Lunar Reflections - Book Review

Blazing a T.R.A.I.L. to Success:
The New Art and Science of Acknowledgment
by Scott Degraffenreid & Donna Blandford.

To be acknowledged for a job well done or simply to be acknowledged for being a valuable person is at the heart of our sense of wellbeing. T.R.A.I.L. stands for the five most powerful forms of acknowledgement: Trust, Respect, Appreciation, Interest, and Listening.

Become a poet in these five languages of acknowledgement and you can communicate powerfully at work, in your family, and with your Guides and Spirits.

Even though this issue’s Reading by the Light of Moon selection is a business book written by a mathematician with a nerdy since of humor, there are powerful practical and spiritual truths in this book: Blazing a T.R.A.I.L. to Success: The New Art and Science of Acknowledgment by Scott Degraffenreid & Donna Blandford. Yet it is not a technical book either, but rather a quick and easy read. Based on principles of deep research, they have a ring of truth that goes much deeper than the usual platitudes and aphorisms you may find in business books.

This book states that heartfelt acknowledgement is at the core of community and communication. To be acknowledged for a job well done or simply to be acknowledged for being a valuable person is at the heart of our sense of wellbeing. While effective acknowledgment is the glue that holds communities together, we are not trained in acknowledgment nor how to give and receive it in a way that is heard and felt by both parties.

T.R.A.I.L. stands for the five most powerful forms of acknowledgement: Trust, Respect, Appreciation, Interest, and Listening. The author describes each of these as a language, and the goal is to become a poet in these five languages.

Trust is the most important language of acknowledgement. The following is how you can expand upon the book to reveal a deep spiritual principle:

Definition of TRUST: to believe with a willingness to be disappointed.

To trust someone when you know they can do the job does not really trust them at all. True Trust comes when you entrust someone with a job that you both know they may not be up to it, or that their solution will be very different than your solution.

Acknowledgement:

Trust becomes an acknowledgment when disappointment is a possibility. True Trust is an acknowledgment of the other person as a creative, valuable human being. True Trust will be recognized as a heart-to-heart bond and will usually cause you both to perform at a level well beyond what you are normally capable of.

Corresponding Shamanic Principle: non-attachment and no expectations.

In my shamanic training, it is held as a core principle that for energy healing or prayer to be effective, it is necessary to be unattached to the outcome or to have no expectations. The principle of True Trust explains why non-attachment is so important.

In order for your guides and spirits to help, you must acknowledge their existence and importance to you in your life. Acknowledgment only comes from True Trust – or trust with a willingness to be disappointed.

When you make a request of your guides you must, at the same time, acknowledge them by placing True Trust in them. Acknowledge that their solution may be very different than what you think you want. You must trust that they will perform a healing that is for the greatest good of all, a healing that produces the greatest spiritual healing not necessarily the greatest physical healing.

It is when you let go of attachment to the outcome and place True Trust in your Guides that they can be of the most assistance.

The other four languages of acknowledgement, Respect, Appreciation, Interest, and Listening, can also be explored at the three levels of practical, psychological, and energetic. Learning to become a poet in the languages of acknowledgment can unlock one of the most powerful sources of abundance in your life: