A Coaching Power Tool created by Brett Avelin
(Awareness/Thought Coach, UNITED STATES)
In this modern industrial society that has yielded so many wonderful inventions and made producing the basic necessities of life mechanized and easy there is a dramatic paradox. We all find ourselves with a seemingly endless list of demands, responsibilities choices, and things to get done every day. Given the number of things and the general busy-ness that surrounds us, especially since the advent of computers and digital devices it is not surprising that we sometimes find ourselves saying that we are overwhelmed, overworked, and need some time off. What this power tool looks to explore is not how to get more things done or schedule our time more efficiently, but rather what is the quality of our doing? From where is the sense of doer-ship arising and what lies underneath that? From here we will look at a different kind of doing that is actually not a doing at all, but rather an allowing.
I am looking at my desk piled high with notebooks to be compiled and combed through for content…I look at my computer and the 7000 tabs open, each a rabbit hole unto itself…I hear my wife calling from downstairs asking about the plan for getting the kids from school and for supper…I look outside and there is a storm brewing which knocked out the power once and could again. It’s another tricky day. Like many others, ok forget it, these days every day is filled with an endless number of things that I am or could be doing.
There is no question that life demands our input, our engagement in order for us to eat, work, relate, and live. If our experience of engaging in these day to day activities, especially when there are many with our number on them, is stressful to us then it may be worthwhile to explore what is happening in our inner attitude from which we are approaching life. Inner attitude means the core approach we are taking, the perspective that is behind the scenes which is informed by whatever beliefs or concepts we are unconsciously holding on to. Exploring this is not to infer that our doings can’t be more targeted, more efficient and therefore more effective, but that is another approach that happens best after we see what our underlying attitude actually is.
Most people today, if they have not examined this idea of doer-ship have a fixed idea that it is up to them to ‘do’ their life. Indeed there is the underlying belief that they are the ones that are doing everything and without them controlling life, controlling/holding together all the pieces, that it would just fall apart and they would be at the mercy of whatever ills might arise. But what if this is not the case? What if life is actually running through us in a very orderly, benevolent, kind way and all we have to do is tune, listen, and allow whatever wants to happen to be the thing that we act on?