Posts Tagged ‘Excellence’
EXCELLENCE & PERFECTION
Excerpt From A Coaching Letter - By David B. Wolf
“What is the distinction between excellence & perfection?”
One distinction that occurs to me in reading the above is that between demanding perfection and striving for excellence. Demanding perfection assumes some external standard and definition of perfection. Such a mentality, combined with ourselves and the world not conforming to this standard, is the source of a variety of distressing emotional and cognitive states. A consciousness of striving for excellence perceives perfection in the process of life itself as it unfolds and manifests, without needing to adhere to some externally defined conception of perfection. Striving for excellence is consistent with giving fully, be-do-have, and all the strategies for living. In such a consciousness we naturally support and challenge ourselves and others to ever-higher and deeper levels of character and performance. This is done from a platform of acceptance, joy and inspiration, not from a place of judgment, need or scarcity. In aspiring for excellence we naturally have expectations, though we are not emotionally attached to those expectations. Thus, our full and unconditional giving is not dependent on whether we or others meet those expectations. Whether the expectations are met or not, we’re not going to go into grungy resentment, hostility, hurt, etc. Rather, we continue to respond with compassion and with focus on personal growth for everyone.
EXCELLENCE
“Excellence is not just about the result but also about the effort — are you giving fully, are you fully present, are you driving your life from spirit/love or fear?”
David Wolf
EXCELLENCE
” Excellence is the result of caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, and expecting more than others think is possible.”
Sun Tzu
SATTVA AS A BASIS FOR SATISFACTION
Excerpt From Relationships That Work: The Power Of Conscious Living
- By David B. Wolf
As spiritual beings, a balanced and complete life includes cultivation of spirituality. Research has shown that spiritual practice correlates positively with better physical and mental health. Building spiritual habits entails scheduling time for spiritual practice, whether in the form of prayer, meditation, reading, attendance at congregational gatherings, silence or time with nature. If spiritual life is relegated to something we do if there is time after responding to our emails or completing household chores, it won’t happen.
A spiritual program that has worked for me for the past twenty-five years begins with rising early, by 4 or 5 a.m. This practice is itself invigorating. When I don’t do it, I definitely feel the difference. Another staple of my spiritual diet is about ninety minutes of early morning meditation. I have found that mantra meditation is most effective for me. The senses are centered around the mind, and mantra chanting engages several senses and abilities—including hearing, speech and touch, if the mantra is counted on beads such as a rosary. This makes it easier for our minds to focus on the vibration of the mantra. A mantra is a sound vibration that frees the mind (“mind” is derived from the first syllable of “mantra”) from material entanglement, from the modes of rajas and tamas, and elevates our existence to the spiritual platform. We have explored how we create our life with our words, and how our mode of speech determines the atmosphere of our internal and relationship world. Attentive mantra chanting is another means to spiritualize our life through sound vibration.
Jill Bormann has conducted research on mantra meditation with various populations including military veterans. She describes meditative time with a mantra as a “Jacuzzi for the mind. It’s something you can use to focus and calm yourself at a moment’s notice, and it doesn’t require money, it’s non-toxic, it’s inexpensive—a person just needs to practice it and make it a part of their lives.” Jill and other researchers have found that regular recitation of selected mantras significantly helps manage psychological distress and increase life satisfaction. The veterans with whom she worked chose from a variety of mantras from diverse traditions, such as Ave Maria and Ohm Shanti Rama.
My personal favorite mantra for meditation is one of India’s most beloved, The Maha Mantra, which goes Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Quantitative group and single-system research conducted by Dr. Neil Abell and myself has shown that chanting this mantra correlates with reduced stress and depression as well as with increased sattvic qualities such as peacefulness, fulfillment, emotional balance, mental clarity and sense of life purpose. Recitation of this mantra has been shown to be compatible for realization of our spiritual identity, supporting us in connecting with the innermost stratum of the living soul.
People are sometimes surprised that I spend more than two hours per day in direct spiritual practice, thinking that this would not leave sufficient time for other endeavors and projects. My experience, for over a quarter century, is that if I don’t devote at least two hours a day to activities such as chanting and reading spiritual literature, that connect me directly to spirit and to the source of my existence, then I actually have less time and energy to do things. My spiritual practice vitalizes and strengthens me, fills me with a sense of urgency about life, of not wanting to waste a moment. Also, spiritual practice, or sadhana, helps me to view and experience all my efforts in relation to God and spiritual development.
Each type of food has its characteristic mode. With reference to diet, sattva guna is complemented by foods that require a minimal amount of violence to obtain. Thus a vegetarian diet tends to increase our sattvic consciousness. There is a Buddhist aphorism— ahimsa paramo dharma—non-violence is the highest virtue. After witnessing the slaughter of an animal, Leo Tolstoy wrote, “This is dreadful!…that a man suppresses in himself, unnecessarily, the highest spiritual capacity—that of sympathy towards living creatures like himself…” To help us cultivate empathy and actualize refined spiritual consciousness, awareness of what we consume is vital.
We are influenced by the people we associate with, perhaps more than we realize. Developing sattvic habits and refining our character is facilitated by developing close relations with others who are similarly committed to the cultivation of self-realization. If we want to grow, to play a big game with our lives, it helps to surround ourselves with people who will support and challenge us to be the best that we can be. These are true friends who will not sell us short, and who actively encourage us to live in excellence. Just as a medical student will closely associate with other medical students to help achieve his or her goal, just as a businessperson interacts with other businesspeople, so an aspiring spiritualist seeks out the affiliation of like-minded spiritualists.
CLEAR INTENTION
Excerpt From A Coaching Letter Written By David B Wolf
“Clear intention” intrinsically means that we don’t know how the result will manifest. We may have a plan A, and a plan B. Even if all our plans fall through and don’t work, still we are clear that the result will occur. You say it very nicely- “Between effort and result there is a space.” There is no inherent connection. It is a mystic process, in the sense that the Supreme Mystic is the personal mechanism to fulfill clear intention. As described in Bhagavad-gita, causes for results include the senses, the endeavor, the doer, the place, and ultimately the Supersoul. Clear intention is a way of being that honors that divine space between action and result.
Clear intention, placing consciousness in results, and commitment, are ways of being. My understanding is that they are ways of being consistent with our spiritual nature. If we are committed to a result, and the outcome doesn’t manifest as we had hoped, this is an opportunity to look at ourselves, to examine what was in the way of my intention manifesting the results I desired, what is it about my consciousness such that the result is what it is, instead of something different and more satisfying. I know that you are taking this introspective track in your life, as evidenced in your letter, “obviously I need to look at myself.” So, whatever the results of our endeavors and intentions, it is healthy to look at ourselves to learn, improve and refine our character and efforts.
That said, even if we are completely situated in spiritual principles, fully fixed in clear intention, that doesn’t guarantee a result. I offer that that does maximize the possibility that the intended outcome will occur. Empathy is a way of being. Living in empathy maximizes opportunities for sweet, connected and satisfying relationships. Does it guarantee it? No. Assertiveness is a way of being, an integral element of our integrity. It doesn’t guarantee successful external results, though being assertive will very frequently be more effective than aggressiveness or excessive passivity. Stretch, growth, win/win, “on contract”, accountability, etc. – these are ways of being that facilitate a life of fulfillment, excellence and extraordinary results.
These ways of being are part of our integrity. Even in those circumstances when such ways of being don’t produce the external results we desire, internally we are in integrity, and that in itself is success, perhaps the greatest success.
EXCELLENCE IS A HABIT
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Aristotle
From Debra Sue Lynn
“I so relish the taste of mastery and excellence that permeated the course… I love poetry. The course stimulated poetry-in-motion – i.e. all styles, lengths, meters, euphony, cacophony – produced interesting and diverse strains of music, planting seeds of remembrance of who and what we truly are and the potential we all possess for reclaiming our divinity.”
Debra Sue Lynn
From William McLeod
I was resistant and skeptical to the idea of this at first. However, the reality of the immeasurable value of the course became apparent within the first three hours of the first day of the Foundational Seminar… This course has awakened potential within me I forgot I had. I want more! I would recommend it to everyone! Thank you!
Satvatove, Foundational Course, January 2010
Gainesville, Florida
Excellence
Below is an excerpt from a letter I wrote to a coaching client.
“With respect to ‘excellence’, I don’t regard this as something that is essentially expressed with some external result, though it could manifest that way. Excellence is a way of being. My perspective is that our responsibility is to live in correct principles, such as striving for excellence, empathy, assertiveness, be-do-have, clear intention, accountability and consciousness in the result. Living in those principles is itself success. We are not the Supreme Controller, and thus external results, in a sense, are not ultimately under our control. Living in alignment with principles of personal growth, we want to also cultivate healthy non-attachment from results. Such non-attachment is different from apathy. In non-attachment we give full effort, with deep caring.”
Written by David Wolf
Satvatove Values, Principles and Codes
These values, principles, and codes set forth standards by which Satvatove coaches, coach trainees, staff, facilitator trainees and facilitators may be held accountable, by clients, students, colleagues, and any member of society.
Values- Service, Integrity, Excellence, Dignity and inherent worth of every person, Accountability, Commitment, Human relationships, Personal Growth, Spiritual essence of all living beings, Self-determination.
Satvatove coaches, coach trainees, staff, facilitator trainees and facilitators behave in a trustworthy manner. They conduct themselves in a manner consistent with Satvatove’s values.
Satvatove coaches, coach trainees, staff, facilitator trainees and facilitators continually develop and enhance their expertise. They strive to increase their knowledge and skills and to apply them in their service to others. Additionally, Satvatove coaches and facilitators endeavor to contribute to the knowledge-base of the Satvatove mission.
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Coaches, coach trainees, staff, facilitator trainees and facilitators represent themselves as qualified only within the framework of their education, training, certification or other relevant experience. Satvatove coaches, coach trainees, staff, facilitator trainees and facilitators should provide services and use techniques or approaches only after engaging in appropriate study, training and supervision.
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Satvatove staff, coaches, coach trainees, facilitator trainees and facilitators encourage persons involved with Satvatove Institute to continue their involvement with Satvatove programs, with due consideration of which programs will be beneficial for each person.
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Those who represent Satvatove respect the creative and written work of others and they do not misrepresent such work as their own.
Certified Satvatove Coaches, Certified Satvatove Seminar Facilitators, coach-trainees, facilitator-trainees and seminar staff members acknowledge and understand their ethical responsibilities to clients, colleagues, and to the public-at-large. They understand that others expect them to comply with and model the values and principles described herein.
Persons who are dissatisfied with the conduct of a Satvatove representative may complete and submit to Satvatove a Conduct Review Request. This request will be handled by the Satvatove Conduct Review Process.
