“Freedom” is a pretty standard and high-ranking post on lists on things worth having. We want to be free, break free, be uninhibited, unrestrained, untethered, not in anyone else’s captivity or control, and generally free to be our own person, to choose what we actually want — right?
Obviously, freedom can mean many different things, both with regard to which scale we’re referring to and what activities we have in mind. For someone who is involuntarily detained, freedom might be the capability to leave a room or building and proceed to go wherever you please. For someone who is stuck in grief, anger, or other uncomfortable emotions, freedom might be laughing, or even taking a deep, unrestrained breath. These are concrete and “gross” examples of free versus un-free states.
But the freedom I have in mind in this email is what we might simply call “free will”. It’s an inner thing. Most of us, if we are not detained, stuck in trauma or in other obvious un-free states, might consider ourselves using our free will on a daily basis — when we talk to people, when we go where we want to go, when we choose what to eat … and a ton of other such everyday activities. The question is, though, are we? Or, perhaps more keenly phrased: are we utilizing the freedom that we in fact have?
When the answer is no (which on closer inspection we might realise is the case on more occasions that we’d have cared to admit), it is often because of the ingrained patterns that we live with: defences, strategies, and impulses that run under the radar our everyday consciousness, and which we might not have taken out and scrutinised, as it were, for a very long time — or even since they were originally installed.
Our patterns, habits, auto-pilot existence
This is not necessarily a bad thing, of course. If we were to have to figure out how our toothbrush works every time we went to brush our teeth, or mindfully manage every move in, say, the check-out in the grocery store, we’d have to use a lot of unnecessary brain power. So we don’t. It gets automated.
So far, so good. But then, drawn towards efficiency as our psychology tends to be, we start using these automated patterns in all kinds of situations — and this happened early. We established patterns for how to be with our family or with people in general, how we get our needs met, how we think around particular matters … and before we know it, we have established auto-pilot functions for a large part of our lives.
This then carries on unencumbered — as the purpose of the patterns is, after all, to just do their thing without bothering the active decision-making parts of our systems — for years and years. Until well into adulthood, we might start realising that a fair amount of annoyances, problems, limitations, conflicts, and other unwelcome aspects arise from these automated structures. And so we start trying to change.
If you recognize what I’m talking about, and if you tried to make such changes, you have most likely also noticed that this is not necessarily easy. Patterns tie into other patterns, which are in turn strongly tied to fundamental concepts like self-image, personality, and ”who we are”. And what’s more, as such, they are maddeningly persistent.
From effortful change to peaceful transformation
For many years, in the experiential growth workshops that I created and facilitated, I worked with people and their patterns. I worked with myself and my patterns. I talked to friends about their. And in 20+ years of doing this work, some things have pretty consistently proven to constitute the ticket to transforming the patterns. Not attempting to change them by willpower, from the outside, as it were … But rather, doing the inner growth work that allows them to shift and dissolve, quite of their own accord. A few of years ago, I launched a crash course on this topic in Swedish, which I’ve now finally translated into English. It guides you into the world of auto-pilot patterns and habits, helps you navigate among them, and teaches you a time-tested process by which to dissolve them … that is, those of them which you actually want to dissolve!
The Crash Course on Patterns
The crash course involves a total of 100 minutes of teaching divided into three modules, PDF worksheets for you to implement what you learn, and a guided exercise to help you arrive at the inner state most helpful for the explorations you will be doing. For the first week of the Crash Course on Patterns being out there, I’ll give the first 100 people buying it more than half price off — just use the code SEEPATTERNS when you check your purchase out!
THE CRASH COURSE ON PATTERNS
THE RESULT OF 20+ YEARS OF EXPERIENTIAL WORK WITH PEOPLE AND THEIR PATTERNS, BOILED DOWN TO A 3-MODULE, CONTENT-PACKED COURSE!
Learn to recognise unwanted reactive patterns and automatic strategies that you keep returning to, but which might not always be in your best interests. Of course, we will also explore the freedom that waits behind these patterns, once we start dissolving them, making them more conscious. The speed of your progress is entirely up to you — but please don’t rush. The content will be yours forever ❤️
