Perspective. How many men does it take to dig a hole?

I was reminded of a profound lesson recently, whilst discussing the impact of perspective with a group of my colleagues, it is the topic of many philosophical debates, that’s for certain.

Each person has a unique individual perspective, colouring their view of the world and making the same world appear totally different to anyone else’s. 

Our perspective pre-programs us to select certain information from every situation; information that reinforces our own personal world. 

When we find ourselves in situations that are wholly contrary to our own perspective it creates some uncomfortable ‘culture shocks’, these can have a dramatic impact.

What we look for is what we see, even if what we look for isn’t even there.
This is known as a self fulfilling prophecy.
Try it yourself with this simple exercise:

Go to your sock drawer and say ‘I can’t find my favourite socks’.  Do you see them? Now go back to your sock drawer and say ‘I’m just finding my favourite socks’.  Do you see them now?

In my work and personal life I have witnessed people who are, seemingly, surrounded by love, friendship and warmth, experience such profound ‘culture shocks’ that they are lead to question everything about the situation, unable to perceive a space where this happens.  It always saddens me when this happens because I realise anew, each time I see it, that love is not the universal currency I might think it is, sometimes I demonstrate love or friendship to people and they are suspicious, questioning what they are feeling because they do not recognise it.

In my long and varied career I have worked in situations where £1 can mean the world to one person and has no value at all to another, it all depends on perspective and I try to keep myself level by recalling this lovely quote ‘To the world you may be one person but, to one person, you are the world”

Perspective informs our world view, of course, so when we decide to broaden our perspective that can feel extremely uncomfortable.  We may start to witness behaviours in ourselves that do not gel with a broader world, or we may experience perspectives that we find difficult to accept.  This is where we can learn to accept other perspectives, we don’t have to agree with them, we can choose to acknowledge them as part of life’s rich tapestry and move on.

We each have the opportunity to create the reality we experience and that is a courageous choice, it can mean freeing ourselves of all the emotional baggage and pain we carry around with us.  It can mean looking at life and seeing what is, rather than what we expect to be.

When I embarked on my own therapeutic journey I didn’t feel brave; anything but.  I felt exhausted and desperate.  My perspective of the world was: whenever I took a step forward I would be pushed 2 steps back. My perspective of me was that I was broken. In many ways I was.

When I reflect on that time in my life now I realise that while I may have been shattered on the outside, inside me a small light still burned,  I think of it as my inner pilot light, because, in the worst of dark times, it kept me going.

When I began my therapeutic journey I remember feeling very scared. What if I couldn’t get beyond this state of broken, what if I couldn’t mend, what if my experience of life was all there was?

Then I would focus on that little light inside myself and ask softly ‘and what if it’s not?’

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When we change the things we look at, the things we look at change.  I started to look at wellness rather than illness. I began to value and acknowledge the small changes that occurred for me. Slowly I started to focus on being whole and, funnily enough, rather quickly, that is what I became.

I was reminded of a childhood riddle my Father asked me once

Q. If it takes 2 men 4 hours to dig a hole, how long does it take 1 man to dig half a hole?

I remember thinking, OK, it takes 2 men 4 hours so it would take 1 man 8 hours so if the hole is half then it would take one man 4 hours – rushing off to tell my Dad, full of pride at my working out and he replied ‘You can’t dig half a hole, a hole is a hole, is a hole’.

Don’t let your perspective dig you into a hole, allow yourself to open up to to a future that contains all the things you have previously desired but decided are ‘not for you’.

The only person who can make that choice is you, once you’ve made it get in touch and discuss how I can help you in your transformation.

I look forward to working with you

Claire


Claire Cutler-Casey is a professional Kinesiology Practitioner and Touch For Health instructor as well as delivering a variety of business and well-being workshops designed to help you navigate the process of change.

If you would like to book a 1:1 Kinesiology session, please click here.

You can also join our online community here.

Kinesiology: What, Where, When & How

The purpose of my kinesiology practice is to help you get into the natural flow of life, known as the Wu Wei in traditional Chinese medicine, meaning ‘without effort’.

In the west we talk about being ‘in the zone’ or ‘in the flow’ and you may already have some experience of that; that feeling of everything going smoothly, seemingly without effort,  this is what we work towards with kinesiology; creating sustainable internal harmony that enables you to be the best version of yourself, achieving whatever you wish with ease, grace, calm and contentment and supporting you to handle the ups and downs of life, effortlessly.

I work 1-2-1 with clients, in my cosy clinic on the rural outskirts of York, in the North East of England.

I also offer Touch for Health Kinesiology Training, CPD workshops and monthly circle gathering designed to help you get the most out of yourself and the seasonal energies that are most active at the time.

Kinesiology is an interactive, non-invasive therapy, as a client you remain clothed throughout (you may choose to remove your shoes). We sit together and undertake a short, thorough consultation, to ensure all relevant information is captured, we then discuss the changes, both subtle and profound, that you are interested to address in your personal journey.

I then take you gently through the process of muscle testing, allowing you all the time you need to adjust to a space where, finally, the whole of your system can get involved in creating and accessing your own unique solution.

Together we’ll explore the binary muscle monitoring system.  This is the foundation of all kinesiology practice and you can ask all the questions you need as we go along.

Then, together, we check which aspects of you are already working towards the changes you wish to make and which aspects need some help to do that.

Kinesiology embraces a comprehensive range of techniques drawn and adapted from various disciplines, as well as plenty of its own.  Your system will indicate which technique(s) are needed.  You may also be given simple techniques as homework.  Homework reminder sheets are provided to help you.

After your session we check in to see how you’re feeling, you may feel some changes immediately and some may need time to evidence.

After your session you can carry on with your day and, when it comes time to go to bed, you may feel more tired than usual.  My advice is always to listen to the needs of your body; it is possible that your system has done some significant work that you might not be fully conscious of, so sleep, restore and allow the changes you have worked on to permeate.

Please contact me to book you own window into your unique world,

I look forward to working with you.

Claire


Claire Cutler-Casey is a professional Kinesiology Practitioner and Touch For Health instructor as well as delivering a variety of business and well-being workshops designed to help you navigate the process of change.

If you would like to book a 1:1 Kinesiology session, please click here.

You can also join our online community here.