Mindfulness as a waking, walking meditation

According to Maxwell Maltz (1960) there are behaviors that contribute to a "success-type personality." He developed an acronym as a mnemonic or easy way of remembering the elements of the behaviors:

S = sense of direction
U = understanding
C = courage
E = esteem
S = self confidence
S = self-acceptance

He provides additional explanation on how each of these elements contributes to accomplishing or having a "successful" life. He states that "(t)he reason .... that a man does not simply 'find' success or 'come to' failure (is that) ....  (h)e carries their seeds around in his personality and character" (p.102)

This viewpoint is of the social construction variety. We create the social world we live in by our actions and attitudes.  Our actions contribute to what happens. Our attitudes contribute to how we feel about that happens. A basic element of his prescription for success is to focus on the process not the product. Being successful is differentiated from wanting to be a success. Maltz suggests that success is hidden in the process of becoming rather than embedded in the state of "being."

"S" or Sense of direction is related to the idea that we are happiest when we are attempting to do something or engaging in an experience. Maltz says that the human animal is a "goal-seeking mechanism." We are happiest when we are busiest working on a project or doing something which "means something." He gives a nod to concept of "flow" without ever mentioning the word when he suggests that "(w)hen you are not goal-striving, not looking forward, you're not really 'living' ."(p. 102) This immersion in goal seeking is what I am suggesting is akin to 'flow' where you are absorbed in what you are doing.

But I sat down today to peck out a hunk of what Maltz has to say about the second element of the success personality. "U" or understanding is listed second. I don't think he necessarily intended to list them in order of importance just providing meanings to correspond to the letters in the work 'success."

"U" is understainding. Maltz says that:(u)nderstanding depends upon good communication. Communication is vital to any guidance system or computer. You cannot react appropriately if the information you act upon is faulty or misunderstood. Many doctors believe that "confusion" is the basic element in neurosis To deal effectively with a problem, you must have some understanding of its true nature. Most of our failures in human relations are due to "misunderstandings." (p.105)

The idea of understanding is further explained to include the idea that (w)e expect people to react and respond and come to the same conclusions as we do from a given set of "facts" or 'circumstances.' " Maltz reminds us that he had mentioned earlier in the book that people don't react to things "as they are" but rather as we see them to be based on our own perspective, perceptions and conclusions. This is very similar to the concepts propounded in the Landmark Forum which some have characterized as a cult or commercial scam. However, counsels "there is what happened and then there is the story we tell about what happened." This is very similar to maxim shared by Maltz but also consistent with existential thought and social constructionism.

Other aspects of understanding include being able to differentiate fact from fiction. An example used is a husband who cracks his knuckles and his wife who concludes that he does it only to annoy her. The experience is explained as the wife is making the assumption that the husband is deliberately trying to annoy her  which are fiction. But her assumption affects her experience of the situation and results in her choosing to be annoyed by the imaginary intent of the husband. We make other assumptions about the intentions of others with similar results. Also, being willing to see the truth is another element of "understanding" is to "be willing to see the truth." This is meant that honesty with ourselves and with others is necessary for true understanding. It sort of suggests that if you have an incorrect (false) diagnosis of the problem it will result in a incorrect (false) prescription for the solution. A suggested attitude in this regard is "it doesn't matter who's right, but what's right."

These first two steps are preliminary but important. While we have been talking about these concepts applied on a personal basis they are also relevant when we look at collective behavior. There are behaviors that groups adopt that reflect these same problems or their corrective principles. Healing ourselves emotionally is the purpose and intent of these ideas. Change the frame and change the future.




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Obama at the Gate

I am watching the Obama Arising with interest. It is really interesting to reflect back on my initial musings about the potential of the Obama Administration by completing this post which I started writing in 2008. Much of what  I feared and some of what I hoped has manifested itself. This has not been surprising or unexpected. But, again, often, disappointing and sometimes encouraging.

 As I watched the Obamamania sweep the progressive political community and the reactive dominant community I saw two things. Each is an aspect of an experience that informs my worldview. While not wholly or totally the same but similar to the situations that I will share.

First, Barack Obama's election reminded me of two earlier electoral political events. The earliest, and possibly the most similar, example was the election of Harold Washington. The other was the election of Nelson Mandela. Both these events had similarities to the election of Barack Obama.

There were several features of the election of Harold Washington that foreshadowed or reflected the Barack Obama experience. One of the similarities between Barack Obama's election and Harold Washington's election was their status as a "first." Harold Washington was the first African-American elected as mayor of Chicago. Of course, Barack Obama was the first African-American elected as President of the United states.

I remember the actual election day for Harold Washington. There was a huge turnout of voters. This was possibly one of the highest voter turnout of African Americans since the founding of Chicago by the fur trader of African descent, Jean Baptiste DuSable. Reflecting on that day evokes images of elderly voters leaning on canes standing in line with voters on hospital gurneys pulling  hospital equipment along with them. There were stories of long lines and long waits, polling places that ran out of ballots and hours that were extended to accommodate voter turnout.

We saw similar pictures of the response to Nelson Mandela's election in South Africa. There were the same, or similar, long lines with elderly voters leaning on canes, voters discharged from hospitals leaning on canes and lying on gurneys, first-time young voters and, ultimately, one time only voters. The fact that the election held promise and reflected a vision of equity and inclusion brought out and engaged sectors of the electorate that had been disengaged and disenfranchised with the hope, and expectation, that their vote would make a difference. One significant difference between Chicago, a municipal election, and South Africa, a national election, was that it was the first time that many Mandela supporters were able to vote; whereas Chicago voters felt for the first time that their vote could matter.

Barack Obama's election brought a similar type of energy for voters of African descent across the nation. Partly there was the notion that he (Barack Obama) could actually win. Based on the essentialist notions that are a basic premise of race certain expectations and assumptions regarding values were a major motivating factor. In all three cases the promise reflected by electoral promise was stunted by the institutional demands of white supremacy. The need to maintain the basic social and economic structures that reflects the European onslaught that began in 1492 constrains and contains the possibility of change.




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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.