During the past couple of months I have been experimenting with various small groups on the ways to create a positive vision. Part of the idea came to me because so many people fail at their New Year’s Resolutions, which are kind of a mini vision to better oneself for the coming year. If you have read my blog for any length of time, you know that the theory of human beings that I subscribe to is that human beings have two natures, one that is rooted in the earth, the material self, also known as the ego, and the other the true self, which is non-material or spiritual in nature. The ego houses what we often call are dark side, our shadow, or physical nature. The material side is not inherently evil or bad. It is concerned with survival and protection. It runs mainly on negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, hurt, envy, and jealousy. It can create all kinds of patterns of behavior that do not serve us well such as being dishonest, theft and greed, brutality, and timidity. The other nature is the true self, which is home to our higher virtues such as compassion, courage, honesty, determination, friendship, and optimism to name a few. It creates patterns that are essentially beneficial for humankind. The relationship between the ego and true self can get extremely complicated, but here I want to keep it simple for everyone.

There are another couple of ways of defining human beings that are problematic in my view. I will describe them briefly. First there is the idea that humans are essentially apes with a larger brain that at some point developed a sophisticated degree of consciousness. The other view is that we are essentially evil in need of saving. With the ape thesis, change or health, is often seen as returning to a state of equilibrium such as when the body is ill with a high fever. The goal is to cool the body back down. So if you were to be fearful or anxious, for instance, the goal is to calm or get rid of the fear so that equilibrium can be restored. If you define humans as evil in need of saving, then, like the ape with a larger brain hypothesis, you end up trying to eliminate the negative such as getting rid of dishonesty or impurity. In both cases the goal is find a place where not much negative exists.

If you have made a New Years resolution to lose weight or stop gossiping or stop smoking, then how you view yourself as human is one of the two in the above paragraph. Most of these fail because change is mostly about addition, not subtraction. In the two natures view of life, negative emotions such as fear or anger are seen as catalysts to more advanced growth, not a force that you have to do away with. They are a form of communication to your being that new growth is needed. This is because the true self is in perpetual hunger for new development, new capacities. It has unlimited potentialities that are yearning to be developed. Something new is always wanting to come out. When you have a fear, it stays until the new growth occurs. Then it leaves. The true self is constantly being thrown out equilibrium, constantly tested, so that it can grow. There is no escape, no resting on your laurels.

When I am having people create a vision for the time period ahead, the first thing I try to get them to do is to remember the positive capacities of what they have already developed. This is because the ego tends to take up so much more space in a person’s mind. The ego is trying to push the agenda by pointing out weaknesses so that the person will survive and be protected. But before you tackle ego issues, it is important to remember the capacities within you that are already bringing success. Where’s your “money”? Your success to this point is founded on positive qualities. The first thing to do is to list the top 5. You can do more, but five will suffice. Maybe you have a lot of self discipline as in you are the person that does all of the exercises that the physiotherapist prescribes. Or maybe you have a lot of creativity always seeing new ways to do things. Or maybe you connect well with everyone you meet. Whatever your abilities are list them.

After you have listed the 5 capacities, take time to go through each one and experience what it is like in your mind to do them. You can do this by remembering times when you performed them. What does it feel like to be friendly, to be courageous, to be honest, to determined? This is an extremely important step. This tells you where your success is, where the “money” is. After finishing this part of the exercise, find at least one or two others who can add to your list. (This is why it is such a good group activity).

Now that you are fully immersed in your positive, successful self, the next step is start by feeling all of your positive qualities and then allowing a vision of what your true self wants to do in the upcoming future to appear. This is not a cognitive, figuring out exercise. It is an allowing exercise. It may come as a metaphor. The last time I did this exercise with a small group, my true self wanted me to learn how to be more “surgical” in how I work with people. It saw me almost like a surgeon, very precise. Since the 5 capacities tell you how you already are successful, the envisioning exercise allows you to know where you are headed with your true self. In my case it is to develop more precision.

It is impossible to do this kind of visioning without doing the steps of finding where you are already successful. If you do it without acknowledging and feeling your positive abilities, you will wander out into an ego vision and get lost there. The true self is by nature the sum of all that you actualized plus the unlimited potential that lies ahead. But it doesn’t like to engage in wishful or vain thinking. It is systematic and sequential. It knows what the next step is for you and wants to take you there. Let it. It is building on the foundation of the past.

Once you have created the visionary step, then you can ask the vision to name some things you can do to reach it. I usually suggest that people name 3 practical things that they can do to move toward the vision.

What made you successful in the past will continue to bear fruit in your life. Do not throw out the old and start over from scratch. Build on what is already there. If you are a leader of an organization, don’t make the mistake that the oligarchs are making. Don’t believe you can throw everything out and make sudden changes. It doesn’t work. Take the time to form a relationship with everyone and find their strengths. Find out what works. Then take the next step in the evolution.

Even if you have hit the very bottom and your life is spinning out of control as in the case with addictions, this principle works. We only add one energy at a time after the positive past has been restored.

Have at it. If you would would like me to work with your group to facilitate this process, I am happy to do a zoom chat with you wherever you are in the world. dreamsforpeace@gmail.com. There are a couple of other interesting things to do when you do it as a group that enhance the process even more. Join the fun.