“Only super-efforts count.” ~ G.I.Gurdjieff
And what do super-efforts mean in this context? Those that are creative and innovative, conscious and intentional, as well as relevant and grounded in experience. And what does this require? It takes Awareness. And Awareness does not come down to earth and to become REAL without Communications.
Communication. This concept really needs no definition. We all know what it is and do this regularly every day in many different circumstances, like breathing. And also realize how closely communicating is connected to speech and to the breath. We so often take it all for granted, things like breathing and communicating, often proceeding through our days engaged in autopilot and robotically: Personally, when it comes to our well-being and relationships and professionally as we go about our business. Most of our work and most of our connections are founded on how we have woven the fabric of our communications that emerge from our breaths and from our pens and fingertips on keyboards, all of which are carrying our thoughts through words. A feat which is really extraordinary if we dare to think about it.
Because communication is the fabric of our symbolic and meaning-making existence, that’s where the philosophical idea that only our ‘super-efforts count,’ makes sense. That if we are an awakened, activated human being, acting consciously in what we do and say, with aliveness and intention, with a deep understanding of how we communicate and what we communicate, that this ‘super-effort’ will make every bit of difference to our influence to our outcomes, to our relationships and to our work.
So, if we emerge from autopilot into our full aliveness and creativity, we are more likely to come into a whole, new relationship with these very communications and our potential to achieve greater impact in what we do. We enter into a sort of mystic dance that bridges our inner and outer worlds.
A miraculous quality that we have as human beings is that we are symbolic animals who tell stories. Even since Paleolithic times, our ancestors began telling stories around campfires. I can imagine the people of Lascaux during the ice age, covered up in hides and huddled around fires, listening to stories of the hunt, while the fires cast shadows on the images of the animals with multiple legs, creating the first rough hewn animations. What an innovation for this period! The awe this must have inspired with the inner world of imagination joining the symbols and tales recounted.
In Man and His Symbols, Carl Jung reminds us, “The history of symbolism shows that everything can assume symbolic significance: nature objects (like stones, plants, animals, men, mountains and valleys, sun and moon, wind, water, and fire) or man-made things (like houses boats or cars), or even abstract forms (like numbers, or the triangle, the square, and the circle). In fact, the whole cosmos is a potential symbol.” So symbolism is perhaps a sort of primal fire that enlightens our thoughts and words—bringing life, wonder, awe, and maybe even purpose and meaning into them, and can take us from our deepest most elemental consciousness to our most forward-thinking, voyaging inner maverick.
“More understanding with our own history and mythology makes us more capable of understanding and communicating with others.” ~ Jean Luc Picard
Awareness. How do we awaken a renewed sense of aliveness, wonder and magic in our communications? That’s where awareness comes into play. Awareness of what matters, of symbolism, of important connections, of story as our roadmap. Joining together where we are going and the strategies needed to implement them in the specific domains in which we are working together. It starts with breathing in and breathing out.
On the In-breath. Our Inspiration requires breathing life and light through awareness of our breath and intentions, the vitality of our connections, our shared influences, symbols and meanings, and helps us on the in-breath to move together toward our source of creativity, toward our best idea generator and integrator of knowledge. When we do this, we go to what Jung would call “the organizing center from which the regulatory effect stems [which] seems to be a sort of ‘nuclear atom’ in our psychic system.” And part of what we do at Awareness Communications™ is to help you to connect with this deep center within yourself, bringing your external experiences through the filter of this ‘nuclear atom’ that generates new meaning, insights and epiphanies… those aha! Moments.
On the Out-breath. Our Expiration involves the steps we take and communications we make toward giving back something important into the world, through sharing our ideas in story and symbol, moving toward innovations, enlightening solutions that can lead to the small victories we are seeking each day and the major victories we accrue over time.
Finding a way to realize and connect with each of our in-breaths and out-breaths each day and to bring mindful awareness to what we are breathing and taking in from the world, even in our communications, and what we are giving out and sharing with the world on our out breath, and keeping our inner and outer worlds in balance, represent the art of practicing Awareness Communications™. I look forward to serving you with awareness and helping you to develop your own.