Process-conscious vs result-conscious… fulfillment every day vs one day someday
I have a brain that is a pattern seeking machine.
A pattern is when something is repeating, form, essence, pitch, sequence, day of the week, month of the year, etc… something that connects seemingly unconnected things together.
Seeing patterns can save lives. and animals living in the wild still have the capacity, but humans and domesticated animals living in a comfortable world, have lost it… to their detriment.
Often the activity is called: connecting the dots… Even if Steve Jobs says: it is only possible to connect the dots backwards. He talks about different dots… he talks about the cause and effect type of dots, not the patterns.
Pattern recognition is a capacity that is closed, inactive, for most people.
It is very hard to become successful without it, because without pattern recognition everything shows up as a new problem, even though it may be part of a pattern, and has been solved before.
One of my students have managed to see the similarity, and the pattern between machinery and playing the guitar… He is a rare specimen.
You cannot detect patterns if you look with a narrow cone of vision, or if you can’t see past and present together, in the same glance. Also, if you hang out in your mind… You need to be present, right now, with the thing you are looking at, or no connection can be created.
Another way to be unable to see most patterns if you always look from the same vantage point:
for most people that is looking through the concern that nails their foot to the floor. Popular concerns: Avoid domination, avoid seeing their dark side, avoid being seen as weak, stupid, or useless or selfish… a concern, any concern, always nails your foot to the floor.
In my programs it is mandatory that you learn to release that concern, otherwise you won’t be able to benefit from my programs. You will be stuck, and you’ll know it.
Some concerns are easy to see, even the stuck person can see it. Others… well, not so easy. And not so easy to get release.
Example: A fat woman may have fantasies of being raped, or being a whore, and she uses her fat to make sure she won’t act out her fantasies. That’s a concern that keeps her fat. The moment she lets go of the concern, she can lose all the extra weight.
I gained a lot of weight while I was living with a dude I hated to have sex with… And eventually I got fat enough the he didn’t want me any more, and we separated. Almost instantly I lost all the weight… but then the pattern repeated. The second time I knew what to do… and I left the situation, fat… lose the weight. See the pattern?
Life is full of patterns and unless you stay open to them with fuzzy eyes, they trap you.
If you are addicted to praise, for example, you’ll find it hard to produce anything, do the right thing, unless there is a chance to be praised for producing, etc. Unless you rid yourself of your concern, you’ll always entangle with people who should praise you… until they don’t… You see the pattern.
Your life, in the macro and in the micro, is governed by patterns, most of them not on the side of living a good life.
Your life is a machine. Some cycles are short and easier to see, others are long and slow… and harder to detect. And many hide in plain view: it takes looking to find them.
Spinning plates
Most people operate in a one-track way: spin one plate at work, another plate at home, and they are surprised that their lives, in spite of all they learn, is mundane, and impoverished.
I watch students drop all their plates, spiritual practices, their diet, energizing their water, exercising, when they start a new course. As if they were going to put all their energies into that one course… but no course is that involved… but they never pick up the plates and start spinning them again.
Why? Because unless they have an EXISTENCE SYSTEM beyond the mind, because unless these plates, habits, activities exist on a paper, they disappear.
About a year ago I started two guys on an “accountability” experiment. As long as they did it, and I kept my attention on them, they were both thriving.
The moment the accountability partnership ended, both dropped all the plates, and returned to the one track pony state: vibration dropped, cone of vising narrowed, results stopped coming.
Without someone holding you accountable for doing what is not necessary, not survival based, not urgent, you won’t do it.
Let me add: I won’t do it either.
It’s not that you are not willing. It simply disappears.
Unless you consciously direct your attention at something, your attention will be hijacked by something that is moving, flashy, painful, or fun. Like social media, like some argument you didn’t win, or your other concerns.
I even see this on the dude I learned this from: he got married and he dropped several plates. Marriage, relationships are new pattern makers where you have absolutely no input, no control: and the other person is rarely interested in you being all you can be… they are interested in themselves, in what they want. And rare is the person who can see and appreciate anything or anyone other than what they want.
Instead of resenting them for it, your job is to provide yourself with what you need so you can keep growing.
Getting an accountability partner, someone who won’t chat, or use up your time, instead: someone who keeps you to your promises.
Instead of being a victim of your inability to keep all patterns in mind, use the power of “existence”… The mind is a dark dunk place, bad neighborhood.
Start adding, one by one, habits, practices, that you can keep on spinning with the help of your existence partner.
If you want, use my already available forums. I’ll set up a thread for you, and you can do your daily promising and checking there.
How does this work? You pair up. And you, daily, make a promise and then report back to your partner: I did it, i didn’t do it.
Process, not results. Reporting back: “I only did half of it,” is disheartening. Instead, report: I did it for 20 minutes. And then do whatever you do, until it is done. Reading, learning, meditating, practicing, doing everything.
Using the Pomodoro technique is smart if you have a hard time starting, if you are a procrastinator.
The Pomodoro technique is to do something for 20-25 minutes, set by a timer, and then take a 5-10 minute break. Then do the same thing again, i.e. continue, or do something else for 20-25 minutes.
Want to take me up on my offer to host your conversations? Email me…
PS: I just had a Days of Power call… and taught some good stuff (I think) on the call… I’ll post the call on the front page of my subscribers’ site, so check for it in a little bit.
One of the things I explain, better than I did it in this article, is how and why to pay attention to the process instead of the result you want.
And I am also touching on how to do the existence system well with another person, and if it doesn’t work why it wouldn’t.
I seem to talk a little fast and sloppy on the call… and overtalk… meaning talk over other people… hey, I apologize for that… Overstimulated by the energy… very strong. oooh. I am a little hyper… it will go.
