I want to write about complacency. And about depression. About energy backing up on us and about cleaning up our vibration.
I’m reading John Foley’s Fearless Success in which he tells the story of becoming a Blue Angels pilot. He talks about all he went through just to get to the place where he could submit an application. He had to be the best of the best, the top of his field, the top of his game. He had to prove himself as a fighter pilot in more deployments than you or I could ever imagine. He had to land his plane over a thousand times on a tiny (600 feet,) pitching, rolling, sometimes-in-the-pitch-black-of-night Naval carrier vessel. And he had to get an endorsement from his Commanding Officer (who said he would write one.)
But, something happened right before application time. He made a mistake. And the mistake he made was huge. Big enough that his CO rescinded his endorsement.
During a practice sortie he accidentally fired a missile. He was in a hurry, they were in the middle of the Indian Ocean, he decided not to use his checklist, and instead of dropping live ordnance in the ocean, he fired. A live heat-seeking missile. No one got killed and all was okay, but he lost his chance at applying for the Blue Angels—something he had wanted his entire life—and had to wait another year. He also had a tremendous epiphany.
“During that grounded period, the gravity of the situation bore down on me and I had a profound realization. Originally, I thought not using the checklist was the core issue, but in fact, that was just a material cause. The root cause was that I had gotten complacent about handling live ordnance. I realized complacency was something that could create so many different kinds of dangerous situations. I knew then it was something I needed to tackle head-on, every day.”
He also states that the motto of the Blue Angels is “Glad To Be Here.” He says because their job is so dangerous and because it is so difficult to be accepted as a Blue Angel Pilot, they show up every day with the attitude of “Glad To Be Here.” It is ingrained in their culture. In fact, it is their culture.
After putting in his time showing up to Blue Angel training, but being only allowed to watch, he was finally invited to fly as a passenger in a show. As he describes sitting in the back seat, suited up and strapped in, lined up with the other three jets on the runway “packing 128,000 lbs of thrust,” he says he looked to either side of him and saw that the wingtips of the planes were nearly overlapping.
“The closest a fighter pilot flies to another airplane is 10 feet (120 inches) in a straight and level flight. And yet there we were, in a diamond formation of four F-18s a mere 36 inches apart.”
He then adds that they were flying in ways you would never attempt if you were by yourself at 10,000 feet and that he was going to have to perform these maneuvers as low as 100 feet of elevation. He says he realized that day, when he did the math (120 inches to 36; 10,000 feet to 100) that he was going to have to improve his performance by 300% to fly with the Blue Angels.
I want to let that sink in just a little bit . . .
This is one of the best fighter pilots in the Navy. He had to be in order to even qualify to become a Blue Angel. And he is realizing he has to level up his game by 300%!!!
I am bringing all of this up for multiple reasons, but the main one is this: why the hell are you and I whining and moaning about how hard it is to succeed in life and someone like John Foley just sees he needs to level up by 300% and starts going for it? Just immediately starts doing the work necessary to rise.
I’m not criticizing us. I’m just asking. How have we been so brainwashed by mainstream messaging–by limiting beliefs–that we believe we can’t go after what we want? That we can’t live a life we love? That we can’t lose the weight, or start the company, or leave the relationship, or write the book? How do we get stuck so deeply in the “I can’t” when someone like John Foley just decides to level up 300% in a moment? This is the difference between someone who performs at an elite level and someone who does not. This is the difference when someone ignores limiting beliefs and replaces them immediately with liberating beliefs.
I heard Esther Hicks talk about when she began public speaking. She was traveling across the country and would show up to events that had 5 people, and some that had 10. Some had 20. She was making her way. Starting out. On one of her days driving from Point A to Point B she passed a man standing in a field speaking to empty chairs. She pulled over. She sat in a chair. She listened to him talk. It turns out he was quite famous and had a huge following. She asked him why he had been standing there talking to empty chairs and he said, “Because what I do is my offering to the Divine. So I offer the same Gift to zero people that I do to a venue full of thousands.” It turns out his marketing team had made a mistake with the date of that event, but he still showed up to speak at it.
I also want to let that sink in . . .
Esther decided then and there to do the same. Now she makes over $300,000 every Saturday speaking to sold-out rooms of over 1000 people.
My point is this: she learned to line her energy up with her desire. It didn’t matter who showed up to her events. What mattered is that she got clear on what she wanted to do, and she did it. Regardless of what other people were doing. Regardless of what the world was doing. She told the Universe she wanted to be a Motivational Speaker, and then she went out and did it. As her Offering to the Divine. Regardless of who showed up.
Do you see how clean her vibration is? I want this and I am doing it.And I am GRATEFUL to be doing it. Not, I want it when people show up, I don’t when they don’t. I want it when people say I am good, I don’t when they don’t appreciate me.
John Foley and Esther Hicks are both demonstrating the same thing: Glad To Be Here. The motto of the Blue Angels. And the Universe is responding, in spades. (In dollars, in accolades, in notoriety.)
So this goes back to complacency. I’m just going to say it: We take our time here for granted. We assume we will be here tomorrow. We assume we will be healthy and fit tomorrow. We assume our loved ones will be here tomorrow, and our clients, our patients, our students, our work. What if we took that assumption away? What if we treated each day as if it could possibly be our last? What if we walked into work, or yoga, or lunch with a friend and took a moment to ask ourself, “What if this is my last chance to do this? What if tomorrow does not come?” I don’t mean to sound fatalistic, but don’t you see how much power we would show up with? Don’t you see how much gratitude? How much appreciation? How much Glad To Be Here we would bring with us?
Carlos Castaneda (In Journey to Ixtlan) talks about his Teacher Don Juan teaching him to be a “man of power.” And one of the main ways he does that is to state that “men of power” treat every single act as if it is their last.
Let that sink in . . .
And then go try it. Go to yoga and take a class, and take it as if it is the last yoga class you will ever take. Show up to your family after work, have dinner with them, and show up as if it’s the last time you will have dinner with them. Drive to work and on the commute imagine it is the last time you will ever make that drive. Doesn’t that just give you goosebumps? Can you imagine the amount of “Glad To Be Here” you would bring to the table? (pun intended.) 🙂
I wish we could all live this way. I know it’s not sustainable. Well, for most of us. For the pilots of the Blue Angels it has to be, or they would die. But, for the rest of us, can’t we try? Can’t we forget and then remind ourselves, and then forget and then remind ourselves? Imagine how sparkly and full of energy and gratitude we would be if we did this? Even while brushing our teeth? Imagine how present we would be. Imagine how much joy we would feel from bringing that level of commitment to each thing we did. Imagine how much pride we would feel in ourselves. And, most importantly, imagine the message we would be sending to the Universe . . .
With our family—Glad To Be Here!
With our work—Glad To Be Here!
At the gym—Glad To Be Here!
In traffic! I know! It’s crazy, I’m laughing, but imagine bringing this to being in traffic—Glad To Be Here! (focusing on the safe, climate controlled car and the good music and fun sights—Glad To Be Here!)
We don’t just get complacent about our work and our health and our relationships. We get complacent about being alive as a human. Imagine how much power we would exude and how much Light we would shine if we stopped.
