One of the hallmarks of the way a person ‘sees’ the world…uniquely of course…was developed by Alfred Adler (1870-1937). He called it our Life Style…not the common way of thinking about that term but the way he meant it was how we see life, how we move through life, sometimes without awareness. Ever get to a destination and you can’t remember every turn, or any of them? He summarized this Life Style as the following:
Life is…
People are…
I am…
Therefore, I must…
Some people believe life is dangerous…and for them it is! Imagine their thinking about people and about themselves and what they must do as a result.
Others might believe life is exciting and then you can follow their experience with people and their own self-image.
I took a great course recently “Empowering People in the Workplace” (www.positivediscipline.org) led by Dina Emser.
This course took a slight and important change to the traditional Life Style:
Life is…
People are…
I am….
Therefore, I can…
I was struck by the difference between the words, ‘must’ and ‘can’…are you often stuck with a feeling of what you ‘must’ do, what people are requiring of you, of the forces that force you?
‘Can’ can lead us to hope and beyond…to what we really ‘can’ do.