Jann McMichael is a Pro member of ATSuccess.

She does not identify her Self as a writer, yet she recently wrote a captivating email. I was impressed enough to take the time to let her know. Here's her reply…

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"Thanks Jeremy.....it was like it came from somewhere else! I wrote it in an hour; no planning. Just started, and it flowed. It doesn’t often work like that though!"

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But it will Jann; and it will work for anyone who takes the time to practice INCLUDING YOU.

In a session - just yesterday - an ATSuccess member asked an innocent question:

“Do I need to be an expert of a student’s activity, to be able to help them?”

Intellectually it’s obvious – Tiger Woods’ coach doesn’t play golf like Tiger! Does that stop him seeing areas for development? Older, beer-gutted men are often coaching baseball teams in America – would these old guys survive on the field?

No.

An unpleasant experience when leading a group, is to have a participant strongly opposing and contradicting you. Leading a charge against you.

I used to think that! Now I look forward to it…

Because whatever you think they are doing, THAT flows from your perception.

What if they are not doing that?

What if what they want is understanding, clarity and completion? Wouldn't you "listen differently" if you perceived them that way?

You can develop the space in your mind to see them however you wish.

Years ago, a Journalist from a popular “alternative cool” magazine called “Kokoro” – which means “Heart” in Japanese – came along to BodyChance’s studio in Meguro to do a feature on our work.

I suggested she come and watch “the Chancer” - thanks to Carol Ervine for my new nickname! - running a Basic Course class. Basic Course is the program we offer in Japan to the Public.

***SIDE BAR ***

BTW: the name of your group is important, even critical.

Calling our public offering “Basic Course” immediately suggests a higher level…

The light is fading away in Tokyo as I write.

It's been a day of rest, love and thoughtful engagement. Do you rest?

I started to schedule in a full day of total rest after watching Dan Buettner's TED talk on "How to live to be 100+" - which is definitely on my list of things to accomplish.

I am tackling again in this dispatch the role of Consciousness in human life.

Years ago, at a workshop in Sydney, I suddenly heard my teacher Marjorie Barstow saying:

"If I Only had 4 Tongues, I Could Explain It Better"

As usual, Marj managed to encapsulate complexity into an amusing metaphor; a metaphor that graphically captured the essence of our challenge in consciously managing co-ordination. If that's what we're even doing…

You see - I write long sentences like that one, and Marj just makes you laugh.

SORRY!

To live a public, vulnerable life takes a lot of self-love.

When you are looking to others to validate your actions: HOPELESS.

You have the life you imagine others want you to live…

• I must do this for my children
• My partner won't like that
• Can I really say that to him?

And so on and so on until you don't know who is listening, and you don't know what to say and you end up in bed, in the morning, with no energy to get up, with no energy to live.

This is not the life you want to lead.

It's impossible not to be strategic, manipulative, plotting and Machiavellian, when you are unable to listen to the clear communication of another human being.

A case in point is the way I am continuing to treat my ex-partner, as if he were an animal needing to be re-captured. Despite his clear request to remain free.

As if he didn't know his own mind?

As if he can be tricked into thinking like mine?

How could I objectify another human being this way?

It's mammalian behaviour. It's how I am programmed to respond.

Years ago I was having dinner in a restaurant in Paris with Marie-Françoise Le Foll, when a serial killer - in the guise of a French intelligence officer - strolled over and, uninvited, began intruding on our dinner conversation.

Our table was on a raised platform, and he stood below, his arm over the rail...

Of course at the time I did not immediately know he was a killer, but he soon happily let us know about a murder he had completed a week before in South Africa. This was in the early 80's, before Mandala's magic had cast it's spell.

Teaching as a teacher is a horrible thing to do to a student.

For a start, it's an arrogant position to start from. How do you know they don't know? When you project ignorance onto another person, it's a pretty egonic position.

"I am the one who knows."

How does it feel to be taught by someone like that?

Of course, SOME kind of teaching is all about information, BUT NOT our work. There is no curiculum for Alexander's discovery.

How can you learn what you already know?