Concentrated Coaching
  • Home
  • Stuck?
    • Entrepreneurs' Block
    • Writers' Block
    • Career Shifts
    • Executive Presence
    • Phobias
  • Client Stories
    • Case: Bringing Leadership into Focus
    • Case: Dissolving Creativity Block
    • Case: Asking for Money
    • Case: Overcoming Freeway Phobia
    • Case: Coaching for Writers' Block
  • Training
    • Workshops
    • Professional Trainings
    • Testimonials
  • FAQs/On Mark
    • What to Expect
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Blog
    • Resources
  • Contact

A Radically Different View of Purpose...Wisdom from Colombia’s Kogi

1/14/2019

18 Comments

 
PictureMamo Lorenzo, by M Hurwich
Winding through Colombia’s Sierra Nevadas, my mule clambered up a steep trail. I was entranced--and scared, especially when the mule's hoof slipped and I lurched to balance my weight in the saddle.

Why make this journey? To stay the evening in a Kogi village. To make offerings. And to learn from elders of this indigenous people. People who, centuries ago, fled our world to preserve their own—and only recently renewed contact with us.
 
Kogi “mamos” reinforced what I’d learned from shamans on prior journeys. And brought new perspective on why we're on the planet.

It's not a Divine Job Description...or Death from Consumption

So much of today’s dialog about path and purpose is an ego-centric version of the corporate planning I led for years. What’s the right destination? How do we get there ASAP?
 
There’s some “thing” we should be doing, with associated goals and deadlines. But it ain’t happening, despite a plethora of skills and information. So begins a failure-based internal dialog: “What’s wrong with me that I can’t try harder? And barely have the energy to explore why?”
 
To the Kogi, this way of being sets us on a course that exhausts ourselves at the same time as we deplete scarce resources in our world. And, it puts us in a false center of the universe in a way that separates us from it and the true joy of being.

An Alternative: Playful Exchange

PictureSeed Pod, by M Hurwich
The world is constantly presenting opportunities for interaction, most of which we ignore. What about playful exchange as an alternative way to look at why we're here on the planet?
 
The Kogi believe an essential human function is simply noticing special objects around us, and helping them go from one place to another in a heart-oriented way. As if we're bees carrying pollen. Or weavers connecting spots on the planet we don't even know are sacred.
 
For example, after the Kogi shared this practice with us, I spent some time each day with the intention of being aware of my surroundings. Sometimes I’d see a stone that felt like it might want to travel. If so, I’d pick it up, stand with it a moment with the intention of getting permission. Sometimes it felt like a “yes.” Sometimes a “no.” If it was a yes, I’d thank the stone for letting me be a conduit, and hold it thoughtfully...also adding my wishes to it, making this an intentional offering process.
 
A friend pointed out that we do a practice like this often with ideas. Someone shares an interesting thought--and we're a vehicle for it to get from the person who shared it to others. He liked the notion of holding ourselves as a simple conduit for such ideas. It makes the transmission easier, and involves the ego less. 

I Still Have My Calendar

That doesn’t mean abandoning calendars and our traditional jobs. But it might mean relaxing, and opening up to additional possibilities. 
 
I planned to write this blog last week, but my partner Gale invited me to go to the woods to make offerings…I checked in. It felt right to shift.

I brought a tiny stone with me that I’d picked up working with the Kogi. As I walked in woods, I checked every now and then to sense if the stone wanted to be deposited. I found a small stream, and left it there. Gale left offerings too.
 
Shortly after, I saw a stag with enormous antlers. And then a deer came to us and licked Gale’s hand. Neither of those ever happened before. Coincidence?
 
What other marvels might happen, if we allowed them?
 
Experiment. Try this out for yourself. Notice not just what occurs, but any change of feeling you experience about yourself, and your connection to the world. It might be a small shift…yet a powerful one.
 
Let me know what you discover!
18 Comments
Chuck link
1/15/2019 10:01:36 pm

Loved the post, Mark. Thanks. I like the idea of the moving of things about. But more was simply noticing , connecting, and honoring things around us with thoughts of kindness. Tonight I was at my men’s group and happened to sit next to a large fern. I found my fingers between the leaves as if holding hands . We were. an exchange of love.

Reply
Mark Hurwich link
1/17/2019 01:42:24 pm

What a beautiful observation, Chuck! Thanks for noticing...I love that exchange between you and the fern. And thanks for sharing. BTW, in my men's group, someone had asked if this was just an exercise the Kogi gave us. IT IS NOT. It is really a life-long practice that they all do, and they think all humans should do. They made a point of saying "don't do it once and then stop." So, keep it up, and see what else you notice!

Reply
Judith link
1/18/2019 06:49:11 am

I Love it Mark! Thank you for letting me know your experiences.

Reply
Meryl
1/16/2019 01:43:13 pm

In the frenzy of "doingness" that pervades our society, any opportunity for being Present is remarkable. In being truly Present, experiencing some of the magic around us becomes extraordinary. Thanks for sharing your experience of extraordinary magic!

Reply
Mark Hurwich link
1/17/2019 01:45:06 pm

Thanks, Meryl! And, of course, it's a both-and...not an either-or. Doing is ok...just that, in our society, it's gotten out of balance. Like the Mayans and other indigenous people who have legends of the eagle (brain-led society) and condor (heart-led society) coming together in the times we're in now, so do the Kogi.

Reply
Peter
1/17/2019 08:21:10 am

Mark... i read this and realized a more deep and more profound meaning about the experiences you have shared. Thanks for sharing.

Reply
Marty link
1/17/2019 08:21:59 am

I resonate with the idea of facilitating. If you think about it, one of the things humans do best is moving microbes from place to place, perhaps that is part of our mission as well......

Reply
Jordan
1/17/2019 12:39:05 pm

Beautiful post, Mark.

Reply
Mark Hurwich link
1/17/2019 01:46:37 pm

Peter, Marty, and Jordan...thanks for taking the time to read, and let yourselves open still more. And, teach me. Microbes. Yeah!

Reply
Alan Briskin link
1/17/2019 02:49:34 pm

Hi Mark,
Great post. There is a lightness of being and playfulness in how you hold the teachings. Wonderful!

Reply
Mark Hurwich link
1/17/2019 03:26:39 pm

Thanks, Alan. A high compliment coming from you.

That lightness/playfulness took practice and intention...and I believe we really don't use that way of being nearly as much as we could. Despite the research on its value! Some covered in my blog on the subject: https://www.concentratedcoaching.net/blog/hey-can-you-come-out-and-play-with-me-the-value-of-playfulness

As John Perkins once quoted a shaman he worked with, "Life is too important to be taken seriously."

Reply
Tish Miller
1/23/2019 09:40:43 am

Thanks for post Mark ! Sounds like a wonderful trip !
This reminds me of a habit/practice I started very young- whenever I walked on the beach I would notice when 1 shell seemed to be separated from the others and intentionally move it over to the “ group” of shells. Not sophisticated enough at 7 to ask if it would like to be moved, but relating to it in a similar way.
Then, years later I read about OCD, decided it was a compulsive behavior & stopped doing it !! 😕.
PS- The day after I was partnered with you to do the excersize in Dicks workshop, I was Gales partner in Michys workshop ! So nice to meet you both !

Reply
Mark Hurwich link
1/25/2019 05:51:50 am

Thanks, Tish! Sounds like the sort of wisdom we have when we're young and get trained out of. Someone once told me that our journey is to also gain the analytical ability we get in our middle years, and then marry them both later. Seems like you're ideally positioned for that!

Reply
Andy Swindler link
1/24/2019 09:24:53 am

Hey Mark, I love your story here. I generally vibe with teachings about us being a conduit for something bigger (e.g., divine love), and purpose being a path to this understanding. Perhaps this is our greatest confusion as a species. Our egos give us each the power to move things, and yet it becomes so easy to convince ourselves that we're moving on behalf of ourselves rather than something else.

Reply
Mark Hurwich link
1/25/2019 05:55:03 am

Yeah, I guess like any one aspect of ourselves, (as they say) egos can be good servants but poor masters. For me, this was such an effortless practice, and it seemed to bring the intention to move from ego into effortless alignment with something greater. Let me know what happens for you if you experiment with it!

Reply
Julia Bunn link
1/27/2019 08:16:48 am

Thanks for the suggestion. I will engage this practice this morning as I walk through the garden.

Reply
Mark Hurwich link
1/27/2019 06:35:32 pm

Lovely! So, how did it go? Gale and I were in the FPD (Harms Woods, this time). We both left offerings: Gale (sharing with me) Tobacco, and me another pebble from Colombia. The twig where I left it wanted to travel, but just to the other side of the woods. We got a sense to take a longer path than we'd planned. A ways into it, I found another object that felt like it wanted to travel: someone's white iPhone, almost invisible in the snow. We told a man walking quickly by, and he said he'd broadcast it. Perhaps 15 minutes along, a woman called "did you find a cell phone?" It was sweet to be able to return it to her. Another form of nature thanking us for connecting to her? Who knows.

Reply
Sims Wyeth link
4/4/2019 09:15:16 am

mark, what your doing is a big letting go, one that I can barely reach for, or have the courage to reach for. i will keep an eye on your blog to get another dose of the LIGHTENING that went through my body when I read it.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Portrait of Mark Hurwich

    Author

    Mark has 34 years of experience in strategy, sales and marketing operations — from startups to multinational companies.

    Archives

    March 2020
    December 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    March 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    July 2015
    March 2015
    December 2014
    April 2014
    November 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Contact Mark

Pick up the phone: (267) 629-2189
Drop me a line: mark@concentratedcoaching.net
Learn More! Schedule a
Complimentary Discovery Session
Click to Schedule an Appointment
Subscribe ​to get insights and resources from Mark — no spam, no more than six a year.
GET THE NEWSLETTER