<< CLEAR VISION: >>
Climb the mountain and rise above personal involvement to get the
detached overview.
If you find you have unresolved feelings then take time to translate
your feelings into information. This can give you valuable perspective
that
will help you avoid giving Strategic Advantage to your Adversary and
will
protect you from the dangers of Emotional Reasoning.
Your most valuable insights will come from clear vision and clear
thinking. See what's happening now and the possible alternative paths
in the
future.
The Goal Is To See Without Reacting Emotionally.
THE TASK OF SEEING:
To see most clearly, you must look at the situation as though you were
not involved in it. Be detached, objective, and careful not to allow
your
emotions to distort the facts. Rise above personal involvement. Your
strategy
and actions will be effective only to the extent that you have based
them on
clear vision.
NEED TO BE AWARE OF HOW YOU FEEL:
Emotional involvement in a issue makes it hard to be objective and
to
see your options clearly. Your feelings may influence how you react
without
your being aware of it and may distort your view of the situation.
In order to
lessen the unconscious role of emotions in your decision making, it
is
important to be aware of how you feel through each step of the process.
By
understanding how you feel you will be able to see the situation and
your
involvement in it more clearly and gain important advantages.
TO SEE CLEARLY: FEELINGS NEED TO BE CLARIFIED AND RESOLVED:
It is important to address feelings as they come up because:
=> Your Feelings May Contain Valuable Information You May Not Be Aware
Of <=
=> Unclarified Feelings Can Give A Strategic Advantage To Your Adversary
<=
=> Unclarified Feelings Can Lead To Emotional Reasoning (unclear thinking)
<=
=> YOUR FEELINGS MAY CONTAIN VALUABLE INFORMATION YOU MAY NOT BE AWARE
OF <=
Your feelings are often not conscious, they may be in the `background'
and unnoticed. Until you look at them more closely you may be unaware
of what
they are telling you.
EXAMPLE: Your group may be on the verge of taking an action, but you
feel very uncomfortable with it. This vague feeling is a reaction to
some
parts of the plan that you don't feel right about. Working to clarify
these
feelings may, for example, reveal that you don't accept certain details
of the
proposed action. Once you become aware of the specific details that
you have
problems with then you can use this information in your decision making.
TRANSLATING FEELINGS INTO INFORMATION: IDENTIFY HOW YOU FEEL:
Sit down in a quiet place and write down how you feel. Often how you
feel will not be clear. Give yourself time, a few times during the
day, ask
yourself how you feel about your situation. Often after waiting until
the
next morning, after `sleeping on it', your feelings will become clear.
EXAMPLE: `I feel overwhelmed by this problem, I'll never be able to
do
anything'
THE CAUSES: WHY DO YOU FEEL THIS WAY ?
After you identify how you feel ask yourself why you feel this way.
Often there are multiple causes. If the causes aren't clear, try taking
a day
to clarify the causes, ask yourself again after `sleeping on it'.
EXAMPLE: The causes: `I feel overwhelmed because our Adversary is so
powerful and I don't have the time in my life to deal with this problem
now.'
WHAT YOUR FEELINGS ARE TELLING YOU: INFORMATION:
The causes of your feelings are concerns that need to be addressed.
Once you identify the causes, you can use this information in your
decisions.
EXAMPLE: To begin to address your feelings about being overwhelmed
by a
powerful Adversary, consider that a powerful Adversary will not allow
you many
mistakes, therefore before you take any actions, make sure you spend
plenty of
time considering all your options carefully.
EXAMPLE: To address your feelings about not having enough time in your
life
to deal with your situation: decide how much time you can afford on
your issue
and still keep your life in balance. Perhaps, since working with a
group is a
social event you could (temporarily) take time from other social events.
Once your feelings are translated into information they become clear
and
understandable, and will not be having a hidden influence on your decisions.
=> UNRESOLVED FEELINGS CAN GIVE A STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE TO YOUR ADVERSARY
<=
If your feelings are unresolved and unclarified then you may not be
aware that they are influencing your behavior. This presents a real
problem
because, although you may not aware of it, your Adversary may not only
be
aware of it but be prepared to use it to their advantage.
For example, if there is an element of emotional reaction in your
position in certain `sensitive areas' then your Adversary can `bait'
you into
reacting emotionally by making statements that `get you going'. They
can do
this often without being obvious to outside observers (ie: the press
and the
public). This can then cause you to `overreact' and make statements
and take
actions that you will later come to regret. The same method is often
also
used to divert your energies into side issues (areas of your Adversary's
choosing) and away from your real goals.
By understanding how you feel you will not leave yourself open to
this danger and your actions and strategy will be less predictable
to your
Adversary because they are not based on an emotional reaction.
=> EMOTIONAL REASONING <=
This occurs when your feelings are influencing your ability to see
clearly without you realizing it. For example, you may not `want' to
see some
strength in your Adversary's position, or your `fear' may cause you
to see
strengths that aren't really there. This subtle distortion in your
view comes
about through a process that we will call Emotional Reasoning.
THE EMOTIONAL REASONING PROCESS:
You decide emotionally and unconsciously what you `want to see' and
what you `don't want to see', then you find rational arguments to justify
these assumptions. Your arguments appear reasonable but they are based
on
an unreasonable (emotional) distortion of the facts.
EXAMPLE EMOTIONAL REASONING:
Emotional Reasoning may be involved in a statement like this: `Because
our Adversaries are outsiders, we don't have to worry about them having
much
influence on the Town Board.' This conclusion may have a reasonable
component: in general,`outsiders' may have less influence on the Town
Board than `locals'. However, it may be ignoring an important consideration.
For example, your Adversary's action may bring money into the community
and
new tax revenues. This clearly could have an influence on Town Board
decisions. Wanting to feel less threatened by your Adversary may have
allowed
Emotional Reasoning to cloud your vision and lead to a distorted conclusion.
EMOTIONAL REASONING: A FORM OF BLINDNESS:
This is a very serious form of blindness because it is selective. You
see some parts clearly and other parts not at all. As a result, your
methods
and actions will be effective when you see clearly and ineffective
when you
don't. A setback could cause you to doubt your methods and strategy
when, in
fact, the problem really lies with blind spots in your vision caused
by
Emotional Reasoning.
SEEING CLEARLY: ALWAYS MOST EFFECTIVE METHOD:
When your Adversary seems especially powerful it is easy for your
feelings to lead you into hiding from the facts by slipping into Emotional
Reasoning. However, even when the odds against a group seemed overwhelming,
groups have been very effective by seeing their Adversary's real strengths
and
weaknesses clearly and accurately. They were then able to avoid wasting
energy on their Adversary's strengths and instead made progress by
finding
ways to concentrate on weak points in their Adversary's position.
< SUMMARY 2 > SEE YOUR SITUATION CLEARLY: RISE ABOVE PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT:
<< CLEAR VISION: >>
Climb the mountain and rise above personal involvement to get the
detached overview.
If you find you have unresolved feelings then take time to translate
your feelings into information. This can give you valuable perspective
that
will help you avoid giving Strategic Advantage to your Adversary and
will
protect you from the dangers of Emotional Reasoning.
Your most valuable insights will come from clear vision and clear
thinking. See what's happening now and the possible alternative paths
in the
future.
The Goal Is To See Without Reacting Emotionally.