Mod. 5.4 - Activity: The Natural Paradigm (In Your Life)

Now that you have a sense of what we're calling the Natural Paradigm, let's explore what it looks like in your life. Note that there are no "right" answers, no "right way" that you are "supposed to" feel or believe.

Reflect on the questions below.

• What does the Natural Paradigm look and feel like to you?

• How, when, and where does it show up in your life?

• How do you express and experience the Natural Paradigm?

• How do you reflect and reinforce it?

For the next few days, make a point of noticing when, where, and how you experience or express the elements of the Natural Paradigm. Take a moment to really observe and reflect on these occurrences, paying particular attention to your triggers, intentions, and the outcomes. Reflect on how you think and feel and act during and after experiencing or expressing the Natural Paradigm.

Use the The Natural Paradigm in Your Life Worksheet Download The Natural Paradigm in Your Life Worksheet (or your own journal) to write down your observations and reflections.

• What does the Natural Paradigm look and feel like to you?

• How, when, and where does it show up in your life?

• How do you express and experience the Natural Paradigm?

• How do you reflect and reinforce it?

---

THE NATURAL PARADIGM IN MY LIFE

OBSERVATIONS

How I experienced or expressed the Natural Paradigm

The Natural Paradigm to me looks and feels like being approached and approaching someone with openness. Your eyes are open and focused on the person with whom you’re speaking. You demonstrate listening by asking thoughtful questions as follow ups. There’s a silent energy of excitement in discerning, discovering and sharing the areas in which the two of you may or may not be aligned in experience and values. I see the tension between the conventional versus the natural paradigm appear on a daily basis. Whether it’s in assumed understanding or limitation in a given work area, a reflection of the scarcity mindset, or fear and resistance to change demonstrating a lack of curiosity and presumed lack of resilience, in spite of numerous factors to support both mindsets.

REFLECTIONS

How this made me feel, think, and behave

I express and experience the Natural Paradigm in the same ways I feel and recognize its values in others. I try to model what it looks like as a leader to be curious, to actively call out and reject the elements of the conventional paradigm that are poisonous and hurting my efforts and the ones of those around me. I reflect and reinforce the power and the need to take on the values of the Natural Paradigm by amplifying the people, voices, and work of people who are also modeling the principles of the Natural Paradigm in their work. This helps to show different people at all levels of engagement and interest how the Natural Paradigm can be applied in any context. While my work focusing on applying the Natural Paradigm to the performing arts sector, another person’s work can model the Natural Paradigm in finance, real estate, and any other business sector to help people to identify where the Conventional Paradigm is the assumed mode of operation and where the Natural Paradigm is actively being pursued.