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monthly inspirations
May Inspirations
Slumdog Millionaire and Macro/Micro Madness
Since this is our inaugural monthly coaching inspiration, we’d like to thank you for your courage and willingness to begin to take the critical steps you need to take in order to tap into the full power of your bulletproof spirit. These Inspirational Coaching Messages will appear in your inbox every month and we are so honored to be a part of your life, especially during the times when you may feel that you’re in rough waters or in over your head. We hope that as the months unfold, you’ll begin to think of us as your very own crisis coaches, adversity advisors and bounce back buddies because that is exactly what we intend to offer you, month in, month out for as long as you need some extra support in bouncing back from life’s hardest hits.
Bulletproof Heroes in Film
The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spiritlaunched on February 24th, just two days after the 81st Annual Academy Awards ceremony that millions and millions of people around the world love to watch because film is a medium that people really connect with and that offers powerful transformative experiences for the price of a movie ticket. If you haven’t seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire yet, I hope its prominence at the Academy Awards will convince you to go out and experience this profound film. The day after I saw it the first time, I dragged my entire extended family to see it, too—I just felt I had to share it with those I love.
While I’ve heard people say that the film’s title turned them off from seeing it, I want to emphasize that this movie, while emotionally challenging at times, is extremely positive and inspirational. While its action takes place in India, its story, characters and theme are completely universal. This is the story of a boy coming of age while enduring hits that we, in the comfy West, cannot even really imagine—it is a film where we see the hardest hits that life hands out and we are humbled and given a fresh perspective on our own troubles. But it is also a film that features an unforgettable hero who completely embodies the bulletproof spirit that we write about in the book. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words, and in the case of Slumdog Millionaire it is worth far more than that.
If you are feeling down or like life’s hits are grinding you down, go and see this gem of a film and come out more connected to your own bulletproof spirit. Please write us in the forum and share your thoughts on this and any other movies you’ve been inspired by.
The Gift of Perspective
After you see Slumdog Millionaire, you may find yourself re-evaluating your own troubles and maybe even looking a bit differently at the economic challenges that we face as a nation. So much in life is a matter of perspective—in fact, perspective may be at the heart of it all. While it’s obvious to us all that problems are relative, when you’re in the middle of them, they can seem unmanageable and we can even lose perspective quite easily because…well, because we’re human. And it’s equally true that life can be incredibly challenging even if we’re not dealing with life’s harshest realities like being orphaned as a tiny child or surviving grinding poverty. When you’re in the middle of your own crises or losses, they are sometimes all you can see. Life can feel cruel sometimes and very few of us are spared this cruelty.
The May Hit Parade
One of my favorite poets, T.S. Eliot, famously referred to April as "the cruelest month," but if you're in the midst of a challenge or crisis the month of May may very likely seem even crueler. Azim and I often half-jokingly refer to the "hit parade" of life that we all march in, and we know that many of you may find yourself marching along some route that you may never have wanted to go down:
- I think of my dear friend, Jenny, who is spending the month recovering from a mastectomy while trying to care for her two young children.
- I also think of Maria, a lovely lady who cleans houses in my community whose husband was just deported to Mexico and who is struggling to keep a roof over her head as well as keep her four children from falling apart.
- And I think of the millions of Americans who are feeling the brunt of this financial fiasco that we, as a nation, collectively face.
And let us now face it: For many of us, this economic crisis represents the first real taste of serious financial hardship we’ve been forced to reckon with. If you are like most people, you may be feeling like the macro-climate of our national economic melt-down combined with the micro-climate of your own personal crises and the adversities you face make for a double-whammy that can seem overwhelming and truly scary. Yes, the hits just keep on coming and it can be hard to catch your breath or to get a handle on all you’re dealing with.
One of the secrets that spiritually bulletproof people know and use to help them bounce back from whatever hits come their way is that they understand that their lives are unfolding within a much larger context—one that impacts them in ways that may not be completely apparent or understood in the heat of the moment.
Expect a Little Shaking
Spiritually bulletproof people expect there to be times when the micro-landscape of their own lives and the macro-landscape of the culture or society at large may intersect in such a way that everything seems to hit the fan at once. While almost no one could have predicted the severity of the economic mess we find ourselves in the middle of enduring and while all of life’s "normal" hits don’t seem to care that we're in the mother of all recessions and just keep coming at us anyway, resilient people are seeing this period of time as one where sweeping and positive change is underway. The more resilient folks out there know that one of the givens here on planet earth is periodic instability and the "shaking up" of life as we know it.
Do Something for Yourself Every Day
People who are more spiritually fragile may find themselves really freaking out because of this double-whammy of the macro-climate financial fiasco combined with the micro-climate of personal "hits" that just keep coming irrespective of the state of our pensions, portfolios and pocketbooks. And it's easy to understand how and why that type of response happens—most of us had inadequate resiliency models growing up and many of us have never had to deal with this type of macro/micro double whammy. If you are freaking out, you’re not alone and you shouldn’t beat yourself up over it—it's very normal and there are things you can do to begin to feel more control and get yourself re-centered.
First of all, get a copy of The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit if you haven’t already done so, and please, please read it and do the boot-camps at the end of each chapter. When you're facing a macro/micro double whammy like the one most of us are now experiencing, it's time to get back to basics and the book absolutely helps you to do that. If finances are tight, use the many, many free resources on this site and our personal sites (accessible directly from this site) including extended excerpts, sample exercises, free audio inspirations and lists of people, places and things that can really help you. The point is to do something, on a daily or regular basis that keeps you growing your authentic relationship with your spirit.
Know Your Truth
One of the many teachers who influenced me in my journey was Wayne Dyer and his fantastic book, There’s a Spiritual Solution for Every Problem, hits the nail we’re now holding in our hands squarely on its head: the answers to the problems we face individually and collectively are spiritual in nature and are to be found in your continued journey to identify most strongly with your spirit and less so with the many "layers" that comprise your material identity.
Now, more than ever, it's important to remember the truth about who and what you really are. You are not your job or even the profession you practice. You are not defined by one relationship or by uninterrupted, perfect health. You are not the sum of your financials. My dear friend, and financial expert Sharmen Lane (who, by the way, went from manicurist to millionaire!) followed her heart and tapped into her truth. Sharmen shares her tips in her book, Seven Secrets to Creating Your Fate. Like Sharmen, you are in the middle of a process where you are waking up to and remembering the truth about your limitless spiritual nature and, though it may seem hard to believe or accept, the current financial fiasco is serving a very powerful purpose in our collective journey and in our personal evolution, as well. The times we are in are a powerful teacher for many of us who are now ready to learn the lessons of authentic abundance. This is the moment when you are being called to re-identify yourself as the limitless bulletproof spirit you have always been and always will be.
We always like to remember Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quotation about our innate resilience:
"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us
are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
Never forget this central truth about spiritual resilience: You are an invincible spirit and at your core, you are utterly immune to the slings and arrows of life. Spend some of your valuable time and energy finding ways to remember and wake up to and reconnect with your spirit—find an authentic spiritual path or practice and watch your ability to bounce soar.
Wishing you a month where you nurture your innate bulletproof spirit,
Jillian and Azim
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