Andreas Gruber - The Power of Being

Money may be compelling, but our health overrules money, since we cannot buy health once it's gone, as well as the life that is gone, can’t be brought back. Besides, an employee who is not balanced and healthy is not likely to perform well.

It may not be so obvious, but a musician needs a good feeling for silence to reach excellence. Our rest periods correspond to that silence, and altogether it may be like a rhythm that is in harmony with us.

To find balance in the midst of change, it may serve us to look at the four aspects; work, family, nature, and body. They will be explained later on. Just to give you an indication of where you may be at right now, please take some time to reflect on the following nine essential questions. They are not for me, but about the most important things in your life. Sincerely asking these questions to yourself, is far more important than reading this book. Chances are you have never reflected on your life like this. Do it now, because you are worth it! It will only take 15 minutes of your precious time.

As we aspire to improve ourselves; we sometimes talk about personality, and that is an interesting word. It originates from the Ancient Greek, meaning mask. ( Originally an actor's mask, Greek prósōpana face, mask. Latin persōna = role in life, a play, or a tale. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/persona )

In those days, actors usually put on different masks as they impersonated different characters. So in that sense, our personality is the face we want to show the world. To some extent, we are aware of this. We do also talk about different roles in our lives. But maybe our job should be to get rid of our personality if it implies a fake mask, which we are not. This may seem like a play on words, but it tells us something about how we interact. We either feel we can’t show our true nature or face, or we believe it serves us to slip into different roles.

Being authentic, is what we are looking for, isn't it? It depends on what we are aiming for. If our objective is to meet people as they truly are, authenticity is what we need. If we are comfortable with playing the games we do, then personality will suffice. Then we can keep our mask on. And besides, at short notice, it's much easier to work on our personality than our authenticity and human qualities.

But then again, why are you reading this book; just because you are curious? Or, do you wish to effectuate change in your personal life, as well as positively influencing the lives of many others?

We can’t afford to be who we are. Therefore, we need a created and shining personality.

Authentic came from the Greek word authentikos and referred to a document that was officially or publicly confirmed to be the original that can be trusted. If we as leaders strive for trust, we need it. Authenticity also matters when it comes to integrity.

Famous actors often claim, that even within the realm of acting, you have to be authentic. Otherwise, you can never be credible. You have to incorporate what you are playing. You go and find that very aspect within yourself, and act it authentically. That's probably as close as an actor can get, and these actors do touch us.

But what may move us much more, is an authentic human being who has honed his human qualities. And we are not talking about superficialities like politeness or other social conventions. Politeness that has been conditioned upon us is as much part of a fake personality as a superiority complex ever will be. Not that politeness as such is wrong, but the place it comes from.

A created personality is an antidote to integrity.

Until you have actually, consciously tried to act like another person, you may not have noticed that it feels quite odd. You may even feel hollow or fake. Probably you have also observed a person, who due to conditioning, upbringing, and social pressure was acting in an utterly artificial way. It may have seemed quite clear to you, as a neutral spectator, that this type of behavior was not natural. We can notice this in others at times. The problem is, that when it comes to ourselves, we only know ourselves that particular way, and we are quite sure that's how and who we are. But, we are also a product of conditioning, and therefore, it's our job to find out what's genuine and authentic within ourselves.

Observing the roles we play

After acknowledging that we are playing roles and incorporating different personalities, we may want to take a look at them, as we put them on and take them off. We can observe ourselves, to see what makes us change or what stops us from staying the way we were just a moment ago. Be curious about yourself. There is nothing right or wrong about these roles as such, but they might just not serve you anymore. Only you can ever know that, or change it.

Authenticity is also to embrace who and what we were before we started adding things on. It's actually simpler to develop a personality than to be what we are. The problem is that, as long as we haven't realized what's already there, we'll always opt for the created personality, which seems much better and is so familiar. We may even think, we can’t afford to be who we are.

Should you believe this, you have a dilemma as a leader, because your created personality is not going to do the job, regarding integrity, motivation, and inspiration. The aim of this book is to show you why, and present you an option.

To develop as a human being is not only about having a sharp intellect. A wise heart seems to be a wonderful ingredient too. What would you prefer, a business partner with a wise heart or one with a sharp mind? I must admit, if it excluded one of them, the choice would be hard. However, we can develop both. I experienced most leaders as having excellent minds, and some of them also having wise hearts. The point is, if you already have one of them, why don't you take the step from good to excellent, or from excellent to awe-inspiring?

I found many uncertainties about the heart on my personal path. When I was 34 years old, my father passed away very unexpectedly. He seemed to be very fit and never mentioned his heart problems. He had an arrhythmia; his heart had a very irregular beat. One Easter Sunday he did not wake up again. As I heard this, it hit me that maybe my irregular heartbeat was the same. It took two more years before I checked it, and it turned out there was a problem. I lived with a medical doctor at the time, and she asked me to come to the clinic after working hours. The clinic was run by a famous cardiologist. My girlfriend did the ECGon me, and it didn't look good at all. She said, "As a doctor I would advise you to have a pace maker right away. And I assure you, if you came in tomorrow, the head doctor would put you on the emergency list."

I had noticed that if I took a nap on a Sunday afternoon, I would usually wake up with very hard and strange heart beats. It never occurred to me, that this could be a medical problem until my father passed away.

Strangely, I was not worried at all, even though I learned that my ECG suggested a pacemaker. I was convinced that this was not as much a physical, as it was an energetic disturbance within. I don't consider myself to be esoteric, nor am I against modern medicine. It was just a hunch that I had from deep within. So I started looking for alternative approaches. I ended up in many interesting and inspiring talks, treatments, and workshops. Some were homeopaths, shamans, traditional healers, spiritual masters in, or from countries like China, Australia, South Africa, Tibet, India, the U.S.A, Korea, Nepal, Malaysia, Singapore, Guatemala, Germany, and Sweden. I would spend a part of my annual vacation over the course of ten years, pursuing my mission to heal my heart. To be on the safe side, I would check in with my doctor at times. Although succeeding, I need to point out that this was a risk I was willing to take. I would never recommend you to do it. And what I'm telling you now, is not about healing the physical heart, but it is about the experiences I had with the spiritual part of the heart.