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What's eating you?>
The Ultimate Stocktake
24 Jan 2006
"Leaders need to go through [taking stock] every few years to replenish
their energy, creativity and commitment – and rediscover their passion for
work and for life. [They] cannot keep achieving new goals and inspiring
the people around them without understanding their own dreams."
Boyatzis, McKee and Goleman (Harvard Business Review)
The ultimate question
Some of the more violent events of the last few
years have not only sent waves of shock and horror through the world, but
have also had another effect: stimulating an impulse to take stock. The
realization that life can be cut short at any time has, for many,
catalysed a search for greater meaning and purpose in life. Of course from
time to time in our lives, all of us naturally feel the need to reflect on
our lives, but recent world events have highlighted the fact that life is
unpredictable, fragile and very precious. More people than ever are
asking, “Am I really living the life I want?”“Am I doing the work that
matters to me?””What am I here to do/be/experience?”
The common catalysts come in many forms and normally signify some kind of
imbalance in life. For some it’s a feeling of flatness, boredom, being
trapped, or compromised in their ethics. For some the wake up call follows
a traumatic change in life circumstances: the death of a loved one, birth,
divorce, loss of a job, or an epiphany of some kind. Perhaps even a
spiritual experience.
An opportunity
Such an impulse
offers a great opportunity to look at life differently and so ‘do’ life
and work differently. To make the most of this time, conscious,
disciplined effort at self-examination is required. There are all kinds of
ways to do this: taking time out, attending relevant workshops, working
with a coach or mentor, journaling, reading personal growth books, all of
which can stir the juices of self-reflection.
The problem
Self reflection is one thing, but change is another. Many approaches,
whilst offering relevant and thought provoking questions and solutions,
fail to tap into the wisdom accessible through the integration of
mind-body awareness. Instead they focus on a more mind-centred approach
The trouble is, you can’t ‘think’ your way into a sense of purpose and
engagement. It has to be experienced. Setting goals and strategies from an
intellectual space is unlikely to evoke a lasting sense of energy and
enthusiasm. In fact, sometimes what you think is important, may indeed not
be. In which case doggedly pursuing goals related to that would ultimately
lead to frustration and exhaustion.
The solution
Our
understanding and experience after working with hundreds of people is that
for any method of self-exploration to be truly effective there needs to be
self awareness: namely the ability to observe yourself and recognize your
feelings and the way you ‘do’ life. And one of the most effective portals
for observation is the body. It can serve as a pathway to gain deeper
insight into all other aspects of our being: emotional, mental and
spiritual. From there the integration can begin.
Life
Blueprint
We have developed a tool which powerfully accesses the
wisdom of the body and integrates mind body and spirit to bring clarity
and focus. It is called a Senssoma Blueprint and allows that wisdom to be
experienced and not merely thought. The process involves guiding clients
into a heightened awareness of the senses and felt responses through the
body, after which they apply this awareness to words and phrases
describing different aspects of their life. They get to ‘wear’ these
themes, and create a pattern based on these responses. Ultimately a
complete blueprint is formed which represents their deepest qualities and
the way they engage with others and the world. There is an unflinching
honesty that comes from the body that, once accessed, brings great clarity
for even the biggest of life decisions. The people we have worked with
come from all walks of life - some being top executives who have very
little time to make mistakes.
The real story
Says Charles
Handy, author of The Elephant and the Flea – looking backwards to the
future: “The organization of one’s time does require the setting of
priorities, the making of choices and learning to say no. That in turn
demands that you define what success means, something that you can’t do
without surfacing your true values and beliefs about life and the purpose
of life.”
My experience in is that many people are not
consciously in touch with, or aligned with some of their deeper values.
The result can be hesitation, doubt, and confusion in the decision making
process, which clearly has ramifications both in the workplace and
personal life.
Healthy perspective
One example of this is
Julie, a corporate consultant. As we worked together she was amazed to
discover a direct correlation between the times of sickness in her life
and periods where she was unconsciously acting against her deepest values.
Fuelled not only with this realisation, but also a whole new way of
aligning herself with her values, she was able to make lasting changes in
her life, and in so doing, improve her health.
When people
understand what drives them, what their calling is, how this relates to
their work they have a much better sense of how to integrate their life
with their work. Putting energy and focus on the things you truly love can
lead to new possibilities opening up. Not only that but serendipity - the
instance of supportive, fortuitous events – seems to appear more and more
often.
The importance of balance
We have found that no
matter how busy people might be, if they take time to balance their life,
their passions in all areas of their life – from health to family, to
career, their work performance improves.
Tony, a corporate trainer,
is an example of this. As we worked together he came to realise how
burdened he had allowed himself to be by his need to please others and ‘do
the right thing.’ His relationships with colleagues were frequently
strained and he could actually feel the resultant stiffness in his
shoulders and back. As we worked together, in a state of heightened
awareness and clarity, he felt his body turning. When asked what he was
turning towards he said it was the sea. He realised he’d been neglecting
his body of late, forfeiting his bi-weekly swims because of his workload.
When invited to engage with his experience of swimming in the sea, his
whole body became more flexible, and it was as if the load had physically
been lifted. He actually stood taller. Naturally he felt inspired to
reintegrate his swims into his weekly schedule, and as a result noticed
his work performance substantially improved – not to mention his
relationship with his co-workers.
By restoring balance to life and
work the seemingly paradoxical result is that people can actually bring
more of themselves to work and life - both. They are more present,
happier, more fulfilled. As a result they think more clearly and they have
an increased ability to remain calm and focused while under pressure.
Pretty handy in the workplace, and it also might help keep the family
crockery intact.
Rachel Flower
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