One of the most compelling aspects of our relationship to time is that time conveys the precious and scarce quality of each individual human life. Ninja Warriors meditated on the poignancy of the human experience of linear time, and they conducted themselves with great honor.

Steve Jobs said:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

What experiences with time’s limitations stand out that have caused you to appreciate your life more? Can you think of any specific decisions that were based in large part on the scarcity of time?

In Zen Buddhism, there is the concept of beginner’s mind. This is a state of openness and receptivity as if one were just beginning – no matter how long you might have actually engaged in a particular activity or faced a specific situation.  There is less analysis and judgment about whether or not something is working.  Thus, there is more presence and attention. Less distraction, more focus.

Imagine the possibilities of approaching your career, your romantic interests, your financial position, your dreams, your life –  all from the perspective that you are just beginning. Why? A beginner has, by definition, no preconceived notions about how something should be done; therefore, she or he has a very open mind.

Where in your life would having beginner’s mind be most useful to you? What assumptions and limitations might have to fall away if you approached everything as if for the first time? Have you ever done this before? If so, how did it work for you?

An old saying goes: “That which we put our attention on, expands.” When we’ve put our attention on negatives like difficulty, unfairness, obstacles, limitations and reasons why we haven’t been able to do something, we’ve put our attention on matters that do not move us forward. We have then unwittingly formed a goal of not moving forward because our attention has been focused on negatives.

There’s no way that a trained Olympic athlete would ever say just before a competition, “I can’t do it – it’s too hard – who do I think I am that I can medal in this event?” The reason is self-evident: to do so would be to put attention on some aspect of failure. At best, that unwisely-focused attention would dilute one’s power to hit one’s goals. At worst, that choice would impair one’s performance and even invite disaster.

Can you think of examples in yourself or others where you have heard litanies of attention being put on negatives? Do you believe that that behavior can and should be changed if one wishes to reach your goals? How urgent is that change in behavior?

There is a store near my home that has in its display windows in letters six-feet high: “HOPE IS A VERB.” Those words caused me to look up “hope” as a verb – and it appears to me to be the intersection of expecting, wishing and being optimistic. Clearly, “hope as a verb” implies action.

I wondered: Can hope ever be passive and be a verb? What does “hoping as a verb” look like or feel like? What are they trying to say with that message in the window?

Someone mentioned in Study Hall on Monday that Christopher Reeve said, “Once you choose hope, anything is possible.” Hope, in that context is an active choice in favor of particular results . . . . and in favor of limitless possibility.

How often are your hopes backed by action? What needs to happen to make “hope a verb” that we can all use in service of having lives that work brilliantly on all levels? Is there any truth to, “I hope; therefore, I am”?

Copyright 2009. E. B. Hutt Bush and Coaching for Results, Inc.

Surrender of our limitations frequently leads us to expand ourselves as human beings. For example, we can surrender isolation and embrace feelings of compassion . . . or even surrender being average so we can embrace a desire for mastery in a given situation. We can choose to surrender old limiting beliefs and prejudices in favor of openness and acceptance.

So, if surrender is so great, why have you and I been afraid to surrender? Ego perhaps . . . or concern over losing ourselves in surrendering to something perhaps bigger than we are? Fear of the unknown?

Surrender in its most powerful form is our opening up to forces to which we are highly attracted, but which simultaneously frighten us in some way.

Consider the example of parenting: there is a simple and poignant surrender of the old way of life for the new. Or the example of a person who may have a talent and be fearful of surrendering to expressing it because it may turn out to be “not good enough.”

Would you like to cultivate a habit of surrendering to your higher values? How does this apply to your profession, your health, your family, your friendships? How can surrender be related to mastery? What specifically would you ultimately benefit from surrendering to?

Copyright 2009. E. B. Hutt Bush and Coaching for Results, Inc.

Habits are simply patterns of behavior that occur almost without thinking . . . kind of like living on automatic pilot.

We conclude this week’s conversation about changing habits with thoughts on habitual thinking – i.e., pre-existing assumptions, perceptions, and attitudes.

Can you think of any situation or person where you have had a limiting point of view . . . a set of old assumptions . . . the flavor of “you know how they are”?

Habitually assuming based on old perceptions is an opportunity to shift to fresh, objective thinking.

Try to open your mind to the reality that situations and people actually can change for the better. Don’t limit this “new thinking” to others . . . give yourself a break, too, and examine outdated habitual ways of thinking about yourself.

Consider the implications of an old Spanish proverb: “Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables.” If that’s so, then make them GREAT HABITS.

Copyright E. B. Hutt Bush and Coaching for Results, Inc.

This week has been one of our best in Study Hall . . . thanks for attending and sharing. STARTING OVER is definitely a muscle that wants to be strengthened.

Fact: the past is over! As Will Rogers famously said, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” The advantages of resetting . . . and restarting . . . are enormous!

Think of the freedom . . . the thrill of being able to create without the limitations of the past! And it’s so simple: only recognize that it’s reality that this moment is the first moment between now and the future.

THE POWER OF FORGETTING AND STARTING OVER IS ENORMOUS!

We can also forget the laurels we’ve rested on . . . and, similarly, we can release all the limiting perceptions. Both have kept us stuck.

In what area of your life would STARTING OVER make the biggest difference in your life?

Copyright 2009. E. B. Hutt Bush and Coaching for Results, Inc.