Life road maps lead to satiety and balance
Wouldn’t it be great if there were life road maps to keep us all on the direct pathway to happiness, satiety and balance, while still allowing for individual preferences and needs? Sure it would. And luckily enough, there are many life road maps that do exactly that.
At Grounded Relating, we use the Enneagram and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to help people embark on a self-discovery journey, without trying to change who they are. We don’t box people into categories, but rather look at the big picture of patterns and generally expected reactions to inform the decision tree of moment-to-moment living. And by having multiple options and perspectives that can inform the decision tree through the study of these systems, life road maps which include a Yes-AND! perspective or form of curiosity, become more readily available to the individual. Hard to believe?
“We don’t box people into categories, but rather look at the big picture of patterns and generally expected reactions to inform the decision tree of moment-to-moment living.”
It can be hard to believe. Many people in the 1400s believed the world was flat. They also believed the earth was the center of the galaxy. Centuries later, we can all see how untrue those beliefs really were. So what if today, in present times there really were life road maps available to us already? Wouldn’t you want to know about that? Wouldn’t you want to give those life road maps a test drive or a a trial run?
Take a baby step today, and increase your optimism just a little bit by letting Jewel’s song “Doin’ Fine,” Grounded Relating’s Monday Music selection, give you a vignette into these other potential life road maps.
Posted to YouTube by #Jewel:
Who tells us no? We do! So stop telling yourself no.
Monday mornings come every week, like clockwork. The routine can be mind-chilling. Jewel’s song reminds us to keep things in perspective:
“If U look
Life lays out just like a road
It’s for us 2 grab ahold
There’s no one that can tell us no”
It’s true. There is no one to tell us no, but ourselves. Saying no to everything you want is one variety of available life road maps. Why do we do it? How can we stop? Getting into “presence” and out of “automatic” can help. It’s a daily practice, which can be as strict as a 60-minute meditative sit or as quick as a 3-minute bliss-out to a poignant piece of music. Whatever is going to work for you, in your schedule, in this NOW. The Grounded Relating Self-Awareness Toolkit offers several practical step-by-step life road maps that can jump-start or rejuvenate your daily practice. Grounded Relating offers group and private instructional sessions about the enneagram, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the Five Love Languages and The Psyche Cards.
But back to Jewel’s “Doin’ fine;” in an interesting way, Jewel coaches that feelings and emotions are not bad. As a matter of fact she states:
“When our hearts bleed it lets us know we are-alive, and that we are-doin’ fine.”
Wow. When our hearts bleed, when we have an emotional response to something and we feel our hearts bleed emotionally…according to Jewel, that is a life road maps experience telling us we are doing fine? That’s a paradigm shift, to be sure! For some people having an emotion is to be avoided at all costs because it is too much like having a bloody heart-body-mind all at once experience. And Jewel is suggesting that having an emotion, having that bloody heart-body-mind all at once experience is a good thing?
Seemingly complete skill sets can still expand
In a Yes-AND! kind of way, Jewel is making good sense. It is true that each of us is different, with complete skill sets, which inform our every decision and action. It is also true that each of our already-complete skill sets, can still be broadened, can still expand to include more, can still shift to new territory, new life road maps of experience, including bloody heart-mind-body all at once experiences.
The people who usually avoid the bloody heart-mind-body all at once experience might be benefited by Jewel’s suggested paradigm shift, but what about the people that have a 24-7 backstage pass to ALL their emotions, 365 days a year? Well, those people’s form of moderation, of shifting, of new life road maps of experience, may look more like a flat line, or a non-noticing of, or a non-reaction to all their emotional responses. Working with the enneagram or the Myers-Briggs (MBTI) can help individuals find the middle ground of both the flat line experience, AND the bloody heart-body-mind all at once experience. Both kinds of emotional experiences can help co-locate yourself in the NOW. Both have value and both require work. And knowing how to experience both gives the individual options and range as well a broader life road maps territory in which to roam and explore
Befriend emotions, or live defended from emotions?
But really? Working to befriend your emotions, either to increase your emotions or to be less automatically responsive to your emotions? Really, that’s a life road maps goal? Well could it be better, or easier perhaps, befriending emotions than living life defending from emotions? Something to ponder…Are you and your emotions on friendly terms? Do you speak frequently with your emotions? Are you frequently listening to your own emotions, and your own needs? Or do secret feeling-full battles wage inside you? If you are not sure, finding and using good life road maps like the enneagram or the Myers-Briggs (MBTI) can help lead you to peace or balance.
Use the Grounded Relating music challenge today, and every Monday, as a weekly practice to stay present to yourself. Full lyrics for “Doin Fine” as posted on azlyrics.com sung by Jewel on the album “Jewel”:
We are what everyone wants 2 be
We are young
And carefree
Life’s a breeze for people like u and me
If U look
Life lays out just like a road
It’s for us 2 grab ahold
There’s no one that can tell us no
[CHORUS] So come on, baby
Let’s just have fun
Let’s breathe stardust into our lungs
Let’s drive too fast
Let’s go too far
When our hearts bleed it lets us know we are-alive
And that we are-doin’ fine
We lay down
Look at the sky
From upside down
There’s nobody we have 2 be
Let’s live fast and see where it leads
[CHORUS] So come on, baby
Let’s just have fun
Let’s breathe stardust into our lungs
Let’s drive too fast
Let’s go too far
When our hearts bleed it lets us know we are-alive
And that we are-doin’ fine
Let’s get lost
In love like wine
Let kisses quench
This thirst of mine
Let me feel the weight of your skin
Pressing in
[CHORUS] So come on, baby
Let’s just have fun
Let’s breathe stardust into our lungs
Let’s drive too fast
Let’s go too far
When our hearts bleed it lets us know we are-alive
And that we are-doin’ fine
