Here’s a story you’ve probably not heard: when he was a young child, Hitler lived in Passau, Germany, a lovely city at the confluence of three rivers: the Danube, the Inn, and the Ilz. Hitler’s family lived in the squat yellow house in the photo I took when I was there recently. Apparently, when he was about five years old, little Adolf fell in the river and a young neighbor pulled him out.
What thoughts are coming up for you?
The neighbor went on to become a monk. And, as the story goes, took his own life when he heard of Hitler’s atrocities.
Again, what thoughts does this stir?
I bring this up because of the powerful conversations it can inspire when we are open.
Stay with me here; I know this is a big ask.
Most people would agree that what Hitler wrought was devastating, despicable, immoral. If we can even find the words, we would find many, many to describe the man himself, his actions personally and those that he inspired in others. Many people would describe Hitler and his cronies as the epitome of hatred.
And. What if we could find gifts and opportunities within the horrors? What if we could transform the devastation into something for the good of humanity, the good of us, the good of the young monk?
What if?
What gifts and opportunities can we find in the Holocaust?
Like I said, a big ask, and we can get there; it might not be right away, but I promise the gifts are there.
Meanwhile, let’s start with something we experience as lighter. I drop my mug of tea as I head out to work; splash myself, get my workout clothes wet and now I have no tea for my commute.
To be clear, I cursed, in my inimitable way. And then I shifted to gratitude that the tea didn’t get on my computer, that it was just tea, no stickiness or souring to deal with, and I challenged myself: what is a possible gift? An opportunity?
I got to sort through my bag of workout clothes. Oh my. Do not need that many pairs of socks in there. Oh, that’s where I put the sunblock. What is that bottle of homeopathic remedy doing in there? What an unexpected opportunity to clear out.
How about any additional time I added to my commute? What’s the gift in that? The later it gets, the more cars I meet on the road; how is that a gift? Well, the longer I’m in the car, the longer I have available to listen to my current book, A Course Of Love.
Will I be late to work? Not likely. I may not get my pre-work meditate-in-the-car-time, but I won’t actually walk in late. I have learned to pad my timing to create as little stress with my commute as possible.
This is clearly a much easier situation in which to apply the gifts and opportunities test AND I see the possibilities in using the Hitler example. Do you?
He did what he did and impacted thousands of people, leaving an indelible mark on history. We can gnash our teeth and moan, but we don’t need to stay stuck there. We can choose to transform the situation into a learning opportunity and acknowledge the indomitable human spirit which created actual gifts, then and now.
Even the monk who apparently killed himself; what a wake-up call to those around him, what an opportunity for people to pay attention to their own responses to Hitler.
What’s possible in our own lives if we can find nuggets of gifts in historic tragedies?
When we embrace possibility in an intentional way, what can we shift personally and professionally?
This is what I love about the practice of Positive Intelligence: Mental fitness. Possibility. Building habits which stick. Giving ourselves tools to run our minds rather than allowing our knee-jerk reactions to run us.
Check out the website. I run the bootcamp class for 7 weeks. I charge $395 for the class, the daily support, and access to a fantastic app which you get to use for a full year.
I’ve been teaching it for a few years now–and even my husband has taken it; in fact, he got so much out of it that he’s doing the membership group I offer as a continuation.
If you know Lou, that says a lot.
Please check it out and let me know what questions you have.
*****
And, speaking of classes, whooooooo’s ready to reset their diet? Clean up the physical and clear out the body aches and pains, clear out the brain fog, release some weight, feel better in your body; be clean, clear and connected.
Enter the RESTART Program: this is the foundation of a reboot I will be running next month.
I see it as a one-two punch: clear the body with RESTART and then jump into mental fitness training with Positive Intelligence.
Sound good?
Here are the details:
RESTART runs 7-8’ish pm ET from August 14th-September 11th
It costs $395 and includes an actual cookbook/guidebook, as well as weekly zoom support meetings and daily check-ins for the five weeks of the program.*
Positive Intelligence runs 7-8 pm ET from September 18th-October 30th
It costs $395 and includes the app, as well as weekly zoom classes and daily support.
Hit me up with comments, questions, concerns and come join me for one or both of the classes. And yes, I've got special pricing if you opt-in for both!
*If this is a repeat reset for you, let me know; I have a different pricing structure.
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