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A few years a go I learned to read an OS Map. I had never really had cause to learn how or at least had thought I didn't need to. Any activity involving exploration had one of two outcomes. Outcome 1: Find the crowd, follow the busy route and end up being frustrated at the lack of peace and tranquillity I had searched out in the walk.... or outcome 2 .... venture haphazardly into the unknown, quickly feeling off-route, out of my comfort zone and turning swiftly back feeling a little cheated at the sense of freedom I hadn't quite achieved. .... As I learned the map and how to read it, my world broadened, my adventures became longer, braver and took me to new and present moments. What started as one fold of the map, soon extended to routes over numerous folds, and soon to multiple maps... I began to truly explore.....just like clients do through their therapeutic change work.....only with them we explore mind and self.
Now I am not here to tell you all to read a OS MAP (Although certainly have a go!)....I do however believe strongly in the value of exploring your own map of the world and feeling safer in the options created by new routes....after all ...The map is not the territory.
Explore the map, set yourself free...
Our own map of the world is not dissimilar to the skill and freedom that I learned from my OS Map skills. Pre-OS Map reading I was set by boundaries of confidence, of going with the crowd, of feeling unsure about directions, choices and that viewpoint I was really searching for.
As I learned to turn the pages of the map in all directions, dance round it with my differing perspectives and take on my own understanding of the symbols and shapes that were before me, the parameters shape-shifted and gave a sense of an ever expanding opportunity of space, time and routes to travel.
For my personal map, as I explored and added to it. Through my training in NLP and IEMT - I found the experience a similar one, the techniques allowed my horizons to broaden ... What I saw, how I saw it and how I could move forward and explore the paths and choices that life has to offer me, and rather more I have to offer to life.
Many clients come to me feeling lost, lacking direction or facing a obstacle that appears too hard to climb... Just like learning to read a map, clients find a safe and exciting way to explore and shift their perspectives on things that have felt very much like the "edge of the path" for years of their life, sometime maybe even from birth!
When you shift the walls or barriers of your map, you reap with it the space to explore, recreate and grow within yourself. One client asked me, " has it really been this easy all along?" when exploring the freedom they got as they moved away from a route of anxiety to a place of calmness... We agreed that indeed the hard work was the courage to explore, to take new unfamiliar routes, and to acknowledge the paths that they had been taken prior to that point, looking for the direction without being sure which path to focus on. The truth of the matter is we often spend our time very limited by the beliefs we have about what is in front of us, what stood behind and what surrounds us. Some paths take smaller steps some take giant leaps the route to what you are looking for is just around the corner, or to the right, or maybe just to be left behind?
Watch this space for more blogs from jennie-kate @jkchangework.