INSTITUTIONAL WELLNESS

by Bill Cumming

158th Fighter Wing
Vermont Air National Guard

Purpose: To offer two iterations the “What One Person Can Do” program to address issues of general well-being, ownership, responsibility as well as specifically deal with issues related and not restricted to productivity, efficiency, sexual misconduct, suicide, PTSD and integrity.

It is with great joy that we announce the commencement of this project with the Vermont Air National Guard. Friday October 23rd, Colonel Patrick Guinee and his Administrative Team will begin the work of WOPCD as described above. The effectiveness of the work will not be based on whether the participants “liked the work” or any of the measures we have used in the past to evaluate our work. The evaluation will be based on the following criteria:

Have the number of sexual harassment incidents decreased?
Have the number of sexual assaults decreased?
Is the operation of the base, in all areas, more efficient?
Is ownership and responsibility being demonstrated in quantitative terms?
Is communication more effective?

This is an opportunity to demonstrate whether the wellness of an institution is directly connected to the wellness of the individuals within it. The opportunity is incredible and we are deeply grateful for it.

The Terminal Postponement of Aliveness in life…
It’s a Choice… It Can Change!

By Grace M. Smith

Living Life Asleep,
Deadened to Our True Self is a moment by moment
“Choice.”
What will YOU choose for Yourself Today
with Consistency, and with steadfast, loving Discipline?
Will you choose to be true to Yourself,
true to your Heart and Soul Every Day
of YOUR life from now on?
Or will you choose to harden, numb yourself,
trudge along operating in daily life
as if who you really are wasn’t worthy?
And as if it were impossible for YOU to choose YOU,
then losing another moment of precious life as your heart and eyes dim further in zombie like choices?
How long will you spend beating Yourself,
Your Beautiful Heart and Soul, up, over yesterday,
over five minutes ago, over five seconds ago?
“STOP”
The inner abuse you unleash upon yourselves, Dear Ones.
Every Second you repeat that choice, and beat yourself internally, is another second of this miraculous miracle
we live in you’ve missed.
We are gifted with precious few seconds to LIVE,
truly live, to be present in every moment of our lives.
We sell ourselves short all the time.
When will we stop?
When will you choose to stop for yourself?

When will you stop beating yourself up for choosing not to stop beating yourself up five seconds ago?
What would your life be like if you awoke in the mornings so aware of the miracle that you felt fresh and alive in every moment of everyday?
What would it be like if you lived every moment with that magical spark of aliveness, curiosity, openness, heart, and pure love that you see in the eyes and hearts of children, within yours?
What would it take for you to live from that space in every moment of everyday? What dream or part of yourself have you forgotten, left behind, or ignored for far too long?
What part of your magic within have you not chosen to make part of your everyday for far too long?
What are you carrying within you that you’d like to gift to the world, and to yourself today?
When the stuffing of emotion stops consistently. When the voice of your own thoughts towards yourselves and others becomes more patient and present in a space of loving-kindness. When listening with true loving presence within for yourselves and all those around you begins on a moment by moment basis, when you Live from that space life is forever changed.

You are Precious!
You are Miraculous!
You are Worthy!
You are Loveable!

Dying is not the physical passing
from this world to the next.
Dying is sleeping our lives away.
Dying is choosing to buy into the opinions of others.
It is allowing in that choice, our true hearts, light that fills our eyes
when we are in our truest Beingness,
to be dimmed by our choices.
No, one can dim your light. Only you can do that.
Don’t take their behavior, opinions and actions personally!
Those things belong to them.
Let them have it and go on about being
YOU!

This Is The ONLY Moment You Have ANY guarantee of…….Live It !
Open Heartedly,
Joyously,
Lovingly,
Truly Present!
Life Is Moment By Moment.
If this moment and the next moment, and the next is truly lived the accumulation is a life Lived, Well Lived.
A life Lived, rather than missed.
The amount of life most of us truly live is astonishingly small, caught up in all the doingness rather than beingness.
If we only would choose who we really are, perhaps our lives, our moments would be filled in radically different ways.
The moment of physical passing that we call, “Someday down the road,” could be today, a moment from now, or right now.
When we argue with, don’t listen with presence and loving kindness
or speak in unloving ways to those we love, or anyone,
we have lost sight of the most precious, and valuable reason
of all for ever communicating With anyone.
Let us stop prioritizing rightness,
proving our precious points, judging and criticizing.
And remember the person with whom you are talking is a part of your heart, of someone else’s heart, of the world’s heart.
They are a precious miracle, just as YOU are!
What would life be like, if we prioritized being in a space of loving kindness in ALL interactions with ourselves and others?
What if it ceased to matter if the person before
us was someone we knew well, or a stranger, or
it didn’t matter what their background, interests, life experiences,
religion, appearance, race, male or female, current or past emotional state, or any number of things you may come up with were.
What if we just accepted, truly listened to and loved them, just as they are?
What if we prioritized love in all interactions making sure of
where we are inside before and during any interactions,
walking away for a few moments if need be, and centering ourselves?
ALL OUR RELATIONSHIPS WOULD SHIFT!
What would life be like if we lived it with honesty,
with presence,
with loving kindness,
with the truth,
that this really is the only second we have any guarantee of?
What if one of the most important parts of All Today, is instead of reading this and walking away, you take a moment for YOU And Everyone You interact with to make use of whatever you find useful that is written here.

Your True Presence is a gift in all situations!
You are a True Blessing In This World!
Worth isn’t about what You have or have not done, You have been worthy since birth. You exist, thus, You are Worthy and Loveable! We Smile at children, we do not ask what they have done to deserve our love and smiles. You grew taller, you are years older, YOU are still YOU!

May You remember today, the Miracle that YOU are and All Life Is!
Namaste!

Grace can be reached through clicking the link embedded in her name above or by calling The Boothby Institute at 207-751-2287 or e-mail: gracecjg@gmail.com

About The Boothby Institute

Posted on October 11, 2015, 2:13 pm By The Boothby Institute

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The Boothby Institute is dedicated to allowing individuals to discover their value and experience the ability to create a meaningful, productive, contributory and joyous life.

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Testimonials

Constant awareness of how I approach others, and how I hold them when I approach them, has been a really revelatory concept for me. In some respects, it has given words to something I had always been doing, and in others it has significantly increased my ability and willingness to do this all the time.
Erin Kilbride | Portland, ME

For me this is probably the most “radical” change in my life.
Gareth Davies | Capetown, South Africa

[This course] is one of only a few that had real life applications that helped prepare me to teach
Gina Martin | Springfield, MA

Thinking about standards boundaries, things I tolerate and things that excite me are all very powerful and things we should but likely would not do unless prompted like this!
Maureen Clancy | Portland, ME

Through this course I began “living” the beliefs. I demonstrated them more naturally and comfortably. Instead of having to remind myself, I began innately “becoming” that inspired teacher I always had in me but only called upon at certain times. I changed. I am complete in every area of my life.
Maureen Oswald | Jay, Maine

With each session, the conversation became easer and easier to grasp and experience. This was primarily resulting from the mounting proof that the conversation was real and true…it is the holistic nature of the conversation, as one conversation, that makes the process so satisfyingly effective.
Roy Chatterjee | Portland, ME

My entire world has changed and I see things a lot differently today than I did before I began this process…I’m a lot more grounded and am learning how my self-care allows me to take better care of myself so I can be a better leader to my team; lead by example.
Shere Goo| San Francisco, CA