Poise: A Warrior's Guide Book Description: Poise: A Warrior's Guide charts a path toward sustained poise, a vibrant, fully alive state of consciousness that allows us to get the most from every moment of life. Poise is a sublime state, sublime because life is at its best when we are self-possessed, self-controlled, assured, in a state of equanimity. Fully poised, we are awake, composed and balanced, free from ego, affectation, fear and embarrassment. Poise is our goal because only in poise do we have access to our full powers. The book highlights how poise brings both pleasure and practical advantage. Poised, we are fully present in our environment, glad to be alive. Poised, we see that this moment is all we need to be happy. Balanced and composed, we are able to draw all that is pleasurable from any situation. Poised, our gratitude is complete, and our hearts are light, no matter what is happening. Poised, we enjoy the pleasure of being in love -- with other people and with our mother earth. Poised, we live in possibility and delight. Poise is the ultimate cool, attractive and sane. Poise brings practical advantages to every situation because poised, we are fully ready to create the best outcomes for others and ourselves. We are able to draw on our considerable personal resources -- physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual -- to capture the full potential of the moment. Poised, we can solve problems better than we can in any other state of consciousness. We hear at our most intuitive level, see with our greatest clarity and use all our senses at their optimal level, so that we can acquiesce to what wants to emerge. The book examines the great costs to us when we lose our poise. Our poise blown, we make mistakes. Our judgment is distorted and we make bad decisions. Without poise, our enjoyment of life is diminished. Worse, our potential evaporates temporarily or even permanently. Failing to sustain our poise, we lose access to our love. Poise reveals what keeps us trapped in a limited life, circling in an eddy, going nowhere. When we lose our poise, a universal pattern of thinking and behavior unfolds. These patterns are deep and difficult to discern, but the reader will learn to see them in the moment and be able to divert them from their usual path. Once we understand this pattern, we can begin to deconstruct our predictable failed responses to our unresolved issues. Rich with examples, the book lays out a clear path toward sustained poise. The reader will learn about letting go of the bad explanations that cause us to lose our poise and learn how to develop good explanations that set us free to flow into every life opportunity. Once we learn how to sustain our poise, our relationships with other people and with our planet will be transformed. This book refers to poised men and women as "warriors" or "warrior travelers," people who pursue breakthroughs in personal awareness. Warrior travelers are impeccable men and women who give their best at all times. In a deeper sense of impeccability, warriors are keenly aware of the short time we have on earth, thus they bring a vibrant appreciation and zest to every moment. Knowing they have no time to waste, warriors come alive now, joyful, unencumbered, humble and alert. By traversing a path of love and avoiding the worn ruts of ordinary human behavior, warrior travelers seek power, a mobilization of personal energy that allows them to witness the full wonder of the world. Because they strive to become the epitome of poise, nothing could be more fortunate than being a poised warrior.
About the Author: Gary Stokes is a coach to leaders of transformational change and President of Mountain Consulting. He has designed and conducted research to test innovative strategies for reducing poverty in partnership with national foundations, federal and state government, and local communities. As founder and CEO of Move the Mountain Leadership Center, he trained hundreds of leaders, among them a Presidential appointee and other top executives in government, education and business. He has written and spoken extensively about the profound personal and organizational challenges facing individual leaders of large-scale change. His book, Poise: A Warrior's Guide, charts the path toward a fully-realized life, a vibrant integration of presence, connectedness, gratitude, creativity, and light-heartedness. Mr. Stokes lives with his wife and collaborator, Mary Morris, in Prescott, Arizona.