Most times it is so much easier to initially place blame on something outside of us when things don’t go the way we had anticipated. This stance most often relinquishes us to being like a cratered moon, constantly being bombarded by space debris crashing into it. Putting ourselves into the game as the activity builds an atmosphere around us, letting most small issues to dissolve before reaching us.
On Saturday, September 25th Jeff Kohls wrote:
Be the Board?
It's quite a concept to remove oneself from the game as player, and establish oneself as the board. Especially the board on which the whole game is being played, taking the problematic aspect of any circumstance from the outside world and bringing them into the boundaries of yourself.
Much of the reading of Practice Ten, Being the Board focus on the diffusion of the personal ego, which can be very difficult to any individual to do. As humans, I believe we possess traits that cause us to place blame, compete, and remain in number one position. These are intrinsic to our ego.
According to this practice, the first step is to self-declare, "I am the framework for everything that happens in my life." What a radical, and difficult concept to adopt. But in order to ensure that we experience a peaceful journey through this life, we must adopt ourselves as the board, remain on track, be present without resistance to the way things are, and act effectively. Experience a graceful journey. Some things happen that are definitely beyond our control, but to experience them in this graceful existence can leave our spirit whole, and leaves us free to chose again.
The analogy of identifying oneself to the chessboard, and not the chess piece or strategist, allows us to better interpret the concept. By becoming the framework for the game itself, we give ourselves the power to transform our experiences of unwanted situations into ones in which we want to live. When we begin to see things differently, other changes can occur.
Step two of this practice is contemplating for the self, "how did this get on the board that I am?" This practice allows us to see the obvious and then not-so-obvious contributions of our calculating selves, or earlier decisions that we may have made that landed us where we are.
Being the board is not about blaming oneself, however. Self-blame follows the rules of the game in which we, as humans, divide fault and place blame.
Zanders indicate that when we are the board, we present no obstacles to others. We name ourselves as the instruments to which we make all relationships into effective partnerships.
Many of my colleagues have expressed gratitude for the assigning of this book. I would like to share in that sentiment, and offer that this is a book that I will share with my high school leadership students so that they may explore their Art of Possbility.
You can find Jeff Kohls' blog here.
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