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Revision as of 08:07, 21 April 2006

• This exercise builds your resources and congruence.
• Start by standing where you can take 5 steps backwards.

Think of a difficult situation where you would like to have more choice, where you have the suspicion you are not using all of your resources, where you are not completely "yourself". You can also use this exercise for a situation in which you want to make sure you engage all your resources.

• Begin with the environment where you typically experience the problem, for example the home or office.

Describe your surroundings. Where are you? Who is around you? What do you notice particularly about this environment?

• Take a step back. Now you are on the behavior level.

What are you doing? Think about your actions, momements, and thoughts. How does this behavior fit into the environment?

• Take another step back. Now you are on the capability level.

Think about your skills. In this situation you are only expressing a fraction of them. What skills do you have in your life? What mental strategies do you have? What is the quality of your thinking? What communication and relational skills do you have? Think of your skills of rapport, outcome and creative thinking. What qualities do you have that serve you well? What do you do well in any context?

• Step back again. Reflect on your beliefs and values.

What is important to you? What do you find worthwhile about what you do? What empowering beliefs do you have about yourself? What empowering beliefs do you have about others? What principles do you strive to act on?

• You are not what you do or even what you believe. Take a step back again and think about your unique personality and identity.

What is your mission in life? What sort of person are you? Get a sense of yourself and what you want to accomplish in the world. Express this with a metaphor - what symbol or idea comes to mind that seems to express your identity as a person?

• Take a last step back. Think about how you are connected to all other living beings and whatever you believe is beyond your life.

Many people call this the spiritual realm. You may have religious beliefs or a personal philosophy. Take the time you need to get a sense of what this means to you. At the very least this is about how you, as a unique person, connect with others. What metahpor would best express this feeling?

• Take this sense of connectedness with you as you step forward into your identity level. Make sure you take the physiology of the last level to the identity level. Notice the difference this makes.
• Now take this enhanced sense of who you are and who you can be, with the metaphor that expresses it, and step forward to the level of your beliefs and values. Keep the physiology of the identity level as you do this.

What is important now? What do you belive now? What do you want to be important? What do you want to believe? What beliefs and values express your identity?

• Take this new sense of your beliefs and values and step forward to the skill level, keeping the previous physiology from the belifs and values level.

How are your skills transformed and intensified with this greater depth? How can you use your skills in the best possible way? Keep the physiology of the capability level and step forward to the behavior level. How can you act to express the allignment you feel?

• Finally step forward into your real present environment right now.

How is it different when you bring these levels of yourself to it? Notice how you feel about where you are with this greater depth and clarity from your values, purpose and sense of connectedness.

• Know that if you were to bring all of this to the problem situation, it would change.