“What am I looking for?” is a straightforward question which, if answered incorrectly, will take you around all sorts of curves.

How often do we announce what we’re not looking for? That approach will take us away from the straight and narrow.

Let’s pretend that you’re an executive who has progressed to the point where you need and can afford an assistant. How much longer will the process take if you keep looking at all the things you don’t want in an assistant?

“I don’t want someone who . . . or does . . . or can’t . . .” That approach will delay getting who you do want.

The same is true for whatever or whomever else you’re looking for.

Perhaps it’s time to change focus and start looking for what you do want vs. what you don’t want.

Just this tiny shift in language can clear the fog and let you see what you’re looking for more clearly and more quickly.

Start monitoring your language and begin to notice how often you use the delaying tactic of “don’t want.”

When you catch yourself, replace “don’t” immediately with a statement or mental picture of what you do want.

Ask yourself the question now: “What am I looking for?” The answers you get will be a lot more direct and lead you in a direction towards your goal, rather than turn you round and round like an old barber’s pole.

All the best,

John

The Grasshopper delivered this to my stream of consciousness: “Let consciousness carry you.”

I had no idea what it meant but immediately imagined myself in a stream being propelled downstream only by the current.

In this little fantasy, the only time I used my hands and arms was to avoid some floating debris by swimming to the right or left, and then it was back to being carried by the stream.

“Why swim when the current can carry you?” was my question.

It dawned on me that when we attempt to think our way through things, we are using effort when we don’t have to. Consciousness will carry us, if we let it.

It takes some trust to stop swimming. It also pays to stay aware for the occasional twig or branch that we may have to give an assist to push out of our way.

When we are attempting to solve a problem, we are conditioned to think (swim) our way through it. It’s a learning process to let the stream do the work. This means to trust that there is a part of you that will deliver an answer without you having to exhaust yourself swimming.

The Christian concept of “Let go and let God” comes to mind. But even if you’re an atheist, the process of being carried by consciousness works.

You’re transported to an answer with a lot less effort when you let consciousness carry you.

Ask yourself, “How do I solve this problem?” and then just jump into the flowing stream. That means to go do something else with your thinking. Do something that takes up your conscious thought. It could be as simple as washing the dog or car or taking a walk or jog, or washing the dishes – anything that will occupy your conscious train of thought.

That’s when your consciousness goes to work, flowing all sorts of solutions your way without you having to swim a stroke.

Think of consciousness as your own pair of “Swimmies.”

Finally, allow me to float this idea your way: “Sink or swim” is an outdated idea. Today, all the cool kids are letting consciousness carry them.

All the best,

John