We don’t need to regulate our breathing rate or make our heart pump blood. There are lots of unconscious programs we humans come equipped with. We assume they are the same for all living humans, and some patterns are, but numerous vary by extensive degrees. If you take up the sport of scuba diving you will need to learn to breather differently and manage fear of depth as well as limited range of visibility. If you apply for a job at a fire department, the first thing they will check for is a fear of heights. With most nay sport or job, we have a lot of adjustments to make to those patterns that ignite unconsciously. In fact, the patterns influence the choices we make for occupation and recreation.
Embracing a new potential usually pushes on a lot of these preloaded directives and produces substantial resistance. With a new job or sport, you have a clear picture of what participation would look like and that offer often comes with training. No clear picture for embracing a new potential version for you; only snippets that I call clues.
You do have an offer of training and that requires attention to details from all your senses and you’re going to have to ask questions. Not a search for the right or perfect opportunity and this is not a newly acquired human process. “If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against.” Written by the eighth-century Chinese Zen master Seng-ta’an. Attend to all observed clues, record all data and label notes with dates. It is normal to get more information weeks later so be prepared to update. We humans process in stories but we are created and create via patterns. Life is a repetition of redundant patterns along with all the tasks we learn and perform in response.
We hold our stories sacred (as the witness) but they are not always correct or reliable. They are a product of patterns and experience, and if wise secured with answers from questions. You rely on your senses to inform you about an experience and will do the exact same operation with clues. However, clues are not supported by past patterns and that is why detailed attention plus a lot of those wise questions are required.
I had a client, a married man, that was a high school teacher, an over-achiever and a perfectionist. His marriage lasted only 7 years and he blamed that on his job at the short-staffed school. He went to work for a computer manufacturer writing manuals and soon married again. This time around he had a daughter and was very attentive to family for a few years. He began getting promotions that led him to becoming a department head. When his daughter left for college, his wife left and he had a mental breakdown. We began the process of developing a new version. He was very frustrated with the clue process because most hints pointed toward working again with children. I needed to shake-up our routine and scheduled his next session with me at a coffee shop in a mall. At the moment I came into contact with him a woman in tears dropped a bundle of papers next to us. We helped gather her papers and invited her for coffee. She and her husband owned an educational toy store in the mall. Her husband had a heart attack and was now an invalid and she chose to care for him at home. She hired a person to run the store but was just given notice of their quitting. My client took the job as sales person. The owner continued to do all the paperwork and ordering from home and the store was only open five days a week. He was great with kids and customers making the store a success. Two years later he married again and wisely stayed with his low demand job. Maybe not a logical experience but he utilized his skills, education and desire to become a truth that works.
Chriss
