Q&A > What Is The QUEST?

Do You Live Your Life Like You Are On a Quest?

The essence of the Quest is where you leave your comfort zone, known reality, sense of security, and attachments and step into the unknown to discover your true nature, destiny, unique gifts, qualities, and virtues.

During your journey to discover your true self, you encounter the limiting parts of yourself, weaknesses, limiting beliefs, blocks, self-suppression, unexpressed feelings, insecurities, jealousies, and doubts. In other words, you encounter your dark side. You also discover and encounter any opposition to your visions, goals, and dreams.

In the process of your journey, you overcome and master your dark side and gain attributes, qualities, and virtues and develop your overall character as a meaningful, worthwhile, contributing, conscious, compassionate, humble and honorable human being.

You become very clear who you are and what you stand for. Your vision, values, and beliefs are in total alignment with your spiritual-self.

Returning from your Quest, you then integrate all you have become and learned in order to be a contributing member of humanity.

The nature of your Quest is that it is a life-long journey with no specific destination. While there are milestones along the way, the real and meaningful result is WHO YOU BECOME IN THE PROCESS.

---

Give Yourself a Quantum Leap!

If you are looking for an immediate updraft, an infusion of beauty and aesthetic, where awe-inspiring environment meets the latest, freshest information, delivered in a fun and engaging, custom crafted learning environment… consider joining us at a 3-Day GOLDZONE Experience. It will change your mind about learning, engage all your senses and most of all make you a better, more successful and effective leader!

To learn more about the exciting 3-Day GOLDZONE Experience click > here

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

Why Should I Invest in Personal Development?

This question is often asked by two different types of people:

1. People who are aggressively pursuing their goals and are focused on bottom line returns.
2. People who are doing the minimum, are disinterested and taking what life gives them.

For the rest of us, it seems obvious that by investing in ourselves, our skills, our knowledge and our abilities, that we will advance in life and get more of what we want.

But this is not so obvious to most people.

Many people are disconnected from the fact that an investment in oneself will give a return on investment that continues throughout one’s entire life.

Here are some of the tangible benefits:

• Enhanced quality of life
• Increased income
• Greater career opportunities
• Enhanced health
• Greater self-expression

What does investing in oneself look like?

Here are some examples:

• Buying new clothes
• Developing new knowledge through books, seminars, etc.
• Enhancing one’s skills
• Enjoying experiences that are memorable

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

Productivity in a Masculine/Feminine Partnership

The purpose of this article is to highlight one of the oldest and most pervasive dramas that exist between men and women, and to provide a roadmap of what to do to get out of what we refer to as the “plot.”

When we talk of the plot, we are referring to the story or interrelated sequence of events that exists between two or more people. The nature of a plot is that it takes a minimum of two sides in order to exist. When one side decides to exit the plot and takes the necessary steps to do this, the plot can no longer exist. Therefore, if a plot is existing, then both sides are contributing to it.

A relationship is often a complex web of plots that combine into a major theme. Therefore, if you can identify and resolve the major themes, you can experience a quantum leap in your results and level of intimacy.

In an ideal scene, both partners would equally develop their masculine and feminine characteristics.  One partner is utilizing more masculine qualities, and the other is utilizing more feminine qualities in their expression with each other.

Problems occur in a partnership when one of the partners has not developed or embraced the characteristics of their gender. This forces their partner to compensate by taking on and expressing the opposite characteristics of their gender.

In other words if a man isn’t fully developed in his masculine role, then the woman in the partnership is forced to take on and act out the masculine traits that her partner isn’t owning. On the other hand, when a woman is over-expressing masculine characteristics, then the man is forced to become more effeminate and to under-express his masculine characteristics.

This can show up as a lack of male productivity – resulting in a lower than normal self-worth and a low income. For a man, his self-esteem is directly connected to his sense of productivity.

So if you want to disempower a man, make him feel unproductive. If you want to disempower a woman, make her feel ugly.

The basic masculine and feminine characteristics or qualities are as follows:

Masculine Qualities	Feminine Qualities
Achievement Acquisition Action Assertive Competitive Control Courage Dominance Drive Force Goal-oriented Identity Intellectual Logic Motivation Productive Protection Reasoning Solution-oriented Strength Systematic	Accepting Attraction Beauty Caring Connection Cooperative Creativity Empathy Experiential Flexibility Inspiration Nurture Perceptive Receptive Retreat Sensitive Sensuality Softness Spontaneity Supportive Tenderness

To the extent that a person is missing or overdeveloped in any of these qualities, they will draw partners to themselves who play right into their plot!

So the first key to escape this scenario is to look at which of the masculine and feminine characteristics you have developed and are able to express – and which are underdeveloped and unexpressed in you.

The second key is to look at which of the masculine and feminine characteristics your partner has developed and are able to express – and which are underdeveloped and unexpressed in them.

For example, if both partners are overly competitive – then you will have a partnership that is combative, argumentative and constantly challenging. The solution in this example is not for the man to win the competition, or to back down. This will only lead to a lack of productivity. The most effective solution would be for the woman to stop being competitive with the man, and to focus on supporting him to channel his competitive spirit into an appropriate expression that benefits the partnership.

This is not to say that the woman should not be competitive, or that the man should not be supportive of her competitive expression. What we are saying is that in the partnership, they should not compete with each other!

And finally, if a man is getting all his needs met, is productive, expressive, and the woman is not getting her needs met, she will either shut down sexually, or become nagging and controlling. A healthy balance of masculine and feminine characteristics in both partners, with each partner expressing the characteristics of their gender, is the only way to develop and sustain a fulfilling, productive and rewarding partnership.

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

Your Inner-Critic

Have you ever made a mistake, then a split-second later felt the sting of dread, shame, and disapproval followed by a critical inner voice that judges and finds fault with what you have done?

Both the feeling and the voice are manifestations of what is known as your “Inner-Critic.” This article explores what is an Inner-Critic, how it works, where it came from and how to free oneself once and for all of this sabotaging mechanism.

Let’s explore the definition in more detail:

INNER:

1. Situated inside, further in or internal.
2. Spiritual, mental or emotional.
3. Private and not expressed or discernible.

CRITIC:

1. A person who disapproves and expresses their unfavorable view of something.
2. A person who judges and evaluates or analyzes literary or artistic works, dramatic or musical performances.
3. A person who tends too readily to make trivial, or harsh judgments; faultfinder.

INNER-CRITIC:

1. Internal, private voice that disapproves, judges, evaluates and finds fault saying that he or she is bad, wrong, inadequate, worthless, guilty and not good enough.

If you are like most people, your feelings about criticism range from mild dislike, strong dislike to outright hatred for the criticism and the person giving it.

There are two main types of criticism: constructive and destructive. The difference between the two comes down to the intention of the critic. If the critic intends to improve something and delivers their criticism with this in mind, then the criticism is often (not always) received differently than when the intention of the critic is to minimize, tear down or destroy.

Criticism is also known as feedback.

The problem for most people is that they have experienced so much destructive criticism that they can’t tell the difference between the two types. So, they end up reacting to all criticism/feedback and writing it off automatically.

All successful people, public figures, and leaders are subject to both types of criticism. Learning to differentiate between the two types, and allowing oneself to benefit from the criticism/feedback – without taking it personally – is an art and skill developed over time.

More insidious and destructive than any critic you may encounter at work or at home, is the one you take with you on a permanent basis: the one inside your head that is known as the “INNER CRITIC”.

The Inner Critic is that part of yourself that criticizes everything you do, doubts what you do, doesn’t think you are good enough, gives you negative thoughts, is cynical, is never satisfied, and is a perfectionist.

Another term for the Inner Critic is the Inner Villain that plays a destructive game with yourself. Once you have disengaged from dramas with other people, you then have the task of disengaging from your own Villain that is making you a Victim to yourself.

As long as you are busy blaming other people for your feelings and circumstances, your Inner Critic remains invisible to you. So it stands to reason that when you cease blaming others, you will then become aware of your own self-blame, and inner criticism. It is your inner criticism that has you blaming others in the first place.

If you are sensitive to others blaming or criticizing you, then you have a well-developed Inner Critic. It is the Inner Critic that cares what others think about you. It is the Inner Critic that has you feeling hurt by what others say or do.

Once you have dealt with your Inner Critic, you will be less at the effect of other people, and more at cause over all areas of your life.

If you have a fear of rejection, this is a fear born directly from the essence of your Inner Critic.

Technically, the Inner Critic is your shadow self that is you rejecting you. It is found in the depths of your subconscious mind. The opposite of your Inner Critic is self-acceptance, which is called your Inner Cheerleader.

When your Inner Critic is beating you up for a mistake you made, you become unsavory to other people. They feel that you are negative and perhaps toxic, and therefore will be inclined to reject you. Your Inner Critic seduces the worst behavior from people, as it only leaves space for a harmful act or nasty comment. You might as well have a sign on your forehead that says, “Beat me up, reject me.”

It takes a very clear person to see this and not reject you or beat you up. This takes a lot of energy and isn’t fun. So you are no fun to be around (and you can’t stand yourself either.)

So now that we know what the Inner Critic is, how do we deal with it? How do we disengage from it?

The Inner Critic never goes away totally. It always remains in the background… always, and ever listening. So we can disengage from it but never get rid of it totally.

How do you Disengage your Inner Critic?

Well, the first step is to become consciously aware of when your Inner Critic is at play. Once you are aware of it, your task is to accept your Inner Critic. Once you have fully accepted your Inner Critic, you can then accept yourself.

Self-acceptance is the key.

Because two things cannot occupy the same space, the antidote to the Inner Critic is the Inner Cheerleader. So, when you hear negative self-talk from the inner critic, thank it for sharing and counter with positive encouragement from your Inner Cheerleader.

If you are with another person, friend or colleague and you notice your Inner Critic is running you, and you are unable to disengage it, then the best thing to do is take time out until you have it under control. This is responsible behavior and puts you more AT CAUSE.

The ultimate solution to the Inner Critic is to clean slate the area. This means clearing the areas that created your Inner Critic in the first place. Namely, the things that you have done to others, and things others have done to you.

There is no quick fix to this. It is an ongoing journey that you take with yourself.

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Shame and What to Do About It

The purpose of this article is to discuss the subject of shame, its impact on one’s life and what steps can be taken to release the feeling of shame and the effects these feelings create.

First, let’s look at some definitions:

SHAME: A strong negative emotion that combines feelings of dishonor, unworthiness, and embarrassment.

GUILT: An awareness of having done wrong accompanied by feelings of shame and regret.

REGRET: To feel sorry and sad about something previously done or said that now appears wrong, mistaken, or hurtful to others.

In the Optima Zones, shame is located in the Redzone just above denial which is in the Brownzone. You could say that shame is right on the border between the Redzone and Brownzone.

While shame may appear to be an undesirable emotion, it is vital to the effective functioning of society and is necessary for our individual survival. The purpose of shame is to stop us from engaging in harmful or destructive behavior, and to encourage positive behavior. So when a person has harmful behavior and yet feels no shame, they are very dangerous because there is nothing within them to stop their harmful behavior. These people have no remorse.

Behavior Control

In all human societies, shame is used by others to control personal behavior. For example, when a person is caught stealing or telling a lie, they feel ashamed – which acts as a deterrent to prevent the person from stealing or lying again. When the reward of the stolen item or lie is greater than the potential shame of being caught, many people will continue their harmful behavior. This conscious wrongdoing has a very destructive effect on one’s life by adding shame on top of shame. This is because shame is invoked by wrongdoing in addition to the shame that is invoked by being caught.

The True Cost is Cumulative

Therefore, the true cost of wrongdoing is the cumulative and compounded feelings of personal shame! The fear of being caught and publicly shamed has one committing more cover ups, lies, etc., and creates cautiousness, conservatism, low confront, slowness and immobility. This traps a person in the Orangezone (fear) and the Redzone (grief and shame) and prevents them from asking for what they want, acting with confidence and creating the realities that they want.

Body shame may have one either physically obsessed or physically lazy, while at the same time, they may have no shame around money; and therefore, may be able to make lots of money. (However, if they have shame around giving themselves what they want, they may have trouble spending it.)

Shame in too many areas will have a person unable to be successful in any area. Shame in a few areas will cause problems in just a few areas, with a small overflow to the other areas.

Live Your Life Without Shame

Living one’s life in a way that creates no new shame, and cleaning up all past shame allows a person to create the realities that one wants, to be in the right place at the right time, and to be at total cause over one’s life.

So what about the people who feel ashamed, and yet do not have conscious memory of wrongdoing? Often this is caused by years of social and cultural conditioning where we are told what is good and bad, right and wrong, appropriate and inappropriate, and what we should and shouldn’t do. These are given to us by our parents, family, teachers, media, religion, etc. For example, if we have been trained that pre-marital sex is wrong and we engage in pre-marital sex, even though we may consciously think it is OK, we will feel some level of shame. If we withdraw from all things we feel shame around, we would end up living a very limited, at effect life. Therefore, the key to healthy and successful living is to consciously choose and make up our own minds as to what is right from wrong, good from bad, to choose rightaction instead of wrongdoing, and to educate ourselves in a way that allows us to make educated choices.

Our True Feelings Are Often Hidden in Our Unconscious

The challenge with most feelings of shame, is that they are buried deep in our subconscious, and we often have not conscious awareness until the shame is triggered or our results are not what we intended. Many of our behaviors are created by feelings of shame that have us driven in one area and withdrawn from another. For example, if we were a fat child and suffered a lot of ridicule, we may, as an adult, be obsessed with fitness or be totally lazy. If our family struggled for money and was out of control, as an adult we may work obsessively and make money in order to avoid the shame of feeling out of control. (One of the benefits of obsessive work and busyness is the avoidance of feeling.) It is important to note that even though as an adult we may have corrected the physical cause of the childhood shame (ie., going from fat to fit, and poor to rich), we may still have the emotional shame buried in our psyche.

If you have any area of life that is not flowing, and after taking the correct actions, no improvement is sustainable, you may find that shame is inhibiting the area.

Here are the steps to healing shame and alleviating its effects:

• Commit to right action as a way of life.
• Take massive action to correct any past wrongdoing.
• Review any areas of your life that are not flowing; identify any hidden shame.
• Clean slate any areas of shame.

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

Everyday Terrorism

Roadside bombings, drive-by shootings, tourists held at gunpoint, we are familiar with these headlines describing terrorist activities. Desperate for a method to get what they want, terrorists resort to tactics that invoke fear in the hearts of even the most secure and confident people.

Terrorists feel totally justified in taking other peoples lives, and see their victims as guilty of one thing or another. They take it even so far as suicide, and sacrificing the defenseless and clearly innocent (like children) as a means to the end of their cause.

Perhaps, more insidious than the headline terrorists are the everyday terrorists who operate in the corridors of the modern workplace. We don’t have to look to the streets of a distant city for these people.

These people hijack our businesses and our time. They covet our attention, energy and talent. They are charmers, masterful manipulators and seemingly everyone’s friend. They are intellectuals who look very busy and have all day to talk about your feelings, but no time to talk about theirs. When the real work is being done, they are nowhere to be seen; yet, when the work is over, they take all the credit! When things go wrong, it is never their fault.

Does this describe anyone you know?

These everyday terrorists use intimidation and domination tactics so masterfully that you don’t even know they are doing it. Just like the headline terrorists, their “real” target is the strong leader, the powerful group, the successful, responsible person.

Their underlying motives are fueled by insecurity and jealousy. They bulldoze anyone who is in their way. They demand all the attention and will “take down” anyone who is taking the limelight from them.

Any kind of attention will do: positive – or – negative.

They “hit and cry,” when confronted with what they have done.  They claim they are the real victim and are innocent.

Systems are the enemy of the everyday terrorist. They hate them, and anything that holds them to account for their results, and their behaviors. These people will say “yes, yes” to your face, then turn around and do exactly what they want to do.

With the current economic crisis putting extra stress on our organizations and our workplaces, many of these people who were hidden and undiscovered are now being flushed out and are acting up even more.

Many of their colleagues describe them as being “out of control” and bullying anyone who stands in their way.

Some research has indicated that 81% of these everyday terrorists are in fact the supervisors, managers and executives in charge! Many people think most of these characters are men… however, there are as many women as men!

Having said that, it is interesting to note that 71% of the targets of these everyday terrorists are women.

Victims live in a constant state of fear and often suffer both emotional and financial harm. Symptoms include headaches, depression, inability to sleep and feeling drained to the point of exhaustion.

You may be thinking that bulldozing is necessary to get the job done, or “the end justifies the means” (headline terrorists think this, too) or that people are easily replaceable. However, if you consider the true cost of lost productivity, the resultant absenteeism and the replacement cost of these people, you will soon realize that the cost of this behavior is very high.

According to a recent study conducted by Psychologist Michael H. Harrison Ph.D., on 9,000 federal employees, the total cost was as high as $20,000 per employee ($180 million in total.)

Under the current economic circumstances, why do some people adapt to the pressure while others use it as an excuse to behave badly? Do you find yourself having to deal with these people, or are you one of them and find it unbearable to be around yourself?

Is this an opportunity for a call to right action, or is it permission to hold others hostage to your behaviors?

The most dangerous are the ones who can keep their feelings hidden and are numb to the fact that they even have them. These people are in the denial-zone and suck the Lifeforce out of everyone around them with a smile or a stone face. You can recognize them by the behavior of the people around them. If you are reading this and think you are the level-headed intellectual who is so above having these negative feelings, then you are likely to be one of these people.

At the Goldzone Organization, we decided several years ago to create an environment that has zero tolerance for everyday terrorist behavior. The key to this is accountability and safety for everyone to report anyone – regardless of their position.

As a result, we created systems to make it easy to report and clear up incidents before they become serious and too costly. We then automated these systems and integrated them with our enterprise computer systems. We are currently in the process of making these systems available for free via an iPhone application that can be used by anyone, anytime and in any environment.

If the future success of your organization is dependant on creativity and innovation, these everyday terrorists – if left unaddressed – will destroy the synergy, passion, creativity and spirit of your team.

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

Confront and the Financial Crisis

With the financial crisis deepening, many of our worst fears are being realized.  With the Waves of Impact continuing to wash over us, we are being confronted by financial losses on a never-before-seen scale. Entire industries are at risk of being wiped out. Previously invulnerable mega-corporations are being brought to their knees. Hidden weaknesses are being exposed.

As individuals, we are being faced with the complete loss or at least dramatic reduction in the value of our retirement accounts. It can feel like we are being confronted on all sides. How do we cope with the uncertainty?

Now is an excellent time to consider the meaning of the word CONFRONT. Most people don’t think about their ability to confront and what can be done to confront difficult situations more easily, more effectively, and with less stress.

Here is the definition of “confront”:

CONFRONT: n. 1. An action of being able to face without flinching or avoiding. 2. The ability to be there comfortably and perceive.

So, confront means to be able to comfortably see what is there without flinching, wanting to withdraw or running away. Often, to fully understand a word, it is easier to look at the opposite. What does “non-confront” mean? It simply means the inability to see what is there.  It is an inability to face something. Why can’t we confront something? Because to confront means PAIN. It is too painful to view, so we withdraw and refuse to look at the area.

Notice that the definition describes confront as an ability? It isn’t something you do, it is an ability that we develop over time. The ability to see more and more of the truth.

There is also what is called “low-confront” which is when a person can confront a little, can see a little of the truth of what is there… but not all of it.

How do you improve your ability to confront? The same way you improve any other ability – focus, attention, and practice, as well as dealing with the pain that had you not confronting the area in the first place.

As you can see, the ability to confront is directly connected to the ability to handle change. If a person can’t confront the future or the unknown, then they will stay in their comfort zone…and remain stuck in the past.

© Goldzone Foundation. All rights reserved.

What Is a Leader?

New-Paradigm leadership begins with personal responsibility and combines vision, commitment, relationships, communication, compassion, courage, decisiveness, integrity, organization, strength, and the ability to influence and inspire others.

Leadership in the knowledge economy is vastly different from leadership in the information, industrial and agrarian economies. In the old economies, dictatorship, domination, command and control where the prevalent models.  It is easy to lead through domination.  Hold a gun (or a paycheck) to a persons head and you can get them to do almost anything; however, when you take the gun (or paycheck) away – you no longer have the ability to get them to do what you want. And chances are, they will pay you back for forcing them to do something they may not have wanted to do without the gun (or paycheck.)

Today’s new model involves partnership, cooperation and teams. This involves people following you because they WANT to. They are moved to action for reasons other than an external motivation – they are choosing to follow.

Because most of the world is still engaged in and dependent on the information, industrial and agrarian economies, today’s leaders are mostly operating from the old leadership models. This website is about the new model needed for the knowledge economy of today, and the experience economy of tomorrow. As you embark on this journey you may discover that there is little agreement for this new model from people invested in the old model (of domination, command and control). However, this is the way of the future.

New-Paradigm Leaders are on the top of the Leadership Scale which is as follows:

The Leadership Scale:

* NEW-PARADIGM LEADERS (early adopters of a new paradigm)
* LEADERS (conventional)
* EXECUTIVES (not all executives are leaders)
* MANAGERS AND EDUCATORS (you can mange and educate without leading)
* SUPERVISORS (you can supervise without leading)
————————————————————-
* WHITE COLLAR WORKERS
* LABORERS (blue collar workers)
* STUDENTS
* UNEMPLOYED

The higher you go up the scale and above the line, you are dealing more and more with PEOPLE. The further down the scale and below the line, the less you are dealing with people and the more you are dealing with THINGS. To be an effective leader involves mastery of people and things. The most important skill of a leader is the knowledge of and relationship with people (what inspires, motivates, challenges, demotivates). This requires knowledge and a relationship with YOURSELF FIRST.  If you can’t lead and inspire yourself, how can you expect to lead and inspire anyone else?

It is to this end that this web site is dedicated. The knowledge, understanding and development of YOURSELF and the people you lead. It is important to note that artists, musicians, mothers, etc. are leaders even if they themselves are it! The Dictionary defines a leader as one who leads or has followers. If no one is following you, then how can you call yourself a leader?

“The key to a leader’s impact is sincerity. Before he can inspire with emotion, he must be swayed by it himself. Before he can move their tears, his own must flow. To convince them, he must himself believe.”

~ Winston Churchill ~

© Goldzone Foundation. All rights reserved.

Dealing with Unwanted Emotions/Feelings

Dealing with unwanted feelings can be a very tricky thing.  It can often lead to upsets and a lot of unhappiness in relationships between people.

The purpose of this article is to provide some understanding of feelings, their purpose in our lives, and to provide a guideline for expressing one’s feelings in an appropriate manner.

We are all familiar with people who are supposedly calm, nothing bothers them, and then one day something goes wrong and they explode in a fit of rage. Or the relationship where everything was going along nicely and all of a sudden, out of the blue, one partner announces that they are leaving.

Our feelings impact every area of our lives, and are often the hidden drivers of our behaviors, attitudes and beliefs. When we feel things we would rather not feel, most of us will attempt to suppress the feeling, rather than look for the original cause or source of the feeling. Some of the things people do to suppress feelings are:

1.    Go shopping
2.    Eat, even if not hungry
3.    Drink alcohol
4.    Smoke cigarettes or cigars
5.    Take illegal drugs
6.    Take legal prescription drugs
7.    Engage in extreme sports
8.    Engage in sexual activity
9.    Engage in gossip
10.    Work harder
11.   Engage in a fight, or abuse others

You will notice from the above list, that these activities, when taken to the extreme, are detrimental to one’s health and are often destructive to other people also.

So why is it that so little is known about feelings?  Why aren’t emotions discussed in school? And why are so few people looking to the cause of their feelings rather than being at the effect of them?

The primary reason for this lack of awareness and education on this subject is because up until recent times, very little was really known about our emotional natures – and it is also a highly explosive and controversial subject.

The impact of modern life and industrialization has created a society of people who do not listen to nor value their emotional selves. This causes people to engage in destructive relationships, unfulfilling careers, and to live in places that are an affront to the senses.

So what would happen if people learned about feelings, and their impact on life? What would happen if people listened to their intuition and their emotional natures more and included this input into their decision-making? What would happen if people learned safe ways to express their feelings – rather than suppress them?

We would have happier, more fulfilled, more balanced, more loving societies.

What are emotions anyway?

Emotion is the connecting energy between our mental planning and conceptualization and our physical action.

Consider the below model:

If we have one of the above elements missing or suppressed, we will not realize our full potential as a human being.

If we are spiritually disconnected, or we have no belief in, or experience of, a higher power that is greater than ourselves, we are then only operating on the mental, emotional and physical planes.

If we are mentally slow, or underdeveloped, then we are not able to plan or to solve problems of life and living.

If we are spiritually connected, mentally developed and physically oriented, but have the emotional plane blocked or suppressed, we will not have the energy to create the results we want, nor will we be able to move others to action or to connect deeply with people in relationships.

There are many people who have no spiritual source, are very mentally developed (sometimes to the genius level) are totally suppressed emotionally, but they are physically oriented. These people are able to connect with us physically and mentally, however they are unable to feel real empathy or to connect on a spiritual level.

With one or more of the planes suppressed or underdeveloped, we will not realize our full potential and we will not be fulfilled with our lives – regardless of the success or recognition that we achieve.

So you can see, that in order to be a fully realized, self actualized human being, one must be developed on all four planes: spiritual, mental, emotional and physical.

Emotions are misunderstood

In many societies around the world, being under control, calm and expressionless under pressure are accepted and valued as “strong,” while being expressive and alive with emotions is considered “weak.” This is often referred to as the person being “emotional.”

This judgment comes from labeling emotions as good and bad.  Good emotions are accepted and bad emotions are unacceptable. We learn from our parents and the people who care about us which emotions are bad and not to be expressed, and which emotions are good and should be expressed often.

The problem is that different families have different assessments of good and bad.

For example, in one family it may be considered good to express joy, and bad to express anger. In another family it may be the exact opposite. What happens when two people from these families get together and form a relationship? This will cause constant fighting and unhappiness because what is considered good behavior by one person, will be considered bad by the other.

In order to be a whole and complete person, we must be able to experience and express all of the emotions available to mankind. This is a tall order for many people. The tendency is to avoid some feelings and move towards others which causes us to be at the effect of our emotions. They have us, we don’t have them.

There are no good or bad emotions

Letting go of the labels of good and bad in terms of emotions will liberate us from being at effect of our own and other people’s emotions. Once we understand that every emotion is a necessary part of life and has its place, we can then free ourselves from avoidance and embrace the appropriate emotion for the appropriate situation.

For example, when a tiger is stalking us, it is appropriate to feel caution and fear. It is inappropriate for us to feel enthusiasm or serenity… this will have us being eaten! It is also not appropriate for us to feel and express anger when another person says, “I love you.”

There are hundreds of different emotions or feelings

There are literally hundreds of different emotions that are broken down into specific feelings, and then further categorized into seven primary zones. Each zone has a corresponding color that loosely matches the chakras as well as the stages of childhood development.

You will notice from the above model, that our available energy is low at the bottom of the scale and increases as we go up the scale.

Each category or zone includes many other feelings on a scale of intensity. For example, in the fear zone (Orangezone), the top of fear is uncertainty, nervous and worry, and the bottom is blind terror. So you can see that mild fear is a little uncomfortable and extreme fear is very uncomfortable.

This is the same with all the zones. The anger zone begins with boredom at the top, rage at the bottom, and many different flavors of anger in between.

What happens when an emotion is blocked

What happens to a person who comes from a family where anger is judged as a “bad” emotion, and it is not acceptable to feel, let alone express it? What this does is limit the ability of the person to feel, experience and express emotions that are higher on the scale than anger. In other words, anger blocks the person’s free flow of emotional energy.

This block causes a major limitation on the person’s life and creates all kinds of problems at work and in relationships. Any time someone expresses anger around this person, they will want to run away or they will become angry themselves. In other words, they either avoid or challenge.

Fragmentation Leads to Stress

Futurists commonly predict that we are moving away from separate personal and professional lives towards a life where our personal and professional lives are fully integrated.

For many of us, our lives have developed as fragmented sections or compartments. We are one way at work, and altogether different in our personal life. This leads to a split personality: the work persona and the home persona and never the twain shall meet. Our feelings get left at home, and the very fabric of what makes us human gets left out of the work place.

How do you integrate yourself as a whole person into your career, profession or business? Most success models are based on how much money you have, however, this is a very limited view of life. True success includes money, health, relationship, career, self-expression and spirituality.

Traditionally, our personal lives are viewed as separate and distinct from our professional lives. And yet, the state of our personal life has a dramatic impact on our productivity, stress and performance.  The basic rule applies: less fragmentation = less stress.

What can you do to integrate more of yourself in all areas – professional and personal?

What is a Leader?

True leadership begins with personal responsibility and combines vision, commitment, communication, compassion, courage, decisiveness, integrity, organization, strength, and the ability to influence and inspire others. If you can’t inspire people into action, then who are you leading?

The Oxford Dictionary defines a leader as one who leads or has followers.  If no one is following you, how can you call yourself a leader?

The Optima Zones of Life

All of life can be measured on a scale from FULLY ALIVE at the top to NEARLY DEAD at the bottom (in fact DEATH is the bottom of the scale.) We call this scale the OPTIMA ZONES OF LIFE as it is divided into seven Zones, or categories.

Each Zone is represented by a color. The colors are: GOLD, BLUE, GREEN, YELLOW, ORANGE, RED and BROWN.

Most of us fluctuate somewhere from the top to the bottom, throughout the day, from day to day and year to year. On average we spend most of our time in one particular place or Zone of the scale.

Different areas of our life can be in different Zones. For example, your relationship could be in the Goldzone, and your career could be in the Yellowzone.

The scale explains a lot about human nature. You will see the entire cast of characters in your life and what you can expect from them.

Accompanying each Zone is a predominant emotion. Each emotion is a complete, unvarying package of attitudes and behaviors.

The higher a person’s position on the scale the better they survive. They are more capable of obtaining the necessities of living, are happier, more alive, more confident, and competent. They are winning at life.

The lower a person drops on the scale the closer they are to death. They are losing, are less happy, less alive, less confident, less competent, and are losing at life.

A person in the GOLDZONE, BLUEZONE or GREENZONE doesn’t settle down on this scale; they maintain a high interest and enthusiasm for living. Although they may become upset and drop down in a REDZONE environment, they are resilient and recover quickly once they are free of the lower Zone influence.

Conversely, a person in the YELLOWZONE, REDZONE or BROWNZONE can have a moment of winning or success; however, it doesn’t last long and they quickly return to their original Zone.

The Optima Zones of Life are as follows: Zones Qualities State Description Goldzone Source Grace Manifestation Extrasensory Perception Transcendence Peace Master of The Game FULLY ALIVE A person in the Goldzone is FULLY ALIVE, connected to Source, in harmony with nature and their environment, fully responsible for themselves and others, loving and compassionate. With a high level of truth, this person perceives people and situations with total accuracy and operates from a state of grace.  The Goldzone person is a creative master over their life and their environment and operates in their own reality. Completely authentic and peaceful, the Goldzone person is fully integrated with their spiritual self. Their usual mood level is serene/state of grace. Creation, manifestation and the extraordinary are a way of life. The Goldzone person’s word is as good as gold. Bluezone Creative Mastery Appreciation Aesthetic (Beauty) Passion Creating The Game FULLY EXPRESSED This person is living their dream and is fully self-expressed. Lifeforce-enhancing art, poetry, music, dance, movies and being of service motivate the Bluezone person to express themselves in a way that gives back to the people around them and society as a whole.  The Bluezone person is surrounded by beautiful people and environments. Reverent, graceful and in a constant state of gratitude, these people are highly valuable to any community or project that they are a part of. Bluezone people are on the leading edge of shifting paradigms, social values and culture. Greenzone Enthusiastic Empathy Interested (other centered) Responsible Cooperative Assertive Win/Win ACTION WITH HEART The Greenzone person is in the right place at the right time. Everything seems to go right for them and most things that they are connected to work. They are attractive and emanating lifeforce and creativity. They are inspirational and their presence alone is a reassuring and calming influence.  Greenzone people are connected to the right people. Their actions, intentions and visions are aligned. They spend most of their time in a high mood level and take action with heart.Knowledgeable about many subjects and things, this person has highly developed people, communication and life skills. Here we have a high level of confront, truth and honesty. The Greenzone person is happy, prosperous and successful within the status quo. Yellowzone Materialistic Interesting (self centered) Competitive Combative Aggressive Controlling Justification Win/Lose ACTION In the Yellowzone or Anger zone, a person is driven by their ego, and their attachment to how they think things should be in order to feel good about themselves. Motivated by anger, they are flowing a lot of lifeforce against opposition, against people, against perceived threats and are on the attack. When frustrated, these people respond with anger, even when most of the time anger is not the appropriate response.  Attached to being right, the Yellowzone person makes less of other people, invalidates them and is always blaming others for things going wrong. Any mistakes made by this person are instantly justified.Yellowzone people are in high action; however, it is motivated by anger. A lot of drama and busy-ness surrounds this person. Obsessed with success, the Yellowzone person is constantly thinking about what to acquire next. As a leader, the Yellowzone person is controlling and domineering. Orangezone Unexpressed Controlled Withdrawn Restrained Low Confront Fearful Hypnotic Blame Doubt Lose/Win SECURITY This is life in the rat-race, daily grind or work-a-day world. This person doesn’t take any risks and lives and works for survival. The Orangezone person can handle things, but has poor people and communication skills. This person resists change and is not prone to share what they have. Fear motivates everything this person does, from choosing a partner, career, place to live, investments, etc. Any form of responsibility or leadership is avoided. The Orangezone person communicates with a lot of generalizations, assumptions, and when at the bottom of this Zone, is emotionally numb. Redzone Low Self Worth Untrustworthy No Confront Denial Acceptance of Failure Shame Lose/Lose SURVIVAL A person in the Redzone has almost succumbed to loss, death and failure. Nothing works for them, and one failure leads to another. The Redzone person is in the wrong place at the wrong time, doing the wrong actions.  This person has destructive people and communication skills and doesn’t trust anyone. Here we have a very low level of confront and honesty.Obsessed with security, this person is driven by fixed ideas and wrong data. Often using knowledge as a weapon, this person has no happiness, no money, no space, no time.This person is the perpetual complainer, gossip and VICTIM. Brownzone Hopeless Expressionless Disconnected Numbness Total Failure Nearly Dead Not In The Game GIVEN UP A Brownzone person has totally given up on life. Nothing works for them. They are totally in the wrong place at the wrong time. Their lifeforce is negative and heading straight towards death.  In heavy denial, Brownzone people are paralyzed, inactive, sick and depressed a lot. Totally physically and emotionally numb, they have a lack of feeling and are indifferent. They are turned-off to loving, living, hoping, crying, laughing and dreaming.When a person suffers a severe loss and cannot express their grief, they restrain it and go into the Brownzone, or apathy zone, which is lower than a victim. Often the drug addict and compulsive gambler is in this Zone. Some of these people may even be labeled “brilliant intellectual” and be in high paying jobs. A good indicator of the Brownzone person is found by looking at their associates. Most of them are frazzled by trying and failing to help them.