A couple of years ago a colleague of mine proposed we host a series of workshops for mums with postnatal depression and asked if I would consider being the facilitator. This was such a tremendous opportunity, and it meant so much that my colleague recognised something in me that could contribute to this.
So, naturally – I said ‘NO’.

We all have that one story that gets in the way of us achieving our fullest selves, in our relationships, our careers, you name it. And if you don’t, well teach me your ways because I have lost many an opportunity to that one story.

It’s the relentless story about what I am, or am not capable of, that disrupts every cell in my body and impacts the choices I make in how I will proceed or more commonly say ‘No’ to an opportunity that arises.
Intensely aware of this habit to eject myself from situations where I perceive myself as ‘not good enough’, I wanted to know:

What happens between the moment an opportunity is proposed to me, and the moment this relentless story steals it from me?

So I mapped the moment to get an idea of what my process is, to see where I stumble, what the byproduct of this behaviour is and what I could do differently next time. This was initially a 2000+ word assignment with a more complex map! But here’s a simplified breakdown.

Here’s a closer look:

Do you have a story that gets in your way?

Dogma wraps us safely in our stories of certainty. But it restricts us from the critical reflections we need - and are responsible for - to evolve ourselves and our interactions with the world.

When we sculpt a story that we’ve assigned ourselves, and held onto so tightly, out into the visual we create the opportunity to interact with it as its own living, breathing, complex organism, rather than an abstract set of concepts locked up away from sight.

As we face it, fiddle with it, speak to it, taste it, we allow for a dialogue that is open for meaningful deconstruction and construction.

We hand dogma over to questioning.

Not only can this unraveling profoundly destabilise the story’s grip and credibility, but it invites possibility into what could be released and nurtured in its place.

What dogmatic story of yours needs handing over to questioning?