As you may have gathered, the HuffPost Living section has chosen to focus on sleep this month as part of Arianna Huffington and Glamour’s Cindi Leive’s Sleep Challenge 2010.
So let’s play with this idea a bit and turn our attention to the notion of waking up. Not from the condition of sleep as we know it on the physical level, but waking up from the unconscious way many of us, including me, have of going through our daily lives.
I don’t know about you, but as much as I know about awareness, choice and response-ability, I still seem to go through much of the day in a fairly unaware state. Now, many who know me would wonder what I mean, in that I tend to be highly observant and resourceful in terms of day to day life.
However, I’m talking this time about a deeper level of wakening, a deeper level of awareness. You may recall an earlier article of mine where I talked about getting hit by a tear gas canister on a strike line at UC Berkeley, and found myself screaming, "why don’t you a**holes love us?"
Now that was a great example of being unconscious while pretending to be conscious.
After all, there I was, a self-appointed messenger of love, peace and caring, who chose to yell, scream and throw things in order to get the point across. Fighting for peace, as it were. Oh so self-aware!
In some ways, the awareness and consciousness were present, both within me and all around me. How else could I have even known that they were important aspects of life and living well?
The only problem? I wasn’t present with the awareness or the consciousness. Rather than being in the state of loving, caring and peace, I was in the state of agitation about how everyone else needed to be.
Does that sound the least bit familiar to you? Do you have any of that kind of "do as I say, not as I do" disconnect running around loose inside of you?
Continue reading on The Huffington Post
About russell.bishop
A recognized expert in personal and organization transformation, Russell has coached thousands of individuals around the world, helping them discover more about who they truly are and how to create balance and success in their personal and professional lives. He is the creator of Insight Seminars, one of the largest and most successful personal transformation programs in the world, with well over one million graduates in 34 countries.
Russell is an internationally regarded speaker, educator, coach and consultant. His corporate clients include Fortune 500 executives in aerospace, healthcare, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, information technology, telecommunications and oil and gas. He has extensive international experience working in Europe, Asia, North and South America.
Having started five different organizations in his career, Russell is well versed in the growth and expansion challenges faced by founding entrepreneurs and CEO’s. Executives and senior teams frequently engage his services on issues of leadership, growth and work-life balance.
Today, Russell is the the founder and President of Bishop & Bishop, a consulting and coaching company whose seminars, coaching, and consulting offer individuals and organizations a new approach to integrating personal and spiritual values into their personal and professional lives. He is the author of numerous articles on the power of choice and awareness as well as his forthcoming book, Lessons in the Key of Life: Questions for Those in Search of Answers.
In addition to his consulting practice, he has lectured on productivity for the executive MBA programs at UCLA, University of Texas and Washington University in St. Louis. Russell previously served on the Board of Directors for the University of Santa Monica and was a charter member of the Advisory Board for the Points of Light Foundation.
He received a Master's degree in Educational Psychology from the Davis Campus of the University of California and currently resides in Santa Barbara, California and Mauna Lani, Hawaii with his wife, Valerie. Russell is an avid golfer and amateur chef.
Comments are closed.