My favourite impact made by TEC is too see the transformation in the young people that attend our Green SuperCamp program. To have young people deepen their understanding of themselves in their formative years fills me with joy.  It’s exciting to see them get connected to the fact that ultimately the key to our happiness is to love ourselves exactly as we are. (Of course they learn many other things too.)

So many of us spend our life time finding this truth and go through a lot of grief and heartache before we discover this for ourselves. Our Green Supercamp Program hopefully short circuits some of this and opens the hearts and minds of our young people so they can make their unique difference in the world.

The first time I heard Heather speak about the ‘Action Vortex’ where we get caught up in the “How” of things and the ensuing action and reaction, I knew she was speaking to me. It may as well have had my name on it.

Having continuously seen my purpose in life to make everything better, I have always looked at “How” to fix the current problem. It has, without exception, caused me to work harder, or faster, or take on yet another extra job, making me busier and more and more frantic. Awareness of this pattern lead me to discovering my overwhelming Default drama of “I’m responsible for everything!”

It is still something I need to be aware of as I continue to have a tendency towards this state, but now that I understand the concept of asking myself “Why?” and not “How?” I find I am becoming much more attuned to the flow of life and in identifying why I need something. I seem to find a new path in exploring that “why?” and it doesn’t involve pushing myself, or being busy, or burying myself in the rush of life. Indeed the more I ask “Why?” the more I am becoming aware of what is important to me on a daily basis, and at last the Vortex is slipping further and further from me.

I am probably as busy as I have ever been, however because I am no longer caught in the whirlpool of how I am going to keep it all together, I am free to explore why it is important and enjoy the flow of energy that comes from being at peace with that.

I did not want them to hear how bad I was.

For years, I preferred to hide and play quieter than others.

Walking past a busker today reminded me of my musician days.

I played trumpet for 10 years in a carnival band home.

The contrast was so clear:

– The busker is loud and proud yet I remember hiding
– Hiding by practising at home when no-one was around
– Hiding by playing less loud than my fellow musicians
– Hiding by not wanting to play a solo

Interesting choice of instrument to hide through – the loud trumpet.

Anyway, the lessons that resonate most with me are:

-> The busker offers their gift to whoever is ready
-> They play for all – yet not everyone may like it – they still play
-> They play as a practice – regardless of their mistakes
-> The busker liberates energy and feels alive
-> the person hiding suppresses energy and feels stressed

Guess what – yes, hiding stops us from being seen for our ‘bad’.

BUT, hiding also stops us from being seen for our GIFTS – our passions, strengths, talents etc.

whilst putting frustrated, stressed energy in our body.

There is something to learn all around us when we are ready to look.

And so being inspired by the busker, I ask myself:

-> How can I step even more in the open and share my gifts?

Something to ponder on.

I want to invite you to look at vulnerability from a completely different perspective from how you may usually think about it.

Do you struggle to be vulnerable because you think of it as a weakness?

There is an increasing awareness about the power of vulnerability.  One of the top 10 most watched TED talks in the world is the Ted Talk about vulnerability by Brene Brown.  Brene is a social researcher with the University of Houston who has researched and written extensively about vulnerability among other things.

Brene Says “Our willingness to own and engage with our vulnerability determines the depth of our courage and the clarity of our purpose; the level to which we protect ourselves from being vulnerable is a measure of our fear and disconnection.” Brene Brown – Daring Greatly

It’s in our vulnerability that we are our most real and authentic.  The raw, honesty expressed in vulnerability is when you allow others to see the real you – to see into your heart– to the core of you.  

Allowing your true self to be seen is actually an act of tremendous courage.  When you truly own who you are and what you feel, and you share that – you take an emotional risk.

I encourage you to be open to the possibility that your vulnerability is actually the place of your greatest strength. Being vulnerable takes courage.  But the effort is worth it. If you want to achieve what you really want in life, if you want genuine connection with people – there is usually a risk.

To love someone is to be vulnerable.  To say I love you first is to be vulnerable.

To leave a job and start a business is to be vulnerable.  

To feel is to be vulnerable.

To shut down on our emotional life out of fear that the cost will be too high is to walk away from the very things that give purpose and meaning to living. If we are never vulnerable – if we stay safe – if we risk nothing – we live a life half lived.  

To keep the mask on – means true connection is lost.  People connect to the you that you allow them to see. But is that the real you?  So many of us fear that if we truly allow ourselves to be seen for the truth of who we are – we will be rejected.  What price then is acceptance when we have to be false to achieve it?

If we want to reclaim the essential emotional part of our lives and reignite our passion and purpose, we have to learn to feel the emotions that come with it.

Yes we are exposed when we are vulnerable – we are in that painful state of uncertainty and yes, we take a huge emotional risk when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable.  But there’s no equation where taking risks, braving uncertainty, and opening ourselves up to emotional exposure equals weakness.

What is the price if you never allow yourself to be vulnerable?  

The first time I came to camp was as a Team Leader and I remember walking into the main room for the first time and seeing the affirmations on the walls and seeing the colours and the space and thinking “What an incredible environment for a group of young people to explore more about themselves!” I just wanted more and becoming a Facilitator kind of seemed like the next step for me. I’m a High School Teacher and hanging out with young people is what I do every single day of my life and I just couldn’t imagine a better place to spend my holidays than to continue hanging out with young people and helping them step into the best versions of themselves.

There’s so much about camp that I love. We teach a whole bunch of different academics from Quantum Strategies, Quantum Reading, and Quantum Writing, and all of these skills can be applied in any classroom no matter what that looks like. I think as a teacher I understand in our education system currently, we’re not necessarily catering as well as we could for every single child that we have entering the room. Teachers are doing their absolute best with what our system allows, but if we can empower our young people to take responsibility for themselves and their learning then w are setting them up for success. What SuperCamp does is prepare each of our young people, that regardless of who their teacher is or what the subject might be, they can take these skills and use them in order to get their best outcomes and be the best versions of themselves within their classroom context no matter the school they attend.

I know what we are doing here is making a difference and if one person leaves this program empowered and ready to step into who they are well they might be our next Prime Minister! We don’t know and I think that’s really special in itself.