It’s Thursday night in a town hall in Brixton, South London. Hundreds of people mill around, steel drums play, bottles of fizzy ginger are generously given away. In this time of giant banks and an insistently globalised economy, I am here to celebrate the launch of the Brixton Pound: England’s fourth local currency. While most of us assume the future of banking is plastic and online, there is a strong energetic push in the opposite direction. In Brixton, as in Totnes, Lewes and Stroud, you can hold in your hands distinctly unique paper notes; in this case, they convey the area’s identity by way of its key historical characters, local architecture and other familiar sights. Fostering a sense of vibrant interdependence, this is money which, as the slogan states, sticks to the community. Complementary currencies like these are experiments, causing us to perk up our ears and consider the fundamental workings of a system – in this case, our economy.

Earlier in the day, I eat at Tibits, a vegetarian buffet restaurant off Regent Street where you pay according to how much your food weighs. It’s an oasis of delicious, conscious dining in a landscape of frenetic eat-as-much-as-you-want, buy-one-get-one-free cheap offers. Here resources literally count and waste is minimal, unusual in this age where we rarely assess how much a thing truly costs. Someone once said to me: “Only dead fish go with the current”. This day in London, I feel that I move from one interesting undercurrent to another, bypassing the mainstream flow. The true spirit of an age often lives just underneath the radar.

Why do we sometimes get like dead fish? Why do we go unthinkingly with a current? I suspect it’s because we forget about the human capacity to choose. To stop, to be discerning, to say: “Hang on, is this what I want? Is this what makes sense?” To recognise our own significance and know that if we want our life, our world, to go in a certain direction, then we need to turn our eyes that way. No matter how strong a current feels, we have the power of choice, the power of directional, decisive action. As Einstein said, “Any fool can make things bigger, more complex. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction”.

The World Needs Your Passion, So…

1) From what you notice in the news, in conversations, in the environment around you, in adverts, in your own habits, which trends don’t sit well with you?

2) Likewise, which currents do you feel are taking your life and our world in directions you’re delighted about?

3) Crank up the element of choice. If you got to direct the current of your life, where would it take you? If you got to direct the current of our society, where would you take us?

4) Finally, if you were to abandon all deadfishness, what would your role be in all this? How would you claim your power of choice and get into action? Action: Seek out individuals and groups whose undercurrents you want to slip in with and join with them. And, of course, make some powerful undercurrents of your own.

Found this post challenging? Helpful? Inspiring? Irritating? Leave a comment and let us know.

© Corrina Gordon-Barnes, 2009

* Hello! Your Idea Is Needed!

My guess is that you have an idea for a project, product or service that would nudge us in an interesting new direction. Well, it’s time to start that current.

If you want to explore your idea with other inspirational people, join us for the Kickstart Your Venture workshop on Saturday 24th April in Cambridge. If you’d love some one-to-one attention, some time and space just for you and your dreaming, book a free coaching consultation. You also might like to read Emma’s case study; when so many people were clinging on to job security, she took a brave leap against the current and into more fulfilling work. Read her story here.

The BBC2 documentary Future Of Food has been the most recent wake-up call for me. When we discover how unsustainable our food supply is, it can be tempting to hit SNOOZE and roll over. Last week, my SNOOZE button no longer seemed to work. The gravity of the situation hit me the way a wave does – throwing me up and making it hard for me to find ground. In this disorientation, my work felt negligible; my ‘little bit’ washed away in the vastness of the problem, with only one huge question for company: “How on Earth do we remedy a system as dysfunctional as this?”

I’ve returned to ground, thank goodness, with renewed commitment to the Transition Town movement and to local food. As a result of watching this documentary, have we as a nation radically altered our diet and how we source our food? I don’t know. Fascinating studies have been done on how we respond to bad news; specialists like Chris Johnstone explain how our psyche responds to such a threat by turning our heads the other way and sending us into denial and disengagement. It’s not that we don’t care, it’s that if we can’t grasp an obvious solution, we don’t wan’t – or can’t bear – to know.

In the archetypal ‘hero’s journey’ (as mapped out by Joseph Campbell), there is The Call and then immediately there is The Refusal Of The Call. Of course, this makes sense – a wake up call, by definition, alerts us to the fact that something must change in our world.

In my work with Contribution Footprints, I see us not as cowards who simply resist change, but rather as people who initially (a) don’t know how to change, and (b) don’t believe we are significant enough for our change to make a difference. This is why I believe so much in the Contribution Footprint model, whereby we acknowledge a real and present problem, acknowledge simultaneously that we ARE significant, and find ways of being effective, thereby finding our ground once more. Then… we can get to work.

The World Needs Your Passion, So…

1) Inquiry: What have been your most powerful wake-up calls to date? How did you initially respond to the call? What helped you over the resistance?

2) Inquiry: What calls are you hearing now? What resources would help you now in responding powerfully?

3) Action: Use what you discover to decide on a way of acknowledging and dealing with the resistance… and then taking the next action step.

4) Leave a comment on this blog post, letting us know what you discover.

Found this post challenging? Helpful? Inspiring? Irritating? Leave a comment and let us know.

© Corrina Gordon-Barnes, 2009

Kickstart Your Venture – A Community Workshop

Have you got an idea for a venture which could make a difference?

Do you keep hearing the call, and keep resisting?!

Then please – for your sake and ours! – book your place on the Kickstart Your Venture workshop on Sat 10th October. Join with others to combat resistance and take the first steps with what is probably a much-needed solution for our world. For more information and to book, click here.

Heart of Business Momentum – Free Teleclass

Are you already in business but it all feels rather tough and clunky?

I’m delighted to announce that my business guru Mark Silver is offering a FREE telecall to help make bringing in clients and income a smoother affair. What I love about Mark is that he shows that being in business isn’t a trade-off: “earn good money” versus “do good work”. Instead, he brings his years of solid business experience AND his solid spiritual practice to help us create truly sustainable ventures. He rarely does these free calls so do register for this one!

Tues 8th Sept, 1pm Pacific Time, 60-90 minutes, registration essential – do so here.

(And I plan to attend so you never know, you may hear my voice piping up in the Q&A section!)

I generally find train travel very pleasant and I was so looking forward to saying it was worth it.

I can’t. This was the height-of-summer busyness, both my partner and I had just come to the end of intense working periods and we just wanted to be ON holiday, not getting there. This was the third time we’d opted for the slow-travel route, following my pledge not to fly. Sam doesn’t travel well and despite dosing herself up with nausea tablets, was nearly physically sick. As I looked at her, enduring rather than enjoying, it hit me: Is this who I want to be? Someone who clings stubbornly to a moral position, ignoring the negative impact it’s having on my loved one?

In my article, From Carbon Footprint to Contribution Footprint (published in the July issue of The Ecologist), I wrote that creating a sustainable society is not just about creating a world we want to live in. It’s also about us becoming the kind of people we want to live with. Our ‘environment’ isn’t only trees, oceans, carbon dioxide; it’s also our relationships, our thoughts, the atmosphere that our actions create. Profound environmental contribution does not involve being ‘right’ and judging others for being ‘wrong’, nor is it about who is the biggest martyr.

We bought two flights home. Sam didn’t dread the return journey, nor did she experience nausea, and I discovered a deep appreciation for air travel. It went from being a black-and-white climate evil to being an incredibly rare and precious gift. How privileged was I that I could be that far up from our beautiful Earth, in awe of the twinkling European cities below me and the dark expanses of the English Channel. The whole journey I spent with my nose literally against the window, full of gratitude.

As women who care passionately about our world, we can feel overwhelmed. We want to help everyone and we want to do everything 100%. When this simply isn’t possible without a detrimental impact somewhere else, can we let ourselves off the hook? Can we hold on to an ideal AND make a hard decision?

As we make our positive contributions to the world, let’s help each other be loving and compassionate – with ourselves and the people around us.

The World Needs Your Passion, So…

1) Inquiry: Take a good honest look. What actions do you judge yourself for? Beat yourself up over? What does that inner critic say you ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ do? Where are you holding stubbornly to a principle or standpoint when there’s a kinder, more loving option you could take?

2) Action: Once you’ve identified where it’s hurting you or someone else, take a deep breath and let yourself make that hard decision. Really notice the result.

3) Let us know what you discover..

Found this post challenging? Helpful? Inspiring? Irritating? – Leave a comment and let us know.

© Corrina Gordon-Barnes, 2009

* Ready To Move Forward With Your Contribution Footprint? *

Come and kickstart your venture on Sat 10th October; this community workshop is the place to go with that idea of yours that just won’t go away. Click here for more information and to book your place.

Too often, we find ourselves trapped in patterns which are painful and frustrating. I found myself caught up in one last week and grabbed the opportunity, using my experience as a laboratory in order to offer us this step-by-step guide:

1. Identify The Discomfort, Give It A Name

Your intention is to have a calm, peacefully productive day. A few hours in, however, you notice that you’re stressed. You’ve been on the computer for too long, your to-do list has doubled, your office is becoming increasingly chaotic and you no longer feel in control. Internally, call ‘time out’. Examine your physical experience in this moment. What is literally happening inside you? When I did this, I found a pervasive sense of anxiety, even panic; I was tense, like something was gripping on inside, and my breathing was shallow. I called this Get A Grip.

2. Identify The Intention

Get curious about what’s happening; see your experience as a strategy to meet some intention. A certain part of us is in charge in this moment, using this strategy. What could be its intention? With my Get A Grip, this part of me wants me to do well. It wants me to meet deadlines. It wants me to be in action. It’s doing it in a painful way but that’s the intention. When I reflect, I can see that I’m someone who never misses a deadline. Throughout school, university, post-grad and coach certification, all my assignments were in on time without fail. Now, being self-employed, without the pressure of external deadlines, I can see that this part of me believes I have to exert internal pressure in order to keep being successful. That’s its intention and whether I like it or not, currently this is the strategy it’s employing to meet this intention.

3. Thank This Part

We could call this part of us our Guardian. Wanting me to be successful is a healthy intention so I can thank it for all the times in my life when it has enabled me to get pieces of work in on time. The truth is: something here really works. While I might not enjoy the strategy my Guardian is using, I can acknowledge and be grateful for the intention.

4. Separate The Strategy From The Intention

This is where it starts getting interesting. Our question now is: In order to meet this intention (e.g. achieve success), what strategies are there? We already know our default one e.g. my Get A Grip but there are many others. How could we meet the same intention… in a different (preferable) way?

5. Scan For Evidence Of Other Strategies

I can now explore: When else in my life have I met deadlines but used a different strategy? One example is that I never miss a train but here I use a different strategy: I look at the timings and I book a cab at a specific time in order to meet the train. There’s no emotion involved, no anxiety, it’s clear cut and simple. I can call this strategy Plan And Book. We can keep looking for other possible strategies.

6. Experiment With Another Strategy

This is the time to implement one of the alternative strategies. We may want to place sticky notes around our home or office that remind us of the new one, or we may want to acquire structures to assist e.g. I have a new diary which gives me more space to plan and book. Give the new strategy some time, see if it’s effective. If not, move on and try a different one.

It’s very easy to make the Guardian part of us ‘bad’ and treat it as if it’s unwelcome. My premise is that if we can meet its healthy intention with a different, more preferable, strategy then the Guardian part of us will be reassured and work with us, rather than seemingly against us.

The World Needs Your Passion, So…

1) Choose an area of your life where you feel that your best efforts and intentions are generally subject to self-sabotage. Use this step-by-step guide to gain relief.

2) Leave a comment on this blog, letting us know how you find this process….

© Corrina Gordon-Barnes, 2009

* You’re Not Alone *

Identifying the different parts of us and their intentions and strategies is an integral part of the individual coaching programme. Click here for more details and to book your free consultation > >

Everyone has a weak spot. Mine? Things breaking.

When a piece of equipment fails or some software doesn’t work properly, a button of mine gets pressed. Some old pattern of not feeling safe in the world gets triggered and I utterly freak out. I have tears, I punch pillows, I tell the world how much I hate it and that I don’t want to have anything to do with it if it’s all going to be so unreliable.

It’s irrational, it’s out of character and I’m almost reluctant to share it – but I’m doing so because I know that we all have our own triggers. One close friend has dyscalculia; figuring out train times, dates and logistics sends her in to a cold sweat. Some of us dread the dentist, others find it hard to be around food; some shake at the thought of speaking in public, others throw wobblies when choosing what to wear; some of us become different versions of ourselves around authority figures and others of us can’t bear criticism and failure.

When our buttons get pressed, here are some options….

#1 Avoid
Ever notice that desire to evacuate… from yourself? When something breaks, I can go into “I cannot deal with this” mode and shut down or disengage in order to protect myself. Others of us – to use the examples above – will avoid meal times, giving talks or travelling.

#2 Delegate
This option is expected in most organisations and it’s important to remember that finding our own path doesn’t mean we have to do everything ourselves. There are certain emails or pieces of paperwork which I simply forward to my web developer or my accountant. Conversely, I’m happy doing activities which others feel less comfortable with, like giving talks or sitting with with
someone who’s crying in total despair. What are we comfortable with that others aren’t? This can be a great clue, revealing to us our niche a.k.a. where we’re most needed.

#3 Turn The Light On
This option is about recognising that often the monster under the bed is scary only because it’s the unknown. I can avoid and delegate all I like but sometimes I’m going to be home alone when a circuit blows and I need to know what to do with that fuse box. It takes a deep breath and a swallow of pride. I need to allow myself to be incompetent and vulnerable and say: “I find this hard. Help me learn” if I am committed to moving forward in an empowered way.

The World Needs Your passion, so…

1) Without judging, scan your life to see: What are your buttons? What triggers your fear, your discomfort, your desire to run and hide? What overwhelms you so much that you short-circuit? What could someone say or do that would spin you off track for the whole rest of the day? What brings you out in a cold sweat? Take a deep breath and just look.

2) Assess how you currently deal with these situations by reading back over the three options I highlight. Do you avoid or reactively delegate? What would be your version of getting up close and personal with that fuse box?

3) Leave a comment, letting us know how you deal with your trigger points….

© Corrina Gordon-Barnes, 2009

** Does failure trigger you? **

When you fail at something, do you come up against a default mantra like “I’m no good” or “I should give up”? Or do you attempt to avoid the experience in the first place by sticking with seemingly ‘safe’ paths?

It’s important that we ‘catch’ this mantra, examine it and then ask ourselves: Is this what I choose?

If your current mantra on failing isn’t working for you, grab a place on a Fail Is NOT A Four Letter Word workshop (see Workshops section of this website).