Leverage Your Strengths

A few years back, I fell and injured my lower back. After a year of traditonal medicine, I was told there was little else they could do to aid my recovery.

On my final visit, still in great pain, my doctor offered me one last glimmer of hope by saying, “You know, there have been a few recent studies that have shown significant improvement in patients that worked soley on strengthening the muscles around the injury that were strong, leaving the injured area completely alone, allowing it to heal in it’s own good time.”

Long story short, I followed his advice, focusing on solely on strengthening those muscles which were strong and surrounded the injury, and within a short period of time, I was able to significnatly increase the strength of my back and reduce my pain and suffering. Three years later, I can honestly say I am stronger now than I’ve ever been and am living a pain-free life.
___________________________________

Could this be the beginning of a new paradigm for healing and growth?

Could we as a society learn to grow and/or heal ourselves by focusing on, nurturing and leveraging those areas of our mind and body that are already strong?

An inquiry.

What strengths could you focus on, nurture and leverage today to begin living the life you’ve always wanted?

Copyright 208 Rob Gruber

Perspective - Seeing Through the Eyes of a Child

While assisting a local preschool program for children in an economically challenged area, I had the rare opportunity to see through eyes of a child that had so little but saw so much.

It happened on their lunch break. That day, I was in charge of handing out small, brown-bag lunches to ensure they would each have a least eat one nutritious meal that day.

As all the children carefully emptied the contents of their bags, I noticed one boy ever-so-gently pull out an orange, lift it to the light of the window and exclaim, “Wow! This is the most beautiful orange I have ever seen.” He then turned to me, holding his orange with both hands to his chest, and said “Thank you! Thank You!”

Taken aback by his gratitude, I was barely able to muster up the words, “You’re welcome.” My heart felt as if it was about to explode. I can honestly say I had never experienced such a genuine expression of gratitude and joy before in my life.

As I regained my composure, I noticed he didn’t eat his orange. Instead, he wrapped it with a paper towel and put in his backpack.

Curious to know why he didn’t eat his beautiful orange, I asked him why.

Looking me straight in the eye, he replied, “I love my grandmother very, very much and I know she has never seen an orange as beautiful as this one. So, I will bring it home to her and we will share it together.”

I can honestly say that I have never looked at an orange or a small child the same way since.

Copyright 2007 Rob Gruber

Awaken Your Inspiration!

Within all of us lies something quite magical, loving and uniquely our own, we need merely to awaken it!

About five years ago, I picked up a magazine featuring a series of articles on some of the world’s most creative minds. Just as I was finishing the last article, it occurred to me. All of them had one thing in common. They all had their own very unique way of getting their inspirations out of their heads and into the world in a moment’s notice. One designer went so far as to resurface his workspace with a blackboard type material.

Inspired by his genius, I decided to cover the walls of my workspace with artfully hung, clusters of dry erase boards. I cannot begin to describe the sense of freedom and assurance I have felt since the moment I hung my first board. Over the years, I have filled my boards with anything from gibberish and doodles to bouts of inspiration that have profoundly changed the way I look at and love my life.

You too can Awaken Your Inspiration!

1. Open up your journal and write a love letter to your inspiration, inviting it to take a more active part along your path of growth.

2. Develop a way to take notes and record what your inspiration is telling you throughout your day. When I’m not in my workspace, I carry a pen and pad.

3. Schedule a time to meet with your inspiration each day. The morning works best for me. Find a quiet space, close your eyes, relax your breathing and imagine your inspiration coming forth in anyway it feels comfortable. Once you feel it is present, have a conversation with it. When you are finished speaking with it, thank it for coming and invite it to visit or stay with you throughout your day. (I’ve also had a great deal of success working with my inspiration, when I am doing things that require little thought, like washing the dishes or brushing my teeth.)

4. Listen to the many subtle and loving cues you are receiving from your alignment with your inspiration.

“Wisdon that remains in the mind as an idea, rather than being incorporated into the tapestry of who we are, cannot change us.”
- Joan Borysenko, Guilt is the Teacher, Love is the Answer

Copyright 2008
Rob Gruber Life Mastery Coach

Interested in being coached toward a life of Self-Mastery?
Email me at rob@iwishicouldtellyou.com!

Run Barefoot on the Grass!

If I were to ask you to finish the statement, “The grass is always greener,” you would mostly likely answer “on the other side of the fence.” Am I right?

Now, how did I know that? Could it be that I, like you, have accepted this seemingly harmless idiom as true, made it a part of my belief system, and am now able to rattle it off whenever called to do so? Well, yeah. That’s exactly how I did it.

Unfortunately, this widely accepted idiom is wrong. The grass, a metaphor for life, is not, nor ever will be, greener on the other side. “The grass is always greener under your feet.”

The reason I say this is because the grass you are standing on is where you are now, and where you are now is where you are able to grow, love and experience life.

That grass on the other side can’t offer that. It is but a reflection of light we have been misled to believe is greater that us and that is simply not true. Making it, in my opinion, a lighter shade of green.

So run barefoot on the grass and know that it’s always greener under your feet.

______________________

A Present Moment Exercise – Questioning Beliefs

1. Monitor your thoughts and language throughout the week.
2. Catch yourself when you begin to express beliefs that require little thought or effort to express.
3. Take a moment to ask yourself the following questions:
Did I create this belief or was it given to me by society?
Is it true or false?
If it’s false, could I create a new, better and more loving belief to replace the old one?

I realize questioning your beliefs may feel a bit uncomfortable at first, but I assure “an unexamined idiom is not worth living.” gruberism

Expansion – A Present Moment Exercise and Game

Expansion is a present moment exercise in the form of a single-player game where you, the player, cannot lose!

Working of the premise that what you focus on expands, the object of the game is to reside in the present as much as possible by increasing your awareness of it.

The Rules.

1. Begin by creating a strip of three connected boxes labeled Past, Present and Future respectively. (As shown below.)

2. Throughout your day, on the hour or half-hour and whenever you feel a shift of awareness, record where you just were in that moment by placing a check in the box it applies to.

3. At the end of the day tally up your scores.

4. Divide the total number of check marks in each section with the total of check marks for the three sections combined to get a percentage score for each box.

5. Adjust the size of your boxes in length according to their percentages for the next day. For those of you who are into graphs, your favorite spreadsheet program’s graphs can be a fun way to do this.  (At first, your present moment box may be quite small. That is perfectly natural and expected, being present is not something most of us consciously aspire to be, but once become aware the power of your present moments your score will significantly increase.)

6. The goal, of course, is to increase your present moment score each time you play.

Supplemental Exercises

1. Journal what you are discovering about being present.

2. Visualize, each morning,  your “present” section expanding and becoming a significant portion of your day.

A Special Note to Hard-Core Gamers:

Do not judge, reward or punish yourself for your scores! Simply become aware of the quality of your life as you become more and more present.

Copyright 2008 Rob Gruber
Present Life Mastery Coach

Interested in being coached toward a life of Self-Mastery?
Email me at rob@iwishicouldtellyou.com!

Reside in the Present!

If you were to ask a Realtor, “What are the three most important factors in determining the best place to live? He would reply without batting an eye, “location, location, location.”

Imagining the past, present and future as places you could reside, this tried and true answer could just as well be applied to the question of time.

Expanding on the Real Estate metaphor, the chart below highlights a few of the amenities you may consider important to you and where they can be found.

I realize a few of these factors will reference the past or future but the actual action or process takes place in the present.

So, where would you wish to reside?

Copyright 2008 Rob Gruber
Present Life Mastery Coach
i wish i could tell you

Stay Present! Have this blog delivered to your virtual doorstop via feed or email!

Interested in being coached toward a life of Self-Mastery?
Email me at rob@iwishicouldtellyou.com!

You are Greater Than You Think!

Experience your greatness!

Journal the answer to the following questions.
Who am I?
and
How am I feeling?

If you’re like most people, you answered the questions with a series of “I ams.” And while this is all very well and good, it is not as true as you may think.

Why? The word “am,” recognized as “you in the present,” also implies “equal to,” as in I am this or I am that. And while I will not argue that you are in someway that which you claim to be, I would argue that you are so much more than you calim to be.

To get better idea of this, try adding a little perspective to your proclamations by substituting your absolute “I ams” from your journaling exercise with the following relative “I ams.”

I am greater than my _________
I am more than my ___________
I am simply experiencing ____________ (this aspect of myself.)
I am so much more than my ____________
I am ___________ and more.
I am currently _______________ and so much more.
I am currently feeling _________

Coming full-circle, realizing  what is true for you is true for others, consider the idea of perceiving others in their greatness.

You are greater than your ___________
You are so more than your __________
You are simply experiencing ____________ (this aspect of yourself.)
You are so much more than your ____________
You are ___________ and more
You are currently _______________
You are currently feeling _________

Can you feel the difference? The absolute “I am” is a bit stagnate, but the relative “I am” and “You are” is fluid and expansive like the ever changing present moment.

Now I realize you won’t be speaking this way this to others, because that’s just not how our society currently communicates, but once you begin to accept and practice the idea of “greater than-ness”, you will begin to see the world in a whole new light.

Copyright 2008 Rob Gruber
Present Life Mastery Coach
i wish i could tell you

subscribe for free

Interested in being coached toward a life of Self-Mastery?
Email me at rob@iwishicouldtellyou.com!

You Were Whole All Along!

“You were whole all along
How could you be not?
You are nothing but love.
You just simply forgot.”*

At the moment you arrived into this world, you were whole. So much so, you had to expel fluid from your lungs just to take your first breath.

You were whole. Take a moment and let that sink in.

Here’s a Wholeness Exercise to help you recreate the experience.

1. Close your eyes and relax.
2. Imagine you are taking your very first breath.
3. As you inhale, say to yourself, “I am.”
4. As you the exhale, say to yourself “whole.”
5. Repeat for as long as you wish.

Having recreated your wholeness, let me ask you this. What has changed since your birth to make you think you are anything but whole? I would argue that nothing has changed accept your awareness of your wholeness.

When you came into this world from the safety and warmth of your mother, you were immediately subjected to an abundant source of new stimuli from the external world. Slowly, as your awareness shifted away from your wholeness to this new stimuli, you began to identify with your experiences of this stimuli rather than your wholeness. Over time, you simply forgot all about the wholeness you possessed.

In your forgetting, a myth was born. That myth was the belief that “something in my life is missing, but I just don’t know what it is. So I will search for it and never stop until I find it.” In your searching, you never thought to look in the most obvious spot, within you. Not looking within, you spend the rest of your life searching for something you have possessed all along.

You can end this myth and your endless searching by the doing the following.

1. Stop searching outside yourself. The moment you do, a shift of awareness will occur.
2. Accept the myth as a myth.
3. Practice the Wholeness Exercise.
3. Create a new truth to replace the old myth. I say new, because the idea may be new to you.

Your New Truth could be something like this.

“Nothing is missing in my life.
I am whole and complete.”

Or

“I need not a thing to make me feel whole,
I am nothing but love, mind, body and soul.”*

Or

“I have not a want, not a wish or a need.
I am nothing but love, in thought, world and deed.”*

These are my truths and I use them in meditation and whenever I feel I am going off course. You are free to use them or create a truth all your own.

Copyright 2008 Rob Gruber Present Life Mastery Coach

*excerpts from my book coming out at the end of the year.

subscribe for free

Interested in being coached toward a life of Self-Mastery?
Contact me at rob@iwishicouldtellyou.com!

Listen Visually!

“An ounce of behavior is worth a pound of words.” – Sanford Meisner

I love a good foreign language film. No other art form has been able to move me so deeply. The reason being, I suppose, is the fact that it requires me to do something I don’t normally do, which is to listen primarily with my eyes. Not understanding the language, the visual content and behavior become paramount. Its as if the language barrier actually becomes a bridge for something far richer.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “don’t you spend most of your time reading the subtitles.” No. I don’t. I can’t. I’m a bit dyslexic. I may look down from time to time, but for the most part I don’t. If the film is good, I’ll watch it again at a later date and read the subtitles the best I can. But for the most part, the visual experience is more than enough to take me places I would never have gone and feel things I never would have felt if I relied on the spoken word.

Now, you don’t have to go to the movies to listen visually. It’s actually something you do every day, i.e., driving or watching a sporting event. But you can learn to develop you ability to listen visually into a powerful tool for communication. The better you are the more meaningful and effective your communications will become with others and yourself.

Here is are a few exercise to increase your ability to listening visually

The Foreign Film Exercise
1. Buy a movie ticket to or rent a good foreign film, here are a few of my favorites.
Amelie by Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeune
Cinema Paradiso by Director Giuseppe Tornatore,
The Lives of Others by Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Director Ang Lee.

2.Listen to the movie with your eyes. Ignore the subtitles. Let the images, sounds and behavior envelope you. Trust that there is enough going on without words to experience something visceral and genuine. This may feel a little “foreign” to you at first but I assure it has the potential to awaken something quite beautiful within you.

The Group Setting
1. Go to a place that has a lot of foot traffic, like a café or a mall and take a moment to gracefully and respectfully observe those passing by. Take in everything you can visually about them. Are they in a hurry, do they appear happy, focused or bored? What does your intuition lovingly tell you about each person?

One on One
1. Have a conversation with anyone and take into consideration that their behavior will reveal to you a great deal about themselves and the communication they are sharing. Are they interested in the topic? Where is their primary focus?

Copyright 2008 Rob Gruber Present Life Mastery Coach

i wish i could tell you

subscribe for free

Interested in being coached toward a life of Self-Mastery?
Email me at rob@iwishicouldtellyou.com!

Your Thoughts Are Like Snowflakes

“Your thoughts are like snowflakes, no two are the same.” - gruberism

Let me prove it to you. Have a thought, any thought. Now, think that thought again. Was it the same thought?

I would argue that it wasn’t. I would argue that you have created a copy of the original thought and that copy is not the original.

To make this even more clear. Try thinking that very same thought again.

Congratulations, you have just created a copy of the copy of the original thought.

The following is a visual of the process:

“Original Thought”
“Copy of “Original Thought””
“Copy of “Copy of “Original Thought”””
“Copy of “Copy of “Copy of “Original Thought””””

But why can’t they be he same?

The Source and Conditions are Constantly Changing.

• Your original thought came from an original source and unique conditions.
• The first copy of that thought came from the output of the original source and new conditions and not the original source or conditions.
• The second copy came out of the first copy’s output, an entirely new source and set of conditions.

What seems like the same thought is simply similar. I call this line of thought, Thematic Thinking.

Thematic Thinking is powerful. It can lead you into a present state, along a road to a bright future or down a dead end.

Once you are aware of your nature/ability to think thematically, you can begin to make more powerful and conscious choices to create the life you wish.

Thematic Inquiries

What themes are running through my life right now?
Which themes have not been of service to me?
What themes would I rather have running through my life?
What themes would bring me the most joy in my life?

Thematic Journaling Exercise

1. At the top of a page, write down this question. “What themes would I like to have running through my life?”
2. Write anything and everything you could possibly wish to experience.
3. Stay on each thought until you feel you have exhausted the theme or are drawn to an even more fulfilling theme.
4. Do this for as long as you please.

Do you have a theme you wish to share?

Copyright 2008 Rob Gruber Present Life Mastery Coach

i wish i could tell you
subscribe for free

Interested in being coached toward a life of Self-Mastery?
Email me at rob@iwishicouldtellyou.com!

Claim your Presence in “The iwicty Registry”

Hello Folks,

Today I would like to announce a new collaborative page called The iwicty Registry.

It is here you will be able to claim your very presence in the here and now!

Simply click on the folder tab above marked “The iwicty Registry” and sign the registry.

Carpe Praesentium!

Sincerly,

Rob Gruber

Copyright 2008 Rob Gruber

Present Life Mastery Coach

i wish i could tell you

Create an Echo in Your Youniverse

Get more out of your affirmations with this powerful technique I call affurmations.

An affurmation is an affirmation that is redirected back to you by replacing the “I am” with a “You are.”

By directing your affirmations back to you, you activate another aspect of your being. In essence, you complete the cycle. It can feel as if you are hearing from an outside source.

To Create an Affurmation

1. Create an affirmation just the way you always have, using “I am” and stating what you wish to experience in a present tense as if you are already experiencing it is you wnat.
I am living a life of love!

2. Now, change the “I am” to “You are.”
You are living a life of love!

To Utilize Your New Affurmation

1. State your affurmation to yourself in the mirror.

2. Write down your “You are” affurmation on a piece of paper and place it wherever you will be able to see it.

3. For those who require a little privacy, encode your affurmations by writing down the first letter of each word on a small piece of paper and placing it wherever you feel the need. Post-its work great at the office.

5. If you have a supportive partner or friend, state your “I am” affirmation to them and allow them to confirm it with a “You are” affurmation.
You: I am beautiful!
Them: You are beautiful!
Do this until you believe you feel you have shifted closer toward the fulfillment of your intention.

Some Benefits

1. You will hear your affirmations in a whole other way.

2. You begin to see that which you are affirming in others.

Copyright 2008 Rob Gruber Present Life Mastery Coach

i wish i could tell you

subscribe for free

The Next Big Thing in Communication!

Your ability to effectively communicate is paramount, hence the birth of bottom lining, the ability to express yourself succinctly.

While much has been written on bottom lining, little has been written about the ability to express what you have heard succinctly.

I call this ability, Headlining. Much like an editor that reads an article to determine its headline, you can listen to the speaker and express what you have heard in the form of a head line.

Headlining is not only efficient but fulfilling.   You not only listen for the information being conveyed but for the meaning of the communication.

The irony of this technique is that once you begin to master it and truly connect with others words are often no longer needed.

A HeadLining Exercise

1. Carry on a conversation. (Begin practicing this with those you know well, until you’ve got a hang on it.)

2. Listen to them with every fiber of your being.

3. Share with them in as few words as possible what you feel they have shared with you.

4. Listen again for feedback to determine how well you headlined.

Copyright 2008 Rob Gruber Life Coach

i wish i could tell you

subscribe for free

My Wish is My Command

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” – Albert Einstein

“To imagine is everything, to know is nothing at all.” - Anatole France

What did these great thinkers discover about the power of imagination? I have a theory, a simple but profound one. I believe they were able to tap into the hidden and powerful nature of the word, imagine.

Did I say hidden?

Yes! Hidden within the word, imagine, right before your eyes, is an affirming and declarative sentence of your ability to create your world.

Breaking the code

Breaking down the word, first visually and then phonetically, you will find its message.

Visually: I – m – a – ge – ne

Phonetically: Im – ah – gee – nee

The Declaration: I am a Genie!

That’s right. “I am a genie!” I did say simple, but I also said profound. The profound part is found in the definition of the word, genie. A genie, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, is “a supernatural creature who does one’s bidding when summoned.”

My argument to you is that you have within you a supernatural being, call it a soul, an authentic self, your higher self or even pure genius that can be summoned to help you create the world you truly desire.

You are a genie! You create your world through your imagination. Your wish is your command.

Awaken the Genie within You!

1. Spend some time each day welcoming your newly found awareness. Say to yourself each day, “I am a Genie. My wish is my command.”

2. As you imagine, call on your Genie to aid you in making powerful and loving wishes.

3. Work with your Genie to determine what wishes are working for you and which aren’t, so that you can wish more wisely next time.

4. Never stop wishing.

A Query

What does your heart truly wish for?

Copyright 2008 Rob Gruber Life Coach

i wish i could tell you

subscribe for free

Once Upon a Present Moment

Once upon a present moment, an old queen looked into her mirror and asked, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, whose the fairest of them all?”

The mirror answered back, “I am the fairest, reflecting only what I see.”

Enraged by the mirror’s answer she exclaimed, “That’s not what I meant. Who is the most beautiful?”

“Still it is I,” said the mirror, “reflecting only what I see. What could be more beautiful than that?

The queen, angered by the mirror’s answer, threw it on the ground, breaking it into a thousand pieces screaming, “Now what do you have to say for yourself?

The thousand broken pieces answered back in a thousand tiny voices, “I am still the fairest, reflecting only what I see.”

Refusing to listen to the mirror’s many voices, the queen ordered all the mirrors in her kingdom to be destroyed and buried far, far away.

———————————————————-

I realize that this may seem like a simple play on words, but it’s not. To see things as they truly are is a beautiful thing. And as easy as it seems, it’s not, and we humans rarely do it.

A Mirroring Exercise

1. Go to a busy place you feel comfortable, like a café, and write in your journal everything you see in the most descriptive way you know how. Describe what others are doing around you. What you think they do for a living? How do you feel about them? Describe the environment and setting in great detail. (Do this for about fifteen minutes.)

2. Now I want you to do the exact opposite and write in your journal what is going on in front of you in its purest and most generic sense. Avoid using adjectives and adverbs or anything descriptive. Use only rudimentary nouns and verbs. Simply record what is in front of you without any imagining, discerning, judging or evaluating. To simply describe someone as male or female is too descriptive for this exercise. i.e., person walking, man standing, couple holding hands, machine making noise, wind blowing, door moving, sign flashing. (Do this for about fifteen minutes.)

The second part of this exercise may seem odd or difficult at first, but with some practice, you may find it quite liberating or even peaceful to see things as they simply are.

“All of life is within a stone’s throw.” gruberism

Copyright 2008 Rob Gruber Life Coach

i wish i could tell you

subscribe for free

Awaken Your Very Essence from the Outside In

On a recent trip to the theater, I had the pleasure to see a production called The Rat Pack. The show transported me back in time to a night at the Sands Hotel in Vegas with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. at their very best.

Watching the confidence of Frank, the charm of Dean and the poise of Sammy filled my very being. In their presence I began to assume their essence. I was profoundly changed, not only during the show, but for many days after.

Over the next week, I noticed that my profound change was starting to wane, and I wanted it back, but how? And as sure as I asked the question, the answer arrived, in the form of a question? “What would Frank do? Or Dean? Or Sammy? And as I asked these questions, I began to experience once again the essence I attributed to each of them.

Frank, Dean and Sammy didn’t give me anything I didn’t already have, but awoke in me, an essence I attributed to each of them. And when I asked the question, “What would ______do in this situation?” I was able to re-awake the very essence I attributed to them.

As I ask the question, What would Frank do? I begin to smile, walk taller, and know that “I have the world on a string…What a world, what a life – I’m in love.”

An Awakening Essence Exercise for Determining Action

1. Choose someone or something in your life that you attribute a certain essence, quality or characteristic you wish to experience more of. This can be a hero, an actor, a religious figure or a natural wonder. It really doesn’t matter what it is as long as you attribute a quality or essence to it that you wish to possess.

2. Ask the question.
What would ____________ do (in this situation)?

3. Allow the answer to flow from your sense of the essence you have given that person or thing.

4. Experience the fullness of the answer and determine if it is the right course of action. If it is not, enlist another hero, person or thing into the process and ask again?

Copyright 2008 Rob Gruber Life Coach

i wish i could tell you

subscribe for free

Listen and You Shall Hear

While waiting in line at a local coffee shop, I overheard the young woman in front of me order “a medium coffee with room for cream.” The barista, not listening, quickly handed her a medium coffee filled to the rim.

Seeing the full cup, she replied, “Excuse me, but I asked for room for cream. Could you…”

The barista, annoyed at her request, replied back. “Just pour what you don’t want in the garbage can behind you. Can I help the next person?”

Despirited, the young woman attempted to pour out the excess coffee only to spill a good deal of it on herself and the floor.

I ran over to her with a pile of napkins and asked if she was OK. Attempting to keep her composure, she simply nodded in appreciation as she confessed, “All I wanted was a little room for cream.”

I sincerely replied. “I know…I heard you.”

Realizing she had been heard, her whole demeanor changed as she replied gratefully, “Thank you. Its nice to be heard.”

————————————————————-

To speak and be heard, to listen and truly hear, those are truly precious, present moments.

A Present Moment Listening Exercise

Throughout your day today, allow yourself to realize that every conversation or exchange you have with another human being is a request to be heard and connect, and a wonderful gift and opportunity for you to connect and be present.

Or you can turn it into a mantra

Every conversation or exchange I have with another human being is a request to be heard and connect, and a wonderful gift and opportunity for me to connect and be present.

Copyright 2007 Rob Gruber  Life Coach

i wish i could tell you

subscribe for free

Seize the Present!

The expression Carpe Diem, “seize the day”, has always held wonderful connotations for me. I love the intention. Just saying it aloud makes my heart beat a bit faster. But more often than not, the idea of seizing a whole day leaves me a bit overwhelmed.

So, to remedy this situation, I did what most of us would do when presented with a task that appears too large. I broke it down.

My first inclination was to seize the moment, “Carpe Momentum.” Then I realized I wasn’t being specific enough, because I found myself on many occasions dwelling on a past moment or getting caught up in a future thought.

Then it dawned on me that what I really wanted to seize was the present, or Carpe Praesentium. The moment I set my intention to “Carpe Praesentium,” I immediately woke up, as if from a dream. Everything around me became clear. My feeling of overwhelm was replaced by a sense of peace and wholeness with everything around me. It is here, and only here, I wish to reside.

Carpe Praesentium!

Copyright 2007 Rob Gruber  Life Coach

i wish i could tell you

subscribe for free

Assistapants Unite! - We First Technology

At the end of a workshop I recently attended, one of the instructors expressed her sincerest thanks to the assistants that were occasionally asked to participate in some of the lessons, by whimsically saying, “I would also like to thank our lovely assistapants for all their wonderful assistance and participation. Thank you.”

While I realize this in not a word, I think it should be. So here’s a humble definition.

Assistapant - someone that assists another’s growth through active participation.

This is so much more that just showing up, instructing, leading or telling others what to think or do as students listen and try to imagine the implications. This is experiential learning, where teachers, assistants and students work as one to co-create an environment where everyone grows, students developing awareness and teachers and assistants developing mastery.

An Inquiry

What if you became an assistapant to those you love? What if you took a more active part in their growth and grew in the process? How would your world change? What could be possible?

Copyright 2007 Rob Gruber  Life Coach

i wish i could tell you

Become a Modern Day Alchemist

An Alchemist, in ancient times, was a philosopher and metaphysical chemist that sought to transform common metals into gold or create the elusive elixir of life.

While I have yet to transmute any common metals into actual gold or brew the elixir of life, I do consider myself a modern day alchemist and am becoming quite competent in transforming my world.

Here’s a simplified version of The Principles of Modern Day Alchemy.

1. Every thing in the universe contains its opposite, e.g., light and dark or love and hate.

2. The essence of Everything is contained in every Thing, as the poet Blake described seeing “a world in a grain of sand.”

3. You have the ability to choose what you wish to focus on.

4. What you choose to focus on, in your mind, will expand.

5. Once your level of internal focus reaches a critical mass, you will begin to look for and see evidence of it in your outer world.

6. Knowing every thing contains the essence of everything, you will now be able to see that which you are looking for in that which you are looking at.

“The modern day alchemist does not change anything into gold, but rather, sees the gold which is contained in all things.” - gruberism

May you harness these principles to transform your life!

Sincerely,
Rob Gruber

Copyright 2007 Rob Gruber Life Coach

i wish i could tell you
subscribe for free