
Even though I had a year on sabbatical in 2022, I did work with 2 clients facilitating them through their Conscious Business Blueprints.
A new business networking group LYFTA, of which my husband James Sutherland is a co-founder and my yoga teacher, Helen Heppingstone’s brilliant presencing system for schools and corporates – unruffled.com.
2022 was a year of questioning for me and as it turned out it was the same for my clients.
Becoming more conscious is about questioning. Questioning assumptions and beliefs, exploring disparate ideas, observing actions and being present enough in the moment to remove the self (our ego and emotional attachments) and objectively discern.
This isn’t how many of us operate. Many of us get caught up in the fast pace of busyness and because we don’t have the time, we can gamble with our decisions or blindly follow someone we think knows what they are talking about. This is also how we can lose control of our lives and lose our autonomy. (And why its important to have our Conscious Business Brand Energy Blueprint so we can stay true to who we are, no matter what chaos is happening out there).
My two clients – gave me two complimentary perspectives around questioning.
The LYFTA directors are passionate about encouraging Critical Thinking. “We facilitate Critical Thinking – to challenge, investigate and understand our choices, to gain new insights and uncover new possibilities for prosperity”.
LYFTA defined their values as Real, Adventurous, Spirited, Generous and Accepting. As part of their intention for Real – they state – “We’re not here to sugar coat. We value honesty and encourage and support real conversations with care and respect for each other”.
And as part of their intention for Adventurous they, ” … play in the zones of the comfortable and uncomfortable. It’s a deliberate balancing act, to open ourselves up to new ideas and ways of thinking. When we expand our perspective it brings fresh new clarity.”
Just think of James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, and the compounding improvements you can make with continual little one percenters in your life and business. LYFTA is all about exploring the boundaries of our thinking and to help us see our business challenges with new eyes, hopefully identifying those subconscious blocks or assumptions that may be holding us back, so we can make those small and big improvements.
But what is Critical Thinking? According to Wikepedia it’s the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations and arguments to form a judgment. I would also add to that definition that it is also about examining what is not plainly in front of us. To also contemplate the context that this information is presented to us in, and to question, what are the gaps? What information is missing? And does this missing information or evidence mean something?
Critical Thinking is about exploring both sides of an argument, the polarities, and forming an opinion or belief at one pole or somewhere between the two.
When discussing this with Helen Heppingstone from unruffled.com, she suggested that the step above critical thinking is discernment. Helen’s offering ‘A dose of stillness’ is the culmination of over 30 years of study and practice in eastern wisdom, western science and corporate life.
Critical Thinking involves using just the mind, the brain, thinking and gathering knowledge to make a judgement.
Helen adds that Critical Thinking uses your lower mind, your lower self. This what Buddhist teachings describe as the basement of your mind, where all the seeds of your emotions sit, along with the constructs, filters and flavourings you have assumed from your experiences. So you are gathering information, and reviewing it based on your biased personal perspective and your current view of the world.
Discernment comes from disconnecting from the mind, dropping into a void of silence, peace and spaciousness, in that space posing a question and releasing it without any expectation or attachment, then staying present in that spaciousness to sense a response. Some would call this day dreaming, musing or meditating on an issue. This is not to gain knowledge but to arrive at a sense of knowing.
Helen adds, that discernment shifts us above our individual lens, way beyond all the constructs we have experienced. It uses the higher mind, or Higher Self. In this space we can open up to insi