There have been many systems by which to imply that we all have a blueprint of some kind. Whether you believe in things such as star signs and cultural idiosyncrasies or not, they can prove to be interesting tough experiments on how and why we might act in certain ways or make certain decisions.

According to the concept of Human Design (an idea born in 1987, fusing together elements of astrology, the I Ching, the chakra system, and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life), all humans fit into five categories of personal energy. The energy to which you are affiliated describes the manner in which you natural behave in the world when personally in balance.

1.     The Manifestor

Manifestors are strong, playful and impulsive by nature. They like to lead, and not to fuss or procrastinate too much. They are very ‘get-up-and-go’. They have large energy that burns with some intensity and is therefore a person that has great presence in a room full of people. However, despite this large positive force, many manifestors are racked by self-doubt and pressure to please people, as it will have been signalled throughout their life that they are ‘too much’.

2.     The Generator

Generators, similarly to manifestors, have a big, eye-catching energy. However, this energy tends to be less intimidating than that of the manifestor. It is lighter, warmer, and more ‘attractive’. These people often draw others in.

For all that positive energy, they still have a level of anxiety. They believe that the source of their attraction is due to them always being present, busy and giving. They cannot say no, and so often become overwhelmed in their quest to maintain their energy, and to obtain their desires. Frustration can be avoided if they manage to say yes to stuff that nourishment and no to stuff that doesn’t.

3.     The Manifesting Generator

It is no surprise, perhaps, that the first two energies also have a place together, due to their big, forward natures. These people have many passions and do not stick to one road for their whole lives. They do many things and explore many places. This requires the saying ‘yes’ attitude of the generator, especially when it comes to doing things that they love. The manifestor element is that of the spontaneous. The ability to plunge into something without too much thought or concern.

4.     The Projector

Projectors are excellent observers of people and situations. They are very good at getting out of their own line of vision and placing themselves in the shoes of others. They are sympathetic and empathetic, but also ruthless, efficient and effective.

This energy belongs to teachers, guides, mentors and consultants. They successfully communicate new and better ways to others in a manner that is multi-faceted yet concise.

The downside to this energy is arrogance. These people can forget that not everyone works in the same way that they do, and must take care not to deplete others when sharing knowledge. The best projectors only project to those who are willing to receive their support.

5.     The Reflector

Reflectors are, according to the Human Design idea, quite rare. It is said that maybe one or two percent of people operate in this way.

This type of person is incredibly connected to the world around them. They can feel energy move and change around them. The very best observers of them all, reflectors are chameleon-like and can slip in and out of situations either unnoticed or as a fitting member of a collective. They function in fluctuations, in line with the cycle of the moon.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Five Human Energy Types: Which Are You? appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

In my other job besides being a writer, in the acting world, I am always learning. New jobs, new situations, and new people come along often, many times in a year, in fact. And I view each one as a gift. An opportunity to learn something new.

Of course, a new acting job comes with obvious requirements to learn. I must learn scripts, songs, routines, physical sequences. But I am also lucky in that I can observe the processes and behaviours of others in order to improve my own professional skills. Tough though my industry is, in many ways, it is also generous in that the ability to learn never lies dormant in me.

I bring up the observation of others because, in a rehearsal room, there is often tension in that nobody learns at the same pace, or in quite the same way. The best directors know how to work with, and support, different learning styles. The worst colleagues are not very tolerant of the way other people might process new skills and information.

This notion translates to any workplace. Being aware of the way that others learn, and of the way you do so yourself, is a brilliant skill. It allows you to get the best out of the people around you, and to know when tolerance is required. You may have heard that there are four ways of learning. However, it might interest you to learn, there are four more. And so, we continue…

1.     Visual Learning

The visual learner is less efficient when presented with information in ‘blank script’. That is to say, simply written down in sentences and paragraphs. This kind of learner will struggle to efficiently log all of the detail when presented with ideas in this way.

Visual strategies such as graphs, charts, diagrams, and even categorised tables are the best mediums for this learning style. This helps them to actually see the relationships between details and often cuts out any frivolous or irrelevant information in the process.

2.     Kinaesthetic Learning

The word ‘kinaesthetic’ relates to a person’s awareness of their own body in relation to other things. Therefore, the kinaesthetic learner processes more effectively when being tactile with the subject matter. It is a more sensory way of learning. Tradespeople, therefore, such as builders, electricians, carpenters and plumbers, are often of this learning style.

3.     Auditory Learning

Taking primary information in audio form is the best way for the auditory learner. They thrive in lecture, debate, and group discussion scenarios, often sorting the information into a different, hard format after the information has been given.

These learners also benefit, sometimes, from speaking ideas out loud in order to process and understand them.

4.     Reading and Writing Learning

These are the note-takers! This style means that information is best presented in written form. More often than not, this type of learner will excavate the important parts of the information, and then write them down in some way in order to process and absorb them.

5.     Logical Learning

Now for those styles that you may not have heard of. The logical learner depends on logic and analysis to really master a subject. They learn best by digging down into an idea and searching for all patterns, results, causes and connections. They have to know the full logical journey of an outcome to fully understand it.

6.     Social Learning

Role play, group discussions, partnering and sharing stories and points of view help this sort of learner. It is, in some ways, a more casual way of learning. However, it also places ideas and information in the real world, grounding it in a social setting which, for many, is more accessible.

7.     Solitary Learning

There are those who find learning with a lot of distraction, or as part of a group of people very unproductive. Indeed, they may find it useful for a time, but the resilience of their learning relies on having the bulk of their time processing information on their own.

8.     Nature Learning

These people prefer to learn when in contact with the natural world, i.e., outside. Their wellbeing and mental resilience are at their best when not closed in by four walls, but rather when surrounded by the natural world with the sky above their heads. A ‘non-artificial’ environment.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post 4 Learning Styles You’ve Heard of… and 4 You Haven’t! appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Some people consider their school days to be the only time in their life committed to learning in a finite way, and there are others who consider themselves lifelong pursuers of new skills and knowledge accumulation. The truth is, whatever your opinion on learning, that we never stop learning, whether we want to or not.

However, conscious learning and focused personal development in your adult years offers more than just the tools to do well in your local pub quiz. Learning as an adult continues to pay dividends to the student and opens many paths of knowledge and opportunity that they may not even have considered.

Here are some of the top reasons that we advocate lifelong education and horizon broadening!

1. The World Will Never Stop Changing

The world seems to move, change, and develop at quite a rate. With technology now flourishing and updating at the speed that it does, global communication being near instant, and world trends blossoming and fading sometimes within days, it is even more apparent than ever that there will always been something new to learn about. If one refuses to adapt to the ever-changing world around us, then one risks being left behind. Out of the loop. Outdated. Disconnected.

If learning as an adult is a habit of yours, you should never feel like the world has run off without you.

2. You, Yourself, Will Not Always Be the Same

Listen to yourself. Consider who you are. Do you still like the same things you liked when you were a teenager? Do you still enjoy doing things you learn how to do a decade ago? Are you still satisfied with your current hobbies, abilities, or job?

We, ourselves, develop and change all the time. Those who do not go along with these changes in themselves, tend to become frustrated and regretful. If you feel learning something different would make your life more interesting, more fulfilling or offer refreshment, then you should learn it! It might seem like a lot of effort initially, but fresh knowledge always gives more than it takes.

3. Brain Fitness

There are areas of our brain dedicated solely to learning and the attainment of new skills. Like any muscle, if these parts of the brain go unused, they become weaker. Learning new things as an adult helps to promote a fit and healthy brain, and to keep you discovering new joys and passions with ease throughout your adult years.

4. Fresh Connections

Learning is not just about the accumulation of knowledge; it is also about the connections you make and experiences you have as a result of the pursuit of learning. My mother has joined many groups in her retirement years, including yoga classes, a local choir, and a guitar class. These pursuits have seen her make many new and valuable relationships, and have taken her to amazing places all over the world. Her life considerably richer for having gone to a class or two.

5. Discovery and Opportunity

So, you have decided you want to try something new, but you aren’t sure what?

Although this might seem frustrating, its actually pretty exciting. You could try anything. You could try a bunch of new things an see what sticks. Go to the first session of a dozen new classes and see if anything tickles your fancy. You might find yourself becoming an expert in a subject that you had never even given a second thought to before. Learning is an adventure. Who knows what you might discover about yourself. Maybe you like fishing now? Or salsa? Or visiting medieval castles? Who knew?

6. Because You Can

Our world is more connected than ever, Therefore, learning as an adult is more accessible and acceptable than it has ever been. Its easy to learn new things, so why not? What’s the worst that could happen. Learning so often gets slated as a chore, but it can also be, and often is, a pure joy! So, get out there and try something new… the search engine is your oyster!

By Chris Thomson

Learning is also a path to even greater access to your creativity! Here are some thoughts on how to encourage that part of yourself even further… Cultivating Your Own Creativity

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Why Is Learning as An Adult Important? appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

So here we are. 2020 is coming to an end. Did you have a good year? Well, it has been a bit of a rocky twelve months hasn’t it? This year has been a challenge for us all. Although much has been lost, much has been altered and much has been argued over, there might be a few good things to take away from this collective experience.

This year has required everyone to accrue an extra dose of emotional robustness. This resilience is something that must be remembered and reflected on in the future, and used to our advantage when there is a storm that need weathering.

So, what has 2020 taught us about emotional resilience. Well…

1. We Will Find A Way

With rules in place such as social distancing, mask wearing and isolation, many of the comforts of everyday life that we take for granted have been stripped away from us. Social distancing has removed the possibility of hugging and shaking hands, indeed, isolation has meant that many people have not been able to connect ion person at all. A mask wearing has made us realise how much joy there is to be had, and clarity there is to be gleaned from communicating with a person whose entire face is visible.

2. Vulnerability Is A Path to Healing

Many struggle to be venerable, but the extremity of the strain mant of us have been under this year has, I think, led to people talking about emotions and how they are feeling in a way that they didn’t before. I think it is, conversely, helpful that so many of us share similar experiences this year, as it removes the potential worry that we will be misunderstood or not taken seriously in our concerns.

Being open, venerable and verbal is a path to healing. This often helps to release the emotional pressure on yourself and to get a view on things from another persons angle. This is a habit we should all aim to keep.

3. Emotional Resilience Can Be Built

My sister has had an interesting journey this year. Our family has been hit hard by this pandemic, and we have sadly lost people. My sister found it especially difficult to cope, and as a result of discussion and reflection she has attributed this to a life of relative ease up until this point. My sister has always been popular, intelligent and successful, and thus has not weathered many emotional storms in her life so far. The pandemic bought her sadness and stress that she had not yet come close to experiencing; a situation that required metal and resilience to deal with.

Resilience is a muscle, and can be developed. If you are a person who found this year hard yet has come out the other side feeling stronger, as my sister has, then perhaps you have gained something very valuable from a situation that has otherwise been, well, lets say ‘not that great’.

4. Don’t Fret About What You Can’t Control

I think its fair to say that we’d all the like the pandemic to be done now. I think we’ve had enough pandemic for now, don’t you? The thing is, there is nothing most of us can do about it. This reality has pushed many people to replace the uncertainty of this year with hobbies and projects; putting emotional energy and physical effort into something that they can control. The nation has never had so many neat gardens, highly decorated cakes or pending publishing deals! This displacement is another thing to keep, a good tool for those times when the thing we are worrying about is out of our hands.

5. We Can Make It

If you are reading this, then you made it this far. You re still here! Sometimes terrible situations are so emotionally ruinous that we wonder if we will ever stop feeling this way. We wonder how we will get through it. But hey, it turns out that humans adapt, they get on, they tolerate, they find a way to get through. If you got through 2020 and are still relatively sane, you can get through anything!

By Chris Thomson

Worry is not always unfounded, but it certainly isn’t useful. Here are some thoughts on keeping your concerns under control… 6 Tips for Dealing with Worry

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post What Has 2020 Taught Us About Emotional Resilience? appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Remember this: YOU are the awareness of this chatter. The chatter is NOT you. So observe it. Remark to yourself, ‘This chatter is quite a peculiar happening. It is coasting along without me. I will sit calmly here and watch it, and see where it goes.’

The one thing not to do here is to give any energy to any particular thought that travels through. Simply let them come and go. Know that if there was a useful reminder about something important that it will still be available to you in 5 minutes time when you come out of your practice.

With repetition of this exercise and time, the chatter will give way to growing periods of silence or stillness as the mind releases its grip on the internal window and gains confidence to be without content for longer periods. This silence is intensely nourishing for the soul. Meditating for 10 minutes where 9 minutes are spent watching the chatter and 1 minute is spent witnessing the silence is a great achievement.

Even if you don’t find silence on your first attempts (and you probably will not) acknowledge your commitment and your intention. Keep the attitude clean and positive. Every time you are sitting down to practice, you are closer to finding the silence. Every step is crucial for the journey.

With practice, persistence, forgiveness and non-judgement, you will develop your ability to reach the point of silence or emptiness and maintain it for a few minutes. You have now become the neutral witness of your thoughts. You have learned through experience that you and your thoughts are separate. You now know yourself to be the awareness in which thought arises.

This is a huge lesson. It changes everything.

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post The Conscious Guide to Quitening Your Mind appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

One of the definitions of integrity is being whole and undivided. Although this sounds like it should be the natural state for all people, it is surprising to discover how, in energetic terms, we repeatedly fracture our being through divisive thinking and behaviour.

As we think and act, we frequently split ourselves and the world that we perceive into two or more fragments. Thoughts and actions are divided up between work and private life. We have a public personality and a private character, a visible surface and a hidden shadow. There can be a world of difference between what we allow to be witnessed by others and our denied thoughts and actions that we keep fearfully to ourselves.

Now, if we trace this back in time, we might see that this division started with a break in belonging at the soul level that was experienced in early childhood. In fact, we have all gone through the essential developmental markers of realizing that we are different, that there is something wrong with us and that we are alone. The consequent sense of loss, separation and injustice that this creates subconsciously in our being is then expressed through thoughts and actions which can become manifest in the world as dysfunctions of personality, family, societies and ecosystems, that is, unless we bring our conscious attention to those initial breaks and heal them at the root.

In our current societies we do not have to look far for evidence of these fractures. As a population we are becoming more depressed, more obese and more dependent on medication. All social organisations from government to commerce, to law, medicine and journalism have had their share of scandal, corruption and dishonesty. An objective observer reporting on our world might conclude that our predominant impact on our environment is destructive, selfish and self-defeating.

All of these broken things that we see in the world are in fact manifestations of our lack of craft to heal our internal divisions and evolve a more robust integrity.

If we are to change our impact on our fellow beings and environment we must first heal our individual internal fractures. Guided by a desire for self knowledge this is the remit of real personal development. But where to start?

Whilst we can choose what we say out loud, we have more trouble quietening our internal thoughts. Our thinking highlights the uncomfortable divisions that we sense in our being as they express our subconscious shadow states. These thoughts can be alarming, violent and not feel like ‘me’.

It is worthwhile therefore to be led by this simple spiritual principle:

You are not your thoughts. You are the awareness in which your thoughts arise.

Once you have experienced the truth of that statement and accepted it in every cell of your being, you are ready to begin the process of self discovery which leads to the healing of that first break with belonging.

A required component of any commitment to authentic personal development is a practice of stillness. Without spending time in quiet meditation, we are unable to experience the truth of spiritual concepts for ourselves. As long as the concepts remain theoretical they will have little to no impact. It is only when we dive head-first into the experience of them that they gift us their wisdom and allow us entry into the next lesson.

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post The Conscious Toolkit Part 1 appeared first on The Conscious Professional.