One of the catch phrases we heard at the Suzanne Evans’ Be the Change Event a couple of weeks ago is “turn your mess into your message.” This can be an interesting approach to answering Rosemary’s question! What does this mean?
If we examine our lives we will no doubt find some “messiness” under the surface. We all live with stuff. These messes, this stuff, is what Rosemary and I have called “lessons” over the many years of writing these articles, and publishing Rosemary’s Ezine. In fact we are here on the planet to learn lessons, right?
So, as we learn these lessons maybe it’s important, even part of our purpose, even our whole purpose, to share what we learn from our lessons – our messes! Our mess can become our message. This is story telling with a purpose.
But this advice needs to come with a warning: “Be sure your mess is cleared up, and be sure you have learned this lesson well, before you share the message you have gained”!
There’s a corollary to this approach to finding your message: we often learn what we are to teach; and the best form is mastery is to teach what we are working to master.
When Jeff Primack certified me to teach Qigong, his advice was to go out and teach the forms as soon as possible. “The only way to master the forms is to teach them.” Now, I was still shaking from the experience of being watched, judged and corrected as I “taught” the form to my little training group. Picturing myself teaching a group of strangers, even friends, was not a scene I was ready for! But I was soon offered the opportunity to lead a group and I have been teaching regularly for over a year now. Have I mastered the forms? No. But I am moving in that direction! I turned my messy form into my message.
Rosemary’s questions are the place to start to find your message:
Sit with yourself for a few minutes and ask yourself these two questions:
1) What is MY MESSAGE to the world? And, then,
2) Am I living MY MESSAGE in my daily life?
Or backing up a short step you could ask: What is the MESS that I have worked through in my life that would be helpful to share with the world as my MESSAGE. But only share that message if you are living that MESSAGE in your daily life!
The real trick is in the answer to that second question; you must be living that message to be effective in sharing it. In my case I practice Qigong almost every day. I am currently teaching three classes a week, attending a fourth and practicing in between. I am “living Qigong.” And Qigong is only part of my message!
So, look at your messes – the ones you have worked through, learned, even mastered – and ask if the world will be a better place if you share that mastery. Your message is there!
Mystic Messages 
Who is Your WHO? – Richard’s Commentary
May 21, 2014 — RichardRosemary’s question this week is:
WHO is it that you are serving?
My first reaction to this question is to think about my Qigong students; they are my clients and I do feel that I am serving them when we are in class together, when I am leading them through a form, focusing on breath, gathering and storing Qi for health, well-being, and peace. The beauty of my “who” is I am serving myself as well. I am doing the research into Taoism, the basis for the effectiveness of Qigong. I am going through the form with my students, leading myself to health, well-being and peace. And I am working with the forms on my own as well, practicing the forms every day. I continue my research and reading on the subject to go deeper so I can take my students deeper.
In response to Rosemary’s statement:
If you don’t take care of your own health, no one else can do it. You know this. You accept this. But what about your spiritual and psychological health? Your emotional health? Your mental health? Are you serving yourself by taking care of yourself in those areas?
I can feel pretty good, right? Qigong covers all these aspects of my life. Qigong contributes to my health. And the study of Taoism supports my spiritual and psychological health. Reflection on the Five Elements, the basis for Traditional Chinese Medicine, helps me work through my emotional and mental issues. Through all these levels I am serving my students and I am serving myself at the same time!
If only it were that simple!
Everything I’ve written above is true. And Qigong does help my students and me work through issues. But what about others I serve?
What about Rosemary? She is my client as well. I support her business, TheScientificMystic.com, through managing the technology to operate the business, handling the finances, and helping her with the messaging and marketing of her services. How am I doing with that?
Here I can’t be quite as glib with my answers! Sometimes I grow impatient that Rosemary doesn’t work to my schedule! Whose business is this? Sometimes I get frustrated with the procrastination. But I am a great procrastinator! And too often I get bogged down with the technology rather than focusing on what drives the business – Rosemary’s talent!
So, I need to take Rosemary’s advice here:
My work is to build a relationship in which I support them.
My work with Rosemary is to create the best possible business relationship we can have in order to best serve her, as my client!
And I need to do this analysis for all of my relationships. Everyone is a “client” of everyone else. It is important to nurture client relationships and it is vital to nurture all of our inter-relationships.
Who are your clients? Are you nurturing them? Are you nurturing every relationship with others as if they were your client? Are you nurturing the relationship with yourself?
What a world it would be if this were the case!