Journaling Activity 21

Reflect on the area of growth you identified in doing this course as well as the ‘clues’ you gained about yourself and your call.

Describe how each tool has either impacted this area of concern or what it has taught you in general as you journeyed through the course.

Use the questions as a mere guide – you might have your own observations and insights simply by distilling your own understanding of each tool.

Journaling Activity 18

This journaling activity invites you to “recognize another way” by examining how a particular event in your past can be observed from the perspective of the Wild Self.

The more we recognize failures and setbacks as ‘teachers’, the more resilient we become to the possibility of them to guide and shape us.

Journaling Activity 16

Role

List as many roles as you can think of that you occupy in your current situation.  Eg: Father, mother, provider, CEO, team leader, caregiver, etc

Emotions

Write down specific emotions that you feel in response to these roles (include bodily sensations that accompany these).

Societal Pressures

Reflect on whether there are any societal pressures at work in the way that you feel you should be living out those roles. Notice when the trap of ‘should’  arises as it indicates pressure and obligation rather than who you authentically desire to be. If there are roles that you are not engaging in currently, but have in the past, you might find it useful to refer to them as touchstones of experience in the questions below the diagram.

Journaling Activity 14

Tool 8 - Self Supportive LanguageThe following are some cognitive distortions that are at the root of anxiety based on the work of CBT pioneers Aaron Beck and David Burns:

You see things in black-and-white categories. If you make a mistake, you might think that you “failed” or are a “failure.”
You generalize from a specific. You think in absolutes, like always and never, and see a single negative event as a never-ending pattern.
You pick out a single negative event and dwell on it, like a drop of ink that discolors a whole glass of water.
You either blow things out of proportion or deny that something is a problem when it is. Examples: “I never get anything right” or “It’s nothing—no big deal” (when it really is a big deal to you).
You have preconceived ideas about how you and other people “should” be. Judgmental and unforgiving expectations create a lot of anxiety.
You are self-conscious and think things are about you when that is just your interpretation. When someone behaves negatively, you think that that behavior is a response to you, and then blame yourself.
You compare yourself to others and feel the need to keep up with or outshine others to feel good about yourself. Example: “He is so much more successful than me; I’m not good enough.”.
You think that you can predict the future, and you convince yourself that bad things will happen. Example: “I will always have these problems!”
You label yourself or others by terms such as lazy, fat, stupid, loser, and jerk, stating them as if they were facts. A label becomes an erroneous evaluation of self-worth.

Journaling Activity 13

Tool 7 - Be CuriousPractise engaging with some of your obstacles from the framework of asking questions prompted by curiosity.

Journaling Activity 11

“After hours of walking, we find the lion’s trail has suddenly run cold. There is a last track and then it’s gone. Trails can be like life in that way. One minute you are clear on a path and the next instant, it is gone.

You get fired, you lose a loved one, the company fails, you retire, she dumps you, you get divorced. Where you thought you were going vanishes. Who you thought you were is lost.”

Journaling Activity 10

Below is a recap of the navigation toolkit thus far, with a few added skills which are highlighted in this module as being particularly useful for navigating uncertainty:

Tool 1 - Track AwarenessTOOL #1: Track awareness

Notice what you notice. Pay attention to what actions, environments and people energise you. Let your body and mood guide you as you engage in ‘homing’.

 

Tool 2 - What enlivens you?TOOL #2: What enlivens you?

“Track what makes you feel good and bring more of it into your life. Notice what makes you feel lousy and do less of it.”

 

Tool 3 - Body TrackerTOOL #3: Body tracker

What moods and sensations in the body accompany the action?

 

Journaling Activity 9

Before exploring the inevitability of uncertainty and losing the track, let’s examine what it was like for you to make the first track last week.

Remember that making the first track is simply taking one step towards a mission or goal without having to know what happens next or what the outcome will be.

Journaling Activity 6: My Call

Consider what you perceive to be the call in your current situation. At the end of the course you will revisit this thought and reflect on whether it remains the same or has shifted.

Journaling Activity 5: Track Your Call

Looking back through your life, identify as many occasions as you can when you felt called.  This could either be through the liminal blinding inspiration or a catalytic event.  Use this as an exercise to track and look for patterns.

Journaling Activity 4: A New Story

To track is to discover that nature is alive and speaks a language all on its own. To track is to travel the trail of an animal and weave yourself into the tapestry of its story. It is an art that lives inside us, a way of being in union with the natural world.

I have long suspected that we are a culture of forgotten trackers. As a boy, when I was first introduced to tracking, I didn’t realize its importance. I took what was in front of me for granted and didn’t pay much attention. It was only in my teenage years that the bug started to bite. Even then, I couldn’t see that tracking could become a way of life.

I know, as someone who has lived between worlds, how we have lost our connection to nature, to aliveness, to passion and freedom and joy. Modern men and women have fallen into the numbing lure of screens and social networks and poisoned food and jobs that are meaningless.

We have forgotten that life holds a unique story for us all. A thread made up of faint signs that lead to the manifestation of something unique. What the native people call “your medicine way.” Something that only you can give to the world.

Inside you is the wild part of you that knows what your gift, purpose, and mission are. That part of you is wild and elusive. It cannot be captured, as it is always evolving. To live on its trail, you must become a tracker. In some ways, this book is a mythology. It is the story of the day I found my track. It is my story, but I hope it will be the beginning of a new story for you, and for all of us who want to make a new world. The roar again. Calling to something deep inside me.

Notice if anything ‘calls’ to you from the passage.

  • What might the invitation be? Perhaps it is to uncover your ‘wild self’ and begin a new story. Perhaps there is an invitation to draw away from something and towards something else.
  • How does the metaphor of tracking the trail of your life sit with you?
  • Does it evoke a sense of awe and wonder?

Consider the magnitude of living out your ‘medicine way’, a purpose that only you can fulfil. Be attentive to whatever emotions you are experiencing as you journal through the following questions.