I have just read a book by Clare Mann, " The Myths of life and the choices we have" which has given me a lot of food for thought.
By "MYTHS" Clare means the big assumptions in life which we accept and do not question. Here are the eight myths:
1.IDENTITY MYTH- You should be someone other than the person who you want to be.
2.SELFISHNESS - You are selfish if you put your needs before those of others.
3.GROUP MYTH -It is better to be part of a group than to be an individual.
4.COMMITMENT -You cannot change certain things in your life once you have committed to them.eg marriage and career.
5.CERTAINTY You can reach a point whereby you can be certain for all times in the rightness of your decisions.
6.MORALITY You should follow a moral code decreed by others.
7.DISHONESTY It is preferable to be discreet and embroider the truth than to be honest.
8.CHANGE. You are fixed and consistent and earlier changes negate future change.
Each of these assumptions impinge on our everyday lives and limit our choices.
The two central themes underlying these myths are FREEDOM and CHOICE and are based on existential philosophy.
In the book, Clare, looks at each myth in detail and asks relevant questions in order to test these assumptions, and there are practical exercises which one can do.
By "MYTHS" Clare means the big assumptions in life which we accept and do not question. Here are the eight myths:
1.IDENTITY MYTH- You should be someone other than the person who you want to be.
2.SELFISHNESS - You are selfish if you put your needs before those of others.
3.GROUP MYTH -It is better to be part of a group than to be an individual.
4.COMMITMENT -You cannot change certain things in your life once you have committed to them.eg marriage and career.
5.CERTAINTY You can reach a point whereby you can be certain for all times in the rightness of your decisions.
6.MORALITY You should follow a moral code decreed by others.
7.DISHONESTY It is preferable to be discreet and embroider the truth than to be honest.
8.CHANGE. You are fixed and consistent and earlier changes negate future change.
Each of these assumptions impinge on our everyday lives and limit our choices.
The two central themes underlying these myths are FREEDOM and CHOICE and are based on existential philosophy.
In the book, Clare, looks at each myth in detail and asks relevant questions in order to test these assumptions, and there are practical exercises which one can do.
It is that time of year again for me. Decision whether to run the Auckland Marathon again this year or not? For the last 3 years, every year I have trained faithfully for about four months, my body and my mind to withstand the physical and mental pain that running 42,2 km inflicts on me. After the first time, I just accepted the fact that I would do this every year without question. Now, that was before I got into coaching.
The process of life coaching encourages one to not just accept things but rather to question our habits, the reason we do things, especially things we do over and over again, and, why we may not do other things even though our intentions may be good.
I looked at what the decision to run again this year would mean for me...long hours of lonely time spent on the roads, less time to spend with my family, the little time I would spend with my family I would be physically tired. I would also have less time for coaching classes and to coach. I then looked at the reasons that I had in the past for wanting to run a marathon.
The first time, I wanted to run a marathon before the age of fifty, The next year was to better my time and the third year was just habit. I realised that my reasons for repeating it this year were no longer valid and that I should give it a miss.
A decision that I thought would be hard to make, suddenly became easy.
Have you reviewed your life lately? Are there things you do over and over again without questioning? Are there structures that you have present in your life that may have supported you in the past but no longer serve you? Are you prepared to let them go in favour of new supporting structrures?
The process of life coaching encourages one to not just accept things but rather to question our habits, the reason we do things, especially things we do over and over again, and, why we may not do other things even though our intentions may be good.
I looked at what the decision to run again this year would mean for me...long hours of lonely time spent on the roads, less time to spend with my family, the little time I would spend with my family I would be physically tired. I would also have less time for coaching classes and to coach. I then looked at the reasons that I had in the past for wanting to run a marathon.
The first time, I wanted to run a marathon before the age of fifty, The next year was to better my time and the third year was just habit. I realised that my reasons for repeating it this year were no longer valid and that I should give it a miss.
A decision that I thought would be hard to make, suddenly became easy.
Have you reviewed your life lately? Are there things you do over and over again without questioning? Are there structures that you have present in your life that may have supported you in the past but no longer serve you? Are you prepared to let them go in favour of new supporting structrures?
