How Assumptions Relate to Energy

One Essential Take-Away:A is for Assumption

Kathleen's quick lesson led to deep discussion.

One thing is for sure: We all tend to make assumptions in life. What we fail to recognize when we act on those assumptions is that assumption is directly linked to perception— an enemy of focus, productivity, happiness and relationships. This proved a valuable lesson, even to the most prominent of business people, as Kathleen Brady challenged our group of 70 members on September 18th to analyze the concept of assumption in our business and family relationships.

Volunteers Moderate break out groups.

Assumption is the “A” in Kathleen’s NAIL exercise for personal energy management, and refers to the expectation in our minds that because a colleague, a family member, or even an idea had lead to a negative experience in the past, it’s inevitable that the same variables will align again in future dealings, yielding further negative experiences. Sound familiar? You’re far from alone. Our 30-minute breakout sessions following the Brady presentation revealed that we are all mired in the perceived, and when faced with discussing personal scenarios, are subconsciously aware of the solutions— for our own assumptions, and for those of others.

Upon regrouping post-breakout, I was prepared to be inspired by everyone’s discussion notes. What I was not prepared for was how deeply personal the topics and scenarios were (see, there I go assuming again). Words like anger, drama, frustrated, doubt, tighten-up, and reactionary filled the room. Someone even used 9-1-1 in adjective form to describe a state of mind.

Break out groups are our signature.

In several instances, “establishing boundaries” surfaced as a step toward the solution, and the final link in these processes revealed itself, more often than not, as discovering a comfortable approach to dissolving, or even shattering one’s assumptive tendencies in one special creative move: looking at the humorous side of people and situations, instead of focusing on the potential threats— an active re-training of the brain, so-to-speak, that will take time and patience, but may provide the biggest reward of all….positive energy. 

What did you take away from the energy event? Tell us here, or take our survey.