The POWER of EXPLORATION
Our best self has numerous superpowers and one of them we call Explore power. It is our deep curiosity and embracing beginners mind so that we can discover uncharted things about ourselves and life. When sailors discovered far away lands, it was the discovery itself that became the reward. It broadened our understanding of the world.
Emotions that accompany this sage power are:
curiosity
fascination
openness
awe
wonder
To practice this power, think of how these emotions materialize in your body. Is there a certain way of being that your body adopts when you become fascinated?
Great time to use this power is when we want to know fully understand what is going on about you, others, and circumstances, before coming to conclusion, decision, or action.
To practice your explore power you can play the Fascinated Anthropologist game: imagine that your are an anthropologist traveling to a remote area. You would enter that world without applying your judgements from your country of origin. You wouldn’t tell Papua New Guinea natives that their bread is not as good as the one in the french bakery down the street. Instead you would look in a detached way, without blame or judgement, what are ALL the relevant factors that might be contributing to a situation and learn from them.
It is also easy to access explore sage power by imagining a person that really embodies it for you. It could be someone you know like your wide eyed nephew or a fictional character like pippi longstocking. Once you have the person in mind, imagine what they would do in the situation you are in.
In practicing explore power we will undoubtedly battle with confirmation bias, the tendency of our brain to only see what we have already seen. Each Saboteur limits exploration to provide more confirmation for its existing viewpoint and avoid discovering what might challenge that viewpoint.
If you would like to grow your explorer power, join my MENTAL FITNESS group coaching program. In the program you practice 15 minutes/day for 6 weeks, and build a strong base for your mental fitness. The results are strong and lasting and your life will never be the same.
Watch mental fitness 1 and 2 to get caught up on the idea behind saboteurs and sage powers and how to turn life obstacles into opportunities.
This is how each saboteur interferes with your power of EXPLORATION:
Judge: limits exploration to discovering more negatives
Avoider: limits exploration to avoid discovering unpleasant things to be confronted
Controller: selective exploration to avoid losing control of the narrative
Hyper-Achiever: explores within narrow constraints of the achievement targets
Hyper-Rational: exploration narrowed to the rational channel
Hyper-Vigilant: “the anxious mind doesn’t notice unexpected opportunities”
Pleaser: distortion through personal lens
Restless: might not explore deeply enough, before moving onto the next thing
Stickler: might explore the minutia not the essential
Victim: major confirmation bias - explores only what confirms the victim status]