Balancing forces

The Five Powers are derived in Bhuddist teaching. They apply equally to developing a consulting practice for one’s self, and being able to help people solve their problems.

• Balancing forces
  • Balancing Forces
  • Confidence / Trust
  • Energy
  • Concentration
  • Mindfulness
  • Insight

Balancing Forces

Sometimes referred to as the Five Powers, the table below shows how different focuses balance for building or diminishing your mental power.

Confidence / Trust

This might in some cases be called “faith” but is not the sort of confidence one puts into scripture or belief without fact, the sort of confidence or trust here is more on the order of a presupposition: in which we act as if the thing we are presupposing is true. Here, we are talking about confidence and trust in yourself, in knowing you can overcome the problems that you have, that you have the answers for them within yourself, and that you can do so through practice, living with your uncertainties about the situation, but keep going, and being open to the insights when they come.

In consulting, we often have to get the client to believe they have the ability to find their own solutions, and we also have to keep confident in our ability to help them do so.

Energy

Your internal strength, energy, your ability to continue in the face of daunting obstacles. Focusing on your energy, even while you feel you may have little, causes it to expand and gives you more access to it.

It also means addressing behaviours that may be limiting or draining your energy, such as a particular job, relationship, personal habits, and so on. It doesn’t mean ignoring them, or walking away from them, but taking inventory, and focusing on positive aspects, and ways you might be able to practice and change the situations, including your approach to them and your thoughts about them.

This is often about addressing for the client the things which are keeping them stuck or preventing them from achieving progress towards their desired state.

Concentration

Concentration is a practice of focus, and of bringing together. The concept of synthesizing new thoughts and ideas out of existing, and being able to reframe in order to achieve some insight or enlightenment. It’s opposite, distraction, is ever-present in our practice as well; distractions provide the opportunity to concentrate again, and refocus.

Whenever you show up for a client, your concentration should be on their issues, their agenda, and focusing on what they can achieve as progress towards their desired state in this visit.

Mindfulness

This is the practice of being aware without judgment of the present moment. Being able to see things as they are, without our lenses of judgment, expectation, and bias is important for gaining insight into our current situations.

Mindfulness, like these others is a practice, not a destination, or a goal; it is a state of mind from which other things become possible. It’s opposing force, forgetfulness, is like distraction above, in that it will always be present and possible, and provides another opportunity to return to mindfulness.

Practising mindfulness for clients is staying in the present moment during interactions, and assisting them to acquire a state of mindfulness and resourcefulness.

Insight

This is the mid-goal of practice, to achieve some form of wisdom about a situation, but not the usual form we associate with wisdom. Insight is practical, it is experiential, it is visceral and direct. It is not seeking explanations, judgments, but is seeing truly what is.

This mid-goal should still have with it the end goal, the desired state, for the client; what insight should provide is the ability to move forward towards that goal.