The clients I see invariably face a conundrum of some description, that they’ve been grinding their gears over for some time.
Whether it’s an emotional issue, a feeling of stuckness, a physical manifestation, overwhelm, or a creeping feeling that All Is Not Well, chances are, by the time we meet, they’ve become something of an expert in it, a bit like Mastermind.
👤 “And your chosen subject is…?”
💺 “How sh*t everything is.”
They’ve been trying to sort it out for themselves (or with traditional interventions, rooted in misunderstanding), nothing’s really worked and they think they may as well give me a go.
(If all else fails, at least it looks as if I have a bit of a sense of humour and might crack a joke or two.)
🤷🏻♂️
This means, that for as long as I can remember, during appointments, I’ve been inviting people to “put your thinking up on the shelf for a while” so that they can remove the primary obstacle to clarity, understanding, wisdom and insight.
(I usually have to follow that invitation up with a reassurance that “It’s ok, you can have it back when we’re done,” because OH MY WORD are we wedded to our thinking?!?! 😱)
My ‘Thought System’ box
Anyway, a few years ago, I had the insight to create a visual representation of this, so that I had a prop to use during sessions.
If you’ve been paying any attention whatsoever, you’ll have seen it before:
That perfectly formed cube was harder to make than you’d imagine. But I’m proud to say I managed it all by myself, without having to call in air support (i.e. Mrs Croft or indeed Croftus Minimus).
😊
It’s a visual representation of what I refer to, variedly, as:
- ‘the mind’
- ‘the computer, analytical, or algorithmic mind’
- ‘the intellect’
- ‘ego’
- ‘the left brain’
- ‘our conditioning’
- ‘personal thinking’
- ‘pea-brain’
- ‘the chatterbox’
- ‘the uninvited guest’
…and so on, and so on. You get the picture.
Basically, it’s what gets in the way.
That home-made cube forms the basis of this deeply provocative Key Message from my 6 week RECONNECT course, that I wouldn’t dream of sharing with the uninitiated, lest they lamp me one 🥊💥
😲
(That’s one to reflect on. Can you see how the word “all’ is in capitals, and underlined? 😉)
Getting some distance
And then, the other day, this took a twist.
I was working with someone who innocently kept getting seduced by the mind’s proclivity for analysis (i.e. a human) and I was inviting them to “get some distance” from it, so that they might realise something new about the way they were seeing things.
Waving my Thought System 📦 around in the air—while trying to keep it on-screen—I suddenly spied in the background a bit of clear space on the coffee table at the back of my office.
Inspiration struck!
I jumped up, ran over, put the Thought System in the clear space, walked back to my chair and simply said,
“There.”
😂
(Doesn’t take much to keep me amused.)
To be fair, simple visual metaphor though it was, it did the trick.
We both sat there quietly, suddenly able to perceive something more expansive; something with a bit more potential than that little story-box.
I leave it there a lot of the time, during conversations these days, for two reasons:
- It’s further away, so it’s not bothering us so much
- If (when) we notice ourselves unhelpfully slipping into analysis mode again, I have to haul ass and go fetch.
I feel like this is a bit more in keeping with the natural order of things; you know, how we’re actually set up to function:
Effortless flow vs. energy-expending rumination.
So if you’re watching a video of mine, or we’re having a conversation over Zoom* and you spot it all the way over there… now you know why.
💟
Giles
*Know that it's time for significant life change? Looking to get a different relationship with your own Thought System 📦? Ready to sort the problem out once and for all, with 1:1 support?
I help you get the change you need, in a way that's just right for you.
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Giles P Croft
What's in it, then?