Duality

Ahhh January comes to a close and we wrap up the first month of the year… wow, one full month of blogging.

I have been doing a little bit of reflection regarding where things are going with projects, and became ‘wound up’ in intertwining, and seemingly contradictory thoughts.

Case in point: Much of my consulting work has involved a great deal of ambiguity—defining and navigating the parameters of the work “as we go.” Often times, there are few rules, and there are many undefined boundaries, needs, schedules, etc. involved in the process. A well-known phrase that came to mind was: “the more you know, the more you don’t know.”

This truly epitomizes much of my recent work. My “learning about learning” is the process needed to figure out what I need to know, so that I can move forward.

It’s sometimes very humbling to realize that there is still so much to learn, and it’s also a way to give yourself a break when you feel times are tough. It’s like saying “there is so much I have accomplished, yet so much more to learn.”

It establishes and validates all I have done to get to where I am now. It is that pat on the back that may sometimes be needed in the now to get you where you want to go, but to get to where you want to go, you must feel good now.

Make sense? Such circuitous, yet profound life-design!

Another path through this is what Robert Fritz has called “structural tension.” Applied to both people and organizations, it is a way to control your destiny: “The most important tension we will use in our redesign work is the difference between what we want and what we have.” Because we always seem to want to progress in some way, there is an inevitable tension!

For me, it seems like giving the past the “voice” it deserves, creates a sense of well being right now, and that well-being brings you into a much healthier state to focus on where you want to go. It’s a big iterative feedback loop of learning and change.

Instead of structural tension, I sometimes call it “creative tension.” Hey, I'm an artist, always in that mode of wanting to bring new things into existence.

Well, we’ll leave in-depth thoughts on creative process for another time (you don’t have to be an artist), but I consider this tension the binding substance that helps get me where I want to go, but it challenges me to live in the present. Think about it, isn’t the present moment the only place where things ultimately happen?

So has anyone been holding any of that opposite-polarity-tension in their lives lately? I think it’s working through that contradiction that can both frustrate and engage us. We’re at least engaged to do something about it… or give it our best shot. It’s all about the journey, right?

:)

m