ISA Experience Report

At the tail end of my vacation last week (Thursday thru Friday), I attended the ISA Experience in Chicago. I am not going to give you a blow by blow on what topics and lessons were covered. It was experiential, so words and concepts of the material and experiences won't get it. I assure you.

I had 2 friends I told about the experience in some detail. One got it in so far as one can from a distance. She is new to spirituality and her beginner's mind really helped her. My other friend who is more experienced "spiritually" sort of got it. He could not get past his concepts of the value of the processes. Who knows, he might be right. He has been through similar events. If you don't think you will value from it, I can almost guarantee you won't.

What I will do is highlight the big purpose or benefits for me personally, and how that hit me in practical ways.

The overall purpose of the ISA Experience is to wake up. Before this training, I would say that I was awake, aware, and conscious. Hey, I have been at this spirituality thing for almost 20 years. I can tell you I am not awake. I have programs running in my head from childhood, teachers, parents, society, and preferred spiritual orientations. They are all programs or conditionings of one sort or another. Also, I live life predominately in my head based on these.

So I am run by my programs. The experience is to help me get back my life, be who I really am, and become the source of what it is I want to create in my life. The processes in the experience are designed to help the participants do this. They helped me.

Going into the experience, we had identified goals. After the first day, I clarified my goals and made them more measureable. Now, I am doing what are called agreements which are smaller steps to help me move towards my goals. The goals are the ways I get my life back as the source of my life.

I have 3 agreements for my first week.

1. The first agreement is to call my girlfriend daily and tell her at least one thing I appreciate and adore about her. This lines up with my goal to have the most amazing, loving, honest, deep, and trusting partnership ever known on the face of the earth with her. Might as well shoot for the stars. :o)

Now this seems small and easy. It is paying off big. How? First of all, it is bringing to my conscious awareness all her most lovely attributes. I am now very aware of how and why I feel she is so great! I can list these aspects of her easily and fairly quickly because of the conscious effort associated with this agreement.

Also, this takes my mind off being critical very easily. How? Each loving appreciation I tell her about is tied to a definitive and authentic action or behavior she has actually done in our relationship. Appreciation grows things. For us, it is growing love, depth of connection, beauty, and oneness.

For her, she is becoming conscious of how great she is from the eyes of another. I am the last to know what is good or great about me. I ask her questions such as: "Are you aware how positive, bright, and shiney you are?" Here are real life examples. Her response: "I try to be." My response: "You are succeeding." She is. Not only that we both are now very aware how she does it.

2. The second agreement which she agreed to was to make tangible requests for actions on my part where she would know that I love her. This really pushed my boundaries because it is open ended. No limitations or out of bounds conditions on this.

The potential benefits are huge! I get to know\learn how she wants to be loved tangibly. I am a poet (of sorts), so words and feelings about love are great. However, they mean nothing without the support of actions that demonstrate the truth of my love.

Don't think this is easy on her. What she asks of me tells me how she loves me. Will she be tender, loving, and kind? Will she put the screws to me? LOL! We will see, but my heart already knows from feeling her the answer. I am grateful for the opportunity to demonstrate my love and learn how I can foster it in our relationship.

3. The third agreement is to write 2 poems. I can write poems easily when I am inspired. I feel that I would be inspired more often if I carved out the heartful time\space, so that is why I set this agreement. This agreement matches with my goal to be a loving channel for God and life for the benefit of others.

Lastly, the experience brought me to common ground with everyone. I am one part of a whole. I struggle, so does most everyone. In that struggle is humility and I come down to earth and become one of the many who are one in God more easily from this space. It is not being a spiritual giant that helps others and myself as much as being real and human. Also, I experienced how the truth can set you free.

Hard to beat!