Can we trust that we have an innate wisdom, a natural intuition that knows how to sustain ourselves and make us thrive?
For most of us this trust doesn’t come easily and there are reasons why we find it hard to align ourselves with this ability. However I would like to suggest that we all have this natural, innate wisdom and that we can all align ourselves with it to create deeply fulfilling lives. On top of this, it seems the changes the world and society is going through makes it increasingly necessary and vital to enter into relationship with our natural, intuitive selves.
Perhaps the major obstacle to this is the fact that we live under the sway of a worldview inherited from the ideas of the 19th century, The Age of Reason, of left brain logical processes and mechanical thinking. This view sees control and management as the necessary in maximising self-interest. It has affected everything from how we manage our inner feelings and emotions to how we control others and the natural environment. Such analytical thinking and that era has served us well in many ways. It brought us incredible advancement: the industrial revolution, telephones, computers and aeroplanes. However the consequences of this mode of thinking alone is now also bringing us social, economic and ecological imbalance. As we move from the Industrial Age, through the Information Age and into the Conceptual Age, everything is pointing to the reality that the old ways of thinking are now sadly out of touch with the world of today.
The truth of 21st Century is complexity. Science now sees that the universe doesn’t behave predictably like a machine. Our daily lives, work and relationships are also increasingly complex which often leaves us stressed out, burnt out and overloaded with information. It’s getting harder to simply ‘control and manage.’
A number of studies and emergent fields of thinking are suggesting that we need to reclaim our intuitive, natural and holistic side. These are the qualities associated with the right side of the brain, whilst up until now the culturally dominant aspects of analysis and logic are characteristics of left-brain thinking. Whilst the left brain gathers objective data and processes details, the right brain looks at the big picture and is connected with the ‘heart.’
The human tendency that has sought to dominate nature reflects this over-reliance on left brain thinking. This has meant that up until very recently both science and religion have tended to see that which is most natural within us - our bodies, our emotions, feelings and intuitions (related to the right brain) - as something base or untrustworthy. Maybe, even as you read, your analytical mind is dismissing this very blog as a load of ‘touchy feely’ nonsense!
For most of us this trust doesn’t come easily and there are reasons why we find it hard to align ourselves with this ability. However I would like to suggest that we all have this natural, innate wisdom and that we can all align ourselves with it to create deeply fulfilling lives. On top of this, it seems the changes the world and society is going through makes it increasingly necessary and vital to enter into relationship with our natural, intuitive selves.
Perhaps the major obstacle to this is the fact that we live under the sway of a worldview inherited from the ideas of the 19th century, The Age of Reason, of left brain logical processes and mechanical thinking. This view sees control and management as the necessary in maximising self-interest. It has affected everything from how we manage our inner feelings and emotions to how we control others and the natural environment. Such analytical thinking and that era has served us well in many ways. It brought us incredible advancement: the industrial revolution, telephones, computers and aeroplanes. However the consequences of this mode of thinking alone is now also bringing us social, economic and ecological imbalance. As we move from the Industrial Age, through the Information Age and into the Conceptual Age, everything is pointing to the reality that the old ways of thinking are now sadly out of touch with the world of today.
The truth of 21st Century is complexity. Science now sees that the universe doesn’t behave predictably like a machine. Our daily lives, work and relationships are also increasingly complex which often leaves us stressed out, burnt out and overloaded with information. It’s getting harder to simply ‘control and manage.’
A number of studies and emergent fields of thinking are suggesting that we need to reclaim our intuitive, natural and holistic side. These are the qualities associated with the right side of the brain, whilst up until now the culturally dominant aspects of analysis and logic are characteristics of left-brain thinking. Whilst the left brain gathers objective data and processes details, the right brain looks at the big picture and is connected with the ‘heart.’
The human tendency that has sought to dominate nature reflects this over-reliance on left brain thinking. This has meant that up until very recently both science and religion have tended to see that which is most natural within us - our bodies, our emotions, feelings and intuitions (related to the right brain) - as something base or untrustworthy. Maybe, even as you read, your analytical mind is dismissing this very blog as a load of ‘touchy feely’ nonsense!
Left & Right Brain
Fear Vs Trust
So far we have generally failed to notice that everything from those niggling emotions, recurring problems and body symptoms to our secretly grandiose dreams have the capacity to open us up and set us on the path of a greater vision beyond self-serving rationalism. I am suggesting here that for many of us the quality of our lives is diminished because we fail to connect with that which is seemingly irrational within us. We’ve been locked in boxes, agendas and logical survival mechanisms.
It’s time to realign ourselves with nature and that doesn’t mean we have to take our clothes off and hug a tree! And it’s not only about finding sustainable ways to live on this planet of finite resources. Re-aligning with nature starts with recognising that which is natural in us. We’re all gifted in our own unique ways, but to what extent have we unleashed those gifts and allowed ourselves and others to truly benefit from them?
Living only in the paradigm of reason and control we easily succumb to fear but when we open to the natural paradigm we can start to trust ourselves and see that even our feelings and emotions are trying to tell us something. The world needs more heart. At the same time there’s no need to abandon logic and analysis. That would be disastrous and create a new form of imbalance. We deeply need the integration of reason and heart.
How long can we survive in the control paradigm alone? When we live out of a place of fear of survival concerns or the fear of really manifesting who we truly are we end up either trying to control others or being controlled by someone else’s terms and agendas.
So what happens if rather than control our emotions and feelings we actually enter into relationship with them? What happens when we become quiet and start to get curious about the feelings in our bodies and minds?
What would happen if instead of following our head agendas we actually listened to our intuitive senses? Does our heart have desires that are unfulfilled? If we could connect with the wishes of our heart where would that lead us? What kind of life might we want to create? What would happen if we put on hold the sensible, logical mind that “knows” what is and what isn’t possible and we listened to what our hearts see as possible?
What would happen if you took time out to sit down and seriously ask yourself these questions?
Maybe there’s a deeply meaningful life of unexplored potentials awaiting you!
If you (or your organisation or community) would like me to help you explore such questions or if you want to receive further blog posts by email, just get in touch.
So far we have generally failed to notice that everything from those niggling emotions, recurring problems and body symptoms to our secretly grandiose dreams have the capacity to open us up and set us on the path of a greater vision beyond self-serving rationalism. I am suggesting here that for many of us the quality of our lives is diminished because we fail to connect with that which is seemingly irrational within us. We’ve been locked in boxes, agendas and logical survival mechanisms.
It’s time to realign ourselves with nature and that doesn’t mean we have to take our clothes off and hug a tree! And it’s not only about finding sustainable ways to live on this planet of finite resources. Re-aligning with nature starts with recognising that which is natural in us. We’re all gifted in our own unique ways, but to what extent have we unleashed those gifts and allowed ourselves and others to truly benefit from them?
Living only in the paradigm of reason and control we easily succumb to fear but when we open to the natural paradigm we can start to trust ourselves and see that even our feelings and emotions are trying to tell us something. The world needs more heart. At the same time there’s no need to abandon logic and analysis. That would be disastrous and create a new form of imbalance. We deeply need the integration of reason and heart.
How long can we survive in the control paradigm alone? When we live out of a place of fear of survival concerns or the fear of really manifesting who we truly are we end up either trying to control others or being controlled by someone else’s terms and agendas.
So what happens if rather than control our emotions and feelings we actually enter into relationship with them? What happens when we become quiet and start to get curious about the feelings in our bodies and minds?
What would happen if instead of following our head agendas we actually listened to our intuitive senses? Does our heart have desires that are unfulfilled? If we could connect with the wishes of our heart where would that lead us? What kind of life might we want to create? What would happen if we put on hold the sensible, logical mind that “knows” what is and what isn’t possible and we listened to what our hearts see as possible?
What would happen if you took time out to sit down and seriously ask yourself these questions?
Maybe there’s a deeply meaningful life of unexplored potentials awaiting you!
If you (or your organisation or community) would like me to help you explore such questions or if you want to receive further blog posts by email, just get in touch.
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