Uncovering: Part One.

Seeing how you're striving

What do you see in this image?

Take a few moments to see it. Allow your mind to take it in.

What do you actually see? 

Tip: There is something shiny bent into a shape. 

There is some space around the shape. 

Maybe you notice the shadows around the bent shape. 

So you ‘know’ it’s resting on top of something. 

You see the colour and shade of the surface. 

Has your mind called up the name for this shape yet?

Of course you have - it’s a paper clip.

Rest your gaze for a few more seconds. Notice any thoughts that come up. 

Questions, questions...

• What is a paper clip? 
• How do you know what a paper clip is? 
• How big is it? 
• Is it lying horizontally on a paper background?
• Or is it a 1-metre high wire sculpture invisibly fastened to the painted wall of some modern art installation gallery?
• How can you tell?
• What’s it for?
• When was the last time you used one?
• (And did you unbend it so you could open up the little drawer on your iPhone to remove the SIM?)

Take some more moments to look and notice the add-on stories that you attach to what you see so that your perception of what your eyes have picked up is far greater than the actual image. 

And this is just a photograph of a paper clip on a piece of card.

(Isn’t it?)

How much more do we add to our sensory input, in our daily life? Where do we go to get this additional narrative?

We have an innate drive to gain knowledge and understand the world around us. Early on, we're fueled by curiosity and a desire to explore without any biases or preconceptions. However, as we grow older, we become preoccupied with past experiences and future uncertainties. 

We lose sight of the significance of here and now, which is all there is. We bring up experiences labelled “past” to add to what is actually here, now. We imagine something we label “future” to reassure ourselves that we’re achieving our objectives and forget the value of the journey itself. 

Noticing - the first step (of four).

Sometimes, our efforts to understand the world get in the way of our ability to comprehend it and be fully alive in it. It's important to remember that we can't grasp ‘the meaning of life’ from an external perspective. Only through direct experience can we truly gain insight and understanding which is beyond words. 

But let’s call it “developing awareness”.

The first thing to do when developing awareness is to notice what your senses are picking up. It’s not as easy as it may sound — those stories we have in our mental library insist on being added — and yet at heart, it’s a simple activity. 

It gets easier if we have someone to walk alongside us as we build new habits.

And what is uncovered is far more than a paperclip.

In conscious coaching, there are four aspects to uncovering: noticing leading to awareness, dialogical contact and real connection, acceptance of what is leading to change and interconnected wholeness which leads to the realisation that we are not a separate self.

I’m always up for a conversation about how this can help you achieve the one thing that actually matters to you - liberation from striving and the start of true thriving.