Which of These Core Dynamics Are Active in Your Life?
It Finally Made Sense ~ The Core Dynamics Venn Diagram
Imagine sitting in a room full of coaches listening to Thomas Leonard and he puts up this slide. It was a WOW moment for me. I had been working in the Organizational Development field for a number of years and frustrated with the lack of “stickiness” of the work. Yes people were excited and seemed committed to change … for about a week…
I wanted to learn how to get at the what was keeping people in repeating patterns and seemingly unable to get out of their ruts.
I saw this chart and that was it… I knew that I wanted to become a Core Dynamics Coach.
The 3 central dynamics are at the foundation of the core dynamics and the surrounding 9 are often compensations for the original ones.
I am going to give you a quick overview of the 12 Core Dynamics.
Here is a summary of the 12 core dynamics:
1) Resisting feeling things fully
This dynamic is based on experiences of having been overwhelmed by intense feelings when we were very young. To avoid the experience of overwhelm, we make the inner decision to resist feeling things fully. This dynamic is based on the illusion that if you feel fully, you won’t be able to handle it. When this core dynamic is absent, what you experience is, “I feel anything and everything without the fear of being overwhelmed.”
2) Ignoring your intuition
This dynamic comes from having been punished as a child for acting on your inner knowing/intuition. It is based on the illusion that if you act on your intuition, you will be overwhelmed by the consequences.
When this core dynamic is absent, what you feel is, “I completely trust my intuition and I always act on it every single time.”
3) Being judgmental
When we judge something (or someone) it is to create a feeling of us being separate from it – “I’m not like that!” In reality, the things we judge reflect a part of ourselves that we don’t want to acknowledge. (When there is no ‘charge’ in us about something, we feel neutral about it.) This dynamic is based on the habit of avoiding issues that we really need to address and resolve within ourselves. When this core dynamic is absent, what you feel is, “Everything I experience is a part of me. I acknowledge it, embrace it and value it.”
4) Avoiding the present
When this dynamic is operating in us, we get lost to the stories we’ve created about past events or we start projecting possible negative outcomes into the future. This dynamic is based on the habit of avoiding being present and the fear that if we stay present we won’t be able to handle what comes up. difficult. Many addictions that people experience are the result of having a number of unresolved emotions about the past that feel too intense to deal with in the present. When this core dynamic is absent, you feel, “I live completely in the present moment.”
5) Looking for yourself where you are not
When this dynamic is operating, we try to get a sense of ourselves from something outside of ourselves. We may, for example, define ourselves by our actions, accomplishments or possessions. This dynamic is based on the illusion that we are incomplete and that something from outside ourselves will complete us and make us whole. When this core dynamic is absent, you feel, “I am whole and complete.
“6) Mistaking need for love
When this dynamic is operating, we confuse love – which is unconditional and requires nothing in return – with the need to receive something from someone else. (Love lets go; need holds on.) This dynamic is based on the illusion that love is something that you get from outside yourself. This is constantly modeled to us through our cultural conditioning in movies, songs and media. When this core dynamic is absent, you feel, “I love without needing anything in return and I participate in relationships of mutual giving.”
7) Resisting change
When this dynamic is present in us, we find ourselves looking for events around us to stay the same so that we can feel secure. It is based on the illusion that stability and security can be found in the changing world around us, rather than within us. When this core dynamic is absent, you feel, “I live in the delight and wonder of uncertainty.”
8) Limiting self-expression
Because of this dynamic, we hold ourselves back out of the fear of losing the approval of others or that we will be leaving others behind. This dynamic is based on the illusion that if we powerfully express ourselves, we will be alone.When this core dynamic is absent, you feel, “I can be fully self-expressed without fearing loss of love from others.”
9) Trying to force an outcome
When this dynamic is operating in us, we feel compelled to ‘make things happen’ in a particular way and in a particular time frame. This dynamic is based on the illusion that we alone have control over what happens in our life. When this core dynamic is absent, you feel, “I get the sense of myself from the essential nature of who I truly am rather than from my actions or accomplishments.”
10) Excluding other perspectives
When this dynamic is present, we over-identify with our minds and think we have, and need to have, all the answers. This dynamic comes from not recognizing the difference between thinking with our mind and ‘knowing’ from our deepest level or soul. When this core dynamicis absent, you feel, “I know things from deep within myself and I know the difference between thinking and knowing.”
11) Manufacturing interpretations
When this dynamic is operating, we get overly absorbed in trying to explain or interpret events. It is based on the illusion that everything is not perfect as it is. When this core dynamic is absent, you feel, “I sense the perfection in everything even when my intellect doesn’t get it.”
12) Over-reacting to circumstances
When this dynamic is present, we become overly disturbed or distressed by what happens to ourselves or others. This dynamic interferes with our ability to maintain a strong sense of who we are under extreme circumstances. When this core dynamic is absent, you feel, “I feel a deep sense of equanimity (balance, calm) during experiences of pleasure or pain.”
What would it be like to have the Core Dynamics really absent from your life?
You would:
- Always trust and act on your intuition
- Be free of the influence of the past and from concerns about the future
- Be totally present, living in the moment, in the Now
- Be free of being judgmental about yourself and others
- Be free of habits of getting lost to the grip of emotion
- Have the capacity to feel anything and everything
- Be completely self-sufficient and independent
- Have an depth of self-esteem and self-worth that makes them a non-issue
- Live in a state of unconditional love of yourself, others and all of life
- Live in tune with the flow of nature, “in the zone” all the time
- Maintain a deep inner sense of peace and equanimity all the time
- Be liberated to live the fullest possible expression of your unique talents and qualities
- Be completely clear about your purpose and respond spontaneously to the needs of each moment with the fullness of your being
Now that is a life worth living!
(Adapted with permission from the 12 Core Dynamics courses available at www.greatlifetechnologies.com).
To help you identify which core dynamics are operating in your life and to learn how to clear them… contact Certified Core Dynamics Coach Cora Whittington for a complementary session.
