I've just been assisting on the 'Binds' module of the clean change company's training. One defintiion of a bind is:
"a pattern of behaviour that you feel unable to change that repeats over time that is unhelpful"
An addiction would be a good example of a bind in real-life. Feeling compulsed by something inside to continue to do something even when we know that it's not something we really want to do. There's a feeling of helplessness.
I got a chance to work as a client and be facilitated with a bind. I picked a nice small one I thought, of never feeling like I had enough time. Within about 20 mins I had this uncomfortable experience of being trapped in such a famillar loop of :
- Seeing something interesting and important to work on.
- Starting to work on it.
- Need to concentrate on it to finish.
- Something else important comes up that needs to be dealt with
- panic, don't know what's most important
- rush to complete first job and don't feel satified
- start second job with part of attention still on first job.
- back to 3
- Keep going round and round the loop with even less attention for each job.
- Burn out - reset to 1.
In working with clean language, I was emboding the states we explored the bind and was surprised to find how much emotion and energy was invoked in the coaching session, and just how familiar and frustraing it was to me!
The metaphor I got out was going up a mountain to get and overview and then going down into the valley to do what needed to be done, but from the valley I can't see what's important, and have to rush up the mountain and down and up and .... tiring!!
Having a strong somatic response helped me to think about what I do when this occurs in everyday life and of course what I do is run my stress pattern in the body! No suprise there I guess!
So, how might conscious embodiment help? I know that when I'm running the pattern I don't have much awareness inside my body. I'm focussed on that 'important thing to be done'. As I become stressed I become single focussed and lose sight of everything else. Then I have to 'go up the mountain' again to get an overview. 'Going up the mountain' is often how going to the meditation mat feels when I'm out of practice - it's a big effort! And from the calm, peaceful place of meditation I have a clear sense of what's important, so it's like having the long view from the mountaintop.
When I'm strongly engaged in a particular task meditating or even centring can feel like wasted effort. "I'll just get on with it and finsh" is my usual mantra. And I'll start with great gusto, but then find at the end of the day that I've just spent the day in frantic activity with no much productive result.....
So, instead when I focus and make the effort to do my morning sit and then remember to do basic practice thoughout the day, I'm continually visiting the mountain top and giving my somatic system a chance to let me know if I'm working on the right thing, right now. Also, because I'm not panicking, my body is more relaxed, I've got a chance for my whole system, head, heart and hara to be involved and apply maximum creativity to the job.
I'm not saying it's easy! I'm going to get a postcard of a mountain top to remind me to go there reguarly thoughout the day\!
