Imagine If...

I recently heard a quote attributed to Werner Erhard, the founder of est and its successor organization, The Forum, and was considered by many as the father of the human growth potential movement.? “When the first fish crawled onto land from the sea, elephants and eagles became possible”.

I love this quote because it points to the fact that our ability to imagine what is possible is constrained by what we already know.? That is how our brain works.? It is only when the brain can play with the impossible, that the possible has a chance to emerge.??

Consider this.? We all grew up knowing that caterpillars metamorphose into butterflies. But do you know what the most mind-boggling part of this process is? There is no cellular similarity between a caterpillar and a butterfly. In its final chrysalis form, unable to move and feed, the caterpillar secretes digestive enzymes and begins to dissolve into an organic “goop” to feed what is about to become. There is a knowing that has lain dormant in the caterpillar since its pupal stage that biologists call “imaginal cells.”. Like stem cells, these imaginal cells contained the blueprint of a flying creature.? As they wake up and reach a critical mass, these imaginal cells transform into butterfly cells. Imagine that!

Here is the point.? We humans also have a deep knowing about what is longing to happen for each of us. We were conceived with it—an imaginal knowing of what is possible when we are connected to our power and aligned with a life-long purpose. We know it intuitively as children, filled with possibilities in a world of make-believe. Just believing is enough to make it real—emotionally, somatically, and spiritually. Then we forget—filling ourselves with imaginary stories of who we need to be to belong, to be loved, and to be safe. And we start downsizing our dreams – as we give equal weight to serving our fears.

Here is a truer, generative, awe-inspiring story. We, as imaginal human cells, have in our nature the ability to dream, sense, envision, intuit, and almost taste the unprecedented possibilities that might be emerging in the near or distant future. These intuitions can be lived into now, baby step by step. We, who create life for others, have the imaginal knowing of how to create a magnificent life for ourselves, based on an individual and unique design, guided by that which is greater than all yet present in each.

How do we get started??Time for a new EPIC! Rule of the game.

EPIC! Rule #21: Detach from Outcomes; Attach to Purpose and Possibilities

We have been raised to be goal-oriented, with specific definitions of how to measure success.? The range of cultural, generational, and familial scorecards have created deep grooves that narrow our vision and lower our horizons of what the future can hold.? Do you remember agonizing over what your major should be, or what courses to take in the next semester, as if that choice would be determinative in your life?

I have lost count of the number of people who have come tome with the same question. “Can you help me? ?I am not sure what my next move should be.” ?I start by telling them that they are asking the wrong question. ?In the Decade Game, there is no wrong move. Only some clues as to how to design the next move, whatever it is, as meaningful as possible. Instead of focusing on a particular outcome, the game is about creating a field of possibilities that emerge when you are playing your heart out – connected to a purpose that is larger than yourself.?

Contemplate this—no person in history has ever had the same fingerprint as you. We now know that no one who has ever walked this planet has the same eye pigmentation as you. No one has ever had the same voice timbre as you. This means that your way of doing, your perspective and your voiced truth are unique to you.

Once you detach from some preconceived outcome as “this is the way it will work” and attach to a purpose greater than yourself - possible permutations of how to get there, emerge.?? This is why great coaches have you imagine, in detail, the impossible becoming possible. Winning the gold medal. Reconciling with an estranged loved one. Publishing that novel. When you create an epic vision, your brain thinks you did it. And immediately, new neural networks begin to form in the part of your brain that knows what awe feels like.

What is exciting, and liberating, is that you never haveto reach the vision!? The outcome was never the game. The juiciness of life comes from the opportunity to play full out in dancing with a dream.? To know that amazing possibilities might be just around the corner.? That eagles and elephants are possible.

One more thing I find myself sharing with the women I coach.?We strive so mightily to be good: good partners, daughters, mothers, employees, and friends. We do so much for so many.? In using our instinct for nurturing others, we can misuse our commitment to our own becoming.

Let me close with another EPIC! Rule of the game that I will expand on in the future.? The more committed we are to our own becoming, the more becoming we are to others.

Sending love and light,

Carolyn

P.S. ?If you are interested in creating your own Decade Game, my six week virtual Spring Decade Game Master Class starts on March 2. Enrollment is open now and we are offering a 10% discount for registrations before February 1. ?You can use discount code SAVE10 on check out.

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PPS. Since the New Year, I have been sharing my EPIC! Rules to play the game of life, your way. I have them ?posted on the website if you have missed a newsletter or would like to review them. Click below and scroll down to the Rules. (And you can always buy the book )

EPIC! Rules of the Game

If you have any questions or would like to talk to me directly, please email me at [email protected] and we will set up a time.