ChoicePoints May 2006
This issue released: May 7, 2006
"How can we ever intelligently explore other than what we have if we are adamant
that what we have is all there is?"
Louise LeBrun
We also invite you to read the ChoicePoints Archives for items you may have missed.
Spotlight On — Magic in Halifax!
Working in a government environment, where preservation of the status quo is usually highly valued and the norm, Cathy Carmody (www.CathyCarmody.com) is bringing the potential for magic to Halifax! A WEL-Systems® Catalyst and CODE Model Coach™, and author of 'Out of Hiding', Cathy has created a small group, WEL-Systems based experience for exploration and accelerated change in the area of Women and Leadership. With more experiences to come, the impact of this process is already being felt at work, at home and in the larger community.
Lori Walton is one of the women profoundly touched by her WEL-Systems "Women and Leadership" experience. As you read her words, consider the potential for your own life!
My Awakening
|
Static
By Lori Walton
Asleep, unaware, voiceless and needy,
To dream of more was just fantasy.
Dependant, eager to please, no sense of self,
Settling for less, just static.
Feeling insignificant, worthless and small,
Lowly, less than others, stupid, not me.
Doubting my ability to become a leader at all,
Not knowing there’s more, just static.
My highest intention, was to become,
An empowered woman, nothing more.
It seemed unachievable at the time,
Now I know there is much in store,
I will remain static no more. |
It is pretty amazing for me to reflect on my journey of awakening, of allowing myself to get curious and unfold as I was always meant to do. To read my journal and see the stages I have gone through, realizing there will be many more journals in my future.
My awakening began in January 2006, through a pilot leadership program my Regional Director created with the help of Cathy Carmody, a WEL-Systems Catalyst. The program they developed was to take 10 – 12 women and over a 3 month period, offer a number of group sessions, and one-on-one coaching in between sessions, with the assistance of Cathy’s co-facilitator Celine Burlock, also a WEL-Systems Catalyst.
My highest intention (which I didn’t believe I could attain) for becoming a leader, was to be an “Empowered Woman”. My definition of this was “An empowered woman has their poop together, she doesn’t carry around any baggage, she is confident in how she speaks, looks and feels. She is calm in the face of conflict. She has good self-esteem. She knows where she is going in life and has the tools to get there. She makes others feel good about themselves, inspires them and is a role model”.
Through the next few months, things began to happen for me. I had begun to be that “Empowered Woman” I had hoped to become before I started the program. Day by day, life was unfolding; never the same as yesterday, always more than today. I am now an empowered woman through this program and I see there is so much more I can do. The possibilities are limitless, as is our potential to shape our models of the world.
I found my voice. I began to speak. I spoke to the Regional Director General to share my vision on the future of our department. I spoke to my Supervisor about my opinions and ideas on the future of our section. I spoke with my family, needing them to hear my truth. Each conversation I had, I began to feel lighter. At the end of each conversation I felt at peace, knowing what I said was from my truth. I felt that my voice was not just listened to, but heard. I’ve never experienced that before.
Through a WEL-Systems approach to change, I have learned that everything I feel or perceive about a person or situation is all about myself. I own it. By knowing this and living this I have been able to find the confident me - the leader in me - who is a leader of my own destiny.
I have created a business case to further aid me in my pursuit of continuing to grow in a WEL-Systems context and have been supported in attending “Igniting the Self” in June at Oceanstone, NS. I have taken steps to advance my career: meeting with people who work in areas that interest me; taking courses that will assist me in that transition; and manifesting things as I want them to be. We all have the power and potential to shape our destiny, to have an impact on our world – and I have found mine!
My current intention (I say current because it evolves as I unfold each day) …my current intention on being a leader is that I can help change the world I live in. By getting curious about the potential in all of us and in our communities, and inviting others to become curious and realize their limitless potential, I am helping to create a world in which we all have space to speak our truths and impact our futures.
This can be achieved by remaining clear about my intention, by always speaking my truth, by continuing to evolve, by never becoming static again. If we all did this, can you imagine what an awesome world we would live in? Think about the potential. Then think about how much more there may be out there, that we don’t know we don’t know. It’s amazing to me to imagine this possibility. It’s almost unexplainable the hope, love and light that fills me when I get curious about this possibility. Truly awesome! I feel excited and at peace in the same moment.
I now believe that we all hold the universe at our fingertips. If only the rest of the world would be willing to recognize this potential and become awake and aware, we really could shape the future of humanity.
What Louise LeBrun has created and nurtured, and what Catalysts like Cathy Carmody and Celine Burlock have invited us to become involved with, is causing huge waves. People are standing up and getting curious about what is going on in our lives as they watch us evolve and excel in whatever we set our energy to do.
It begins with a change in your dialogue with yourself. It eventually leads to a change in dialogue with others; to changes in how people react to you, changes to your life and eventually to your world.
For me I have eliminated words from my vocabulary, particularly those words that I had used to define myself in the beginning, which no longer serve me.
I know that my highest intention now will change as I evolve, as each day passes, as each new insight is learned, as each piece of energy is moved, as each way of thinking is shifted.
There is no end to this process, no end to the potential, no end to the possibilities. Why limit our thinking? Life is ours to continuously explore, question and shape. We can start ripples of change by being clear and speaking our truth. Unlimited potential, ever unfolding, continuously evolving …our journey continues. The universe is ours to shape and mould.
I look forward to continuing on this journey, to never be asleep again, to never be static.
Something More
By L.Walton
Waking up, moving through, questioning why
… there is always something more.
Finding out, looking back, working through
…knowing there is always something more.
Discovering, realizing, finding self
… yet still knowing there is something more
Expectations, anticipations, curiosity
… realizing there is so much more.
Dreaming, hoping, living, unfolding,
Into what you used to just dream about.
Knowing there will always be… something more |
Today's Thought
"And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Marianne Williamson
Coming Attractions!
We are pleased to offer you the following seminars, workshops and
programs. Each one designed to provide thought-provoking and life altering
experiences for your on-going personal and professional development.
WEL-Systems
Experiences: May to July
Creativity and Huna
a WELness Experience. |
May 15 - 19
Oceanstone, NS
|
Sekhmet Rising: The Call to Awaken
Women gathering in conversation with other women. |
May 27
|
DeCODEing Counselling
Code Model Guide™ Certification for Professional Counsellors . |
May 30 - June 2 |
Igniting the Self
WEL-Systems Facilitator Certification. |
June 5 -
9
Oceanstone, NS |
Creativity for Life
evoking creativity and clarity from within. |
June 3 -
4
|
Sekhmet Rising: The Call to Awaken
Women gathering in conversation with other women. |
June 17
Toronto, ON
|
Self Healing and Recovery from MS (SHARMS™)
with Eva Marsh - recovery from MS and other neurological disorders. |
June 28 |
Resourcefulness in Action
WEL-Systems Coaching Practicum. |
July 15 - 21
|
Igniting the Self
WEL-Systems Facilitator Certification. |
July 17 - 21
|
Influencing with Intention
WEL-Systems Master Facilitator Certification. |
July 24 - 30
|
The listing above only shows the first scheduled date for Ottawa Ontario. For
more details and the complete program schedule, see
www.WEL-Systems.com/schedule.htm
Quick Updates
Catalytic Conversations - 3 New CDs Now Available! 
The list of compelling conversations continues to grow!
CODE Model Coaching with Gwen McCauley, The Artistry of Transition with Dominique Dennery and School/Education/Mediation with Elizabeth Sterritt, are your invitations to press your edges and think outside the box of what you already know. For more info and/or to order see what's available on our Product's Page.
Sekhmet Rising: The Call to Awaken
We continue to take registrations for this one-day invitation to women for a powerful Open Forum experience, in Ottawa, May 27 and Toronto, June 17th. Good company, good food, good service – nothing more than we deserve!
For our Eastern clients, Louise will be in Fredericton on Tuesday, August 8th; and in Saint John on Thursday, August 10th. Check the Sekhmet Rising Schedule for more details and to register.
Humour: The Missing Link in the Chain of Command – now available in French
One of our more popular articles, Humour: The Missing Link in the Chain of Command is now available en Français. If you’ve not yet read this piece, or if it’s been a while since you’re last visit, take a moment to revisit "Humour" and consider how else work can be for you and your colleagues.
Recovery from MS – Workshop in Ottawa
Eva Marsh, WEL-Systems Catalyst and CODE Model Coach, will be at the Institute June 28th to offer her ground-breaking workshop on self-recovery from MS. SHARMS™ (Self Healing And Recovery from MS) is an opportunity to find out more about and experience Eva’s secrets for her own process of recovery from MS. For more information or to register, contact Eva@evamarsh.net
Igniting the Self and Resourcefulness in Action – July Offerings
If you’re a regular reader of this newsletter, you have likely already noticed what a huge mystery life is. Despite all the rules you were taught for living a good life, you’ve probably come to discover that, like me, those rules took you only so far and then you were on your own, making it up as it surfaced. Or perhaps you have also discovered that many of the rules worked for someone else but not for you. Whatever your situation, those great mysteries of life may continue to be elusive or problematic for you which is why we have expanded the scope of our program experiences.
Igniting the Self has become a 5-day experience fully focused on the power of WEL-Systems to support you in reconnecting to the essence of Self and discovering your capacity to live life creatively and with great passion. Igniting the Self is a powerhouse invitation for you to rediscover what has gotten lost or glossed over from the pressures of daily living.
For more information, visit www.portalspassages.com/programs/its.htm.
The next scheduled offering in Ottawa is July 17-21.
To register, visit www.portalspassages.com/flame/register07.htm or contact Gwen at Gwen@WEL-Systems.com or Louise at Louise@WEL-Systems.com.
Registration deadline is June 29th.
If you’ve already completed Igniting the Self and are ready for more it is likely time for Resourcefulness in Action. Take your growth and evolution to the next level. Discover deeper truths about yourself and your perceptions of the world around you. Learn about yourself through your engagement with others, guided by daily coaching experiences. While there is no requirement to move on to Resourcefulness in Action, it is not unusual for there to come a time when our clients begin to feel restless, when a desire for more begins to move in the body, when the urge for big, meaty conversations cannot be denied!
Scheduled in Ottawa for July 15-21, more information about Resourcefulness in Action is available at www.portalspassages.com/programs/ria.htm.
To register, visit www.portalspassages.com/feather/register07.htm or contact Gwen at Gwen@WEL-Systems.com or Louise at Louise@WEL-Systems.com
Igniting the Self Retreat – Oceanstone, N.S., June 5-9, 2006
Registrations are still being taken for those who want an Igniting the Self experience in a retreat setting. Five days of profound personal discovery in an environment designed to nurture and support your unfolding and evolution. Final date for registration is May 19th. To register contact Louise by email at Louise@WEL-Systems.com or register on-line at Igniting the Self Retreat Registration.
Mystery School Initiates: Creativity for Life is coming on June 3 & 4
If you have engaged any or all of the Portals Passages Mystery School experiences and are looking for more, Creativity for Life is calling. This will call to those who have discovered just how much they enjoy pressing the edges of their awareness.
Working with The CODE Model, we dive deep quickly and remain deep for an entire weekend, calling on your Fire and other energies to explore and expand who you are as life's artist. Using painting as a metaphor for the process of living life alive and awake, you can anticipate all sorts of Self discoveries... and produce a large number of quality paintings in a remarkably short timeframe. Your skills and experience as an artist don’t matter: both neophytes and expert artists have huge discoveries that await. All materials are provided.
For more information visit www.PortalsPassages.com/poster/CreativityLife06.htm or
call Gwen at 613-254-7218.
It’s a Happening World - Interviews on the Web
It’s a Happening World presents a conversation with Mike DiLauro, CMA (yes, as in Certified Management Accountant!) about Money and Meaning. Don’t miss this important conversation …and it is the first of 2 chats with Mike about money. Visit WEL-Systems Audio to listen to Mike explore an alternative view of money, Part 1.
Your Opportunity to Make a Difference
In the coming year , we'll be working on a new book that will pull all of the WEL-Systems body of knowledge together, in one place - from its origins in the mid-80's to its current expression. Right now, you would have to read three books (Fully Alive from 9 to 5! , Phoenix Rising and When the Horse Dies, Get Off... ) to cover the context (WEL-Systems model of the world), the framework for enquiry (The CODE Model™) and the intervention/experience (Quantum TLC™ - and there would still be information missing.
By this time next year, there will be one book that covers it all. The working title for this book is: Portals Passages: The Magic of WEL-Systems ~ The Miracle of Your Life. If your life has been touched by the magic of a WEL-Systems perspective, we'd like to include your story in this new book.
We want to hear from you! We know that our clients have
profoundly reshaped their world and how they move through it from something
as simple as reading one of our books or listening to our original and cutting-edge
audio material, or through completion of the more extensive and intensive
Mystery School experiences. We also know that your willingness to share
the truth of your own experience is often the key to inspiring someone else
to take the leap to creating a more meaningful life for themselves. Allowing
others to bear witness to your personal transformation is their encouragement
and invitation to experience their own.
If you'd like us to include the story of your WEL-Systems journey and its impact on your life, send us an email at Louise@WEL-Systems.com and let us know. No need to worry about how it's written - we'll work with you so that it says what you want it to say.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Magic and Miracles
Read what Susan Bremner, a National StarSkate coach has to say about a WEL-Systems Approach to bringing home the Gold!
"Gold Medal Champion!
At the 2006 National StarSkate Championships in Ottawa on April6-8, 2006, one of my competitive figure skaters, 15 year old Mercedes, took home the Gold medal in the Silver Triathlon event. This event consists of 3 different skating programs, namely, creative skills, interpretive program and freeskate program. Mercedes competed against 13 other female skaters from all across Canada. This was a thrilling conclusion to an already successful competitive season in which Mercedes had won a medal in every competition that she had participated in during the winter season. On April 27, 2006, Mercedes passed her Gold Freeskate Test to become a quad Gold medallist. She had already achieved Gold status in skills, dance and interpretive. She is now eligible to receive further awards and bursary monies from various skating associations.
Over the last year, since participating in the Portal Passages experience, I have been working with Mercedes using the WEL-Systems® approach in her competitive training program. As a result, we have seen much improvement in her ability to skate consistently clean programs. Furthermore, since Mercedes has asthma, we have seen an amazing improvement in her ability to focus on her breathing and maintain her stamina through her programs. She also demonstrates an increase in confidence and a greater sense of personal power.
What is really interesting is that in preparation for Nationals, we had brief discussions on the manifestation spiral. I had actually written down our intention as becoming the Silver Triathlon Gold Medalist. Throughout the weeks leading up to the competition, we maintained our conversations around our intention and on the beliefs and choices that would lead us to becoming who we wanted to become and what we wanted to co-create in this experience. What is amazing is that a number of factors had to all fall into place in the third and final event in order for her to win since she was standing at fifth prior to the freeskate event. It was quite incredible when every one of these factors occurred so that she could become the champion.
Indeed, I am definitely convinced that the WEL-Systems approach works!"
Susan Bremner - a certified WEL-Systems Catalyst and CODE Model Coach - is a National StarSkate coach with more than 25 years of experience. Under her caring presence and laser-focused intention, numerous young athletes have known the joy of discovering their own potential and attaining their Gold Test levels in competitive figure skating. Skilled in performance enhancement and program development, Susan's background also includes public speaking and training seminars.
Thought Waves
Connection
One day, not so long ago, I was amazed to hear myself say “I want to write something about Community for the ChoicePoints Newsletter”. Well, I must confess that another part of me wailed in disbelief “What are you doing?!?”
That part of me had a long list of reasons as to why I would not be a good choice to write anything about community. The list begins with my fierce sense of independence and commitment to self-direction. How can you do your “thing” when you have a larger collective to consider? Could I dance to my own beat in a crowd?
Hmmm…I had to wonder about those beliefs as they surfaced. They have been at the root of my lifelong dance to belong and yet still avoid rejection; to be part of a flow and still not lose myself; to participate but not be consumed. Through my WEL-Systems experiences I have come to a place where I re-claimed my personal power. “Wouldn’t belonging to Community be counter-intuitive to that?” a part of me mused.
Oh- Hold on! That point of view really is based on a collection of old experiences of what the concept of “Community” represent. You see I come from a long line of “pillars of the community”. I have observed up close the toll that particular identity can take. My father devoted his entire career to policing a small community. His career as an authority figure left my sister, brother and I with a sense of being a part of a community and yet not fully welcomed into it. We had our secrets - they had theirs.
My grandfather was a self-appointed caretaker of a community, choosing often to sacrifice his own family’s financial welfare and his health for the community at large. His generosity was legendary. Only those of us close to him saw how this self-imposed obligation consumed him. We knew it, we saw it and we never spoke of it.
So why on earth did I agree to write about the importance of this WEL-Systems Community? Where did that voice come from? To explain that, let me take you back a few weeks ago when I participated in a Hay House Conference in Toronto. I was quite excited about the prospect of being in the presence of authors I have long admired like Candace Pert, Joan Borysenko, Wayne Dyer and many more of the authors that would be present. My ‘perpetual student’ was thrilled to be exposed to yet another opportunity to learn something.
What I discovered at that Conference had very little to do with any forthcoming books or new ideas. It had everything to do with the recognition that what I had once considered cutting edge – had lost its edge.
Nonetheless, I was struck by the sense of community and connection between many of the authors. As I sat and listened to various authors, I realized that many of them had come of age together. When they began writing about the topics they explore in their books, no one else was doing it. They courageously stood up and announced their new perspective. They found each other. They played together and continue to do so. As all this was occurring, along came Louise Hay who, having written a book that defied the publisher’s established framework, chose to self-publish rather than see her original work altered. (Is this beginning to sound like any other Louise that you and I know?) Hay House Publishing was born and became an attractor for these pioneers.
As I participated in the workshops, I realized with even more impact the power of what we have had access to in WEL-Systems. As a Community, we have been far too modest. Many of us have played our cards very close to our chest. We reach for the brass ring to make our lives better and then walk around keeping the discovery to ourselves assuming that we might be considered odd or be dismissed.
I left the conference feeling somewhat dissatisfied with its message and yet still very excited at awakening to the discovery that I too walk among a group of brilliant minds. I felt the chasm close as I realized the power and potential of a shift to an Autopoietic worldview. It picks up where everything else seems to stop. Rather than re-engineer old ideas, it opens the doors to very different conversations.
After that experience I realized that I too am part of a critical mass that is forming of individuals who have new, cutting edge, exciting, life altering information to share. I too - GASP! - am already a part of a Community; and I didn’t even notice it happening! This Community is easy, fluid and supportive. It bears no resemblance to my past experiences. I have no obligation to anyone except to show up when I choose and engage in a way that is meaningful to me. I’m a part of a community that not only celebrates its diverse, independent thinkers – but evolves because of it, as its members stretch and explore!
This discovery followed hard on the heels of my desire to launch “Catalysts Connecting”* as a virtual resource for articles written from a WEL-Systems Perspective. All of my life I have been a book junkie, and I can tell you that these days, most books just don’t offer the level of conversation and discovery that I’m up for. I no longer desire the “Workbook”, “The 5 Steps To…”, the “Affirmations” – I want more! And I bet you do too.
I want to wander around in the incredible paradigm that Autopoiesis is and to explore the nuances of a WEL-Systems Perspective. I want to dive into conversations about beliefs, values and attitudes. I crave the possibility of conversations that expand my choices, challenge me to consider how I move through the world that I am creating for myself and how those ripples move out into the world at large. If affirmations, love and white light were all that was required to make this world a better place, don’t you think we’d be there by now?
I’m ready to step into Connection and that requires Community. Not Community as I have defined it in the past. Now I’m speaking of one that is a playground of creativity, discovery and support. One that moves us beyond the place where we make incredible discoveries about how marvelous life can be - and then keep it a secret. For me, secrets and community just don’t mix. I’ve lived with their toll and I imagine that you may have too. Life curls in on itself and pretty soon you can feel yourself nodding off rather than living full tilt.
Connection demands that we reveal ourselves. In doing so, we can then find all kinds of ways to play together, to encourage and support each other’s diverse interests, and to expand our own potential. Connecting is an infinite game where the whole point is to remain in play, retain individuality and enjoy an abundance of possibilities. Connection is organic in that it is never fixed - it flows – but then, most of you reading this already know this. Are you ready to live it? I am.
So, here we are – poised at a critical mass of folks who can choose to connect and expand or can chose to move in isolation. Are you ready to take the plunge? Just how much fun, support and life expanding possibility can you handle?! I can’t wait to find out!
Copyright 2006 Anita Allen
Anita Allen BScPT, CODE Model Coach™ is the founder of WELsprings and is a WEL-Systems Catalyst who loves to play the game of life full tilt! Having made the choice to live her dream as a writer and a speaker, she loves to connect with and ignite others. She can be reached at anita@WELsprings.com or www.WELsprings.com
* Catalysts Connecting was recently inspired as a means to showcase and support those of us who write from a WEL-Systems Perspective. It is a virtual reference library of written materials from the diverse perspectives offered by Catalysts writing in their fields of expertise. For more information or to make a contribution email anita@WELsprings.com
