I Don't Give Out Fish - by Casey Daly

I was thinking this morning about how I want to relate the essence of what Living Primed is striving for. 

If you're working with me*, it's not about diet and exercise - 'cause BLERG!

*If you're working with Otto, and endurance and performance are your jam, then this might not be the blog post for you.  And don't run away - remember we are co-blogging here to appeal to the diverse needs of our clients.  A primal lifestyle is a servant of many masters!

Follow me down this wandering path for a moment - we're headed for a worthwhile destination...

I am reading The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist.  Just so you know, I find "money" books pretty presumptuous and distasteful for the most part.  This book is unique.  It isn't really about money - it's more about mindset.  That's what I'm loving about it.

In the chapter, What You Appreciate Appreciates, she shares the story of her work with The Hunger Project in Bangladesh in the late 1970s.  At the time, the nation was listed as the second poorest country in the world.  Flooded by foreign aid, the country soon gained the reputation of "a giant begging bowl of a nation" in the global community; it wasn't long before the Bangladeshi people began to see themselves in that same light.  They had become dependent on the foreign aid, and lost hope.

The The Hunger Project works to end the cycle of dependance.  Think: "Give someone a fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach someone to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime." 

They don't give out fish.

They don't even begin by teaching the men, women and children to fish.

They begin with Vision, Commitment and Action Workshops to help the people form a vision of themselves as kick-ass fishermen (fisherpeople? fisherpersons?).  

Anyway, according to Twist, the workshops went something like this: 

They held public gatherings - a thousand people or more in village parks & squares - and asked them to close their eyes and envision:

What would it look like if you were a country exporting finest-quality goods?  What would it be like if you were known for your art, music and poetry?  If you were a contributing member of the global community?  If your leadership, men and women, were contributing to society?  What would that look like?

She writes that people of the villages sat still and quiet, shoulder to shoulder, eyes closed just envisioning that possibility.  Then she noticed that many of these men and women wept silent tears at the vision of such a future.  

They had not imagined such a thing was possible.

In the next workshop they were asked to commit to being the people that would bring the vision to reality.  They planned their actions.  They were simple, practical actions that aligned with their new vision.  And they began to see themselves in a different light.  They could see themselves as "able, resourceful, and potent - self-reliant and self-sufficient."

Vision, Commitment and Action. 

So what does this have to do with how I hope clients will see what Living Primed is prepared to offer them?

Well...  sometimes, what we all need as human beings, is someone to believe in us.  But as I see it, (in the long run) that 's a little like giving someone a fish. 

I don't give out fish.

Yes, I believe in you.  I believe in you because you are resourceful, whole and capable of creating a vision, making a commitment to that vision and taking action. 

I will believe in you, until you can believe in yourself.

I'm going ask you to envision.  And I'm not going to ask you to envision goals that I  have for you.  I'm going to find out what your vision is. 

Living Primed is about you: creating your vision, committing to your vision, believing in yourself as you take simple practical actions aligned with your new vision.

Because you - you are are kickass fisherperson!