Being a Leader
The Miracle of "Context"

Martin Cohen is a nationally recognized professional coach, business consultant, strategist and mediator who inspires and empowers individuals and businesses throughout the country in achieving unprecedented levels of success and productivity. With offices in New York City and Weston, Florida, Martin is recognized in the media, including the New York Times where he has been described by his fellow peers and clients as a "Master Consultant". Martin is well known for being uniquely passionate in a way that enables him to partner with clients so they gain access to his passion and enthusiasm in bringing pinnacle levels of effectiveness and satisfaction to their lives.

What is it that so negatively affects one individual that not only leads to all kinds of upsets, not only for that person but for all others around that person? It's as if that upset person is either intentionally creating negative energy or surely undermining any chance of producing positive results. Yet, another's perspective of the identical situation is conversely perceived and related to in a positive and perhaps opportunistic viewpoint. For the sake of simplifying this example, consider both parties are healthy and emotionally stable and the purpose of this illustration is that in fact anybody can relate to that aspect of themselves that occasionally is upset or angry and causes problems that may expand to serious breakdowns. There is a linguistic tool that evolves into one of the primary skill sets available to mankind and certainly to highly committed people in all walks of life. I refer to this principle as "creating context". This context is not only created but invisible and not necessarily "the truth", yet allows for not only immediate relief and freedom, but enormous possibilities and an experience of personal and collective power. Said another way and related to real life experiences, one difficult problem or upset virtually disappears as soon as another significantly more serious problem or breakdown appears. I'm sure you can recall when a catastrophe dwarfed almost all the everyday problems in your life or business, such as the Tsunami or 9/11 tragedies. These may be examples of unconsciously altering one's personal reality by reevaluating your perspective of life.

The miracle of context is clearly and powerfully spoken from deep within your self and consciously created as a new reality. You are literally "framing" the specific issue or problem or breakdown to a worldview and what was previously upsetting you is recontextualized allowing the upset to occur as either trivial or losing its grip on you.

Most of what we are confronted with as committed and hard-working people seems to be as either things to deal with, or a multitude of tasks and actions coming at you from every angle. All of this stuff could be classified as "content" that is hard and real, much of which is tangible and unavoidable like health and financial issues and conflicts within relationships, both personal and in business. All the above could be considered to be content that is totally consistent with living day-to-day.

In fact, the busier you are, the more content you are dealing with. Without accessing context, you are vulnerable to being beaten down by a sea of virtually impossible situations that has a huge cost on your vitality, your commitments and your future.

A recent example of utilizing "creating context" happened when a professional trainer was about to lead a staff workshop and called to say she had a terrible cold and was congested, believed she would be severely ineffective, and perhaps she should cancel the workshop. I spoke to her about the possibility that she was eliminating toxins and purifying, and that she was at a critical time in her life, completing and freeing herself from the past. I suggested that the cold and mucous was representative of all the "stuff" that she had been holding onto and to please be grateful for this cold rather than that there is something wrong or that she is sick. Almost immediately, context was present, shifting not only the way she felt but actually had her excited about getting to work. My experience was of speaking to another person. Certainly, creating context is not a substitute for being responsible, taking care of yourself or seeing a doctor. The ability to "create context" is consistent with being a leader.

Creating context wisely is inspiring, empowering and an untapped resource that contains no limitations and permits a big picture perspective. Context is distinct unto its own and has the capacity to be created as an opportunity no matter how significant the breakdown seems. This may be your time to commit to being coached and trained in exercising an innate skill that results in having the miracle of context always present and available to you and yours.