How to Break Through

“At the moment of commitment the entire universe conspires to assist you.” ―Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Of all the billions of humans who have ever walked the earth, not a single one has ever given up learning to walk. ― Zen observation

When you make a deep commitment to your self, your life path opens up with specific potential. You may not know exactly where you are headed, but you know your next step with deep conviction. At that point, whether it feels difficult or easy doesn’t matter.

A commitment is different than a goal. It operates at a deeper level of reality by connecting your personal life with something bigger. The “something bigger” becomes the power source and inspiration for your activity.

Toddlers learn to walk in complete freedom. No one tells them they *must* learn to walk. It is not a goal. They are driven by an innate drive to move and explore. Nothing holds them back. They have an innate, pre-verbal commitment to bring forth a potential they know is inside them because it allows them to experience their intrinsic freedom and power.

As adults we rarely have such clarity. We have a longing for a direction of change, but we may not be sure what to commit to. Nevertheless, we are strongly drawn to actualize our potential for freedom and power.

When we touch it, it can be a huge breakthrough. The clouds part and the sun shines on our path.

This past week, three of my coaching clients had profound breakthroughs in their work. One left his previous job a year ago and was beginning to feel pressure to get a new position. He had a year’s severance from a high level executive position so money was not an issue, but his ideas about his “career path” was. His breakthrough — it was actually on the order of a?kensho, our Zen word for an experience of awakening to true self — manifested as a complete freedom to be in the unknown.

The second was wrestling with whether and how to re-engage with his previous professional network. They offered valuable training, but he had strong integrity issues with them. His breakthrough came in the form of a clear seeing that he could extract the nectar of their training and do good with it, “like a hummingbird.” We were in person in my backyard for this session, and at the moment he said this phrase a hummingbird flew over our heads and darted away. He shouted out in amazement. It was the only hummingbird I have seen in my yard this year, before or since.

The third had just begun a program with me in exploring a new entrepreneurial direction in his work. After a few sessions he was inspired to offer a free gift of consultation on a public Facebook board, and received a great response from people he wants to work with. His breakthrough was a deep knowing that this would likely be his next professional direction.

In my coaching work — as well as my Zen teaching — I facilitate people’s breakthroughs. (I have to say … I have never had a week like last week!)

Breakthrouths typically require certain conditions:

• an intentional turn to inquiry and discernment.
• a willingness to persevere in the inquiry AND to commit to a course of action at the proper moment.
• a witnessing and guiding consciousness to help you catalyze the energies of the universe.

The first two are things you bring to the table. They are very personal, and only you can do it. The third is something that you must invite into the field of your life. When you do, it acts at levels that are both conscious — encouragement, reflection, guidance — and subtle, even mysterious. Hummingbirds confirm your choices. Allies and partners appear. You notice more serendipities (aka “coincidences”.) Confusion and struggle vanish and in their place arise ease and lightness.

Such is the truth of Goethe’s words, which I have long loved.

“At the moment of commitment the entire universe conspires to assist you.”

It is wonderful to allow yourself to be supported by the universe in this way.

The witnessing and catalyzing consciousness I mentioned above as one of the conditions required for a breakthrough can take a number of forms, and can speak to you in a number of ways. If you are attuned to the signs of nature, you may find it there. If you have a contemplative disposition, you may find it in the “small, still voice.” (Kings, 19:12). If you have a religious bent, it can speak to you in the words of your tradition and teachers.

Most powerfully and directly, you may find it in the form of a person. It could be a spiritual guide, a therapist, a coach, a soul friend, who serves to reflect and magnify your own inherent light. It validates your intention, amplifies your awareness and connects you to the larger consciousness, call it Big Mind, the “universe,” or whatever you want.

The clearer a channel the person is, the more powerful a conduit they will be to enlist universal energy on your behalf.

I have been careful in my language in this newsletter. I do not want people to get the wrong impression that I or anyone else has the power to “give you” a breakthrough experience. Anyone who guarantees you transformation is not being truthful.

But I also do not want to minimize the power and in fact necessity of this witnessing and catalyzing consciousness for true breakthroughs in your life. I know it from my own path of working with my teachers and guides, I know it from the experiences of my own students and clients, and we know it from the authentic testimonials of anyone who has broken through to a higher level.

(If you know of anyone throughout history who says they “did it themselves",” I want to hear it!)

I am comfortable saying that if you sincerely turn your mind and actions to the three conditions I listed above — intention, commitment and witness-guide — you are as likely to discover your true path as you are to hitting the ground by stamping your foot.

I hope this message has been inspiring to you. If you would like to explore working with me, I would love to chat in a?short Discovery session.

And as always, I appreciate you sending this newsletter to others and encouraging them to subscribe. And liking and sharing on social media as you are called.

• Paul