Treasure Hunting by Carla Camou Do you remember going on treasure hunts? They probably go by many different names. The basic theme is that you get a clue, follow it to another clue, and another, and eventually you find the "treasure." What would happen if you approached your personal growth that way? The approach we often take when trying to do some "self-improvement" is to go after the really obvious clues in our lives, like a failing relationship, being overweight, not having a job, or some other such misery. Our lives are full of clues that lead to many treasures. Most of the time, we only pay attention to the big clues. The little ones go unnoticed, and the treasure remains hidden. The little clues are the things in our lives that we hold as so true, so real, that we don't even consider them as holding any possibility for change. The larger clues are those that we suddenly become aware of and want to change. The little clues, the ones that really pay off, are wrapped in our concept of what is, that we believe are as unchangeable as gravity. Once you locate one clue, use all the tools you have to follow it to the next one, and so on. Follow the clues to the belief that creates them. Understand how you limit yourself by these beliefs. If you don't want to be limited in that way, do what you know to do to change it: do affirmations, talk to your minister, talk with a friend, write, see a therapist, or whatever works for you. It can take some time to learn to find these clues. Here are some exercises to get you started on your personal treasure hunt. Personal Statements: Make a list of statements about yourself that are totally true. Start with the really obvious stuff like "I am female," and work your way to some of the more subtle ones, like "I am addicted to comfortable shoes." Look at the list and ask yourself which statements are true of everyone. (Hint: if the statement isn't universally true, it's a clue that you could change something about yourself.) What do you avoid? Start paying attention to the things that you avoid in your life, anything from avoiding conflict with your partner to things like spiders or heights. The things we avoid also hold us hostage. We must respond to them in order to avoid them, and this limits our flexibility. It's worth a look. What emotions do you stay away from? Notice how you avoid emotions, and notice what emotions you avoid. We tend to have a few favorite emotions; the rest we cover up, ignore, or actively avoid. When you avoid an emotion, you limit your flexibility in the world. It takes energy and time to not feel certain emotions. What could you do or be if you weren't spending so much time trying not to feel? In general, I'm suggesting that you pay attention to the things in your life that you are trying to get away from. The goal here is not to shift your beliefs so that you want these things in your life; it is to understand what is important about getting away from these things. Once you understand that, you can begin to make a choice: you can continue to avoid, you can accept, or you can change your beliefs so that these things don't continue to have an emotional hook in you. As you remove the emotional hooks, you become more aware of the treasure that is you. Carla Camou is an NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) Master Practitioner and is NLP health certified. She has a private NLP practice in Seattle and does customized training for organizations. She can be reached at (206) 362-2412.