The Human Conundrum in 8 Points

Hello, this is Brett Hill and I wanted to present this excerpt from a presentation I did earlier called The Importance of Somatics and Coach-Centered Mindfulness.

In that presentation s a segment on the human conundrum in 8 points. I hope you enjoy this.

This is a somewhat ambitious slide, the human conundrum in 8 points. So it starts off the counterpoint, or not the counterpoint but rather the extension of the mindfulness scenario [talked about just previously] is that if we're not being mindful, what are we being?

And the answer to that is "on automatic."

Now, I want to be clear. There's nothing wrong not being mindful in the moment. It's not a wrong thing, it's just that it's automatic, which means you're doing what is easiest for the brain to do. " I want to turn left here." "I'm going to go here". "I'm going to order this". "I'm going to talk to this person." "I'm going to say this thing."

You're sequencing things, but you're not necessarily being conscious about what am I going to say? Is this the right thing for me to do? How am I feeling right now? Am I missing the fact that there's a beautiful sunset happening? And while I'm thinking about my taxes - and again, there's nothing wrong with those things, but the problem is you can spend your whole life in that mode.

This is called the default mode network in the lingo of mindfulness. And it's just like what we do automatically all by ourselves without some kind of intervention to kind of wake you up to another level. How do I actually feel right now versus what am I going to do next? So it's not our fault. It's not the fault that human beings are like this. This is because the brain is built to predict events and simplify the experience.

I mean, if you had to figure out how to tie your shoes every day, it would be kind of hard. So the brain, like, memorizes this becomes muscle memory, boom, you're done. Well, that's and that mechanic is really, really super helpful for us. And the brain does is because in that way we are our attention is free to look out for really important things. Now, over millions and millions of years, what is that really important thing that we have to have to free up attention for? Well, it was to look out for danger. It's like, am I at risk here? Is there a threat in the room? We are so wired for it. Looking out for any kind of danger, the unexpected that the nervous system filters out.

You could be working on an extremely complicated project that's taking you days to get to, and if you see a snake on the floor, that's where all your attention is going to go and you can't help it. You're just going to go, whoa, it's going to shock you. Your nervous system is going to snap to the fact that something unexpected and potentially dangerous is in the room. That's a good thing. That's why we survived. Right but that can actually work against us because the system organizes in a way to take that which is familiar and reduce our attention on it.

Now, talk a little bit about that in a moment. In addition to that, we have a very complex world. Our world is unnaturally complicated, ridiculously unnaturally complicated. I mean, you know, look at what we're doing right here with this Zoom meeting. It's insanely complicated under the hood. And to manage it all takes time and energy. And that's just one tiny little aspect of our world. There's so much complication. In fact, most of the change in humanity, if you like, is millions of years of evolution. And then suddenly and you map it across change like a little bit of change, a little bit of change, a little bit of change over millions of years. That boom, it's like goes straight up. Almost all the change in our world has happened in the last 100 years.

A significant change, you know, technology. Space technology, the internet. All this has introduced massive changes in engines, machines, and vehicles, traveling on jets around the world. All of these things have affected us in ways we don't really understand yet because we don't adapt that fast.

It took millions of years for us to develop the brains we have, and they as quickly to the environment that we're in. And that leads to stress.

And so we're in trying to figure out who am I in this complex world, it's too complicated, it's too stressful. And your nervous system has a response to that.

How do we manage that? How do we deal with that first thing? Mindfulness is a way to get in touch with how am I actually feeling about the fact that I'm too stressed. Instead of going to work again today, I become aware that I really take a day off because otherwise I'm going to burn out and I'm going to have collapse.

It's much more serious than the impact of me not taking a day off. Those, then you're able to make better decisions for yourself. And those decisions are going to lead to you being healthier and happier in the long run.

This involves helping people learn to get in touch with what is going on for them in their bodies. What is happening? What are my body senses telling me? How am I feeling? And this translates directly to coaching.

How am I feeling about this conversation with my client? What's going on in my senses about the client? In the end, it's not what you have. Drive, drive, drive to get to some success, some achievement, but who you are. Who am I in relationship to this complexity? Who am I in relationship to this stress? Who am in relationship to wholeness and health and beauty and peace and justice?

Those are the questions that help us align as humans. And then we can relate to each other coming from a much more authentic, grounded, engaged place that's real. As opposed to something that society values. Is it really connected to a bigger, more holistic paradigm that's useful for people?

Like having a lot of money. There's nothing wrong with having a lot of money. But is that worth your well-being. Is it worth creating a company that doesn't have the well-being of those involved face forward? Traditionally, that's what we do.

And lots and lots of companies are built that way, and it's beginning to shift. Being, then doing is the new focus - focusing on who you are, and then from that place emerges, what to do. And that has a big, big impact on the focus of coaching.

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I hope you enjoyed that. And if you'd like to hear the rest of the presentation, which includes a demonstration with a client where I use somatic techniques to get to something very deeply true for her within just a couple of minutes - click here: https://themindfulcoachmethod.com/the-importance-of-mindfulness-and-somatic-coaching-skills/

This is all part of the mindful coach method, a training design for coaches and helping professionals to be more mindful and present in their sessions with clients so they can use powerful mindfulness-based somatic techniques in their work and be the coaches they are called to be.