“If joy is to be your path, then gratitude must be your staff.” – Dusty Staub
What if everyone you knew, everyone you passed on the street were under a trance? What if everyone you worked with was under a spell? What if that spell, that trance state was one that kept people unconscious, unaware and deeply limited in their ability to create, to respond and to be fully alive in this world? Well, my friend, I suggest to you that most everyone you meet and most everyone with whom you come into contact is “sleepwalking” through life.
What do I mean by trance state and sleepwalking through life? Simply this, only a tiny fraction of your consciousness is in the light and what you see. The vast majority of who you are, your talents, gifts, your inner genius, the “bigger you” along with what truly drives you and runs your life are out of consciousness. It is to be found in the realm of all you do not know about yourself and of your rich heritage of possibility. A trance is a state of mind where you are aware of only certain things and are convinced that what you have been instructed to see or attend to are the sum total of what is going on around you.
Most of the executives with whom I work are in different degrees of “trance” where they limit both themselves and also those around them. For example, if you have the “If I want it done right, I have to do it myself” trance state then you never fully delegate or develop those around you. If you have the “Get them before they get you” trance state then you never build powerful, effective working relationships with others. If you have the, “I must be perfect” trance state then you never enjoy what you have accomplished and come across to others as critical and they never give you their best.
Their are many trance states. However, they do fall into about a dozen categories that I have identified over the years of working first as a clinician and then as a trainer and consultant in both small and very large organizations. Identifying your kind of trance, seeing it clearly and then doing the work to break free is very liberating. It also dramatically increases personal effectiveness both at home as well as at work.
For more information, I suggest reading my prior blogs to get the possibility / liberation gestalt behind this way of viewing the world. Then I invite you to contact me if you have any questions.
I really really like this! Sometimes I feel as if I am in a trance especially when it comes to school work and all of that!
I really liked this post. I agree with everything that it is saying. It sometimes feels as though we are all really “sleepwalking” our way through life.
I really like this post. I think it really specifies on all the key points that are useful for all people.
This article is a very good selection to read it helps you with alot of thing in i feel like alot more people should read it.
I’m not sure what to say about this article. Except i like the way it explains the way we as an indivdual think. We all have a trance that we put ourselves in, such as the “if i want it done right, i have to do it myself.” trance. It makes me wonder what kind of trance others are in. What kind of trance am i in?
It is so true that as people , we sometimes build walls for ourselves after some kind of inncident that has made us that way. This blog honestly does point out the “trances” people fall under throughout life.
We as people, do feel like we should be very independent but at the same time we need others to lead us to certain area’s of success in our lifes.
i enjoyed reading about this blog. it makes me feel like i understand people better as individuals. it explains how we as individuals work as humans in a way! i liked it! awesome!
being a leader is hard work and becoming one is even harder.
My feedback on this is that i think that if all of these people had someone to talk to and look up too they would go into some of these trances,or sleep walk through life because they would actually know that they have a purpose of life.
This is an excellent article. After I read it , I realized that many people tend to fall into many different trance categories–some fall under more than one. I agree that we [the people] tend to build walls around ourselves and cut out many possibilities that we have in life; often many people justify that they are very independent and do not need help from anyone else,however there is nothing wrong with accepting a “Helping Hand” when one being offered.
Meditating works wonders for me. Totaly love it! Everyone should try it!
We agree Tia! And for those who worry that meditation has to look like sitting in the dark with a candle, there are many wonderful forms of movement meditation as well. Indeed, for some that looks like fishing or walking with an awareness of all senses or a practice like TaiChi.
To all visitors to this page, what is YOUR favorite form of meditation?