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Many of you will have seen the ‘The Pirates of the Caribbean' films starring Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, Kiera Knightly as Elizabeth Swann and Orlando Bloom as Will Turner.
Throughout both films Captain Jack Sparrow regularly checks his trusty compass without much luck. The compass needle seems to oscillate aimlessly, resulting in the compass never seemingly taking him where he wants to go.
In the second film, ‘Dead Man’s Chest’, Will Turner finds himself on board the ghost ship under the command of Davy Jones’ and Elizabeth Swann, in an attempt to search for Will, again joins forces with Captain Jack Sparrow.
At one point in the film Elizabeth Swann asks Captain Jack Sparrow to help her find her true love, Will Turner. In response Captain Jack hands her the compass and tells her that the compass will only ever point to where you really want to go. As she holds the compass in her hand and wishes to be re-united with Will the compass needle directs Elizabeth on the true course that she needs to follow to find her love, Will Turner.
The compass, it seems, will only ever point you towards what you really, really want to move towards. As Captain Jack Sparrow is forever evading someone the compass cannot point in the direction that he really wants to go as his motivation (an ‘away-from’ motivation) is governed by the need to always move away from something, not towards a true goal. Elizabeth, on the other hand is motivated by the need to move towards something she really, really wants, a ‘towards’ motivation.
A similar set of conditions can be found in the Harry Potter films. In the film there is a mirror that will only show you what you want most of, in the world. Those who look in the mirror and see nothing except their reflection are possibly only dealing with the world as it presents itself to them, not as they would have it presented.
Recently I was running a course on NLP when one of the delegates took great delight in informing me that ‘none of this mumbo-jumbo actually works’ (he was right of course – for him). His conclusion was based on the fact that he had continually focused on the principle of wanting more money, yet all he had ever achieved was a greater want for money – no actual hard cash had magically materialised for him, therefore for him, the ‘system’ doesn’t work.
In another situation, some years ago, I found myself at a meeting of training providers who were discussing the issue of ‘minimum standards’ in the field of personal safety. What was interesting was that many of the well-intentioned individuals seemed very concerned about any changes that they might need to consider in their ‘training systems’. Their motivation seemed to stem from the fear of not wanting to change what they had been doing for years, to the extent that they had convinced themselves that what they were doing was a recognised national standard. Even if you look at what is being taught today it is the same as that taught 20 years ago, no one has moved on. Even the climate is changing faster than advances in certain areas of training. No one seemed to have a clear focus of what they really, really wanted and as such were motivated not by the adventure of moving forward, but by the fear of what they didn’t want, e.g., not wanting to lose what they had been doing for years. However, this limiting belief was keeping them prisoner. In short their mind was focusing on a negative – not a positive, however, whatever you want you will get.
Our brains are complex filters of information that filter everything around us, that which we see and that which we don’t, into either conscious awareness or unconscious knowing. The brain is also ‘literal’ in its function. It many ways the brain is neutral. It will give us exactly what we ask it to provide, hence the expression “what you focus on you get more of.” Therefore, if we focus on ‘wanting’, the brain will satisfy that command by making us want more of whatever it is we are asking it to generate a want for.
We have had many clues throughout the evolution of humankind as to the power of our minds. In the Bible (the most popular selling book in history), the parable of the Fig Tree (Mark 11.21) Jesus says to his disciples “I assure you that whoever tells this hill to get up and throw itself in the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. For this reason I tell you: when you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for.”
Going back to my young friend who wanted more money. I attempted to satisfy his want by giving him a £1 coin. “What’s that for?” he said. “You wanted more money, so I gave you a pound. Now you have more, so your need should be satisfied, shouldn’t it?” I replied. “No I want more than that,” replied the man. “How much more specifically do you want?” I replied. “Loads more’ he said, “specifically how much?” I asked again, “I don’t know specifically,” he replied. “Then what do you really, really want it for?” I asked. “I don’t know, but if I had more money I could have whatever I want, couldn’t I?” he replied, with a questioning tone. The fact was he didn’t know what he really, really wanted or why he even wanted it. All his mind understood was that he wanted to want, so it gave him what he desired.
If you consider the world of quantum psychology or quantum physics you will come across an argument that what we see is nothing more than the projection of whatever we believe to be there based on the principle that our minds create our reality second by second, minute by minute, day by day and therefore what we see is nothing more than a representation of what we think exists, based on the reality that we allow to materialize inside our minds. Well someone created the film Pirates of the Caribbean from an idea that manifested itself inside their mind, from which many of us can now see as a projection of another person’s vision, can’t we?
Therefore, maybe Captain Jack Sparrow’s Compass and the mirror from the Harry Potter stories have more to their meaning than we see at one level.
The point to consider for all of us is that if we don’t know what we want, our brain will create the confusion to satisfy that desire. Therefore, why not spend more time focusing on what we really, really want because if we focus regularly and properly, who is to say it won’t come true? Maybe, what we really, really want is right in front of our eyes but as we don’t know what to look for, how will we recognize it if we are too busy focusing on what we don’t want.
What do you really, really want? Find out - next NLP Pre-Practitioner Training 8th February 2007 - click here for more info |
