“Everyone runs patterns but how many of your patterns are running you?” That’s what The Grasshopper asked yesterday.

It immediately reminded me of what the celebrated, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung said many moons ago: “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

Most of our patterned behavior is out of our awareness. You may not be aware but your pattern of walking is unique to you. No one walks exactly like you or talks exactly like you. Most people are unaware of their pattern of walking or their pattern of speech. It just runs in the background without us noticing.

Unless your pattern of walking or talking is getting in your way, it will probably go on unnoticed without any side effects.

But suppose you are a broadcaster in the midwest with a thick New York accent and you’re attempting to blend in with the locals. You may run into some difficulty if you don’t go to work on your pattern of speech.

Our attitudes and beliefs are also patterns, and make no mistake, they run us; we don’t run them, until we take time to notice.

Noticing is the first step toward change, or as Jung said, “making the unconscious conscious.”

Once our pattern is in the light of day, we can begin the work of outgrowing it. Many people, when they have a counterproductive pattern pointed out to them, go into justification mode. They start arguing for their limitations. As long as they continue to argue, the pattern will stay in place. Once the excuses cease, then there is an opportunity for growth.

Noticing is the first step and interrupting is the second and final step. Once you recognize a pattern running, to outgrow it, it’s incumbent upon you to interrupt it in midstream. Once you interrupt, you put a wedge between what was about to be repeated and what’s possible.

It’s in that gap that new patterns begin to form. It’s in that gap that change begins.

So, you won’t begin to solve a problem until you notice you have one and you won’t outgrow it until you employ the wedge of interruption.

The interruption wedge is not a one-time fix. It’s like home teeth whitening. You have to apply the treatment regularly to start seeing the results.

If your life is not running in the direction you want, stop running away from your patterns. Stop and take notice and then consciously apply the wedge of interruption, then you’ll be in the running.

All the best,

John