdom. By becoming aware of how we are feeling and behaving, we begin to see that we have some other alternatives.

The future isn’t fixed. We’re painting it right now in the present using the colors of both our imaginations and reality. Words and images in thought and reflection become things in the world. We can build the bridge from here to where we want to be out of images and ideas made real through courageous reflection followed by action. When we think that we’re at a dead end, it is just a temporary failure of creativity which can be overcome.

As we observe our pessimistic, helpless and hopeless reactions, we gain some distance from them and we can challenge them rather than accepting them. We can learn to use the information we’re receiving that our particular methods of trying to reach a goal aren’t working; but at the same time we can deny the pessimistic reaction that nothing we can do will work. In most cases, our attitude and behavior will need to change before the external problem or obstacle can be overcome. As we perceive the cycle of negative thinking, we can identify it for what it is, a distortion of reality. As self-awareness reveals the distortions in our thinking and emotions, the grip of fear and helplessness is loosened, and we can begin to experiment with new actions aimed at achieving our goals.

We’re all capable of making mistakes in our lives or of experiencing failure due to external circumstances, and we are also capable of overcoming these situations. It requires being open to possibilities and trusting the creative process. We must believe that it is possible to get there and be willing to walk across that bridge. Sometimes we get tired and begin to believe that we can’t get to the other side of the pain and fear to freedom and our second wind. In fact, we become lost in the pain, and forget what it’s like to feel good and confident and right with ourselves. With practice we can learn to remember more quickly, that it is possible to acknowledge the real danger or obstacle, but to not remain afraid; to stay with the joy and the light and to find a bridge across the abyss.

I’m Dr. Bernard Brookes You can learn about the life and business coaching I provide at www.sopphia.com.

Facing The New Economic Reality While Maintaining Hope, Compassion, Optimism, And Innovation

Even if you’re personally doing well right now, you can probably feel the general sense of economic constraint and limitation that we are under as a country (and for that matter globally). This includes huge budget deficits at national and state levels, unemployment over 10%, health care cost growing out of control, and global warming and other environmental problems. Even economies like China that are still growing rapidly are bumping up against global resource and environmental constraints as well as the limitations created by the interdependence among national economies. These strains are reflected in company and household budgets, and in the balance of economic optimism and pessimism felt personally by each of us. The effect flows in the opposite direction as personal pessimism and optimism influence our individual, family and corporate decisions about spending, saving and investment, and these decisions combine to impact the larger economy.

How do we get past denial, face the new reality and still maintain hope, compassion, optimism, and innovation? First of all, what is the reality? Is this just a cyclical recession after which we can go back to business as usual, or is this a transformation that requires a very different model for sustainable growth and development? We may not be able to answer this question on the national or global level, but we can each make some decisions about our own situations. We can see that economic security of the old kind is over: no more life time employment with one company leading to retirement with a pension; or a stable market in which a company can survive and thrive doing the same things for decades.

It seems that the only thing that we can rely on is that there will continue to be rapid change. In such an environment, our only security may be in increasing our wisdom; i.e. our skills and knowledge in the core competencies related to successful performance. I’ve found it helpful to organize these competencies using the acronym SOPPHIA (S-O-P-P-H-I-A); representing the 7 Dimensions of Wisdom. SOPPHIA is the Greek word for wisdom.

First, the S in SOPPHIA is for Self. In an environment of rapid continuous change, it’s important to understand our own emotions and to be able to manage them. With practice and discipline, emotions can enable us to move rapidly and to make good decisions when there’s not enough time or information to use a more purely rational approach. Also, the ability to remain hopeful and optimistic in the face of difficult challenges requires managing the negative emotions that arise with setbacks.

The O in SOPPHIA is for Others. Our ability to understand and relate effectively to others (team members, customers, family and friends) is critical during times of rapid change. Cooperation with others has always been a key strategy for human survival. Compassion that balances self-interest is also a defining characteristic of what it is to be a human being, and is an essential component of what makes relationships work.

The first P in SOPPHIA is for Purpose. Purpose involved being clear about what you value, having the vision to see how to achieve results in line with those values, and having the commitment to bring that vision to reality. The second P is for Presence, the ability to be effectively present and focused, and to manage time. It’s easy to become scattered and overwhelmed when events are moving rapidly around you. It’s at such times that the ability to focus becomes very valuable.

The H in SOPPHIA is for Health. Physical and mental health is a resource that we rely on, particularly in stressful times. By developing and practicing healthy attitudes and behaviors, we can create a life style that enhances physical and mental health and increases our resiliency to the negative effects of stress.

The I in SOPPHIA is for Innovation. Innovation includes the ability to produce creative ideas, and to develop those ideas into services and products that provide value to others; and thus generate income or wealth. The more competitive environment requires that individuals and companies provide greater value to employers and customers respectively.

And finally, the A in SOPPHIA is for Assurance. Assurance is the ability to endure and to persevere through discomfort or pain, even when the available evidence for success is discouraging. For some, this assurance comes from religious faith, while for others it may come from another source.

I conclude that it is possible to face the new economic reality and still maintain hope, compassion, optimism, and innovation. But to do so requires discipline and practice. Coaching using SOPPHIA – The 7 Dimensions of Wisdom is a way to develop that discipline and practice.

I’m Dr. Bernard Brookes, you can learn more at www.sopphia.com.

The Wisdom Of Innovation: Where Ideas Come From

Creativity or idea-generation is the beginning of innovation. Without creative ideas, there is nothing to develop into an activity, service or product that will provide value to others. But where do ideas come from? Did you ever notice that children seem to almost never run out of ideas. They can create an activity that absorbs their interest out of little or nothing. This is particularly true if they have playmates, but happens even when they’re alone. Creativity seems to be nothing more than child’s play. But ironically, it takes discipline to get into that child-like state of mind on a daily basis in order to create useful ideas.

The most commonly used technique for generating ideas is some form of group brain storming. Looking at the key steps in this method can give us insight into how to develop the discipline of creativity as individuals. The first step in brain storming is to have an area of interest to be explored or a problem to be solved; in other words, you must have a goal or purpose. The second step is to set ground rules that encourage participants to be as spontaneous as possible and to not censor either their own ideas or those of others. This playful and uninhibited state is similar to the normal state of a child; where thought, actions and reactions flow automatically without prescreening. Later in the brain storming process, one uses methods to cull the ideas down to the ones that are most promising and feasible. But that part is typical adult analytical behavior, and not as challenging as the previous step.

In order to function effectively in our complex social organizations, beginning with the family, then school and work; we have learned well how to control and limit our spontaneity and to conform to established norms. Therefore, regressing to that spontaneous, child-like state that is necessary for generating creative ideas can feel unnatural and even dangerous. And to be able to do so on a daily basis is quite challenging. So how do we develop the discipline of creativity?

I find it helpful to have a framework for this challenge. In my framework, creativity is the beginning of innovation, and innovation is one of The 7 Dimensions of Wisdom. These are seven buckets of skills or competencies that have been shown by research to support success at work and in personal life. I use the acronym SOPPHIA (S-O-P-P-H-I-A), which means wisdom in Greek, to represent these 7 Dimensions of Wisdom. In examining creativity, I focus on two of these dimensions: P for Purpose, and I for Innovation.

Purpose is important in developing creativity as a discipline, because as we saw in brain storming, it’s important to have a goal or area of interest to focus on. Becoming clear about one’s life purpose, calling, and career goals provides both motivation and direction to creativity. It can take quite a bit of work and ongoing refinement to find and stay with your purpose, and to connect your daily activities to that purpose. But once you’ve made progress with this, creativity flows more easily.

Within the framework of your purpose, you can make creative a daily disciplined activity. Some days may be more productive than others, but practicing each day develops your ability to be creative. It requires setting aside the time, and inducing a relaxed but alert state of mind. Perhaps physical relaxation exercises or meditation would work for you; or another possibility is if you play a musical instrument or have some other kind of play activity that is relaxing rather than stressful. After you get into that relaxed alert state, then allow ideas to flow without self-censorship. The ideas may come as images, words or phrases; or observations about the social or physical world that seems to have energy, and to attract and hold your attention. You may not know why but you keep going back to them like a mysterious trinkets you’ve found. Their value is initially unclear. They may just have meaning and value for you personally or they may be the keys that unlock the universe. Perhaps the idea begins with a concept written about or discussed by someone else that strikes you as particularly salient. Then you integrate it with others things that you’ve been reflecting on and it becomes something new and different.

We exist in a continual bath of particles of energy and matter that we can’t see. Similarly, we are surrounded by a flow of events and circumstances, both external and within ourselves that have the potential to produce creative ideas; but often we can’t perceive them. We can discipline ourselves to be good receptive instruments for creative ideas through practice.

I’m Dr. Bernard Brookes. What does creativity mean to you? Let me know at www.sopphia.com .

Are You “In The Zone” Or Just Staying In Your Comfort Zone?

In the zone is the experience of flow, where an athlete, musician or other performer operates at a very high level, with heightened perceptions of the present, and a sense of almost effortless control and joy. This happens after getting out of your comfort zone and stretching yourself to meet a challenge that is at the upper end of your skill level. Is there risk in reaching higher? Sure there is. But there is also risk in stagnation.

We call it graceful, when an athlete, dancer or musician can execute complex physical maneuvers and make it all look so easy. But that grace is a result of rigorous and persistent practice, until the information needed for performance is encoded in the limbs or fingers themselves, and the brain has little to do except to experience the joy of movement and the emotional meaning of what is being communicated.

What keeps us from all becoming as graceful in our particular roles as we are capable of being? There are many skills that can enable us, and the lack of them can block us. I organize them into seven buckets, called the The 7 Dimensions of Wisdom. I use the acronym SOPPHIA (S-O-P-P-H-I-A), which means wisdom in Greek, to represent those seven dimensions. Let me focus right now on two of these seven: P for Presence and A for Assurance. Presence is the ability to be effectively in the present, not distracted by the past, future or other concurrent events. Assurance is the ability to endure and to persevere, even when everything says you can’t succeed.

You may have noticed this pattern in yourself when you engage in an activity regularly. I’ve observed it in myself when exercising or playing the flute. When you begin the activity, you feel distant from it and not quite in sync. This is a lack of presence or engagement. After this warm-up period, your breathing and body movements become smoother and more synchronized, and you become more present in the moment. The activity become enjoyable and you want to continue.

After a while you become tired and/or distracted, and you want to stop the activity. This is where Assurance comes in. Assurance is a belief in or commitment to something, which produces a sense of comfort during painful or challenging situations. This sense of comfort enables us to endure and to persevere through the pain. From my experience with performing music and exercising, if you persist beyond the tiredness and discomfort with an attitude that is both focused and relaxed, you reach a new level where you are energized and the activity again becomes enjoyable, and you feel able to continue almost indefinitely. This is getting out of your comfort zone and moving towards being in the zone.

The pattern that I’ve described after you get past being tired, is similar to what happens when someone is in a state of flow, or in the zone. The difference is that the “in the zone’ experience usually happens when the situation is more intense and the stakes are higher, such as in a live performance; particularly one that is very important, such as a championship game. This pattern exists not just in the performing arts and sports, but in many other kinds of activities, such as at work or in your personal life.

The only chance of getting to the point of flow or being in the zone, and the superior levels of performance that go with it, is to first get out of your comfort zone. It requires developing the discipline of being present, and the assurance needed to endure and to persevere through the pain and discomfort, to reach the joy and grace of superior performance.

What are your thoughts about comfort zone and being in the zone? Let me know at www.sopphia.com.

Are You Still Looking for the Wizard of Oz?

Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we often have a powerful sense that there is a place in our life that we need to get to. Perhaps it’s someplace where we can engage in work that is a true expression of ourselves, and that is simultaneously valued by others; or a place where we can be comfortably at home with ourselves; or where we can love and be loved in relationships that work well. Like Dorothy, we follow the yellow brick road and have all kinds of mishaps and adventures, as we look for the wizard who will have the answers, and who will be able to make us smart enough, courageous enough, and compassionate enough to be happy with ourselves and also to be successful in other people’s eyes.

As we all know from the story, the wizard turned out to be a fake, and Dorothy could actually have gone home to Kansas at any time just by clicking her heels. What would it mean if we really believed that getting to that place of peace and fulfillment is within our own power, and doesn’t require waiting for anyone else to take an action to benefit us? If we truly believed this and started acting on it beginning NOW; the change might begin in our thinking, dreaming, and imagination; and in the productivity of our creative ideas. Perhaps there are limits that we have unknowingly put on our creativity, because we were afraid to mentally step over certain lines. Or maybe we have been limited in how we interact with people in ways that keep our work or personal relationships from being as successful as they could be.

As we begin to explore an expanded universe of possibilities, it’s helpful to have a global positioning system, a GPS, that helps us to know where we are. This GPS should be flexible enough to allow us as much freedom as we need, while at the same time providing a framework that stimulates our thinking and creative imaginations. What I’ve found helpful is to integrate the ancient concept of wisdom with the social scientific concept of competencies. This has resulted in a model called SOPPHIA, The 7 Dimensions of Wisdom. Sophia is the Greek word for wisdom, and the acronym SOPPHIA (with two P’s) represents seven sets of competencies or skills that have been shown by research to help people achieve success in their work and personal lives.

Let’s look at four of these dimensions that cover much of what creates both opportunities and challenges in our work and personal lives. These are represented by the letters S, O, P and I in SOPPHIA. The S is for Self, the O for Others, the P for Purpose, and the I for Innovation. By Innovation, I mean not just having creative ideas, but being able to develop them into activities, services or products that generate social value. This requires good skills in communicating and working with Others. Skills for reflecting about yourSelf and managing your own emotions obviously impact your ability to relate well to Others. Finally, being clear about your life Purpose, is what gives direction to your self-development efforts.

Using these four dimensions of wisdom (Self, Others, Purpose and Innovation) as axes to get coordinates in the GPS of our creative imagination, let’s go back to the metaphor of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy was looking to get home. Let’s assume that getting home for you means finding your true vocation; the work in which you can express yourself and be fulfilled. Perhaps this involves building a business, or working on particular kinds of activities within an organization, or working as in independent professional. In any case, clarifying your main Purpose is a good place to start. Sometimes we focus on a result, like making a certain amount of money and end up trapped in a work or business structure that provides income but is mostly unsatisfactory. A better approach is to look back at your history and find the things that you have enjoyed doing, that you are good at, and that could potentially benefit others. From there, you can narrow the field down to some core interrelated activities.

Once you’re clear about your Purpose, you’ll want to work on the Innovation process. You must generate some ideas within your area of interest, that you could develop into signature activities, services or products that represent the unique value that you can provide to a customer or an employer. In many cases, these will be improvements on existing services or products; that represent your personal value-added approach. It could be simply, for example, the particular way that you interact with customers, that expresses your unique personality, and makes them feel truly listened to and cared for. Whatever the spark of the idea that you begin with, it’ll need to be further and continuously developed with the help of other people.

As you proceed down the path of Innovation and achieving your Purpose, you’ll find that the main limiting factors are skills in the dimensions of Self and Others. This is usually called emotional intelligence, and has been shown to have a greater impact than cognitive or mental intelligence on producing successful work results. Self-awareness and self-management skills and people skills are unlimited and sustainable resources, waiting for you to explore and develop. You can be helped most in this development by the right coaches or mentors. Coaches and mentors aren’t wizards who can give you the answers, but facilitators who can help you to find them for yourself.

Let me know what you think about all this at www.sopphia.com.

Haiti: Compassion Survives the Horror

Can you imagine a world where everyone watched the horror of dead bodies piling up on the streets in Haiti, and no one did anything to help? Before you reply that this would never happen, let me remind you of the high school students at a dance who watched for two hours while a female student was gang-raped in the back of the school. And similar incidents have been reported on city streets in the US. Therefore, we shouldn’t take for granted the world-wide outpouring of compassion and assistance that is happening in response to the death and devastation left by the Haitian earthquake.

It is sad and frustrating that death is moving so rapidly, while the forces of life seem to move in slow motion. It’s taken precious days for a US hospital ship to be prepared, and it’ll take another week or so for it to get to Haiti. But along with the frustration and sadness, I feel gratitude that human beings are still capable of responding viscerally with compassion and reaching out to help; whether it’s sending money or going as part of search, rescue and medical teams.

In the day-to-day pressure of life, our concern is usually narrowed to our own affairs and to those close to us; and we can forget that we will actually hurt when strangers are suffering and dying. We make our calculations and decisions and take actions based on this amnesia. In fact, we’ve built our entire economic system on proud self-interest, and made it into an almost religious principle: If we each pursue our own self-interest, somehow magically, the invisible hand makes everything fair and alright for the common good.

There is no doubt that self-interest is an essential motivator of human action and has to be one of our foundational principles. But we shouldn’t have to experience the horror of death and suffering such as in Haiti, to temporarily remind us that the principle of compassion is just as fundamental. It so happens that at this very time, we are in the process of rebuilding a world economic system that has been devastated by our sacred principle of self-interest (actually greed). We shouldn’t be considered soft-headed if we insist on building a new world economic system and community that proudly elevates compassion to the same level that we put self-interest, as foundational principles. Disasters like in Haiti should remind us that self-interest and compassion are not polar opposite, but are part of the same human picture, if we only have the vision to see it.

What do you think? Let me know at www.sopphia.com

How Do You Hear and Get Heard With 100 Million People Talking?

It’s been shown that if you get a number of people working together on the same problem, they’re more likely to find a solution than if each one was working alone. So here is the problem in the form of a question: How do you hear and get heard with 100 million people talking? It’s both a practical question and a philosophical one. With the social web, everyone’s now a potential publisher and a video producer. The 200 million or more blogs and web sites out here in cyberspace create a world of possibilities; but how much genuine communication is there actually going on?

Let’s start with the belief that today is a new opportunity to make at least a little bit better, whatever we didn’t get right up to yesterday. So in the next few minutes, let’s see if we can roll that rock just a little further down the road towards mutual understanding.

Let’s start with a blank page and a blank mind, hearing only the sounds of the neurons idling in each of our brains. Let’s allow ourselves the freedom to think, not just with words, but with images, sounds, smells, tastes, sensation or whatever. Let go of even the idea of time. Also, don’t be afraid to let go of your pet ideas and obsessions. Don’t worry, they’re like your fingerprint or DNA, and they’ll find their way into anything you imagine. Now think again of the question: How do you hear and be heard with 100 million people talking?

Here’s what came to my mind:

1. Be clear about your purpose: Why communicate? For me, it’s to clarify my own thoughts and perceptions about myself, others and the world; to market my vision of reality to others; to hear some new ideas or possibilities that I hadn’t considered; for the fun and pleasure of it, like playing music with other people; it’s rewarding in and of itself.

2. Remember that communication is like conversation. Who’re you really interested in talking with? People are more likely to be interested in hearing you if you’re truly interested in them.

3. Use what you have: Whatever gets to the core of your own creative and emotive energy is what is most likely to motivate you to produce something that others will find valuable. Be passionate but open minded.

4. Be generous even if you are in need: Approaching people with a spirit of authentic generosity rather than neediness or greed is most likely to elicit a positive response.

5. Be humble: Acknowledge that there is so much more that you need to learn about what makes genuine communication happen:

So that’s what came to my mind And what did you come up with? I’m really interested in hearing. Reach me at www.sopphia.com