The Ladder of Consciousness

By Action Business Coach Dave Beam

I must begin this article with gratitude to Steve Chandler, one of my coaches.  I first heard about the ladder of consciousness in his audio presentation, mindshift.  I highly recommend his mindshift audio series.

At the bottom of this ladder is death.  Dead people are truly unconscious.  The next rung up on the ladder is fear; then a little higher is anger, then resentment, then anxiety, then worry, then concern.  The lower rungs of this ladder represent emotions that tend to bring you down and drain energy, effectiveness, performance, and creativity.

On the high end of this ladder is spirit, creativity, imagination, compassion, humor, intuition, and love.  On this upper end of the ladder is high energy, experiment, openness, lightness, engagement, focus, clarity and play.  When you are high up the ladder, you are highly aware and in tune.  You can see so much more.  Your whole brain is fully engaged, and you are at peak performance.  Some refer to this as “being in the zone”, or “hitting your stride”.

The obvious question is this; How does a person move up the ladder?  It is all about your thinking and chosen responses to your environment.  Other people can’t really “bring you down”.  Your circumstances are not really what will “lift you up”.  Rather, it is what you think about other people and your circumstances that will drain your energy and vibration, or lift you up and bring you into the zone.

Fear, anger, resentment, anxiety, overwhelm, as well as happiness, peace, love, patience, and creativity are all products of your thinking.  A snake cannot make you afraid.  It is your thought and belief about snakes that may terrify you.  That new customer that just said yes to your sales offer is not what made you feel great.  You are feeling good because of what you are thinking and believing about that sale and what happened.

The key to experiencing higher levels of creativity, consciousness, energy, relaxation, and peace lie in experiencing a shift in attitude and thinking.  It begins by realizing that your thoughts are not you, and you can choose to accept or reject any thought or belief that you have.  What you accept as reality is actually only what you believe and understand and interpret as reality.  It is very real to you, but the fact is you only perceive a small piece of what is real.  All of us perceive circumstances, experience, and life though our limited interpretation.  That paradigm, or belief that we hold is what creates our attitudes and state of being.

Simply stated, a coach is someone who helps you discover an alternative paradigm to your circumstance, and through great inquiry and questions, helps you see what you don’t currently see.  He can help you shift your paradigm, thereby leading you to higher levels of consciousness.  This shift enables peak performance and better results.  The coach helps you climb up the ladder!!

Would you like to step up to a higher place?  What’s stopping you?

Creating Your Energy

By Action Coach Dave Beam

I woke up the other day and felt lousy.  There was a grogginess, a nausea, and overall feeling of lethargy.  I don’t drink alcohol, and was not hung over!!  But my guess is it was a very similar feeling.

So what is the most effective way to address feelings of blah and tiredness?  The natural inclination is to pull the covers up over your head (if you can get away with it), or just to plop down in the recliner and veg out.  And let me ask you, how does that affect you and make you feel?  If your experience is like mine, it just adds to the tiredness and heaviness.

The other day, I choose to exercise, put on some music, and also grabbed a cup of coffee.  I have been journaling my gratitude and inspirational thoughts, and I also reviewed and read through those out loud.  The outcome was good.  I felt much better, and had a great supply of energy to face the responsibilities and joys of the day.  The nausea and heaviness was gone.

The point is this.  You can create and change your state of energy.  Certainly it begins with reasonable nutrition and rest.  But when you feel a bit down, and tired, you do have a choice.  You can respond by dropping out, disengaging, and even doing more draining actions like channel surfing, web surfing, gorging on junk food, or indulging in other non-productive excesses.  Such things bring you further down the energy ladder into guilt, depression, and discouragement.  You have a choice when you feel bad.  Instead of shutting down and giving up, you can choose to “rise up” and “get into action” and create your energy.  Take a walk, or a jog.  Put on some upbeat enlivening music.  Choose to tackle a task that you have been avoiding.  Pull out a piece of paper or a journal and write down fifteen things you are thankful for.  Pick up the phone and text or call someone to give them a lift.  Send an e-mail to a friend that could use the encouragement.  Hug a grandchild.  Kiss your spouse.  It may shock them!!

Need I go on?  The possibilities are endless.  The next time you are feeling a little low and despondent, rise up and turn up the activity.  Get up and get into action.  Engage, don’t disengage. 

You know this works, because you’ve done it before.  This is just a reminder on the obvious!!!  It’s not what happens to us that causes us to lose, it is how we choose to respond.  Go create some energy and  fun today.

  

How You Do One Thing is How You Do Everything

By Action Coach Dave Beam

Physical health and fitness.  Maintenance of your automobile and house.  Organization of your office and desk.  Consistent learning and reading.  Making value based choices.  Paying your taxes on time.  Meeting regularly with your team members.  Regular savings.  Sending thank you notes.  Scheduled date nights with your spouse.  Your personal learning and education. Quality conversations with your children.

No, I am not trying to create a guilt trip!!!  When you beat yourself up, all you get are scrapes and bruises.  What I am illustrating is that all of life’s issues and activities are related.  When you improve one, all the others tend to get better.  When you neglect one, the others suffer as well.  It is just a fact.  How you do one thing is how you do everything.

Coaching is all about improvement and excellence.  I work with people who want to create a great life and business.  I get the question, “Dave, are you a life coach, or a business coach?”  I just smile and say “yes”.  The most efficient and effective way to improve your business is to improve you.   

Physical health is certainly one of those priorities.  Folks with multiple roles and responsibilities often neglect this foundation.  You know where I am going.  Consistent physical activity, a sufficient amount of rest and sleep, a nutritional balanced diet that creates fitness, choosing a healthy mental outlook and attitude by addressing negative emotions like worry, anger, and resentment; all of this keeps your body renewed and ready to serve.  Healthy people who feel good perform better.  People who perform well feel better.

Relationships.  Your relationship to your Creator is priority number one.  How are you seeking to get to know God?  Your family is so important.  Think about that coming day when you will leave this life.  What will matter?  Relationships are likely at the top of your list.

Your financial health will mirror your relationships and physical well being.  Budgeting and saving are a lot like dieting and exercise!  A great, profitable business is created and led by a great leader.  Great leaders are people of integrity.  How they do one thing is how they do everything!  What you see is what you get!  They also are abundant givers as well.  As a result, they attract and retain great team members, and have a great business that financially prospers. 

So why don’t you grab a coffee, or some tea, or a glass of ice water, and invest some time thinking about all the different roles you play, and all of the responsibilities you carry, and notice how they all reflect one another.  Then choose an area that may be a bit neglected, and make some positive changes.  It will benefit your whole life.  You will feel better, think better, act better, and be better.