EXPLORING EXCELLENCE/LOST COIN
November 21, 2006

Business Items
	Sarah has written an article about the group
	Daniel has a couple of books coming out
	List Serve - Sterling will bring his lap top next week to help those who havent been able to get on the list serve.

Real Life Example
	Daniel was working last week with a young company in Portland.  The company is a blend of art and business, and the employees he worked with are examples of people who have integrated their 3 centers - the art/emotional, the physical activities/moving, and the analytical side of business/intellectual.  A marker for seeing this - if you are going into an activity and are not looking forward to it, it is probably with people who have some Is that are asleep.  Our activities should be enjoyable and are when the 3 centers are integrated.
	Be open to all parts of yourself.

Self Observation 
	Do something that makes you perform, makes you stretch.
	Being awake gives you flexibility, choices.

The Warrior Way
	A warrior is someone who is striving to meet his or her own standards.
	Daniel read several passages from The Wheel of Time by Carlos Castaneda.
	1) 	Black Magicians are other people who have set a path for you to follow.  Fear them rather than fearing freedom.  When you watch the news, the goal of the newscast is often to generate fear.  Why do they want to keep us scared?  Why do we watch?  They are pushing one reality, behaving as if their reality is the only one there is, one in which we are afraid.  Fear limits our actions, keeps us compliant.
	2)	When a warrior stops the internal dialogue, everything becomes possible/attainable.  When the internal dialogue stops, you can assert your will to accomplish something.  In the Fourth Way, faith is choosing to believe what you have no evidence for.  Actually, we dont have a lot of evidence that what the black magicians want us to believe is true.  In our group, we help each other move away from fear and mechanical thinking.
	3)	Exercise in class: Close your eyes, stop the internal dialogue and pick a symbol (person, animal, etc) that you want to be and be it.   Pick a powerful animal and be that.  Now localize that feeling at the place two inches below your navel.  The result is feeling empowered, free.  Frees you of your story.  Black magicians tell us that our states are not in our control, they are the result of outside influences.  As a warrior, you can change your internal states. To the warrior, everything is just a challenge, not good or bad.
	4)	Self confidence - the average person is hooked to his fellow men, the warrior is hooked to infinity.  Not being trapped in time.
	5)	Whenever the internal dialogue stops, the universe collapses and we see things about ourselves that we couldnt see before, as if these aspects of ourselves have been heavily guarded by our words.

Aims
	7 times down, 8 times up (Japanese saying)
	Falling into your normal pattern - falling asleep and negativity - keeps you from accomplishing your aim.
	Why do companies do quarterly reports - to know where they are and what they need to do to get where they want to go.
	Make aims specific.  For example, if you want to earn more money, identify how much and by when.  Another example, if learning to play the piano, decide how long you are going to practice every day and recognize the difference between serious practice and playing around.
	No matter what you see or what you hear, just move one foot in front of the other.
	Lack of belief that you can do what you want is a form of negativity.
	When we start to tackle larger aims, be sure of what you want.

Assignments
	Self Observation - Make a mental photo album/film of yourself.  Whenever you think of it, take a mental snapshot or short film of yourself.  Try to fill a book with pictures of yourself.  Goal is to be able to look at that book like you would look at someone else.
	Stop the Internal Dialogue - When you remember to do it, stop the internal dialogue.  When you do this, you cant describe anything and there is no fear.  No reference points for reality.  Form is exactly emptiness, emptiness is exactly form.  Practicing deep wisdom clears all pain, therefore no fear.
	3 Movements - practice the 3 movements SLOWLY.  The purpose of the movements is 1) it parallels consciousness, it is a physical platform for consciousness, and 2) it is an efficient way to move the body.
	Move from your guts.
	Reading - Dont read anything this week.  Get copies of 2 books - The Wheel of Time by Carlos Castaneda and In Search of the Miraculous by Ospensky.


