It's great to see all your familiar names signing into the conversation list. And welcome to all you new folks too. This week I thought it would be interesting to open the conversation about Mastery.
But before I do, just want to share today what I wasnt ready to share last week. "I miss you sooo much Thomas". Last week, February 11, was the one year anniversary of the death of one of my most challenging and provocative teacher/mentors, Thomas J Leonard. Many of you know him and feel the same way. For those who dont, you can find some of his prolific writing at Coachville.com. It's free to be a member and on the member pages you'll find a lot of wonderful growth and development programs he created. Check out the 3 Step Trainings in particular.
Thomas had the rare gift of translating complicated spiritual concepts into the language of business so that businesses and entrepreneurs could thrive on experiences of generosity, harmony, creativity, flow, etc. and not need to do a 3 year retreat to get there. He was the kind of Master who was in your face if you weren't genuine or awake to what you were saying and doing. You loved him for it and hated the process. But under his tutoring, working for and with him for about 2 years, I grew more than in the previous 15 years of other spiritual trainings. He was a Master in the world of ego development AND transcendence. He always reminded me of what Carl Jung taught as well, that you need to develop your ego before you can transcend it. Programs like "Perfect Life", "Extreme Self-Care", "Tolerations Free" "Need-Less", and more, all indulged the ego to such a degree that after a while you were really ready for something bigger and better than ego. You were ripe to evolve. Teachings that urge you to surrender ego before you deeply know it and consciously indulge it simply take too long to master. There is always resistance...in my humble opinion. There is resistance when it's ripe too..but much less.
What I loved most about Thomas was he never used language from traditional spiritual teachings. He was a master at consistently using language that didnt get in the way of helping all levels of people evolve personally and professionally. If you truly want to know what mastery is...check out the life and teachings of Thomas J. Leonard at www.thomasleonard.com .
And for another slice of the mastery pie: Lee Coit writes this about mastery, in Listening...Still, "Too much emphasis placed on understanding instead of practicing can lead to frustration and denial because understanding is not accomplishment. If you cannot do it well consistently, you have not attained mastery". Coaches going for IAC certification take note! All of us who read and read and talk and talk but dont spend hours a day practicing, we're just kidding ourselves if we think we are mastering anything.
And why bother to go for mastery of anything? Because we can. Because humanity will evolve further if just one of us does. Because one person matters...a lot. Just one of us can raise the bar for others. And that is an amazing legacy.
So, who has another piece of this pie? And how do these pieces I offer you taste?
Thanks for being here.
anna
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