Dear friends,

I find myself in a place of great professional growth and
Transition, and frankly a lot of searching for what's next.
My evolution has accelerated in the last few months, and as
I reinvent myself, I feel the need for some time to step
back and reflect. 

Because of this, Success ~ the eZine will be going on
summer vacation.  I'll be posting some encore articles
(which just means dredging up old stuff from previous
issues), so don't go anywhere, especially if you subscribed
in the last year or so. 

I'll be back with all new material and a newer outlook on
life and work.  Until then, enjoy your summer and keep
pursuing your success!
 

Life Coaches talk a lot about our helping our clients
expand their worlds, see possibilities where none appeared
before, and pursue goals and dreams fully. 

Some of our favorite questions to our clients have become
clichés: If you had 24 hours to live, what would you do?
What would make this your best year ever? What is your
Life’s purpose?  

They're all great questions, and I use them frequently
myself. But knowing the answers, even pursuing the goals
our clients set as a result of the answers isn't enough. 

What we're really after is a feeling, a way of being, a
sense that we're not just living in the world, but that
we're a part of it, like a participatory cell in the whole
organism. 

I think of it as "Living at 100%."

The problem with talking about living at 100% is that
language cannot adequately describe it.  It is so elusive. 
An idea that I can only attempt to describe it by a series
of images. See how many of them have a resonance in your
own life.

~ You're out of breath, grasping the hand of your new
love, having just run for the cover of a tree to get out of
the pouring rain, completely immersed in infatuation and
the possibility of falling in love. 

~ Sitting with your best friends, pushing your chair back
from the table, taking another drink of Shiraz, and failing
to clear the dinner dishes because you're about to go
another round of philosophical debate. 

~ Allowing the discomfort in your back and legs to
continue because shifting would wake up the sick three-year-
old cradled in your lap.

~ Sitting in your favorite college class, integrating a
new idea or concept into your beliefs and realizing the
world is a bigger place than you realized. 

~ The experience of such deep intimacy, that "I love you,"
falls out of your mouth, surprising both of you. 

~ Uncontrollable crying over the death of a close friend.

~ Giving a great acting performance because you decided it
was all right to look like a fool.

Notice that the examples I describe have little to do with
goal-setting or accomplishment and everything to do with
being totally engaged in your life, sometimes without even
meaning to be. 

I'm sure you can come up with hundreds of your own
experiences that look similar to these. 

And if those things describe living at 100%, here are a
few that get at what it isn't: 

~ Continuing to go to a job you dislike, day after day. 

~ Fighting with your spouse or significant other about the
same things, never seeing a change in the cycle. 

~ Failing to see a way to get what you want. 

~ Allowing your fears or negative self-talk get the best
of you. 

So take a look at your life right now: are you engaged at
100%? 

One of the great things about us humans is that we have
internal meters that let us see when we're off track, and
when we're satisfying ourselves. Take your sense of
integrity: you know when you're not being totally honest
with yourself and others, when you're shirking
responsibility, or flat out being a hypocrite.  

Check in with your "Living at 100%" meter - are you
allowing yourself to have those experiences?  If not, what
permission do you need? Where do you need to shift your
focus? 

Remember that it's not about controlling or making them
happen.  It's about getting yourself totally in the moment
and engaged with the world around you.  It's about creating
the conditions that make those experiences possible. 

It takes practice and commitment, like building a muscle.
The more you do it, the easier and more natural it becomes.
Keep practicing, and you'll find yourself living at 100%
more and more. 

Until October, I wish you much love and success! 

RJ

© 2006 The Actor's Success & Robin Jones.  All rights reserved.

Robin Jones is a Certified Professional Life Coach specializing in helping actors beat the odds of the business and build thriving careers.  Visit www.ActorsSuccess.com to move your career forward now.

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