Myths and symbols

Have you taped in to the power of your personnel mythology to transform your life? Does this question make me sound like a new age fruit cake? What the hell is personal mythology any way? Why is Quinn asking so many questions today? Why would I want to use personnel mythology in my life any way?

Personal mythology is simply the stories we tell our selves and the symbols that are important to us in our daily lives. We crate myths of why we are success full and why we fail. These myths are built of the excuses and the limiting factors that a lot of times hold us back as well as the fictions that help us succeed. The mythology also holds for us the symbols that represent success and achievement in our minds.

We can use our mythology in a number of ways first of all we need to debunk it, then we need to reinforce it and then we need to look for it.

Debunk and reinforce

These two go hand in hand as we find parts of our mythology that detract from our lives we must debunk them and throw them out. On the other hand we also need to reinforce the stories and ideas that help us to succeed. Let's look at some examples.

You are part of a team working hard on a difficult task and manage to not only get it completed but do it well. In this situation we might tell ourselves that the success was not real yours it was the teams we could have not done it alone.

This sort of myth devalues our selves, erodes confidence and downplays our contribution to the goal. We need to be thankful for the help others have given us but we need to recognize that we were a vital part of the team as well. This is debunking, removing the poisons parts of stories that hold us back.

Another example: You are working on a project and become stuck so you desired to take a shower and relax for a bit. While you are in the shower an idea comes to you that unlock the problem you were facing.

The mythology here is that the shower provides inspiration, while this may or may not be true we can reinforce this by repeating the situation when we get stuck. This creates an environment where we are prepared by our mythology to be receptive to inspiration.

These are just a few examples of how we can edit out our negative misconceptions and use the power of stories to create a fertile environment for success.

Symbols

Even more powerful then the stories we tell ourselves is the symbol set we create in our lives. Symbols as we are talking about them here are objects, ideas, words, numbers, colors that we attach personnel meaning to. The power of symbols is that they cut to the very core of our being like a bolt of lightning. Part of the problem is when we are asked or ask ourselves what is my symbol set we often don't know.

For me a potent symbol is my engagement ring, I know when I am down I can look at it and it will remind me I am loved, but it does more. When I am in a hard place and not wanting it to go on it tells me that what I am doing is not just for me. And these are just a few of the associations I have with this simple band of mettle and bit of carbon.

This is the power of symbols they can pick us up when we are down. They can guide our cores, effecting our decision making process by guiding us toward positive symbols and away from negative ones. The problem with this is that it is a largely subconscious process; by taking time to understand our mythology and the symbols that it creates we can have a more conscious understanding for decision making process. We can also create spaces with our positive symbols to reminded us of our purpose and reenergize us when life gets rough.

So take the time to listen to the stories you tell yourself, edit them and use them. Taking control of this mythology will give you more control over your actions today and your mindset for the rest of your life. Understanding the symbols that guide you, energize you and drain the energy from you will likewise give you more control over that energy and help you to map the course of your life.

So do you still think I am talking like a new age fruit cake? Figured out why I am asking so many questions? (If you have let me know in the comments I have been trying to understand my propensity for leading with a question for a few weeks now). All right folks have a great day and if you find this interesting or helpful share it with your friends.

Looking for inspiration

When it comes to personal growth and development there is nothing in the world from which we can not draw inspiration. Whether we take positive or negative lessons from an experience a piece of art or a video game they all teach us whether we are looking to be taught or not. When we want inspiration we start to search for it high and low when instead of searching all we need to do is open ourselves up to the inspiration that is already there.

The true power of inspiration is that an idea hits our brain and sets off a change reaction of ideas that lead to new and original thought. When we are inspired our world looks different and we feel as if any problem we encounter is nothing more than a speed bump. So what are some ways we can open ourselves up to state of inspiration?

Ask for it: Watch your cat for a few minutes and ask "what can I learn from him?" Watch a movie and ask yourself "what is it trying to tell me?" Everything has some value and message it is trying to communicate to you. When you listen for that message a new idea is put in to your head and can start the chain reaction of inspiration. Interacting actively with our sense and reasoning about the data we take in on a conscious level is a great way to be inspired.

Turn your head: We all have a way we see the world, a series of filters that we use to interpret the data that we take in. If we become aware of these filters and how they influence our perception we can begin to shift them to see things in a different light. Think of the filter like a grid and we line up items we see with the grid, these grids may have names like technology or religion or Saturday morning cartoons. Each of these grids calls our mind to different details about things. One way to look at something from a different angle is with this question "how does this relate to that?"

Save it: When you see something that starts an idea smoldering in your head play with it, get it together with other embers of ideas in your mind, add a bit of kindling and let the fire burn. Even if you do not have time to play with an idea right then take a moment and jot yourself a note, text it yourself or find some other way to save it for latter. I have mentioned in the past my love for role playing games now I have another confection to make, when it comes to game notes and maps I have drawn I am a hoarder. I love being able to go back through those old ideas and search for new inspiration. My partner keeps all of his old art so he can go back and look for inspiration in it.

Inspiration is there in the world around us and every little thing can inspire us to grow, to change, or create a work of beauty. Every bit of data we take in has the potential to chang us and to change how we see the world if we just find the inspiration in it. Where do you go to find inspiration in your life? As always I love to hear what you are thinking so leave me some coments, have a great day and don't forget to fallow the feed.

Why we want to change

What is it that motivates us to want to be different from what we are today? This is a question that has been running around in my head like a five year old at a birthday party for several days now. Despite all this thinking I still don't have a good answer. I know that in my life I have needed to change for a while and at the urging of others have tried to change and grow but until recently it was not motivated from inside and so it never stuck.

With out the strong personnel desire to become a better person our efforts will not succeed. That is to say if we do not want to change we won't. So how do we create the desire to change? Is it watching something or someone slip through our fingers as a result of our stubbornness? Is it the inability to help those around us who need it? Is it realizing that we could be so much more if we just tried harder?

I think all of these elements play a role and there are probably as many reasons as there are people. However at the same time it all boils down to that moment of realization that we are not perfect; that our identity and capabilities are always a work in progress. I also believe that most of us who struggle for personnel growth realize at some point that we change every day even if we are not trying to. With that realization comes the understanding that we need to control that change or become someone we do not want to be.

Personnel change is just that personnel, without wanting it for ourselves we will not change. Our friends and family telling us how good we are and all the great things we could do will not motivate us to become the person they see in us. It is one when we see our own potential and take responsibility for realizing it that we will actually have the power to change.

What are your motivations for personnel growth? Let us know in the comments and have a great day.