What is Really Possible?

A topic of interest relates to a dog, Sassy, who I take out walking Saturday's and Sunday's. When I took up the assignment, I was warned about the dog, a Jack Russell Terrier, and her behavioral problems. Avoid other dogs, hang tight around squirrels, she's very aggressive, and so on. Everything I heard sounded wrong; it didn't sit well with me as I listened to all of these instructions. Curious and rebellious towards the negative perceptions I decided to observe what was going on with Sassy rather than take everyone's word. This results in a remarkable story of transformation.

The first couple of walks I proceeded cautiously, allowing her to experience close-calls with other animals so I could observe what was happening. Then I purposely allowed contact during subsequent walks, always being cautious and watchful around her behavior. Oddly, with some dogs she reacted and others she didn't. When she did I would assert Alpha dominance - canine pack behavior - and let her know it was wrong and immediately followed that with comfort that everything was fine. This also included me greeting and engaging with the other animal so she understood fully from the experience that her safety and my safety were not in question.

In addition to this, this Jack Russell was only managing to get a 30 minute walk, morning and evening, for minimal exercise and a bathroom break. This is insufficient physical, mental, and emotional stimulation for the animal. Even though only paid for 30 minute walks, I took it upon myself to go further, expose her to more stimulii and activity. We discovered she loves swimming in the ocean, she loves chasing balls and sticks - the sticks she loves to chew into bits & pieces too. I even discovered towards the end of our time working together that she manages just fine off-leash and will follow along long walks with rarely a mishap - she is a dog who loves chasing squirrels after all. Sassy, I'm told, is 13 years old and we've all been told you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Well, guess what?

Not only did we experience the transformations mentioned above, we also watched her confidence and a calmness return to her reality. All she needed was someone to take leadership with her and to observe and understand the emotional response - flight or fight - that was occuring. Knowing the reason for the emotional response offers insight - not really necessary to bring about change - and patient love and attention turned it around. As all those immediate concerns vanished, we could venture on walks and take on new adventures. This is where, in addition to the transformation she'd already experienced, I began to do some obedience training and to teach her new tricks. In two very short weeks she would roll over on command about 80% of the time. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

People make assumptions and adopt beliefs all the time about what is happening in reality. Just because there seems to be a justification for the situation (the Jack Russell had been viciously attacked in her younger years), there is always a cause and effect at play that can be challenged and transformed. This experience resulted in a remarkable story of transformation that is really nothing like a transformation at all. It's more of a coming home and being as a dog is meant to be. This causes me to think of what it means to be human, what we're meant to be, and what might happen if people really had the freedom in their lives to be that picture of freedom and playfulness, or authenticly being. Better yet, what if we slowed down enough to offer the attention and authenticity with each other, our families, our children, and our colleagues? Enough with the meds already!

More another time. Peace & Love
________________

Lee Down is a professionaly trained Coach committed to the awakening and development of the human spirit. One Man Can wants to inspire and empower your life, your relationships, and your world.

Award Winning Blogger Voted Best Blog and Best Blogger

A member of a variety of blogging communities, (Mindsay, Blogspot, Yahoo 360, MSN Spaces, Bolt, Tagworld, Care) I have used my Mindsay blog extensively to play with my writing and express myself. Much of the writing that populates my business site originate at my Mindsay blog first. Then I cross-post to my blogspot account and a few ezine article sites. Since blogspot and ezine sites meet the needs for my business site, my Mindsay blog had remained private allowing me to express myself however I may need during the ups and downs of life. In other words, it's not all pretty and inspiration, it does have darkness and despair just like all of our lives do at times.

August 12, 2006 I was notified that my personal blog at Mindsay had just been voted The Best Blogger of Mindsay. Wow! How about that! Here is that announcement:

I am picky about my readings. I don't waste my time on blogs that have no special message to give. Amongst the nominees there was a few very great writers, who I think will be published at a time or another, and deserve to be published. However there was one blog that I thought was in a league of it's own, and deserved win hands down. I wasn't sure if he would appreciate this, but then I read his entry titled "I have fans" in which he stated appreciation being an inspiration, which we all know is true. Sometimes a writer can be so good, that we start thinking that he or she won't care what we think of their writing, and choose not to say anything.

So. We're talking about a he here. Why I chose him is:

His writing is very insightful, easy to read, yet complex and strong. He creates an aura of trust, and puts down words that are inspirational and helpful. He's humorous and down to earth, even though his wisdom clearly puts him in the category of leaders. I'm very glad I came across this blog, and will be waiting for an update impatiently from now on.

So let me give you the Best Blogger of Mindsay: leedman

Congratulations, and I'll be contacting you about your award

If you are interested in the background this link will offer some links into the history.

Taking a Big Blow

I wrote a poem last year or so reflecting on experience of my marriage and divorce. I called it A Big Blow. Today, a recent addition to my social network, Raja, a singer / songwriter himself, saw this poem and quickly turned it into a song. Within an hour the music was solid and then three takes later, sitting in my living room, with a laptop audio program and a crappy mic we captured the following song. I hope you enjoy it.

audio:A Big Blow
by leedman

Gratitude Excites Life

Getting excited about life can sometimes seem elusive when we're dealing with many challenges and the associated stress. We always want to experience the best that life has to offer. At times, this preference may have us trying to avoid the challenges life throws our way. Regardless of my preference though, life seems to proceed and the challenge is survived. Along the way, as multiple challenging life situations are simply allowed to co-exist, I discovered an important quality that sustains and fuels my spirit. Not only does this quality help with the journey through difficulty, it also attracts positive experiences that can act as a counter-balance. Find out what this quality is here.

God's Will & The Meaning of Life

I had fun writing this last year and came back to revisit it today. What drew me back to it are a number of conversations within my coaching community and my social network. I made some sublte changes for readability - the essence and message remain. Allow this to be bigger than mere words can offer.

Love is the Force behind all of Creation and it is the same driving force that inspires human-beings to pursue. I recall when I was a regular attendee at church and new to the Christian faith that the conversation around God's Will came up quite often. In transition myself, this was an urgent issue for me at that time. Often, other members would tell me to seek God's Will for my life and when I asked what that meant I never received an adequate explanation of any kind. Scripture would be quoted, that God had a plan and purpose, be a missionary, be happy in whatever work you do, don't be too demanding, and a plethora of other sorts of replies.

Since leaving the church, I continued a spiritual journey of sorts - after a lengthy break - that saw me delve into the quantum field to understand more about the nature of the universe and matter. It saw me explore other spiritual teachings and teachers, and finally, it saw me sit within my own being to discover what truths would rise from within. Much of what I have written here and included on my web site are what have arisen from within.

Christians continually come into my daily life, in fact more than one of my clients come from various Christian perspectives and I successfully coach them within the context of their belief system. A dear friend of mine, having a similar path of both spirituality and life's tragedies has exposed me to other insights into the history of Christianity. For example, around 800A.D. is when the word God came into use as a missionary attempted to convey a name to Germans for God based upon the original names used in the middle-east countries languages. God meaning Good - and more encompassing than that.

The middle-east languages meaning have a wider definition for what God is than what the western world has done with the concept of God. This is all based upon a lecture I heard by a Christian-based scholar and speaker. In Aramaic, the language, culture, education and simplicity of the common people to whom Jesus spoke has a significant and richer meaning than what the scriptures and prayers have come to mean in our western culture. I was fascinated by this particular talk because it really resonated with many of the shifts I had gone through as well.

For example, the Lord's Prayer, in Aramaic, contains subtle and important differences in meaning, translation, and interpretation from the standard Lord's Prayer that most Christians might be accustomed to following. Where we use the phrase 'God's Will be done,' the word Will is not how society commonly interprets the definition of Will.

A more accurate translation is God's Pleasure, or God's Delight, and could even be as my thoughts provoked, as God's Desire. In this context it becomes clear that the sense of the meaning is to do what brings God Joy. Within this context, and confirmed within the content of this lecture, God's Will is to see us in a state of Love and functioning from a state of Love. So here's a statement to help anyone who is wondering about God's Will for their life:

His delight is the expression of Love manifested in you, in your actions, in your relationships, and in the creative passion that you shine forth in service to all of the world and existence.

As I completed capturing these thoughts on paper at the lecture, it also dawned on me that the meaning of life becomes apparent: Love.

See a related article: Discovering Your Path and Truth - Kingdom of Heaven is Near

Latest Design Work

Front and back images of the business card I designed for Little Buddies Pet Care. I also did their website, although the theme here that they've opted for would be great to incorporate into their website too.

Frontside of Card

Backside

And this next one, I've been asked to do this coach's website. He had a logo image but the quality was quite poor, very grainy, and a lot of debris littering the background around the text and ellipse. This was due to scanning a business card to create what he wanted and having someone doctor it up in Photoshop. In this case, I took the design and recreated it from scratch using Adobe Illustrator. Not a difficult job really - Just rewarding to have crisp, clean images based upon the concept he was drawn to rather than scanning an already fuzzy image.

Work on his website will begin this next coming week.

If you have any design issues, would like a logo, business card, or website, contact me and we can talk. The methods I use provide exceptional value in a high-priced industry. I show you how to save and take control once the job is done.

Web Design, Business Card Design, Web Copywriting

Twenty years ago I began doing creative design work on the first Mac computer. Much of what we enjoy with the internet originated with a program called Hypercard on the Mac platform. They led the field in wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) and in gui (graphic user interface) setting the standard we enjoy today.

One of the things I remember from that time is the idealism of all the techies involved in the industry during the 80's. People got involved in the those days with the inspiration of shorter work-weeks, more personal freedom, a new avenue of creativity, and much more. It was an exciting time as I became more and more involved with developing and implementing solutions for user groups within a national corporation of over 60,000 employees nationwide, moving billions of pieces of mail every year! What a time and place for the mind to explode with possibilities!

I had been asked many times in the past to assist with the design and implementation of websites for fellow coaches. I felt okay about helping to a point when someone already had a site and just needed maintenance. Since then, my own website maintenance evolved to the recreation and fine-tuning my own site while learning and keeping up-to-date on the technology, search engines, and effective online marketing techniques. Pragmatic and idealistic, content is King!

If content is King then you need to have the ability to maintain and control your website content with great ease and comfort. Why pay someone when you can do it yourself? You already know how to use Microsoft Word, an email program, possibly you've been blogging already, but you've learned your way around a computer. Courageous to a fault, you know to backup your hard-drive, your important files, and how to reformat and reinstall your operating system and applications back onto your computer. If you don't, I highly recommend you make it a point to become acquainted. These skills are invaluable in developing a sense of confidence when learning new things on a computer. Knowing how to rebuild what you destroy removes all fear of messing up! So much like life.

Having the skills myself and working in tech for so many years, I have a comfort level with learning. The process takes more time as it isn't a full time occupation - or hasn't been - and I juggled writing, coaching, part-time work, and life while maintaining and deepening my website design and development skills. Even so, there are still so many exciting things to learn! Recently, a shared success with my fellow coaches came at an opportune time in the disguise of creating a website for Little Buddies. What you see is the complete creation of their website from the knowledge acquired about the two of them, their business, interests, and concerns, as well as a business card.

The site information and pages were organized in my mind as I came to understand them and their business. I applied my background within the tech during the systems-development days, where our team primarily served the customer service, human resources, and sales & marketing departments information systems needs. It's the language and fun of my career past that serves me well in achieving a fulfilling experience for my client and myself.

I am currently finalizing the business card design for these gentleman. It's smooth, cool, crisp, and fun business card design came about through a collaborative brainstorming hour where mock-ups were played with in Microsoft Powerpoint. Even though color blind, the color code id's give me the freedom to create collaboratively with the client and delivering exactly what they want. Seeing the net effect of the almost finalized design is a thrilling ride of joy and excitement as the creative process unfolds. Play time for work, who could have asked for anything better?

In the coming month, I anticipate completion of two other web projects and I'm looking forward to doing more. Creative freedom, creative collaboration, and witnessing the birth of a vision into form is an exquisite journey of metaphor for life and its joys. Reminders that what we're about is important. Let me help you tell the world!

I can be contacted directly at lee.down (at) onemancan.ca and One Man Can is my website. My site is buggy - it's a massive time hog to recreate and that is my goal. In the meantime, I keep adding pages from what already exists perpetuating a number of kinks that developed over time. To go back and fix everything is also very labour intensive, so I prefer to start from scratch and do it right the first time, much like I did for Little Buddies. You can expect the same commitment with your site and when it is handed over, you'll learn directly from me how to maintain your site without fear! My own experience with my site has been a great learning project and the final fruits will be so appreciated once the resurrection is complete. It will contain four corners: Coaching; Web Design & Consulting, Published Writer, vacant. I have so much life to embrace!

Best wishes and much love, Lee

One Man Can (make a difference)

Medic! Medic! Helping the Wounded

On the battlefield a fallen soldier will often lay there near death, expecting death, when a comrade will stop and offer comfort and aid. Encouraging and strengthening his fallen comrade simply through comfort, the yell will follow, "Medic! Medic!" as help is sought that will bring the wounded soldier the medical attention that is needed. There are times when death will come too quickly or help will come too late. When the help comes in the right time, the medical attention will quite often save the life of the fallen comrade and life goes on.

As observance is given to happenings in society today, I am left with the sense that too often we pass by the wounded soldiers lying on the battlefield of life. Life can be a struggle for many people for a variety of reasons. It's easy to wipe our hands of responsibility, laying blame through our judgment, thinking 'you made your bed, now lie in it!' This scapegoat thinking dismisses the fact that people make the best choices possible with the information that is available to them. It dismisses the fact that not everyone has had the best opportunities available to them or the fullest access to their own personal power in making choices.

A young man, wet behind the ears, full of vim and vigor, races into the world to discover, to live, and to enjoy. Read more...

Take it Back!

"Take it back," the little boy yelled! His friend just stared at him with an expression of hurt for 12 seconds before apologizing.

"I'm sorry Stu. I take it back, I didn't mean it really."

"Still friends?"

"Still friends."

That initial reaction to hurting words is much more valid than we give ourselves permission to own. Words have power. They impact us on an energetic level and we feel them physically and emotionally. Whether positive or negative, we experience the wonder of communication on a level beyond the auditory delivery. We all need to be honest with ourselves regarding our intentions and use of words.

Walking through the city streets I'm always observant of my surroundings and the people. People fascinate me, often times in a grotesque horrible sort of way. The insanity, the games, the violence, and the struggle for power between people is an ugly mirror of the darkness that lives within us all. That darkness is created by us, either through action or inaction. Our society is what it is and we all have room to grow.

Seeing the interaction of verbal abuse between people, it is easy to experience the effect that exchange of energy is having between the two people. Stu's reaction in the dialogue above demonstrates the true response to a verbal attack. On a deeper knowing level the body's reaction to the assualt responds with the verbal command to take it back! The negative emotional energy behind the attack is wrong and it is wrong for both participants; we are connected.

Our energy flows as a life force within our being and is infinitely connected to the source of all life force. Abusive energy disrupts, corrupts , and weakens the life force in people in different ways, depending upon the influences experienced. This negative energy affects us and can easily be healed, hence the statement to take it back. Forgiveness and love have the remarkable ability to heal instantly if fully engaged. This is positive life force energy flowing and empowering.

Be honest with your words; to yourself and to others. You owe it to yourself really. You must feel that you deserve the best for your life. Even if you are discouraged, you must certainly feel a faint glimmer somewhere deep down that cries out for the best life has to offer. When shit happens, seize the opportunity! There is energy in that space for radical shifts that will bring positive change into your life - no matter how painful the experience may be. Engage with attitude, positive attitude! Show up, be available, and be honest.

One final note about being honest. Beyond the honesty of your words, be honest about who you are. Know yourself, your values, your boundaries, and your path. You'll encounter many people, temptations to drift and explore, and while they may all be great experiences, they could just as easily delay or keep you from the fullness of your brilliance manifesting itself. So many stories have yielded to many bright lights shining after long struggles with distractions and devastation. Engage with attitude, positive attitude! Show up, be available, and be honest.

Religion??? Harrumph!!!

Many know that I write a lot of articles and stories related to the human spirit, spirituality, and the human experience. Recently, I've been looking at teachings of various religions. It's my belief that a lot of the core values being taught resonate within all of us. Wisdom has a tendency to have that effect on us.

I also see how many in our society are at odds over religions and spirituality. It is for that very reason that I have always tried to find the middle ground that allows me to write something from a spiritual place without causing any offence. This hasn't always happened as I've lost some members of my entourage, newsletters, and relationships along the way. It's painful to the soul and heart when this happens.

I'm not here to tell anyone what they should believe where religion is concerned. Nonetheless, I do have a positive and powerful message for us all. So wherever you are in your own battle with relgiion and spirituality, if you have ever enjoyed any of my writing, put aside your judgement, park it at the curb, and come read a bit of wisdom.

This isn't about selling or debating your faith, religion, or anything. My writing is really to sell people on themselves! I'm venturing further into controversial subject matter than I ever have and it will sit well with some, might raise the hackles of others. If your hackles are raised, I again say, be curious about why and wonder what baggage you're carrying and then wonder what it is costing you? After all, I'm sharing this from my heart.

Without further ado....

Discovering Your Path and Truth
Kingdom of Heaven is Near

After a number of years with the Christian church, a decision to leave resulted in a deeper journey to self-discovery and spirit. Initially, this journey wanted nothing further to do with Christianity due to perceived shortcomings within the institution of religion. It is a belief that going deeper into the meaning and context of ‘What is the nature of love’ would expand consciousness to embrace more deeply the intent, nature, and teachings that Jesus offered.

After leaving the church, spiritual issues continued to tease consciousness as I fumbled through our modern culture wondering why - secular and religious communities alike - there appeared to be such a spiritual void in our society today. Further study into other religions provided a better understanding of other beliefs, cultures, and people, along with their origins. Studying quantum theory to a degree offered a better understanding of the science of creation. It is important to remember that science has done much to further substantiate religious teachings in many ways over the centuries. Coming back to review the New Testament, this new information offered a correlation between Jesus' teachings and how it fits with many values and beliefs.

Reflecting upon scripture, seeking deeper insight, a walk through a natural setting provided a nurturing atmosphere. Asking for further insight to the meaning of the red-letter phrase recorded in a gospel verse, great learning and perspective demonstrated more fully and simply what Jesus attempted to share with a society 2,000 years ago. This is important to realize as well. There would be no way that Jesus could elaborate his knowing to the people of that time in the context that we can achieve today. He was limited by the societal knowledge and context of that era. Farm people, common people, enslaved people, governed people, people with various religious beliefs and gods, Jews steeped in their religious history and socialization, and so on. He had no other choice than to speak their language.

Today, we have access to much more knowledge and language. So come read the rest of this exquisite reflection.

Anger: A Bridge over Troubled Waters

An interesting event occured yesterday that revealed anger to be an opportunity.

I was walking back home after an appointment downtown in the morning and had an encounter with a rude motorist. I gestured a "what gives" posture as I tried to cross at the intersection, on the pedestrian Go signal, only to recieve a tirade of emotions. Equal to the opportunity, I responded with equal stupidity and responded in kind. This is where it begins to get very interesting.

We're all familiar with road-rage and I can recognize that something bigger is happening than the event at hand that triggered the road-rage. Knowing this, after he drove off I continued on my way, along the same route he had disappeared. A couple of blocks away, seeing his vehicle parked I placed my business card in his window. Less than 30 minutes later I received a phone call full of venom and arrogance at my action.

With some perseverance, I stayed present and invoked the Divine into the conversation, knowing that my audience came from a rich background of religious culture. This calmed the situation remarkably, although his passionate response still attempted to re-escalate the situation. At one point, holding the phone away from my ear, I spoke into the phone and said, "If you keep interrupting me, I'm not going to be able to have this conversation." This welcomed an apology and he made room to allow me to speak as well.

The truth is, he made assumptions based upon his current beliefs, his current and past experiences, prejudices, and anger relating to all of these influences. And I asked, "Did it ever occur to you that I was placed in that situation with you this morning to teach you something that you needed to learn?" I know that I did feel that way for myself and I had seized the opportunity to learn and to build a bridge rather than allow the initial encounter to burn that bridge.

Now we're talking about having a coffee, about getting to know one another versus making assumptions and accusations, and I invited him to discover the hurt that causes his anger and how better to counter these influences that continue to cause him pain. This came about after asking him if he knew what was underneath, what was causing his anger. He acknowledged that a lot of painful things have occured in his life, causing him to become more and more reactive as a self-defense strategy. Fight or Flight.

The coming days we will see how this plays out. In the meantime, I learned a great deal about responding to someone else's venom and the opportunity to recognize that so much more is happening. This encounter is an opportunity to extend a hand and heart to have us learn and grow. It allowed the seed of peace.

As for how I turned this around: After he drove off, I invited the divine (in this case I asked the angel presiding over the situation) to take charge and allowed the higher power to speak into my heart. This simple act, be it real or a mind trick, simply parks the ego and allows communication and insight from the higher self or source. This provided courage and humility to see an opportunity and lo and behold, I see his car, placed my card,he called and I reached out to listen and seek peace.

It was a powerful experience and learning opportunity.

Everybody Hurts

Love and life are funny things that often bewilder us, creating feelings within our body that are not really caused by any physical injury. Take heartbreak for example. Heartbreak is not a pain caused by a physical injury to the heart. The pain we feel is an emotionally generated pain, triggered in part by our mind based upon an experience. And what about that chemistry that jazzed the both of you when you met? Then wonder, “what more?”

Just as suddenly as the juices got jazzed you find yourself running, laughing, playing, and enjoying a budding relationship. You can't believe you could be so lucky! You think about this miracle that came into your life throughout each day. You feel the energy in your body inspiring your life. You feel so alive! You know all of this though and realize you have to get through each day, keeping balance and perspective so you don't neglect other areas of your life. Too bad about that really, it would be great to just walk off into the sunset and not have to worry about the realities of life for awhile. "Give us some time" I'd say, knowing that in time we'll both come back to the planet looking to explore other avenues of our lives. Let's get back to reality though.

Now, I can only speak for myself and others like me. I don't fall in love to just walk away. Yet, too often, that is what we are required to do. As compatible as a relationship might feel or seem, timing could be everything. Someone's distortion could have their values out of whack. Knowing the inner-qualities of each other, you could have even been certain that you'd never be dropped for material reasons. This love, this woman, or this man, is deeper than that. It's there, in all the journals, in every conversation, in the eyes, and the vision for the future. Then life shows up and serves some humble pie.

Bad things happen to good people all the time. Someone is struck ill with a serious illness and before long the retirement savings are gone. The recovery can take months or even years, if at all - for some. The physical toll can be too great for some people to handle. The emotional stamina required to endure the trials may be to costly to another. The financial strain may threaten a required sense of security for others. For the person it is all happening to, it can have profound and life-changing impact.

Deep loss is experienced as an old identity passes away and a new identity comes into being. Death and birth, experiences equally bound in both pleasure and pain. Not just a physical death, a psychological death. Not just a physical birth, a metaphysical birth. Some people end up lost in the bottom of a bottle while others stab out the misery with a needle; both scenarios leading to more misery and death. These are just examples, the scenarios are limitless. Some recover, some don't. Death isn't the only thing that can kill you.

In spite of what we see on the streets and played out in the drama of each others' lives, miracles still happen all the time. These miracles happen even through the loss and in spite of loss. Someone may truly be gone forever and yet, someone else is saved as a result. An illness could miraculously disappear, leaving no trace of ever having been there. Financial ruin could bring two closer together, empowering and strengthening beyond what each could do individually. Important changes in society could come about as lives are radically changed through tribulation.

Too often judgment is heard spilling from lips of those who don't know or are arrogant. If you've ever fallen, why would you laugh at another who has fallen? You remember what it was like. You understand the pain and even the embarrassment you felt. You remember the judgment others threw in your face. Everybody hurts, sometimes. Judgment, ridicule, laughter, and self-righteousness are uncomfortable disguises of your own frailty. Bad things happen to good people all the time. It could happen to you. This is uncomfortable to admit. It recognizes your powerlessness to control every aspect of living your physical life on earth. You only control your response, reaction, your attitude.

This brings me full-circle, right back to heartbreak. Don't run away from love. Don't run away from loving another. Run away from fear. Run away from doubt. There is power in love and it is the only thing that you have in life that cannot be taken away. Health: Who knows when, if, what, or why, but you could be hit. Money: That balance sheet is all over the place and depends a lot on other circumstances that may be beyond your control. And what will you give up for that? Too many look for the bling without really seeing the stars. If you're wondering where to look, try deep into the eyes of the other.