JUST STAY

Don’t fight.

Don’t run.?

Just stay.

Don’t argue.

Don’t acquiesce.

Just stay.

Don’t complain.

Don’t cower.

Just stay.

Don’t shout.

Don’t shrink.

Just stay.

Don’t obsess.

Don’t ignore.

Just stay.

One of the core principles of We Are Creating is containment.?

The power of containment is best illustrated by considering the difference between a slow cooker and a pressure cooker.?

If you put bones and water into a slow cooker and turn it on, then in 2-3 days you’ll have bone broth. If you put the ingredients in a pressure cooker, you’ll have the same bone broth in just 2-3 hours.

Both devices use about the same amount of energy, but the pressure cooker cooks at a much hotter temperature because it is a stronger container.?

It’s basic thermodynamics that as pressure increases, so does the temperature. And of course, with more heat, transformation occurs more quickly.?

This is one of the high functions of committed relationships.

The commitment is the containment that makes possible the intensity and more rapid transformation.

We all know at least one person who doesn’t ‘stay’ in relationships and who, as a result, never seems to mature or evolve.?

Lack of growth can pretty much always be correlated to a lack of ‘staying’ in the heat.

I’ve been present with the importance of ‘staying’ in recent weeks as my friend and I raised over half a million dollars for survivors of the fires in Maui. We’ve been working long days, way more than we’re used to, and a lot of opinions, fears, worries, and concerns have been flying about.?

As I drove home from the burn zone in Lahaina, I watched inwardly the ache that hung between my solar plexus and my throat. It was an anxiousness born of new circumstances, new responsibilities, and new pressures. The fear I felt was a kind of black presence, hovering in that consequential channel between the heart and the voice. ?

“I could just walk away from all of this and the feeling would be gone,” I thought.

I’d already denounced the possibility of fighting or arguing. It was too antithetical to our purpose to make it tenable.?

But sure, I could walk away from the heavy responsibility of stewarding over half a million dollars in donations. I could walk away from the leadership. I could walk away from the disagreements and differences of opinion.

If I walked away though, I would most certainly not grow.?

In truth, the highest value of any endeavor is the growth that it produces in one.?

With each upward thrust, we become able to make a larger contribution.?

The more we are, the more we can give, and so this is why we should stay.?

It is the reason why, at Creating, our programs like Being a Client Magnet, Creator’s Circle, and Master’s Circle all require serious commitment from you.

It is the reason why our live, in-person events require a significant investment of money, time, travel, energy, focus, and emotional fortitude.?

Be it 4 days, 8 weeks, or 8 months, when you join us on a Creating Journey, you are entering a pressure cooker of transformation.

Our first priority, always, is containment. And our means for this, always, is love.?

Second to that, our orientation is to challenge you and this is where the heat comes in. Our means for this, too, is love.

Sometimes love looks like holding you in a place safe enough for you to stay.?

At other times, it looks like challenging you (or allowing you to challenge yourself) enough that you are at the edge of wanting to fight or run, to argue or acquiesce, to complain or cower, to shout or shrink, to obsess or ignore - and when you find yourself there, we will stay with you.

Our staying, in its non-activity, will paradoxically be a transcendent and powerful activity.?

The power of staying is one of dissolution. Staying deconstructs narrative, sets one free of suffering, and liberates new possibilities.

She who stays finds the world that was against her to transform around her.

As in the film Wizard of Oz, the moment when Dorothy’s world turns from black and white into color, a world that was dark and oppressive can become, on its own in the presence of your staying, light, and enabling.?

You do not need to fight.

You do not need to run.

You need, only, to stay.

Loving you, JPM

PS - Early bird tickets for Creating Love & Power in Santa Monica, CA are still available. Use code ‘EARLYBIRD’ when you check out at the link in comments