My friend Anthony, the Mexykan, will be our local guide to this beautiful fishing and surfing destination on the Pacific coast of Mexico. 
Tony is one of the top private chefs in Mexico and teaches the culinary arts of the local fare. He will feed us well and connect us to adventures.
We will be staying in beach front accommodations within walking distance of everything.
A look into Distrust can remove much confusion and frustration.
Distrust creates a hard boundary in the mind, making issues labeled such very hard to work with. Do you work for a company or boss you do not trust?
Distrust is a protection mechanism and is often mis-attributed. You may say you distrust the company, when actually you mean, you trust the company will take care of itself and that may not be good for you.
Doubt can also get labeled as dis-trust. A major component of doubt is not-knowing and as a human-being we want to know, so we see not-knowing as negative.
Doubt however is also full of potential, which allows room for creativity. Rarely is business a certain proposition. Though they may never admit it, doubt is no stranger to your boss or the company as a whole. It has been my experience that business responds favorably to those who take action into uncertainty.
Setting aside your aversion to not-knowing may help you find an outcome you are happier with. A good way to do this is to determine what you know: What information do you have? What information do you need? Who has that information? What is my relevant experience? Do I need to learn something? Do I have the faculties to learn it? Who ultimately sets the vision? Can I speak with them? Etc… From this you can make a plan that suits you.
If you are part of the solution, you are by definition not the problem. In what creative ways may you be able to participate in creating the outcome you desire?
May your life go well
For some reason life is full of intractable – not easily solved or manageable – problems. The standard optimistic viewpoint on this is that it is for our growth, we will be given nothing we can’t handle, etc..
It also might just be the way things work, see The Root of Stress for a taste of the part we create ourselves. There is certainly the part we have no apparent control over as well, see 30 Blows.
In my practice we train with koans to find an appropriate response to situations that are not solvable by the rational mind. Such as, ‘What is the sound of one hand’, which you’ve probably heard of but with clapping added. Koan is an esoteric system, but one of the few tools that actually addresses this subject of meeting life head on.
This week I was presented with a life koan about this very blog. You see it seems LinkedIn would like me to:
‘modify my content to make it more in line with their professional network’.
This came right on the heels of another person from my old industry dying of a heart attack in his early 50s and as details were starting to circulate about the suicide the week before.
Corporate Rehab was started because:
people are dying from the lack of ability to deal with the end game of corporate life.
Wouldn’t the ‘professional’ thing to do be to acknowledge it?
I make no claim to be the most articulate or best council on this subject and would be happy to see the conversation and service expanded by others. However for now it is me and LinkedIn is the obvious platform. I will have to find a middle-way.
Much of what I have written so far is about looking inward which I know is a difficult step. For an easier first step may I recommend the book Everything is Workable .
If you are finding yourself out on a limb and feel like you have no choices … reach out to me, a priest, a minister, pastor a therapist … there is plenty of good living outside the corporate world view and it’s not that hard to find.
I hope this meets the censors criteria and sees the light of your screen.
May your lives go well
by Willem Scuitemaker
Confusion is a very repeatable and natural outcome in examining life and it is now being documented at large, not just by monastics.
The last few years meditation has emerged from the fringe and received a fair bit of attention in the public press. This is primarily due to numerous studies that show it reduces stress, anxiety and blood pressure therefore increasing the immune system, fertility and emotional stability. Nothing in my years would make me doubt any of this.
In recent months there has been a bit of a backlash developing in the press, which I frankly find humorous. In good western style many people came to meditation looking for a quick fix. Likewise, as good westerners they over achieved.
The truth is there are many techniques to initiate you into meditation … follow the breathe, count the breathe, label thoughts, etc. … and with a little effort they all work fairly quickly. You are so relieved to get a break from the daily grind and the energetic kick combines to make it a habit.
With continued sitting, mindfulness, contemplation, stilling the mind … whatever term you were introduced to … sooner or later you will have an actual insight! If the first one doesn’t scare the bejeebers out of you or leave you confused, sooner or later one will. This is where the spate of recent articles are coming from.*
Confusion is the common outcome, post insight, because you are simply not able to look at the underlying fear. Insights raise fear because they are not a product of the thinking mind and at the same time ring true. They upset the very foundation you have built upon and every alarm bell you have goes off. In the end it is better to be confused than, heaven forbid, admit you were wrong and face the change implied.
Whether you meditate or not you are always examining your life to one extent or another. Being introspective or self-aware is how we define what separates human from animal. I propose to you that your confusion regarding life’s direction has the same roots.
What are you confused about? What are the underlying fears?
If you want to look at this, you can of course take up meditation until it surfaces or find a place where it is quiet, you won’t be interrupted and you feel very physically safe. Then start the conversation with your-self about your deepest fears. You will be surprised how much of your life has been defined by just one deeply rooted fear.
Because I know this is scary terrain, let me attempt to soften the ground a bit. None of them are real, they are all empty suits. I have witnessed hundreds if not thousands of fears expressed. The vast majority are not even logically relevant. They may have been relevant when you were four or fifteen or thirty-two, but you are not four or fifteen or thirty-two anymore.
May your life go well
*The basic yoga instructor and the ‘it’s all bliss and light’ new agers that introduce meditation typically have no experience to speak from and compound the problem by doubling down on their shtick at this point. This is a very difficult juncture in the process, when one realizes they need guidance and peers.