When I was 28 years old I traveled alone to the Banda (Spice) Islands in Indonesia. I had heard you could pick nutmeg and cloves directly from the trees and that the coral reef was unmatched. It’s where Columbus was headed when he discovered America. It was also as far from home as I could imagine going and I loved the idea of seeing the Southern Cross instead of the North Star. I was fearless then.
Being fearless is a wonderful thing. Yet so often our experience is managed by negative voices and limiting beliefs. Ideas, mostly in our heads, that tell us that we can’t do something we want to do. That we can’t have that difficult conversation. We won’t be good at leading a team, or that someone will eventually see that they made a mistake in promoting us. These voices are an absolute confidence killer.
Last year I discovered an amazing book about those negative voices, also known as saboteurs. It’s called Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine. According to the author the pressure we experience from the fast-changing, high-tech, over-scheduled lives we lead causes us to be in our “fight-or-flight” thinking most of the time. So the voices that are meant to protect us, and that should be occasional, are actually making most of the decisions. It takes enormous effort to stay in our clear and creative thinking. To gain access to clear and creative thinking, we need to slow down, meditate and challenge our thought process as we make decisions.
Please take a moment to experience this book and the website. The assessments and the resources in the PQ Gym are great. I don’t have any connection to the author. I just use the exercises myself and with my clients. It has been a game changer for me.
This summer I am focused on enjoying myself. I wish the same for you too!
Warmly,
Claire