Point of Mastery is a term we use in coaching clients to move from habituated ways of being into expressing something new and more interesting.
It reminds me of the classic story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. The book begins with “it was morning and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea. A mile from shore a fishing boat churned the water, and the Breakfast Flock flashed through the air, a crowd of a thousand seagulls came to dodge and fight for bits of food. It was another busy day beginning. But way off alone, out by himself beyond boat and shore, Johnathan Livingston Seagull was practicing, learning to fly very low and very slow. He could hear the quiet as he hovered above the water, slow, slow but then he kept stalling and falling.
In Johnathan, we find the class hero. Off alone, leaving the crowd, growing himself into the best version of himself. In this book, his mother asked him, “why, Jo
n, why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock? Why can’t you leave low flying to the pelicans, the albatross? Why don’t you eat Son, you are bones and feathers.”
The difference between Jonathan and the rest of the flock was the flock was interested in eating and Jonathan was interested in mastering all of the forms of flying.
Learning, practicing, applying Spiritual principles is like that. It is our Fifth Unity Principle. We apply the Truth we know. We live it. We do not follow the crowd. We are forgiving in the midst of being challenged. We are empowered in the midst of being criticized. We are courageous in the midst of things seeming to fall apart. We are not so interested in food as we are interested in living a healthy lifestyle.
Each moment offers to us a Point of Mastery. When we can see the moment we are in right now is most precious, we can notice what is coming up before us right here and now, rather than living from the concepts in our heads. Last week we used the Affirmation “I Am Here.” This affirmation slows us down, like Jonathan learning to hover over the waters. We want to slow our mind down and hover over the moment, listening for the divine ideas to surface.
Point of Mastery is not about getting something “done,” Point of Mastery is about applying ourselves in a mindful way. Like Jesus, like Jonathan slow, slow, almost to the point of stall and listen, listen, listen for the Voice of Wisdom.
Blessings
Rev Janice
