Structure It! To Make it Better

09 Nov Structure It! To Make it Better

Structure It! An unusually structured snowflake. Image by Alexey Kljatov uploaded to Flikr and accessed via Creative Commons Search.

Structure It! To Make It Better

Structure makes (nearly) everything better.

• • If you want to think better about a project, structure it.

  • If you want to improve a relationship, check out its structure.

  • If you have any problem except one,* take a step back from it and see its structure. Then fix it.

How to Structure Anything

What does this even mean? What am I talking about?

Allow yourself for a minute to go within. Close your eyes, notice you are breathing. (You don’t even have to slow your breath down. That happens naturally.)

Allow yourself to see a shape. The first shape you see. Now allow it to become defined, more…shapely. (You are the judge of this.) Notice that your shape has both an inside and an outside.

Now see energy moving through the shape. Where is the flow of the energy smoothly moving? Where does it look stuck? Is its current fast, or slow? thick or thin?

If you have fun with this, you might even notice colors or other distinctions in the shape or the light you are seeing.

Pay Attention at First to These Four Factors

These four simple factors:

• inside
• outside
• moving
• stuck

give you a lot to play with when you “Structure It!” Prepare to be amazed as you read the rest of this post.

Using Them with an Example

Return to the three examples starting this post: a project, a relationship or a problem. Choose one.

See it as a shape. Allow it to take whatever shape shows up. Just observe it. Really observe it:

• what is inside?
• what is outside?

Now see energy moving in the shape. Again, just allow it to move how it moves. Map it:

• where and specifically how does it flow?
• where does it get stuck?

What does this tell you about your situation?

What would you like the shape and the flow to look like?

Try altering the shape slightly first as you would like it to look. See if it responds. (You can tell it responded if you can easily picture the alteration without forcing. )

Does it feel better to you now? What does this teach you about your situation? Most likely, it gives you a very subtle but important plan of action. Try your plan of action.

If it doesn’t feel right yet, try altering the flow of the energy. Again, don’t force it. This will likely teach you even more about what to do within your situation. Try your plan of action.

This may seem weird, but it works. Try to suspend judgment about it, and try it out. That includes trying out your subtle plan of action. It will shift your situation. One reason this works is that it simply helps you see things from a different perspective. Another reason it works is that it helps you see things from a detached perspective. Detachment doesn’t mean uncaring. It means caring deeply enough to look at the situation and your small self in it from somewhere wiser. In you. But not your small self.

Please feel free to respond with comments on this, including after you try it, here.

Note

*The exception to structuring it is in the spiritual work of becoming One. In this work you understand that ultimately, you are One and so am I and so is your problem, project, relationship and the people in it. I have not found structuring to be helpful in this work. In fact, as a person inclined to structure, I have found it useful in this work to visualize pure light or dark, pure space or spaciousness and to visualize taking apart structure.