Living Treasures

Luo De Xiu pushing me at his seminar in Rennes 2006

There are people I meet who inspire me. They have such knowledge, grace or skill that I think it would be a great loss to humanity if they were to disappear from the planet. Some of my martial arts teachers fall into this category. I always feel amazed when I see the grace, power and clarity of their movement. Some of my NLP or Hypnosis teachers as well. They have a combination of refined skill, and a deep humanity. Most often they have a sparkle to their eye and a shining enthusiam for life.

Probably you know someone, or you know of someone who you view this way. If you do not go out and find someone, and spend some time with them.

Our society honours these people, or at least some of them. They may receive prizes and awards. Their funerals are well attended. This is doubly true if the area of their mastery is something that the media finds it easy to sell.

Yet I think it is strange that I and others may value these people more than others. I have difficulty with the idea that intrinsically one person is worth more than another.

However amazing these people are to me, they are also just people. If you have no interest in martial arts, my teacher Luo would just be a personable man with big forearms. If you had no interest in therapy or change Frank Farrelly would just be a charming grandfather figure with a knack for stories.

Yet I believe there is something that comes when people dedicate their attention, their presence in a deliberate way. This could be to an art or skill, to social networks, business, or family.

Contrast this with the attentionless consumption of food/television. I will include in this the accumulation of money - with the sole intention of using it for mindless consumption described in the sentence above.

Somehow the first has the possibility of creating something, of contributing to humanity. The latter....

Of course I think there are very few people who fall purely into one camp or another. I know that I dedicate a good amount of time developing skill I can pass on, share and I intend can contribute to people's lives.

I also can drop into mindless consumption. I have been found at two in the morning, the remote control in my hand flicking between the world's worst police chases, and some science fiction film that I did not quite see when I was fifteen.

That usually happens when I'm tired. Changing channels feels a lot harder than climbing the stairs to my bed. So from an NLP point of view my behaviour does have a positive intention - to rest.

Still when I look at my life I think that I will not get much satisfaction or pleasure just looking for things to consume, whether crap TV, or great films, junk food or three star Michelin meals.

I think the sparkling eyes, the shining enthusiasm the deep satisfaction come from investigation, curiousity, a happily hopeless dedication to some kind of perfection.

Personally I am dedicated to the riddle of what it is to be human on this planet. I do not ever expect to get reach a perfect solution, just deeper levels of humour, subtlety and attention. Each client I work with is a source of fascination, because they tell me the riddle in a new way. Later I'll do some work in the anarchy of my garden. The plants there will join the riddling.

Just thinking about it lifts the corners of my mouth and brightens what I look at.

So what are you dedicated to perfecting? Where is your fascination, your curiousity?