CT Step 59 - Today I will be attentive to others. – Journal – CT Step 58

Today:  CT Step 59 - Today I will be attentive to others. (MP3)

Today I will be attentive to others. CT Step 59

Today practice listening to what others tell you. Listen for Knowledge. If Knowledge cannot be detected, simply remain silent, but be discrete. People talk a great deal, but their primary message is often lost. They mean one thing but say another. This is your opportunity to hear. Even if someone is being difficult or critical or antagonistic, listen. Listen for Knowledge. Don't try to put a happy face on the situation. Don't try to give their communication some kind of spiritual message. Just listen. To do this, your mind must be quiet, and this is part of the reason you practice stillness, so that you can listen when you need to. And you do need to.

In your practice in stillness, continue this listening exercise and upon the hour listen carefully. Use your whole body to listen when you are doing this practice. For it is not just the ears that are hearing. It is your whole being. Today listen to what others tell you. Do not pass judgment. Do not critically evaluate what they are saying. Just listen for Knowledge. Either Knowledge is there or it is not, and if it is there, what is it really communicating? If you listen, you might hear.

Practice 59:   One 30-minute stillness practice.

                         Contemplation practice.

                         Hourly practice.

Picture:  The Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. It takes a ferry ride to get there.

Plan B - If the MP3 doesn’t work, here’s the link to the folder: New Message - Student Spoken Steps CT Recordings - Steps to Knowledge Continuation Training - Working file

From the journal:  CT Step 58 - Today I will be attentive to what I tell myself.

8 a.m. Monday, October 22, 2001

Today I'm being attentive to what I tell myself. Self-talk not new, but certainly a different perspective. The whole notion of attentiveness and being remote…guarded against forces is a challenge to my view of life – ministry to anyone and everyone. S2K is a Mystery School.

I have great, great personal freedom thanks to those who have gone before. I live in a wealthy country and lead a rich life thanks to public investment and freedom.

TV – everything that comes through is edited. It is intentional – a commercial, a story – news – there’s an intent for the messages.

6:10 p.m. Contemplation of the Step – "Today I will be attentive to what I tell myself". I told myself it was OK to eat donuts, chocolate, tea, coffee to suppress my boredom and anger @ the office. Cleaning out files and throwing away old ideas is hard. The world has changed…and the new is uncomfortable. It is even more remote from reality than the past. How things got to be is unknown. It may be that we should focus on the future, but knowing how we got there would be nice. The world is getting better because there are more minds focused on the problems – as Julian Simon projected. So…why do I have such a problem?

Today I told myself I should be involved in DSB, MIF, Water Authority, Living Towns, CAIT, River Use, Economic Strategies, CPI email, local government CAO network, database design, GIS, regional community mapping, ITS, transportation planning, PC maintenance, walking, Rotary nominations, etc.

These are not mixed messages, these are overwhelming messages. Plans go forward for the November 2 re-launch of the RC – RC [Regional Commission] by the way having less meaning to the public than PDC [Planning District Commission].

The world is changing…do more. I can't – I'm behind as it is. The simple people seem to be the smarter ones, more so than I.

These are all "self deceptions" – probably so. Then there's the responsibility for Sarah, David, my own failure/fall from director.

– I suppose now I am repairing damage – it is costly, though I didn't see the unburdening coming.

Today's happening, the room "re-launch planning" affected me significantly – depressed me – they are dancing on my grave. The fact that I can use some of the resources for my transition didn't feel that strong. So…highly affected.

I suppose this analysis is good, because I wouldn't have done so otherwise – just continued to stew. I can/do tell myself this is the unburdening and see productive use of the irritation.

Was I present or not? For some of the day I was "not present".

At lunch I was not present. I went to Mom's Restaurant. It smelled – I shouldn't have stayed. I got a grilled chicken salad where the salad was 50% onion – with the rest core iceberg. I shouldn't have accepted it. The chicken was really grilled – so okay – I ate it – but – never go there again. As a customer I should have told them, but it wouldn't have been wise – not serving it to me and saying – "no lettuce" – would you would have been wise. They weren't that smart.

Going into Computer Medical Center I felt good. Going into Mom's – not good… – worse than the last time, over a year ago – that I remembered as being OK. Must be more attentive, less over extending.

I did a reasonable job of recording my attentiveness this day. It is just a beginning to learning the skill of attentiveness. We continue.

NNC

Note: If you’ve some interest, but this is the first time you’ve seen Steps, you should go to the beginning blog post. From here you will learn about Steps to Knowledge and can begin it on the day that makes sense; then progress as needed. Begin at the beginning.

If you do know about Steps, but have not done Steps twice completely, read the related materials, and have a sense of the direction of this study, you won’t get the experience. The Introduction begins:

“This is the Steps to Knowledge Continuation Training. It is designed to build upon the Steps that were learned in Steps to Knowledge to enable you to experience the grace, the power and the direction of Knowledge in your life and to become an expression of Knowledge in everything that you do. If you have completed the book, Steps to Knowledge, twice through and have followed the instructions as they were given without altering the curriculum in any way, then you are now ready to begin this more advanced study”.

If you are an independent student, that is certainly an option. Posts here provide a trail that may let you have a virtual companion when and if you want one. One may have to study alone, as I did in the beginning. There are other Steps students blogging their experience and you might find a person more like you as a companion, or use a number of such Steps journeys. There are options as well through the Free School of the New Message.