metaphor

Seeing yourself

Reality can be understood like a mirror: there is an image and there is a reflection. You cannot change the reflection directly, but you can change the image that produces it. In my work, I often use this metaphor to describe the relationship between the mind and lived experience. The reflection represents your life, while the image represents your mind. What you consistently think, believe, and attend to is what becomes expressed outwardly.

To change what is reflected, you first need to understand how the mind operates. I think of the human mind as functioning across three dimensions. The first is the conscious level, where we perceive and interpret the world through our senses. The second is the subconscious level, where core beliefs and patterns are shaped by experience, upbringing, and culture. The third is a field of potential, a space of possibility where different outcomes can emerge depending on what we attend to and reinforce.

Catalyst for change

Diverse groups tend to think harder about problems because they often disagree more. That disagreement isn’t a weakness, it’s a feature as it forces teams to examine assumptions, sharpen their arguments, and consider alternative viewpoints. It’s a bit like going to the gym. If you just stand around, nothing changes. On the other hand when you lift weights, your muscles tear and rebuild stronger. This may be feel uncomfortable but it’s how growth happens.

The same goes for diversity. When you are challenged by someone with a different background, accent, or lived experience, it can feel uncomfortable. It might even trigger defensiveness, I think that if you stay with it, this discomfort can become the source of better ideas, stronger decisions, and more resilient teams.

A metaphor from nature

How do you make your work and life more robust?
There is massive value just taking time away from the office to spend time with smart, inspired people as their ideas and energy will influence you. I think we can use nature as an example for us that life is about rebirth and transformation, becoming exactly who we believe ourselves capable to be. This is not only possible, but inevitable, if we let go of the struggle and speediness, and of the need to become our best instantly and without journeying through several unique stages. Nature’s metaphor releases us from a sense of battling against our circumstances and invites us to rely upon an innate, perhaps universal, order and timing.

“To have the results that very few have, we must be willing to start doing the things that very few are willing to do.”
— Robin Sharma