Supercoach - Michael Neill [69]
While not everyone is up for this conversation, the connection you make with the ones who are will make a tremendous difference in your own sense of joy and meaning in your life.
In a nutshell:
• Hope isn’t a promise that something you want will happen; it’s an invitation to enjoy the possibility of what you want while you and life negotiate the eventual outcome.
• There is never a good reason not to hope.
• What if it could work? Yes, but what if it could? What then?
EPILOGUE
Are You Ready to Become
a Supercoach?
“When you were born, you cried and the world
rejoiced. Live your life in such a way that when
you die, the world cries and you rejoice.”
— Indian proverb
The Bodhisattva’s Vow
One day, a seeker who had devoted many lifetimes to attaining enlightenment broke through the conditioned thinking of his ordinary mind and saw the world around him as no more than samsara, a projection of his own largely fearful thoughts. His entire being was filled with joy, and he felt as if every cell in his body was dissolving into the bliss of nirvana. It was as though the gates of heaven had opened up to him and he glided effortlessly toward them.
But no sooner had he set one foot in heaven than he heard a sound that filled his heart with compassion. He turned back to see a seemingly infinite number of perfect beings acting for all the world like trapped cattle, struggling to make their way in the world and suffering at the hands of phantoms created by their own minds.
In that moment, he made this vow: “For as long as space endures, and for as long as living beings remain, until then may I too abide to dispel the misery of the world.”
To this day, it is said, the Bodhisattva works tirelessly for the liberation of all sentient beings, one foot firmly planted in heaven, the other planted firmly here on Earth.
The Ten Secrets, Revisited
Here are the ten secrets we’ve been exploring in this book:
1. The world is what you think it is. You are creating your experience of the world moment by moment.
2. Well-being is not the fruit of something you do; it is the essence of who you are. There is nothing you need to change, do, be, or have in order to be happy.
3. There’s nowhere for you to get to—you’re just here.
4. What you decide will never impact your life as much as how you handle the consequences of that decision.
5. Every emotion you experience is a direct response to a thought, not to the world around you.
6. No matter what seems to be going on in your life, you don’t have to do anything. Everything you do (or don’t do) is a choice.
7. You create other people by how you listen to them.
8. You can ask anyone for anything when you make it okay for them to say “no.”
9. Financial security doesn’t come from the amount of money you currently have; it comes from your ability to get more of it whenever you want. Master the art of serving others and you will secure your financial future.
10. There is never a good reason not to hope.
As you begin to gain insight into these secrets for yourself and experience their effects, your life will begin to transform. “Results” will matter less than ever, and you’ll find yourself producing them even more consistently. Your fears and stresses will fall away as you recognize that the capacity to create the life you want to live has been inside you right from the very beginning. You may even find that your biggest problem is that you have no more big problems.
As your life gets better and better, it will begin to have a positive impact on the people around you and transform their lives, too. Even if your “job description” isn’t part of the helping profession, people will just feel more relaxed in themselves when they’re with you. They’ll find themselves creating more effortless success in their lives and producing results far beyond their expectations. There is nothing you need to do to make this happen—it’s the natural result of resting in your innate well-being and evolving your understanding