The Direction of Intention

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Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

Ideas cycle in and cycle out. I might chew on something for months, an idea might be central to my mind-noodling and then, one day, with little or no notice, it rotates out and a new concept occupies the inner locus. Thus, I feel as if I move deeper and deeper into not-knowing. I imagine myself surrounded by a rabble of idea butterflies; some lite on my head and others flutter about me so that I am looking everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Lovely chaos.

The concept of “locating” has again settled on my head. How we locate ourselves physically in space, how we locate in our lives through the roles we play, the actions we choose, the story we tell: all of these are processes of locating. It is powerful when we recognize how we tell a story as a means of locating ourselves and we simultaneously locate ourselves within the story. When I ask, “What is the story you tell yourself about yourself,” I’m really asking two questions.

Recently in a class I led an imagination experience. I asked the group to remember a challenge from their past, a challenge that is already resolved. They re-membered what they felt when they were in the middle of the challenge; they re-located themselves in the past and gathered all the information available to them. Then, they relocated in the present. What once seemed a big deal or insurmountable challenge was now easy: no big deal. So, I asked them to identify a current challenge, to locate themselves within it, gather thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. And then, they imagined a time in the future after the challenged was resolved. After they gathered thoughts, feelings, and beliefs they relocated to the present. Here’s what they realized: the current challenge was only a big deal because they made it so. Separate from the story, the necessary actions are not difficult. The challenge is in wanting to be beyond the challenge. The difficulty is in resisting the present. It’s the story of pushing and forcing and resisting and grasping that makes the tribulation.

How do you locate yourself in your life?

Filed under: Story, Truly Powerful People |