Day 104: Michael Arndt

January 12, 2010 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“When you’re out of judgment, you’re in acceptance; and when you’re in acceptance, you’re back to being true to your heart.  …  And so, in that acceptance you look at things and you’re just … you’re already open to the possibilities.  The bridge is already there.”

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Michael, for agreeing to take part in the Project today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Michael Arndt: Sure.  My name is Michael Arndt.  I’m the owner and founder of Designed Thinking which assists people in overcoming anxieties and obsessions and other ways … finding ways to improve their life.

Toni: Well, thank you.  Michael, when you think of the word inspiration, who do you think you inspire and how do you go about that?

Michael: Ooh, big question right off the bat.  Well, I think that depends on who I’m working with.  And so if I’m working with a client, the very first thing is for me to make a connection with them and to find out where they’re at.  If I don’t make a connection with them and find out what’s happening with them, then I have no idea of where I’m going to be inspiring them to.

The next thing is to find out where they want to go, because life is not about what Michael wants in the world, it’s really about helping other people find what they’re looking for, and helping them bridge that gap.  Now, that’s from a client perspective.

If it’s just you and me and we’re talking me, and there’s a place where we’re conversing about something, then it could be in any format.  Just showing you possibilities, showing you maybe ways that my world can open up, and inviting you to follow that or to at least explore it.

Toni: When you work with people, your clients, or you’re dealing with personal relationships and you’re working that way as far as showing people what is possible or making those connections, helping people figure out where they want to go, what do you do during that process that helps them to explore their own potential?

Michael: Well, you know, I think the first thing is, we put up so many barriers.  I think that, you know, when you’re coming from your true self, when you’re coming from your heart, then you already have all the inspiration that you need.

Part of it is really, or a big part of it, is helping people find what’s the barriers that they’ve put up?  What have they done to protect themselves?  What have they misinterpreted that is keeping them small?  And you hear it in all the statements of “I can’t do this” or “This is how life has to be.”  People trying to do life “right” instead of listening to who they are.

I think that’s really a part of it, along with not knowing where they want to go.  It’s helping them find out who they are.  And if you don’t know who you are, then you end up making all these mutations of who you are, and you get all the consequences that go with it.

It’s hard to be inspired that way, or to really find exceptional inspiration when you’re not listening to yourself and you end up listening to all the things that you should be or have to be or whatever that is.

Toni: So listening to yourself or having someone facilitate that or teach you how to do that, is that what you believe helps people then also to explore their potential?

Michael: Yes.  That’s one way.  Again, it really depends on where somebody is at.  If somebody is ready to make a leap into something greater, then sometimes all you have to do is turn the flashlight on and go “Here; here’s a new pathway.  Here’s some options for you to see.”  That’s wonderful when that happens.

I’ve just, for the first time, pursued something that I’ve wanted to do for years, and just very recently within the last few weeks started doing some pottery classes.  You know, as we sit there — and there’s different students at different levels, and I’m a complete beginner — you watch the other person and you go “Oh, that’s great” and you just automatically are inspired.  And the reason you’re inspired, I think, is because you’re being … you’re out of judgment.

When you’re out of judgment, you’re in acceptance; and when you’re in acceptance, you’re back to being true to your heart.  In a creative format, then people are already in some form of acceptance.  And so, in that acceptance you look at things and you’re just … you’re already open to the possibilities.  The bridge is already there.

That’s part of getting inspired is getting somebody back to their creative self.  If you believe in the Bible, then we’re all created in the image of God, and God is a creator.  So, if you can help someone get to that creative place, then the inspiration already begins.

The problem is, a lot of people are so away from the creative place.  I mean, I don’t know how many people you’ve heard in your life that go “Oh, I’m not a creative person”, or “I can’t do that.”  That’s really kind of impossible, but we put up our own barriers based on our own sensitivities to block ourselves from really being there.

Toni: You said that beautifully, and it really gives a lot of insight to people who are reading this interview into tapping into their own potential, you know, maybe getting out of their own way of judgment into acceptance.  I think that’s awesome.

When you think of inspiration for you, what do you need to be inspired?

Michael: Well, for myself, I think it comes down to the same principle, which is I have to be in acceptance of myself.  I have to get out of my own way.  We all do that in some place in our life.

It’s hard not to be judgmental, but when I get to the place — and luckily I know a lot of techniques and I know a lot of ways of working with my own mind to not stay stuck very long — but what I’m looking to do eventually is to start asking myself some good questions.  “Where can this take me?”  So I’m stuck somewhere, and I realize that I’m stuck … “How else can I look at this?  What else does this mean?  Where else can this take me that will move me to something greater?”

Because I think the idea is we’re all trying to balance between this place of being our own individual and yet connect with the world outside.

That’s a difficult bridge sometimes to be at, where I’m looking to have my own voice to express myself and yet make it in such a way that however I express myself it stays connected to those I’m expressing to.

So when I see someone doing that, when I see somebody having a unique way of expressing themselves and they are staying connected to a group, that becomes very inspirational to me.  That becomes like “Ooh, how are they doing that?”  That’s insightful.  That motivates me.

Toni: Are there tools and resources that you tend to reach for when you’re looking for inspiration as well?

Michael: Well, I know for myself that if I don’t give myself a break, if I get too much into my head — which is easy to do — then I’m getting away from myself.  And so the tools that I tend to use if I’m not, let’s say, in a stuck state — if I’m just in my everyday state and I just want to get going, I want to get into some place — the first thing is decide “What do I want to do today?  What is it that I want to go towards?”

Hopefully that “whatever” I pick is something that is worthy enough to get me excited.  And if I don’t do that first, then I kind of tend to wander throughout the day, and I don’t really have anything to go for, so I think a purpose is very, very useful.

And then, giving myself some free time.  If I don’t shut myself down for 5 minutes every hour or 5 minutes every couple hours to go take a quick walk or do something that’s completely different so I can disconnect from my focus and kind of get back to myself, then it’s hard to keep that inspiration.  Again, unless whatever I’m going after is just so grandiose for me that I just can’t wait to get there.

Toni: So it’s really allowing yourself to take those breaks so that you can refresh and keep going.  What do you do and what do you need to explore your own potential so that you can continue the work that you do?

Michael: The thing that I think that I need most is, again, to have a clear outlay, to have a path to move towards.  Then, seeing the steps in between it to get there.

One of the big challenges when people go to, let’s say, see a motivational speaker, is that they get all worked up.  The motivational speaker turns on all the lights in the room and says “Look at what’s possible.”  And then the people walk out of there and that light stays with them for a day or two or a week, and then it starts diminishing, and then they’re back into their own darkness again.

So when you’re looking to motivate yourself, or when I’m looking to motivate myself, it’s looking to keep a place so that I can generate myself.  I think, again, if I’m true to myself, I’m always going to generate that inner light.

If I’m true to myself and I know where I want to go and I can stay connected to the world outside, then I always  have the potential to start generating my own internal source of motivation and inspiration, because I’m looking to create possibilities.  That’s really it.

The tool is to get out of the mindset of not what can’t work or what’s stopping me, it’s getting into bridging over to possibilities.  As long as I can do that, then I’m on the right path.

Toni: You provide that assistance and facilitate that success in others, and yet in exploring your own potential, you do the same for yourself.  Do you ever find yourself needing to reach out and find someone like you to help you get out of that path, to help you to visualize the steps?

Michael: You know, one of the things is I’d like to tell you that no, I’m just so wonderful that I’ve got that down pat.  I can keep myself out of a stuck state.  But one of the things is I’m only me, and I see the world from Michael’s perspective.  And I think it’s important that at least once or twice a year that I go to a training or that I go to something that is going to be larger than me and that’s going to give me some different perspectives on life; and it may have something to do with my profession, maybe something completely different.  Luckily, you know, over the years I’ve kind of trained myself to associate, regardless of the training that I do, I kind of take it and tap it into everything else.

If I’m not doing the trainings, I’m always learning.  I’ll listen to something like this recording.  I’ll do a webinar at least once a month.  I’ll read a book.  I’m always looking to get something else, a different perspective.  I may read a whole chapter, and there may be just one idea out of the whole chapter, and the rest of it I might just go is garbage.  But if I get that one idea, than that’s a blessing.

Toni: The different perspectives seems to really be a common thread that I’m hearing through this interview.  It’s providing what you do with others, which is providing them a different perspective so that they can get out of that judgment and into the acceptance and help them see what’s possible.

It’s almost as though you provide them the permission to see a different perspective, and you also do that when you’re seeking inspiration — that you look for the different points of view and different perspectives.  And also you’ve just spoken about finding your own growing and moving forward in your own potential by looking for different perspectives that you can weave into your own path.

And that’s what I’m taking away from this interview with you, is that what you seek is also what you give.

Michael: It most certainly is.  And one of the interesting things that I find with a lot of people is there’s a lot of people who think that if they get into their own heart, if they become empowering, which they mistake for power, they actually think they’re being selfish.

If you don’t give to yourself, then how can you really give to other people?  You don’t nourish yourself by starving yourself.  You’re not going to be a better person by not empowering yourself.  I think that’s a very, very vital part of everybody’s life.  That’s just a starting stone.  That’s the core foundation.

Inspiration is everything that you are possible, everything that’s out there that’s possible, and my limited way of thinking doesn’t allow me to see all possibilities because they’re infinite.  I can be inspired just as much by listening to Wayne Dyer or to Anthony Robbins as I can by seeing someone homeless in the street and doing something very menial but yet is meaningful to them; and that’s a great thing.

When you see somebody get to a place where they have to let go of all the constraints, of all the “have to’s” that they’ve been taught that they think that they believe in, and life forces them to a place where they have to change.

Toni: Absolutely, absolutely.  And the way that you’ve described this is absolutely beautiful.  I can’t thank you enough, Michael, for giving these bits of valuable information and insight into not only how you inspire but what you seek for inspiration and how those two are really paralleled.  And for that we thank you; and thank you so very much for taking part in the Get Inspired! Project.

Michael: Thank you.  It was a pleasure and a privilege.

Toni: Thanks,  Michael.  Hopefully we’ll talk soon.
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For more information about Michael Arndt:  www.designedthinking.com

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