At the movies

Another way to comprehend changing is the metaphor of being at the movies that I alluded to in my last posting. Here's the full treatment of that way to picture how we get stuck, oscillate between change and stability, as well as creating lasting changes.

When we're sucked into the movie, our life is stagnant. Life incidents are crazy enough, but nothing really changes. We can change jobs, partners or cities and get into the same troubles as before. The 2PM showing of the movie is the same as the 4PM, 6PM and 8PM screenings. We are in the movie as is replays itself. We have no access to the level where changes happen. Since we're powerless to change the movie, we tell lots of victim stories about our lives. We fetch for compliments, sympathy and protection from abuse. We're very vulnerable to predators, control freaks and bullies because we exude powerlessness in our movie.

When we take a seat at the movies, we can watch what happens on screen with detachment. We are in a "seat of power". We can get up and leave anytime. We sit there by choice and choose which flick we watch. We take responsibility for what we're seeing and pay for it up front. We cannot change what happens in the movie, but we can change our experience of the cineplex. When we get up and change theaters, we see a different movie. We act confidently and significant changes occur. The changes don't last because each movie ends. We're in a position to make things happen. We fill our garages, attics, basements and hard drives with accumulated things. We make a thing of change, learning and growth. We identify with acquisition of things more than the experiencing things. We're vulnerable to get sucked back into the the movie -- sitting this close to it, competing with other rivals and committed to doing something when a change is called for.

When we get up into the projector booth, we're in a position to change the film which changes the movie being watched. This level of change does not make change happens, it imagines the change that happens. The film is in our minds, not the world. There's no place to walk, bicycle, drive, take a train or fly to -- that will arrive at the place where "change happens". We simply change our minds for changes like this to occur. We see that the problem is really a solution in use. We see that the resistance to change is really cooperation. We envision the change that's already occurring. We perceive the difficulty with any current change program as a reflection of doing things the hard way, taking pride in heroic efforts, or valuing struggles to impress ourselves and others. We're vulnerable to take a seat in the theater again, anytime we miss making changes happen, taking action and looking busy.

When we become the lamp in the projector and the movie screen we shine on, we include every facet of the experience. We allow for what happens in the movie, actions to deliberately change movies, changing the film we have in mind, and projecting what we envision onto the screen of life. What we dream up comes true. We see it first in mind and then again when it happens along. We are the source of our experience on every level and take ultimate responsibility for it. We vulnerable to changing the film in the projector and delightful imagining alternatives again, since we're so close to the film when we're the lamp next to the film.