The Power of Willingness
By Bruce Cryer

Recovering from a serious illness, then facing more surgeries to deal with chronic debilitating pain, taught me a lot about the importance of having willingness in life. How willing would I be to face surgeries and recovery with a strong heart, facing my fears and finding the courage to go on, recover and heal? And then once healed on physical levels, how could I adopt an even deeper level of willingness and openness to life as I entered my “second chance”?

Life presents so many opportunities to ask ourselves, “How willing am I right now?” The question could be prompted by a potential job change, by a request from a loved one about a pattern they hope you’ll change, by a realization that things in our external life won’t change until we do. The question of willingness is primary in how we navigate through so much of our life.

Willingness to me is a “power” because it can catalyze many dimensions of our growth and evolution.

To be willing to learn

To be open to ideas outside your comfort zone

To be accessible to life – responsive, available embracing

To be flexible, not rigid with life

To be resilient, not hardened

To be flowing, not frozen

Many times in my healing journey, I could feel that when my mind and heart were more flexible, my physical health improved. It’s also true that when our responses to life are more flexible, our body in turn is more flexible.

Willingness is not just about mustering up some courage to face a daunting challenge. It’s also about having the willingness to experience life with a deep sense of gratitude. Willingness to experience life in all its fullness brings a sense of wonder, which in turn feeds our willingness. When we have a feeling of childlike wonder combined with profound awe, we can find deep fulfillment.

Take a moment and drink in the feeling of AWESOME WONDER…

• What would it be like if we returned to a state of childlike innocence, and could drop the trappings of adulthood that kill our spirit, drown our energy, and dampen our wide-eyed enthusiasm?
• Childlike innocence is a bubble inside of delight, even over the smallest of things. Identify a time when you experienced this feeling, this portal into the next stage of us. Remember the memory, and call it forth when you felt a feeling of inspiration.  If no memory comes to you about yourself, remember a time when someone you admire or love exhibited this quality.
• Take a few moments to savor the feeling of freedom and peace that come from willingness to live life.
• What part of your life would most benefit from this quality you just directly infused your heart and spirit with?
• What actions could you take to bring this quality into your life?
• What relationships in your life would most benefit from this quality that could bring greater inspiration and juice to the relationship?
• What would help you remember and assimilate this experience so that it could benefit you in your work and life?

Enjoy your week!

Bruce Cryer
He is a leadership coach, consultant, author, speaker, and co-founder of What Makes Your Heart Sing. For eleven years he served as CEO of HeartMath, an innovative research‐based firm offering products and technology to boost performance, productivity and health while reducing stress.

He is co‐author of the book "From Chaos to Coherence: The Power to Change Performance" and the Harvard Business Review article “Pull the Plug on Stress”. Bruce was named a Top 50 Thought Leader in Personal Excellence. A series of health challenges convinced Bruce to transition to a variety of new roles more closely matching his passions. A former Broadway performer, he has revived his singing and dancing skills as a “keynote performer” helping audiences align work with what is most alive and inspired in their hearts.