Day 14 of 30 Days to Creating a Change in Direction

My experience has shown me that whatever I fuss with increases. The more I struggle with what I’m doing, the more off course I get. Giving up doesn’t do well either, that’s like having a ship without a rudder. Being in the flow and in a state of active direction is ideal and yet for many of us, that is a very difficult balance to achieve and maintain.

It’s as if we’re caught in a Catch 22. If we work hard, we create more hard work. We want to work less, so we work harder so that we can work less - later. Likewise with the issue of Iraq, we send a clear message that we want to get out, so the Status Quo says, “to get out, we have to fight harder” and somehow, it gets away with that.

Does anyone else smell the stench of a Sacred Cow?

It seems as if we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place unless we take our cue from nature and realize that it’s the rules that are skewed, not us. You don’t see endless escalation in nature, you see cycles of growth and decline, give and take, gathering and letting go. Therefore, my suggestion on how to navigate this one has two steps. The first is to release our deeply held cultural contract that:

“Life is hard; struggling and sacrifice is the way to get things done.”

 Play the game .

This one needs to go down badly, yet she’s tricky because she’s ingrained in our belief systems, maybe even our DNA. Our habits and attitudes about work are so deeply entrenched that releasing the contract may not be enough to achieve a noticeable difference. Yet if we apply a lot of effort, we’re right back in the cycle of working harder. Perhaps the second step involves surrendering the need to work hard, struggle and fight.

If you would like to give this Cow an extra push, play The Hundredth Monkey game and see what happens.

Rheanni Lightwater ©  2006

This entry was posted on Friday, November 17th, 2006 at 9:34 am and is filed under Visionary Ideas, Tipping Points, Sacred Cow Tipping.