Selections from LODESTAR GUIDE NEWSLETTERS
MOTHERLODE
from Volume 12, No. 3
written by Tom Payne
You are the Center of the Universe.
A poem I once read said the least important word in the English language is the word "I." Balderdash! I believe "I" is the most important word. The popular saying, "It's not about you," couldn't be more incorrect. It's all about you. How about "No man is an island?" Another dash of balder, of course we are each "islands." No one, and I mean no one, on this earth cares about what happens to you as much as you do. That's all right, after all, you are the Center of the Universe.
Every aspect of our lives is affected by the CoU concept, which is why we at LODESTAR have spent the last seventeen years addressing its effects.
Skeptics read on.
When people tell you they feel "good," did you ever wonder what their "good" is like? If you were in their body and felt the way they felt when they felt "good," might you be tempted to call 911?
What does it feel like to them when people tell you they are in pain, hungry or sad. You know how it feels to you when you're in pain. You know what goes on in your innards when you're hungry and in your mind when you're sad. Do others twinge in the same places as you twinge? Are others grabbed in the same place you're grabbed?
Contrary to popular parental precepts -- the world does revolve around you. You are the Center of The Universe. Everything that happens in the world is given meaning by you based on your experiences and beliefs. Fred tells you he feels good, you immediately "know" how Fred feels based on how you feel when you feel good. How else could you possibly interpret Fred's condition?
When you walk down the theater aisle to your pricey, front-row seat, the people on your left you would call, "The people on my left." When you leave the theater, the people that you called "the people on my left," would now accurately be called, "The people on my right." The people didn't change sides during the play, but they did in relation to you.
Every way you view the world is in relation to you. Therefore you must be the "center," right?
The CoU concept is why clarity in what you believe is so important because your beliefs create your universe (of which you are the center).
Business example: LODESTAR strongly believes that for an organization to change, the individuals making up that organization must change. This is an obvious and too-often-ignored fact. Another obvious and ignored fact is when an organization does change, it changes for its own good not for the good of any one individual. We are so "Center of the Universe" oriented that when our organization makes a change, we immediately moan "How could they do that to ME, after all, don't they know who I am?"
Being the CoU makes it difficult to understand that organizations do not "do" change to YOU. As a matter of fact they don't care about YOU at all. YOU were not even in the equation. (Because what are each and every one of the decision making executives? Right, the Center Of The Universe. The trick here is to realize that everyone else is also the Center of the Universe.)
Being the Center of the Universe carries with it good news and bad news:
**Good news--you're always right
**Bad news--the rest of the world doesn't believe the good news.
You will have made a giant leap forward in living a less stressful and more rewarding life when you realize the truths in life you hold as indisputable are made up by you, judged by you, defended by you, and can therefore be changed by you.
Recognizing, understanding and accepting your distinctly human role as the Center of the Universe unleashes significant personal power, and unleashing personal power for organizational benefit is what LODESTAR has been about for seventeen years.
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