(Please note that this article is not about Tony Buzzan’s Mind Maps. This is about a profoundly more powerful form of mapping that we all do every day. Intrigued? Read on…)
If you are tired of repeating the same patterns and habits, if you wish you could change the way you think, if your attempts at changing have left you close to believing your current character is ‘just the way I am’ then this article is for you.
In it is proposed a way of thinking about ‘reality’ that could very well change your life for the better. It already has for many people, and indeed it is not my idea, but I so believe in its importance I wanted to attempt to explain it in a more accessible way than it is often presented.
Just to be clear, this is not a piece of New-Age philosophy or something totally abstract; I have thought long and hard about the validity of this idea and find it useful for working with the mind of any person willing to consider its implications.
Enough already! What is the idea?
The idea simply stated is this:
‘A map is not the territory it represents, but if correct, it has a similar structure to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness.’ – Count Alfred Korzybski
In case you recoiled from that with an exclamation of ‘huh?’ let me state the idea more plainly.
The thoughts you have inside your head about yourself, your abilities, time, others, the world and what is and is not valuable in it are not ‘real’.
They are representations (re-presentations) and interpretations of the information that has come in through your senses: your eyes, ears, mouth, sense of touch and smell.
And because our mind cannot take in every bit of information that is available it has to abbreviate it, simplify it, and translate it into a different form. In fact, our thoughts about the world are more like a ‘map’ than a straight copy.
How so?
Think of how a map works and what it is supposed to do. Take the London A-Z or any other city map. If it is up-to-date then the page referring to your area should enable you to navigate from your house to the shops, the park or even further.
This is because the layout of the roads on the map (often indicated by lines with names in them) has the same layout as the actual roads i.e. the structure of the map is similar enough to the actual world (the territory) for you to use it. Of course, there are other signs and symbols to help you: the scale of the map; areas colored green represent fields or parks; crosses indicate churches and so on.
The map does not have to show a picture of a little church because the cross stands for or symbolizes a church and as long as you know that is what it means, you will not head for it expecting a shopping mall.
‘A map is not the territory it represents, but if correct, it has a similar structure to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness’.
If you have a GPS in your car you will know that you occasionally need to update it because of roads that have moved, changed to one-way, or been closed.
If you treat the GPS (the map) as gospel truth then you will find yourself in front of some workman’s cones insisting that the road should be clear because the map says so!
The purpose of a map is to aid us in getting from A-B as directly as we want to (or can!) and we start to run into problems if the map is out-of-date or just plain inaccurate.
How does relate to you and me?
Consider thinking of your mind as a map or multiple sets of maps. Instead of just being guides for getting around town, airports or whatever these ‘maps’ are made up of beliefs about how to get around ‘life’.
We have beliefs about what is important and what is not, what is safe and what is not, what things mean, what we have decided, who we are, what ‘people’ are like and many, many other things.
Do we not use these beliefs to guide us? As we gain experience do we not create miniature mental guides about how to navigate different experiences? Some people call them ‘mental models’, ‘blueprints’ or ‘schema’ but they amount to the same thing. We make and use ‘maps’ of the territories.
As a road map can be inaccurate and get out-of-date, so can our mental maps.
Many of the beliefs and attitudes we had as children don’t work so nicely in grown-ups. If you have seen a grown-up having a tantrum or know someone who is completely self-centered and selfish, chances are they are still carrying some beliefs from when they were seven, and never had to update them. When they can’t get what they want and think they should have, their map does not say “OK, that’s life” or “work around it” but ‘pitch a fit until I get what I want!’
We can also fail to upgrade our thinking about difficult experiences we have had and even generalise across all similar situations. Although all grass on a road map might be green, all authority figures are not wicked, all men will not hurt you and all sweet things are not good for you.
When we start to realize the implications of this, they are liberating. If you have been banging your head against the wall trying to solve a situation then mentally step back and consider that the ‘way’ you’re trying to solve the situation might not be working because of your assumptions or ‘mappings’ about how to ‘get around’ the problem could be incorrect!
One reason we get stuck is because we treat the mental map ‘as’ the ‘real’ territory instead of being ABOUT the territory. If you think about it, the idea of your beliefs being the absolute God’s honest truth about something is pretty ridiculous and if you don’t think so then there are plenty of people with different views who all think they are right and you are wrong as well. What is going on here?
3000 years ago the problem was not any better. King Solomon (the wisest man who ever lived) said “every man is right in his own eyes” and in a pithy way he put his finger on the problem.
Our minds are designed to reinforce and look for evidence about the things we believe. Therefore, if Jack (to you) is a complete idiot or Sarah is the most beautiful woman you have ever seen – as a man thinketh in his heart – so it is to him (to mangle a bible proverb.) You mind makes you right in your own eyes.
And thus we face the first difficulty: actually acknowledging that what you believe is not TRUTH but in fact, a cognitive map on which you have written your experiences, beliefs, values and perceptions. And just as ancient maps had here-be-dragons in places that hadn’t been explored so ours maps can have mental and emotional ‘dragons’ develop when we draw in toxic ideas.
The ancient term for map-making is cartography which basically means ‘the art or business of writing maps on paper’.
YOU wrote on your map whether you were conscious of it or not. Your parents and everybody else will have had a hand in what is on there but ultimately, you are responsible for what stays there.
However, what really helps is to refuse to identify your self with your thoughts. That’s right.
After all, ARE you your thoughts? Or are you the person who thought those things?
Are you not more than your emotions? If you feel bad does that make you a bad person?
Do you want an action you took and regretted to define who you are for the rest of your life?
I do not believe so. You are so much more than any expression or set of expressions that comes out of you. It may sound a bit schizophrenic to refuse to identify yourself with any one particular thought you had but it stops you and other people running guilt trips.
If you had a bad thought, you can change it, right? If you ARE a bad person, how much more difficult is that to change? One is a thought, the other is an identity…
Once you realize you can change your thoughts (the guides you have put on your map) because they are not who you are, life starts to change for the better.
But I recommend as a starting point you think very carefully about the above.
Alternatively, you could work with a coach trained in the patterns and principles of meta-states and neurosemantics.
The bottom line is to think about how your life would change if you made the above idea ‘true’ for you.
What if you woke up tomorrow morning and believed it?
How would things be different? Really?
How would you know they were different?
What could you do that you can’t do now?
How would you feel?
Who would you be?
Who could you leave being behind?
If it’s just a map, how would you like to redraw it?
Douglas Cartwright is a Meta-Coach who specializes in helping people improve their performance and ‘live their words’. He works primarily with people who want to and believe they can make a difference in their lives and in the lives of others. If you are interested in a free introductory session go to http://www.livingwords.net
Author: Douglas Cartwright
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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