Here are a few of our favorite Big Ideas + Other Cool Stuff from Week 3 of Michael Eisen's 4-week course Living The Empowered YOU!
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The Context
Michael Eisen is a passionate and charismatic inspirational speaker, author and founder of the Youth Wellness Network, an organization dedicated to inspiring and empowering youth across the globe to live happier and more positive lives. After positively transforming his own life at the age of 19, he is now on a life long mission to share the principles, strategies, and practices that gave him the strength to start living a more joyful and healthier life. He contributes a fresh, young, authentic voice to the field of wellness, and is rapidly becoming a youth-wellness expert.
In this 4 week course you will learn how to recognize any inner blocks or limiting beliefs that are holding you back and how to transform them into new more supportive beliefs that will allow you to thrive. You will learn to see life from a new set of lenses so you can listen and communicate with more compassion and empathy. You will learn how to cultivate more self-love, self-respect and self-esteem in your life without depending on others to provide it.
Let's check out a couple of our favorite Big Ideas from Week 3 - It's All About Perspective.
Big Idea #1: There Are 7 Billion Perspectives
No two people see the world the same way. There are 7 billion people on the planet. That means that there are 7 billion ways to see circumstances and scenarios.
There is *always* someone else’s perspective!
Here’s the challenge: a lot of times we don’t actually apply this idea in our everyday life. We’re more concerned with being right. Why? Because we’re looking to prove our value and self-worth (see last week’s notes).
We’re constantly proving ourselves to the world. And our desire to be right is holding us back from seeing other people’s perspectives. Hence, we have an unconscious habit of only seeing our perspective.
Life is the way that we see it. And there is no one way of seeing it!
Big Idea #2: "Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood"
Why is this so important? Because the only way we’re going to dissolve conflict in our relationships is by being able to see things from outside of our own perspective!
Now, it’s human nature for us to want to be understood. But, is it fair to expect people to understand US if we don’t understand THEM and their perspective first?
Reminds us of one of Stephen Covey’s seven principles of highly effective people: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” (Check out the PNTV episode on that!)
Michael’s dad used to tell him: “Do you want to be RIGHT or do you want to be FREE?”
Get a feel from where others are coming from by taking into account their:
- External environment
- Lifestyle choices
- Cultural background
- Family life
- Childhood
The key to being free is to understand the idea that our way isn’t only one way of seeing things. There are so many other ways!
Big Idea #3: Walk a Mile in My Shoes (Homework)
It’s one thing to understand these Big Ideas on an intellectual level, but it’s another to put them into practice and experience them!
As Michael Beckwith says, “Rudimentary spirituality is theory; advanced spirituality is practice.”
Here’s the idea: Find a friend, family member, colleague, peer, etc… and spend a day (or afternoon, or hour) putting yourself in their position. More observing and less assertion!
Get an understanding of where they’re coming from! Ask questions to get a deeper understanding of what they’ve gone through and what they’re currently going through.
And remember, when you’re asking the questions, do so with the intention of listening to *understand*, not just to respond.
As a result of this, you’ll be able to understand their perspective and interact with them more deeply.
Other Cool Stuff:
Connect with Michael! You can chat directly with Michael by emailing him at Michael@YouthWellnessNetwork.ca.
Empowered YOUth: A Father and Son’s Journey to Conscious Living - Coming soon! (October 1, 2012 - Hay House)
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If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” |
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We hope you enjoyed this class and look forward to seeing you in Week 4!
-The en*theos team
