• Innate talent (genetical, governed by the threshold principle)
• Legacy (the cultural and family heritage passed on from ancestors)
• Opportunity (being in the right place, at the right time, – largely a matter of “luck”)

Also, (and this is key) the process of actualization is unstable. In the sense that two individuals starting with very similar innate talent & legacy, will diverge due to the “best get better opportunities” rule and to the “10,000 hours to expert” rule.

Ok. So where does this leave us, adults, who want to continue actualizatio of our own genius? It seems that all three factors are beyond our control and influence…

And this is where I take a non-traditional view. All three factors can be brought under our influence at any stage in life. The how will take a whole book to map out, so here are just a few brush strokes to start the map:

• Innate talent consists of genetical (or early childhood, – which for our purposes is the same thing) potential and the fulfillment of that potential through life experience. What I have noticed is that a lot (if not most) adults’ potential has been barely fulfilled. Most types of intelligence (mental, social, emotional, physical) can be substantially improved through training.
• Legacy is fixed only for kids. As adults we are free to enter the environments that carry different and necessary for us legacy. The institution of mentor/apprentice does exactly that.
• “Opportunity is random” belief is based on Newtonian model of distinct object/observer Universe. A more accurate quantum model says that our intent can influence what opportunities are offered to us throughout life. Or in the words of Oogway from Kung Fu Panda: “There are no accidents.”

what if the concept of “empty space” is applied to a relationship in the service of creating wholeness and beauty. What specifically does that mean, and where does that take us? …

removing clutter: unnecessary relationships, unnecessary parts of a relationship, pairing down to reveal the wholeform inside the white noise

and what does it mean to create empty space in the relationship to Self? who must “I” be to stand tall the weight of all that empty space?

A “natural” business model is when the customer demands to pay for the product. This happens when money becomes a differentiator, a resource to balance demand and supply. Consider an analogy: if you’re into mountain climbing, then you appreciate and want the climb to be strenuous. Because if it weren’t, then the mountain top would be filled with couch potatoes admiring the vistas, and you wouldn’t be able to experience the top of the world in all of its lonely beauty. Here, the pain of the climb serves as a resource to balance demand and supply. (Of course, there is also the transformational value of the pain).

Back in business, high priced luxuries have a “natural” business model. Those who wear Armani suits wouldn’t want to pay less for them, because that would devalue the exclusivity of their purchase. Speaking spiral dynamics, we’re in the orange land. But, there is more to it.

We’re basically speaking about exchanging resources (money in our case, but could as easily be intellect or generosity) for access. Auctions are the most efficient mechanism for such exchanges.

The point of all of this is that most businesses have to cajole their customers to pay for their products. BUT, if you can create a “natural” business model, the customers will be lining up to pay for the privilege of experiencing your product.

The sacrifice of the body to the beauty, the covering up of old age, the denial of death in personal life translates into search for timeless values, pride in 200 year old corporations, cutthroat need to survive regardless of ecological and systemic damage (witness corporate scandals of Enron, Nortel, etc) in business life.

There is nothing noble about a 200 year old corporation that had to “re-invent” itself dozens of times, just like there is nothing noble about an 80 year old who has mutilated her body to look like a 20 year old.

In the organism, cells that grow without regard to the encompassing body are called cancer. Business that grows and is then unwilling to shrink and disappear is cancer.

1. Goods: buying the coffee beans.
2. Service: being served a cup of espresso to-go at Starbucks.
3. Experience: experiencing drinking of latte at a coffee lounge.
4. Participation: participating in choosing and brewing of coffee using the Clover coffee machine.
5. Creation: creating new unique coffee drinks.
6. Unity: living, breathing and becoming one with coffee.

Each successive level is a whole new dimension of immersion that completely overshadows the previous ones in value. The growth in value is balanced out by a narrowing of the market group desiring such deep connection to the product. True expression of individuality happens only at Unity.

I judge in others only that which I judge in myself; I judge in myself only that which I refuse to accept, repressing parts of Self into shadow. The more I judge, the less of me is conscious [aware], the smaller I am. The presence of non-judgement is felt like the sun that warms and nourishes body, soul and spirit. Emotional outbreak followed by a judgement is a compass pointing your way to the next evolution of yourself.

That leads me to mention paradox therapy. Don’t know if it already exists, but it ought to. Conceptually simple: it is the realization of equal validity of an opposite. Practically, I imagine this effect can be acieved through psychosomatic integration (a beefed up version of anchor integration).

I once heard a Teacher,
a world famous guru,
give beating to Passion,
call her names, call her “dirty”.

I left him heartbroken.
For what is my Passion?
She is the movement
towards heavingly union.

- i’ve discovered that i hide most, ALMOST ALL of my power in my Shadow. Afraid of reaching for it, afraid of becoming TOO MUCH, burning too bright. Too much for whom? Too bright for what? And what has stripped me of the power TO BE?

If only I was in hiding alone, but i look around and see human outlines everywhere, outlines made with white chalk…

A Shadow self is the repressed and rejected aspect of self that lives in the unconscious.

A duality is a tool human beings use to make sense of the world.

Every duality creates a Shadow self, that can be integrated only by opening up as both aspects of the duality.

The most profound dualities (hence Shadow selves) are space and time.

We can context-transfer this process to healing & coaching: “If I take care of this block, is there anything else that prevents you from having what you want?” Keep eliciting blocks to find the critical few that are the root cause of the problem. Then go for it, forget the branches.