Wednesday, April 30, 2008

A Switch to Technology

After a series of events, both professional and personal, I've come to a decision that I am best suited to explore my options within the Technical field. Process work has been a fantastic stepping stone in my development, on many levels, as it has helped me truly get grounded in reality in many ways. It has given me a series of valuable experiences, models, methodologies, and views of the world that are lacking in many fields. I will continue to evolve this mindset as I continue forward in my development, as my new role also requires process knowledge, from a design, and continuous improvement point of view. I will continue to achieve further certifications within the Business Analysis and Process Consulting field, as I want to keep myself sharp in both industries which will yield more options for me in the future.

It is important to have skillsets which are marketable in a variety of situations, such as Business problem solving, via methodologies such as DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control), organizing businesses into People, Process, and Technology, and improving efficiency. These skills are invaluable in my profession, and are portable to almost any scenario and industry. I value the learnings I've obtained through 'Lean Processing', and Process Improvement, however now that my skills are at a Senior level, it is time to ensure that my other skillsets are kept up to date.

I have moved into a role as a Technical Analyst, as opposed to my previous role as a Process Analyst (Senior Consultant), for a variety of reasons. Many of which I've mentioned in previous posts. Technology interests me, working with people interests me, and creating new environments, and optimizing for efficiency brings me great joy. This - above all, is the reason for my shift.

Future aspirations, perhaps in a couple years, or more. I will move to Project Management, to fully round out my skillsets. At which point, I will have the Process Mindset, the Technical Skills, and then I will obtain a track record of On time Service or Project Delivery via Project Management. This will round out my skills, and along with my academic background, and allow me to move to a more contract / consulting role that will allow me to travel to virtually anywhere in the world with my family.

The books which I continue to write, will always be apart of me, and always be my primary creative outlet, and perhaps one day - I will be fortunate to move to that career as a fulltime profession. Enjoying sunsets, moving through consciousness, evolving, training kung fu, and playing guitar on the beach for a small group of my friends and loved ones. This, is now - a step in the right direction.

Heaven is here, the time is now.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Process Update

The last few months, I have experienced many things. A slow down in the development or completion of my proposal packages for one, yet I have also experienced many advancements in research. I have experienced many slow downs at work, only to reveal a slingshot effect into a new and entirely different aspect of my development. The changes I experienced awakened in me, the truth of who I am.

At times, the content of life, and the attachment of the ego to that content stirs within you many experiences, emotions, projection, and a willingness to expand awareness beyond the limitation of the current situations. In my recent attachments to my career, and the role in which I play, I realized many things about myself - mainly that I may be able and quite capable in doing the work, however the lack of joy I experienced was a massive reminder as to who I truly am.

Who I truly am is not a function of my role, the role of uncle, brother, son... friend, colleague, martial artist... writer... none of these roles truly represent who I am. Who I am is evolving consciousness, and that consciousness, without attachment to roles, seeks joy. Without Joy, without this high quality experience of life, there is suffering. Happiness is, and can be very fleeting. Happiness is not within things, we are within happiness, if we choose to be. Happiness is a state of being, and is not a function of having or doing. Without this realization, happiness will always be fleeting... a glimpse of hope, in a world full of attachments to ego, to opinion, to form (physicality, or physical stuff), yet with each high, there is an equal opposite low. This will be the constant state of life without a realization that happiness is ultimately a choice.

My main realization, through the events which have transpired as of late, have brought me to a state of being in which I truly realize the doing in which brings me strength, which brings me power, and happiness... in the midst of those doings that made me depleted, and left me in very low states of energy.

Who I am within the world of form, of physicality, is an amass-ment of what doings I decide bring me the most happiness, and allow me to be in a state of pure beingness - as opposed to being in a state of attachment to a role. The things that I do which bring me presence in my being, that which allows me to concentrate soley on the current moment, and those things which bring me absolute peace of mind (meaning an absence of thought), are writing, kung fu, and work with technology, and to a lesser degree (only because I am still in a great learning curve which requires mental activity) guitar.

Those activities bring me presence in my being, and remove me from the world of thought. It brings me to a state of peace, to a state of love, to a state of being who I truly am. Pure consciousness... the awareness beyond thought.

Many activities can bring you to this place of pure absence of thought. Extreme physical activities that require concentration, meditation, deep breathing exercises... music... etc. There are infinite paths to peace of mind, but you must realize the difference between who you truly are, and the role you so happen to be playing.

I am a strong believer in the concept that whatever I am meant to learn will be presented to me under any and all conditions, so for example, if I was not a "Senior Process Consultant", I would be some other title or role, and the conditions would still be presented to me which would promote my best and greatest development of consciousness. But if you are trapped within a role, and are unaware of it, you will end up learning through negative aspects of yourself. If you choose to do something which brings you joy, you will be presented with the experiences which develop your consciousness through positive aspects of yourself. It is this recognition of your own being, and your best mode of functioning which brings you closer to who you truly are.

So... now... where does this leave me in context with the project of "The 7th Journey?" Now... the project will receive an incredible boost of energy. An incredible jolt of power, and an incredible jetison forward... just as I have on a personal level. This is because I will no longer be depleted, no longer experience limitation, and no longer seek to "reset my mind" in order to work on the project. Now, all actions through my life will work towards the same end. Happiness... presence... oneness with life. There will no longer be contention within... there will only be expression of joy without. This... is the 11th gate that I have been waiting for. The slingshot forward.. and now... the project is ready to move forward.

The packages will be sent to the agents with the right energies... as opposed to the packages being sent out in a state of conflict. This is what "The 7th Journey" has been waiting for... this is what I've been waiting for. So now... finally... it has begun.

Thank you for reading.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Past, Future, Now!

With the new advent of spirituality being ushered in by Oprah, and Eckhart Tolle, focus has once again shifted back to the concept of NOW. What is now? Why do spiritualists continually remind the non spiritualists of this concept?

Often we are reminded of the construct of mind. The aspect of ourselves that "thinks", not to be confused with the physical brain. Science is at a loss to explain the mind in context with the brain. Are we simply a result of neurons firing in context with external stimulus? Many scientists would like to believe so.

Are we more than this? Are we the soul which priests and others profess exists? Or are we more than this? Are we less than this? The truth is, from our physical perspective, we may never have a clear understanding, or any definitive proof as to what we truly are. We can surmize and interpret, conceptualize and theorize all we'd like, but ultimately, the brain may be nothing more than a receptor for something more. A radio receiver for energies more subtle than our instruments can detect. This too is still a theory. In fact, all religions are theories, all theologies are theories. None of what our holy books profess can be proven, none of them consist of fact, none of them hold anything more than ideas, which are often misinterpreted, and misconstrued as "THE WORD OF GOD", but ultimately are nothing more than the words of egotistical men, the most influential editors and publishers of our time. Our bibles, our quran's, our torah's.... who wrote them? More importantly... who believes them?

Many do... the sad truth... many still BELIEVE Them. Belief is the true creator of our reality, regardless of what our spiritual gurus may profess. Shed your egos! Shed your beliefs! Be present in the moment, wholy and completely! Be poor in spirit (with no physical attachments!) be this, and be that! What are we other than the products of our environments... cliche after cliche, concept after concept... each with a new message, mostly derived from old texts... and old thoughts. New warriors of spirit, ushering in a new age of what? Thought? Belief?

We are human, right now. We have desires, right now. We have emotions, right now, we have needs... right now! To dismiss them is to dismiss your nature. Yes there is much to be gained by being in the moment. Being in the now. But what does that ultimately mean? Think of a computers processor. What we call a CPU (Central Processing unit), it has 100% resources or processing power to devote to one task. Think of that as being "in the moment, or in the now", when we devide that processor into segments, with parts dealing with this concept, or parts dealing with those past memories, or future events, we divide that CPU into parts. It only stands to reason that when a processing resource is divided into parts, that it will take longer to complete a particular action or process, so this is the reality. The NOW has many advantages which athletes have known for years. And of course it only stands to reason... that when being in the "Zone", you are devoting 100% of your processing power to one task. Ultimately this is how "top" performers behave... devoting 100% of their processing to their one activity, which seamingly creates even more magnificant output. Well yes.. that is the human condition.

We have the Conscious, the Subconscious, and the Unconsious. Three modes of processing. The conscious is able to hold perhaps 2000 bits of information during thw now, where the sub and unconscious can process billions of bits. Removing the conscious from the equation ultimately allows the sub and unconscious resources to perform feats of amazement, and even allows us to experience what we would call altered states of consiousness during these times. Truth is, even in the NOW moment as professed by topical spiritualists as Eckhard Tolle, we are still only actualizing our other modes of HUMAN processing. We are not accessing something "spiritual" per se, only accessing resources that are built into us for millions of years.

Do I believe we have souls? Yes of course I do, but I also think we need to be real about our human processes, our human desires, and our human condition. Only until we have totally resolved and understood the machine which is our bodies, can we possibly understand the factors in which animates it.

We are Ultimately Energy. And assume a body which is conducive to the reality in which we exist. Here... in this realm, we have EGO. Ego is a necessary function of the human mind... the human condition. Otherwise, if we are unable to identify with objects in our relative world, we would do nothing, except stare at the wall, and they'd lock us up. Ego allows us to relate to that which exists physically, and attach meaning to those objects. Without meaning, we lack language, without language we lack an ability to communicate, to advance.

In times prior to our development of verbal language, we relied heavily on body language, and intuitive respones (or telepathy), but in our present evolution we have discareded those facalties predominantely, and now rely on language. We will not Unlearn this for many hundreds of years, until psychic abilities are common place, and we eventually find language to be sluggish and obsolete... but for now, this is where we are.

Ego is necessary. Ego allows us to grow, and the very fact that we exist here... on this plane of existance means we have ego. Always will. When we progress to other states of consciousness, and move to other dimensions of reality, we may not need an ego, and in fact there are dimensions where we cannot go if we still retain our ego. But for now, it is with us. It has a thousand faces... even the face that says "i have no ego".

Be wary of spiritualists with grandious concepts that lack realism. Be wary of modes of thinking which ask you to move away from your very nature. If bliss is found in your current moment... seek to reproduce it. By whatever means necessary. Seek the bliss, seek the pleasure, seek the happiness, for that is what enhances the quality of your life.

The Mind itself may interfere with your quality of life, but belittling you... by berating you... by hindering you... because it is nothing more than a recorder of past thoughts and concepts, and brings them forth when it deams most useful. Do not let the tracktor run away with itself. Control your thought processes, and make them work for you... not against you. For happiness is the only reality worth living for... and dying for. Anything less, is not who you are.