Top Highlights

• “Leaving,” “Merging,” “Enduring,” “Aggressive,” and “Rigid.” By using names that highlight each pattern’s survival strategy, I am also emphasizing the fact that a pattern is something a person does to protect themselves when in distress, not something they are.
• So who are you? You are Presence. And you are the one who is present. You are the awareness, in this moment, of this moment. You are not your thoughts, emotions, or behaviors. Not even your body. You are just a simple, open awareness. In many spiritual teachings, this awareness is called Essence or Spirit. It is also called the True Self,
• We are like little tuning forks, resonating to every note that is played nearby.
• Our nervous system is designed to go through a regular cycle of charge and discharge, excitement and soothing, tension and relaxation. Excitement is good, but not too much or for too long. After excitement, our nervous system needs to relax and come back down to the ground state to rest.
• All the survival patterns are skill-based. You have to have the skills needed to carry out a particular strategy or it won’t work for you. If you can’t make it work, you’ll probably drop it and try another strategy.