Breakthrough
Newsletter
VOLUME XII ISSUE NO. 3 | MARCH 2020
Breakthrough
"Productive insight; clear (often sudden) understanding of a complex situation." Free Dictionary

Pop the bubble of conditioned thinking and emerge into the creative realm of "no absolutes," continuous change, uncertainty and unlimited possibilities.

Then, there can be innovation, adaptation and optimal performance.
Performance and Open-minded Mindfulness
Open-minded:  questioning everything, accepting diversity and uncertainty.  

Mindful:   consciously aware; concentrated. 

Foundation for blending process, project, engagement and knowledge management into a cohesive approach to optimize performance.
Making Friends with Anxiety - How to Be Happy Even When You Are Scared
By George Pitagorsky
We are living in "interesting times."
 
A pandemic rages. Like an earthquake, it creates waves to disrupt personal, economic, political and social lives. There is great uncertainty about what will happen. There is certainty that things are changing rapidly and with potentially long-term effects. To add more fuel to the fire, we live in politically divided countries within an ideologically and politically divided world shifting towards authoritarianism and isolationism as people seek security at any cost.
 
Will you get the virus? If you do, will you survive? Will your income stream be affected? Will there be enough food and medicine? Will the 2020 election be postponed? Will the government curtail civil liberties; postpone free selections?
 
Scary, huh?

Anxiety, Uncertainty and Control
Anxiety, a natural response to uncertainty, is physically and mentally harmful if untreated. It morphs into anger and/or deep fear - fight or flight.

Uncertainty brings the reality of not having control over our lives to the surface. When we cannot predict the future, we worry , imagining negative scenarios. Worry feeds anxiety.

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How to be Happy Even When You Are Sad, Mad or Scared:

How to be happy...How to be Happy Even When You Are Sad, Mad or Scared is available on Amazon.com. It is a book for children of all ages (including those in adult bodies). Buy it for the children in your life so they can be better able to “feel and deal” - feel and accept their emotions and deal with them in a way that avoids being driven by them. You can order the book at https://www.amazon.com/How-Happy-Even-When-Scared/dp/1072233363
Making Friends with Anxiety Continued
Alternatively, we can imagine a positive scenario in which things go back to a whatever a desired normal may be, or in which the end result is a better world in which people learn to work together, realizing that we are all in the same boat.
 
The Illusion of Control
Everything has always been out of control. Thinking that everything will just stay the same, that trends will continue on a reasonably consistent trajectory, is illusion.
 
When a major change occurs, those who are in denial about the reality of uncertainty, impermanence and change are unprepared and the shock can be overwhelming.
 
We get used to things working and when they don't, we feel out of control. For example, someone could be uncertain about their ability to get important work done if their computer is down or their transportation no longer works. One might be afraid of missing a call or text if their phone is down. Yet another, might simply be disappointed that their favorite restaurant, or the one they work at, is closed and that it might never open.
 
Those examples are mild compared to the anxiety felt by a person who has lost their job or has been driven from their home and is living in limbo in a refugee camp in the midst of war and pestilence.
 
Yet, no matter what the situation, once anxiety takes root, it expands and becomes more intense. Fear takes over and the analytical, thinking mind stops working. The mind spirals into panic, reactive behavior, physical symptoms, and other attempts at getting back in control.
 
Learning from Anxiety 
To avoid anxiety's effects, learn from and about it. Learning from it means using anxiety as a signal to wake up and let the fiery emotions burn away the obstacles to seeing clearly with wisdom and compassion.
 
This is the path of the warrior, the spiritual seeker, yogi committed to self-awareness and liberation.
 
Learning about Anxiety
To learn from anxiety, learn about it. That means understanding the way it operates - where and how it feels in the body, the thoughts that precede and follow the feelings. What is the proximate cause, the trigger, and what are the deeper causes?
 
Insight, embodiment of knowledge, can come with understanding and mindfully observing whatever is going on within.
 
What to Do
So, what to do? There is no formula, no magic bullet, to get rid of anxiety.
 
Here are a few things you can do:
  • Get ready for anything, be okay with uncertainty and impermanence
  • Remember that anxiety is just a complex of physical sensations, feelings and thoughts triggered by an event and uncertainty, and fueled by unrealistic expectations and worry. You are not anxiety; you are being visited by anxiety
  • Meditate
  • Chant - something as simple as breathing in and breathing out sounding AHHH, the sound of deep relaxation or anything else that makes you calm and happy
  • If you are into it, chant and visualize and/or pray to whatever god, goddess, spirit or protector that can help to alleviate your anxiety
  • Make friends with anxiety. Treat it like a visitor. Say "Hello anxiety. How are you? What can I do for you?" Let it be and let it go
  • Tell anxiety that you will not feed it. Smile and let it go away on its own
  • Breathe through it - inhaling positive energy, letting it circulate throughout your body, picking up negativity and then breath it out - slow, deep and easy
  • Visualize a positive outcome
  • Clean the house, reorganize the fridge, run around
  • Listen to music dance and sing.

In sum, as Meher Baba taught, "Do your best. Don't Worry. Be Happy." 
Performance and Open-minded Mindfulness
Open-minded:  questioning everything, accepting diversity and uncertainty. 
 
Mindful: consciously aware; concentrated. 

Foundation for blending process, project, engagement and knowledge management into a cohesive approach to optimize performance.
By George Pitagorsky

Success is measured in how well and how regularly you meet expectations. But what exactly are expectations, and how do you effectively manage them when multiple priorities and personalities are involved?
Using the case study of a Project Manager coordinating an organizational transition, this Managing Expectations book explores how to apply a mindful, compassionate, and practical approach to satisfying expectations in any situation. George Pitagorsky describes how to make sure expectations are rational, mutually understood, and accepted by all those with a stake in the project. This process relies on blending a crisp analytical approach with the interpersonal skills needed to negotiate win-win understandings of what is supposed to be delivered, by when, for how much, by who, and under what conditions.

Managing Conflict in Projects
By George Pitagorsky

Managing Conflict in Projects: Applying Mindfulness and Analysis for Optimal Results by George Pitagorsky charts a course for identifying and dealing with conflict in a project context.

Pitagorsky states up front that conflict management is not a cookbook solution to disagreement-a set of prescribed actions to be applied in all situations. His overall approach seeks to balance two aspects of conflict management: analysis based on a codified process and people-centered behavioral skills.

The book differentiates conflict resolution and conflict management. Management goes beyond resolution to include relationship building that may serve to avoid conflict or facilitate resolution if it occurs.
 
The  Zen  Approach to Project Management 
By George Pitagorsky

Projects are often more complex and stressful than they need to be. Far too many of them fail to meet expectations. There are far too many conflicts. There are too few moments of joy and too much anxiety. But there is hope. It is possible to remove the unnecessary stress and complexity. This book is about how to do just that. It links the essential principles and techniques of managing projects to a "wisdom" approach for working with complex, people-based activities.