Nobody has a suit of psychic armor exactly like yours. Because it has been part of your life since childhood, you barely know it is there. The trouble is that this strong defense was designed for a small child, not a grown up. As your body and brain grew, you did not outgrow it at all. On the contrary, your whole system simply adapted to the tiny child's defenses.
In a myriad of subtle and not so subtle ways, your psychic suit of armor now distorts your posture. Once locked into a defensive stance, you are also in a stance of resignation. Your body now relays this constant defensive resignation to your brain. "You are not safe." "You need to control." "You need to avoid." "You need to become more ..." "You need to become less ... ." And out there looks increasingly responsible for your discomfort. "I am a victim." "You are to blame." "I am guilty." "It's all my fault!"
Locked into self-negating patterns of behavior, it is hard to see any other way of living. Almost impossible. Ironically, desperation is precisely the magical formula we need. "There has to be another way!" That is really all it takes to begin breaking the spell. The determination to find another way of being in the world. This is how the 7 Steps came about and this is exactly what they are designed to do, to break this spell of resignation and the need to become.
One of the reasons students do not even try leading a 7 Steps after taking BreakThrough 1 is because they lack confidence. But that rationale is backwards, because this work is not at all about perfection or achieving an end goal or becoming an expert. On the contrary, the whole purpose of the 7 Steps is for you use them to catalyze your own journey of self-inquiry. "I need to become an expert first" is the very spell that practicing the Steps has the power to break.
The 7 Steps will teach you the most when you find a study partner and regularly practice leading each other. The 7 Steps are a journey, an adventure, not a goal. This is also the purpose of our Study Groups, to support and encourage you on your journey. The more you do the work, the more you will realize the gift of being a beginner, always a beginner.
Confidence is often over-rated ... easy to come by when you are sure about something. The beauty of the 7 Steps is that, no matter how long you practice doing them, each Steps will be new. You will begin each Steps with no idea where it will lead you, what it will show you along the way or where you will end up. It is in this adventure that all the gifts lie. Do not over-estimate confidence. There is a lot to be said for simply daring. |
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