The Alchemy of Pattern Interruption
EMBODYING THE BEAVER TO DO THE WORK
Much like the beaver, we Human Beings are a magical species with the immense power to manipulate our environments. We do not simply experience our lives: we preempt them. We imagine our highest highs and our lowest lows before they even have the opportunity to arise, and then we go out and claim them. Because of this ability to create our own reality, we wind up doing so much to unconsciously control our experience. This process may look different among individuals:
Many people consider every possibility as a means of preparation.
Others create reliable routines (coping mechanisms) with proven outcomes to stay safe.
Still others dread what they have imagined and limit their Unfolding.
No matter what our methods might be, our past experiences guide our current actions and reactions. This is the standard Human Operating System. With this knowledge we can create opportunities to rewrite our programming.
Rewriting this story takes long-term, diligent effort. Often, we must work against the current of our natural programming to create lasting self safety. To become a builder of the mind, body, and soul, takes persistence and harmony, and requires hard work. There is much to learn from the beaver, who adjusts her environment to meet her own needs, and creates ecosystems for other creatures to thrive in the process. A symbol of creation, adaptation, and resilience, we can anchor in some of the beaver’s wisdom in our approach to the Path ahead.
HOW THE PATH IS BUILT
The Path that lies before you has been paved by expectations, past experiences, and conditioning. These experiences lead us to create stories about ourselves that aren't actually true, and these stories ultimately limit our experience. This is a normal part of human existence! We’ve created these patterns for ourselves in order to create safety in a world that has historically been a brutal environment.
The Path forward is created by what we believe to be true, and so it is based largely on our past experiences. Still, we have a choice: to either take the Path as it is, or to forge ahead in a new way. We can begin to shift our Path when we consciously choose to see the opportunities beyond those we have already experienced. The Universe will always meet us where we believe ourselves to be.
Creating a new Path does not happen overnight. Of course not—this is no small feat in a literally limitless experience of life! What direction do you go when you do not know the landscape? How do you even decide where to go at all when you cannot conceive what is possible?
PATH BUILDING BY DEGREES
Instead of becoming overwhelmed by the infinite options before you, think about shifting your experience 1 notch to the right or to the left. Just shift 1 degree, allowing yourself gratitude for every time you’ve done something different than you’ve done previously. This is how you continue moving forward. With exposure to the Unknown, our flexible minds will naturally begin to form new beliefs. This provides us the data necessary to chart a new Path—this time in the direction of our desires.
The logical Left Brain needs proof that something is working, or it will keep pulling you into the same, limited experience over and over again. When you believe it to be true, you begin to build an experience outside of the previous pattern. It’s not about trying to throw off the veil, or taking a hard left, or radically changing your life by force. It’s a gentle unwinding of old patterns in an intentional and loving way, in order to create radical change.
Learning to trust yourself can only happen while exploring the Unknown. On this journey, even the things you swore up and down were true will shift and change. This is when the signs and the synchronicities begin to show themselves! These Golden Threads show you when and how to leave the places, people, and situations that feel outdated, or no longer serve you on your Soul’s Path.
Through gratitude and learning to trust the co-creative process of life, we generate more opportunities to experience magic & bliss. We get to go BEYOND what we have experienced before. With these signals, your Path will begin to refine, winding toward your deepest desires.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR INNER CRITIC
Co-creation with the Universe is all about choosing to love yourself enough to truly see yourself and your patterns more clearly, with deep empathy and loving compassion. These traits don’t come naturally for many of us, and it can often be challenging and confronting work! We can get caught up in our repeated patterns, mired within them, unable to see clearly.
The enemies of self-love and trust are self-loathing and judgement. As humans, we have the tendency to be our harshest critics. Yet, your Inner Critic has nothing but the most positive intentions for you! The Inner Critic’s goal is ultimately to keep you safe in society. But the mechanism it uses to achieve that intention doesn’t always serve us. That unkind voice keeps us stuck in place, pulled into playing it safe.
“The Inner Critic’s goal is ultimately to keep you safe in society. But the mechanism it uses to achieve that intention doesn’t always serve us.”
We can change our relationship with that voice and begin shifting the mechanism. The logical Left Brain already knows from experience what we can handle. We know we can rely upon doing it the same way we’ve always done it, because we’ve already seen the outcome.
When we remember the Inner Critic’s intention is to keep us safe within our community, we can start a conversation with him/her/them. By creating a relationship with the Inner Critic, we invite it along for the ride. We now know that it’s a part of us—an important aspect of our survival. Get to know your Inner Critic, hear the voice: what is it afraid of?
PRACTICING PATTERN INTERRUPTION
Pattern interruption is a practice of devotion, creating a Human experience that is so rich and deep it will crack you open and bring you to your knees. But if we don’t actually know what the Inner Critic sounds like to begin with, we will only continue looping through the same non-serving behavior.
The first step is pattern awareness. Just start to catch it in the moment: “Oh, that’s what my Inner Critic sounds like!” Then you can identify what your real belief is. What would be more constructive to your inner dialogue? What would help propel you into a space where you would rather be? Use your Inner Critic as a launch pad, an indicator of misalignment between your actions and your values.
Once you actually know what the Inner Critic is saying, you can start to choose differently. You have heard it clearly, and now you may respond, “Wow! I recognize my Inner Critic, but I don’t believe that to be true any more. What would I like to believe instead?” This is where you can start to practice new thoughts and beliefs.
Simply with awareness, we already begin to pattern interrupt. We create new space to open up our Human experience. Different opportunities come online, and we find that we can choose them instead! This is not just true of your Inner Critic, but any part of your consciousness that you’d like to refine. Through awareness, you get to ask yourself, “What would I like to do differently?” Even by asking the question, you are taking bold new action.
SAFETY IN SOVEREIGNTY
When we begin to deeply understand, love, and respect our Inner Critic, we come back to the truth of our sovereignty. In order to expand into new levels of who we can be, we must first understand the role that we play in the patterns we repeat. We are able to expand the sequence of opportunity, and that is when we can start to insert new beliefs, new thoughts, and new actions into the process.
This is your jurisdiction: to be so sure of yourself that in the face of deeply rooted patterns of repetition, you choose to do something different. You can choose to refine and redefine your ultimate reality based on your own learning.
With deep respect for your own sovereign being, you begin to understand your role within an unserving pattern. In order to reframe our belief system—and ultimately our reality—we must learn to release the thoughts that do not align with our beliefs. Through grace and forgiveness, we create space to step back and see the whole sequence.
The more we allow ourselves to expand, the more we can let go of old stories and make room for new life. When our horizon is amplified, we no longer seek or need the approval of others to shield ourselves from these old, outdated, unsafe systems. We create safety from within, no matter what we may be experiencing.
Remember that along this Path, even what we once believed to be true will come up for review. To forge a new Path—one that reflects your Soul’s deepest truth—is a patient, steady practice. An exercise that requires us to release expectations, to allow ourselves to let go of control enough to let life live through us. ▲