By Jamison Day on 1/5/2009 10:03 AM

Collective performance can be greater than the sum of the parts.

When we plan out projects that we will work with others on, it is natural to list the sub-tasks required and assign them to members of the group. We often perform this break-down to limit the cost or time required in acheiving our objective. Unfortunately, the majority of such projects typically run behind schedule and over budget. The collective performance is often less than the sum of what the parts are capable of.

In pharmacology, the word potentiation refers to the combined effect of multiple drugs being greater than the sum of their effects alone. Learning to foster opportunities for potentiation in our work lives, relationships, and spiritual communities can help make us grow beyond our own limitations. To promote potentiation, we must refrain from creating the boundaries that place limits on potential, both for ourselves and others.

By Jamison Day on 12/30/2008 10:10 AM

 If we remain aware, we will find novel responses in the moment they are needed.

We often consider intelligence the ability to learn from the past. The automaton robot is programmed. It's responses are typically a function of the stimuli it encounters, but it can also be trained by previous experiences. Yet, this artificial intellect still falls short of human capacities for what is considered intelligence.

Perhaps the difference lies in our connection to a capacity for unconditioned awareness. When we become still and open ourselves to a universal experience of Self, we may often find an unimaginable creativity emerges through us. Suddenly, almost without knowing it, we have identified a way and taken action to solve the perplexing problems that face us.

By Jamison Day on 12/18/2008 9:55 AM

Whatever our place of rest is, we should visit it often.

The ongoings of life tug at us incessantly. There is always another initiative that we want to support, another person we want to get to know, or another idea we want to explore. We may find it quite easy to become engaged in so many efforts that we feel we are moving nowhere despite our desire to make progress on so many dimensions.

It is in the busiest of times that it becomes more important to return to our center; that place of resful being that is uniquely ours. This 'place' may be associated with a physical area in our home or in nature, or it may be a space within our minds or bodies within which we can find peaceful abiding. When we return to this place, the many directions of our life are less distracting and we can find both peace and wisdom when choosing our actions.