Huna Archives - The Career Success Doctor

Gratitude, Chocolate And Why I’m All Teary

Moonset Hawaii I’ve just come back from teaching Huna to a fair sized group of delegates, and the overwhelming emotion it has left me with is one of gratitude: I am just so grateful that I get to do this, and do it in Hawai’i, and that there are so many amazing people supporting me on my journey.

I’ve been teaching on Matt James’ Huna workshop for nearly 10 years now. However, its only recently that I’ve had to really step up and take myself out of my comfort zone to teach day in, day out, to teach material that I haven’t used for a while, or to organise other people to make things happen. And one of the things this dis-comfort has made realise is that I don’t have to struggle on my own. Independence is all very well, but there comes a time when you just have to accept help from others. And this trip, that was what I did.

I felt cosseted – people fed me, gave me chocolate (really good chocolate!), and even did my washing for me, which is a big one when you’re spending 2 weeks in a hotel!) They offered help – and meant it. And now, people who have no direct connection with Huna are offering to help me start teaching it over here. It truly fills me with a sense of just how magnificent human beings are, and how lucky I am to be tapped in to people who have such generosity of spirit. I am indeed humbled. Just thinking about the generosity of my friends and acquaintances over the last few weeks brings tears to my eyes.

Because sadly, it’s so easy to get trapped in the humdrum of daily life that we forget that we all do have that generosity of spirit. I’ve been there many times. And in that state, it’s so easy, too, to forget to be grateful, or to think that you don’t have time to show your appreciation.

‘So what’s this got to do with my career?’ I hear you ask. Well, a lot actually. I was reading about a recent report that indicates that employees feel that bosses don’t show enough appreciation. At the same time, what bosses and employees think of as ‘appreciation’ is very different. If you want to be appreciated as an employee, why not start by appreciating others and actively, consciously noticing those things in life that give you joy? At the very least, it will cheer you up. As like as not, it will rub off onto others. And since appreciation attracts appreciation, it might well bring you some of that recognition you’re looking for.

If you are a boss, bear in mind that 80% of employees say they are motivated to work harder when their boss shows appreciation – even down to thank you cards, or little treats. Thankfully, the days when everyone thought they had to be a complete ball-breaker in order to demonstrate that they had leadership potential are over, at least in the majority of companies and industries. What a relief that is!

So now, with gratitude, I am off to ponder one of those rather splendid chocolates someone gave me. She knows who she is.

Gratitude, chocolate and tears

The Healing Power Of Woo-Woo: Hawaiian Style

Written by The Career Success Doctor

Twice a year I come to Hawai’i to study and teach Huna, the life philosophy of the Hawaiians. And that’s where I am right now.

I feel enormously privileged to be here, and to be able to do this. It’s always hectic, particularly once the students start turning up, and I have to put energy into ensuring that everything is in place for them to have a really great experience, yet each time I do this, I grow too. It’s always a salutary reminder of just how rewarding it is to support others in their journey.

Huna’s been a lifesaver for me. I used to say, when people asked me what it is, that it’s the spiritual, psychological, energetic and healing practices of the ancient Hawaiians, but the truth is so much more than that. The Hawaiians don’t separate Huna from Being. For them, all these things we Westerners strive to study are just a natural part of living, of being healthy in mind, body and spirit.

We teach Huna in a Western way, to suit the Western mind. For me, growing up in a rather traditional British family, the idea we might all be connected, that my judgements and reactions to others might reflect judgements I make about myself and emotions I have suppressed, just did not feature in the way we lived life. My mum, a trained nurse, was deeply hostile to anything psycho. Psychiatry, psychology, being psychic, all were anathema, weirdness, unscientific, unproven, a sign of weakness. And as for meditation, well! God was OK, though, and Sunday was Church day (which turned out to be quite profitable for me as I got paid to sing in the choir!)

That attitude was common back in the day. It’s wonderful that people are becoming much more open to the idea that we have both a conscious and an unconscious mind, that we are connected, that there is something of a higher order, be it god, the universe, the collective, that just because you can’t see energy doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. You can’t see electricity either, but come the power cut we all know it exists!

If you’re finding life stressful, or you’re feeling out of flow, then here are a couple of Huna tips that might help you.

1. Breathe. When Captain Cook and his merry men first showed up in Hawai’i, the Hawaiian’s called them haole. Literally it means no-breath. Hawaiians take the time to breathe deeply, in through the nose, before doing or saying anything important. Breathing brings oxygen into your lungs – vital for organ health and brain function.

2. Come from a spirit of aloha – love. Honour other people, other beings, and the connection we all share. That doesn’t mean you have to hang around with people who sap your energy – but do respect their right to be on the planet, and learn what you need to learn from them.

3. If something gives you energy (real energy, not crash and burn energy) then do more of it. If it doesn’t , then stop doing it! Energy drinks are a classic example. We take energy drinks because we THINK they give us energy. A friend of mine was knocking back 5 or more a day, and decided to give it a rest for a few weeks. After the first few days, he couldn’t believe how much more energy and focus he had once he left the energy drinks behind.

If you’d like to know more about Huna and the Hawaiian approach to living well, leave a comment below this post. I’d love to know your experiences with the world of woo-woo.

Does Self-Sabotage Stop You From Succeeding?

Written by The Career Success Doctor

Have you ever had the experience where you think you want something badly, yet all your attempts to get it seem to go wrong? Perhaps you’ve set a goal, made it SMART and done all the things you know you ought to do to create well-formed goals, but never quite seem to get it. I know I have done this many times.

I’ve just been reading a great blog piece by Neroli Makim, posted on Yaro Starak’s site. It’s well worth reading the full article, but here’s a taste of what she had to say.

‘Approximately 2% of our mind is conscious, and approximately 98% is unconscious. The unconscious is by far the more powerful force that drives our thoughts and actions most of the time, and it’s responsible for a lot of our behavior. John (Assaraf – multi million dollar entrepreneur) has found that in order to achieve our goals, we must have neuro-resonance, that is, our conscious and unconscious minds need to be lined up and resonant. This is when the power of being coherent and consistent in our creative process really kicks in.

One of the big difficulties we face in being coherent and consistent is that our conscious mind will tell us one thing, like “I’d love to be successful in business, I’d love to earn $25,000 in passive income from my blog this quarter.” But our unconscious will be running a completely different story, like, “I’ve got no idea how to do this, I’m freaked out because I’ll have to learn new things and I might mess up and look stupid.”

This kind of thinking will sink our chances of creating that money and experiencing that success quicker than smashing into a giant iceberg. But the problem is, a lot of it is unconscious, we don’t even know it’s going on. It’s a bit like a steady hum of background static, 24/7 in our lives. It’s no wonder the unconscious runs our thinking process that in turn feeds into our actions!’

She has two solutions to the problem. One, courtesy of John Assaraf is to learn to act in spite of ourselves. The other, from John De Martini, is to find the biggest reason ‘why this is important’ that you possibly can. Now both these Johns are men of international renown, and have made a good deal of money along the way. Even so, I think they have both missed a trick or two. NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming) and Hawaiian Huna both have some fabulous techniques for dealing with our unconscious programming, and our fears. No matter how big your reason why, if you still unconsciously believe you don’t deserve to achieve what you want to in life, you will struggle to get your goals.

I’ve been working with NLP and Huna for 12 years now, so I am well-used to using the various processes and techniques on myself. But when I am really stuck, I find it more effective to get someone else to take me through them.

So if your unconscious beliefs are sabotaging your dreams, check around for an NLP Master Practitioner, or a Huna practitioner, so you can dump the garbage quickly and easily.

Parent-Care Can Impact Your Career

Written by The Career Success Doctor

In UK, at least, there’s a growing acceptance that people need time for their child-care responsibilities, but what about parent-care responsibilities?

The Yummy Mummy brigade are giving us great examples of women who juggle career and family (i.e. kids), but when it comes to care of elder family members, it seems to me there is still a veil of silence, or even embarrassment. Yet caring for an elderly relative, especially a parent, can be draining – and expensive! And it can impact on your career, particularly if the relative in question lives some distance away.

Time and again I hear of women (and so often the care responsibilities seem to fall on daughters, or daughters-in-law) who have made 6 hour round trips to deal with some crisis facing a parent with dementia. My own mother spent 10 years trundling back and forth between UK and Brazil to support my grandparents – her parents-in-law.

From a career perspective, parent-care is potentially a real career killer. It tends to come when we are in our late 40s or 50s. The likelihood is that you have greater responsibilities at work. You have probably worked hard to get where you are, and are looking forward to the fruits of your labours. The last thing you want is to be distracted by one or both of your parents becoming your children. Most of the people I know want their parents to be independent and living in their own homes for as long as possible. They don’t want to put them in a home. But sometimes that is the only option, and it can lead to feelings of guilt and shame.

One of the things that has supported me in dealing with my mother’s dementia (and current sojourn in a psychiatric unit) has been the Hawaiian practice of Ho’oponopono – forgiveness. Forgiving my mother, in my heart, for the things she is saying to me, and forgiving myself for my reactions to her situation and the actions I have taken to keep her safe.

If you want to know more about the Hawaiian practices for dealing with the emotions that can come up when you face issues such as parental demetia, take a look at The Empowerment Partnership‘s website. You can get a free MP3 download to start you on your way.