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In this episode Joel and Antonia talk about the power of owning what you don’t want to admit right now with Purpose Mapping creator Craig Filek.
In this podcast you’ll find:
Craig’s Story:
Adopted at birth.
Adoptees experience a premature ego death. In utero, a child develops a rhythm and homeostasis with birth mother, then there is a break when the child is adopted. Adoptive parents cannot interpret child’s needs. They feed the child and change its diaper but they cannot figure out that the child is grieving its loss. The adoptive parents do all they can to quiet the child and the child gets the message that its emotional expression is not okay. The child has to abandon authenticity to survive.
Craig’s experience of being an adopted child was a catalyst to question his identity.
We can get over reliant on our identity with our parents. Become overly mirrored. Then we have to figure out an extraction process. “Sometimes you have to cut the apron strings and sometimes you have to burn them.”
Growth:
Searching for identity links with searching for purpose. “If my purpose isn’t to simply be these people’s child and mirror their lifestyle, then what is my purpose? Why am I here?”
We all have the impulse to individuate. We find the cracks in our parents foundation and we choose to leave the nest. It is just a question of when and it is usually traumatic because it isn’t supported by our societal structure.
- The Hero’s Journey inward. “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasures you seek” – Joseph Campbell
- Think and Grow Rich – “In every adversity is the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.”
- “Look back on life and connect the dots. Had I not experienced that I wouldn’t have gotten the gold out of it.” Steve Jobs.
That thing that terrifies you is the thing we need to figure out strategies to rush toward.
There is a genetic imperative that we stay close to our parents, so we abandon our authenticity.
We start to hide, repress and deny these aspects of ourselves and there comes a point where we have to go in and investigate these things and ask if they are true.
As we start to face these internal dragons we realize they are protecting something amazing – our gold.
We need to go in and reclaim this gift once we realize we cannot keep ourselves in our parent’s box any more. It can be messy but the outcome is integrity, alignment, and ultimately fulfillment.
We guard these inner dragons so closely we may even deflect and say, “I hope so-and-so hears this.” When in reality we are afraid of facing our own dragons.
Purpose vs Identity:
Achievement, success and accomplishment is not necessarily synonymous with Purpose. If we want to apply the story of purpose onto our accomplishment, that first piece of the puzzle is individuated identity. We often find our identity as we move toward our Purpose. But identity must be answered before we can calibrate to Purpose.
Identity is the You-Are-Here dot. You need to know who you are and how you individuate from everyone else. If we haven’t solved that piece for ourselves, we can’t move to Purpose.
Purpose is defined as Why you exist. Why anything exists. It’s why we create something.
Ego deflects – “So-and-so should totally hear this.”
There’s nothing wrong with Ego. It is super intelligent. It protects us from the identity. We need it, but at some point we have to transcend it.
Identity is that first piece of “Who am I?” which is different from everyone else.
- Identity is a system with lots of nodes.
- The story of self. Personality is part of it.
Ego is where we live as individuals. Ego is made up of:
- our personality type,
- our Enneagram,
- our genetic makeup,
- our culture,
- our family,
- our history,
- our geographical location,
- etc.
Ego isn’t the complete picture. It is the picture of what we express to the world. Our character that we can watch and observe.
The personality systems are a way to observe that character. Get outside it and walk around it. Actually see it as something you can work with, and work within.
Purpose Mapping:
There is no full system that can get to the true essence of who we are. We struggle to even know and understand ourselves.
The concept of identity is so fascinating because it seems the closer you get to understanding that piece the clearer you get on mapping out the territory, and the more clear you get on understanding why you are here.
If you can’t understand the machine’s functionality it is hard to understand why the machine exists in the first place.
Really understanding the territory seems such a logical beginning. What is the most natural expression of the tools I come equipped with?
Identity is not static. It changes. The fundamentals can be grasped though.
There are habits and things that are serving me and there are habits and things that used to serve me but don’t now. Put those on a map and start to see what is the wrong path and what is the right path.
Put your dot on the map and start moving. Start getting feedback and gather experiences and data and see what feels better/worse.
Campbell spoke in the Hero’s Journey of the “Ordeal.” The ego is challenged to its limits and just beyond. Apotheosis. Neo in Matrix sees the matrix and starts controlling it. Utter power.
If you are listening and you want to have the experience of what it’s like to touch the power in your shadow, and get a sense of what that may be like to explore a little further, there is a simple question you can ask yourself. Be willing and able to catch the first thought and best thought. Relax body and mind:
What do you NOT want to admit right now?
In that space something comes up and it’s scary. You probably are somewhat aware of it. It will lead you into a never ending quest to get to the bottom of a deep well.
Break down the entire process of Purpose Mapping structurally:
- Walk through the process of exploring your personal story. Look at strengths and weaknesses. Downfall. Shadow.
- By triangulating those we pinpoint your location within a square meter. We pinpoint your essence using the three personality systems.
- Two hour phone call going deep into your purpose map. Your purpose is to make the unconscious conscious and get the power out of your shadow and use that to fuel the development of your strengths.
- Build practices to ground and integrate the purpose. Epiphanies are worthless without integration.
- Create tools for creative momentum.
- Build a contribution system. Tap into shadow, liberate gold, build a career.
Get down to the etymology before finding the gold. Process the yuk. Add value first.
Tear down resistances to begin with and start mapping strategies. This keeps the person from auto responding with “I can’t“ whenever confronted with challenges.
Get to purpose first then build your contribution around your flow state.
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Resources Referenced in this Podcast
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15 comments
Very interesting Podcast….the only thing lurking in my mind is to beware of self-referencing criteria and ethnocentric thinking. I’m not sure that individuation is as highly prized in every culture as in the US ( and UK and Australia). I think in some other cultures the challenge is more to learn how to conform and become part of the collective.
Thanks for your comment Alison! Have you had a chance to explore all the resources we have for INFPs? http://www.personalityhacker.com/resources-infp/
The key to getting out of the potential darkness of the INFPs inner world is through your copilot process of Exploration. Get out and explore the world. Meet new people. Try new things. Start to fall in love with the world and the darkness will soon fade.
We also have an awesome community on Facebook where you can pose this question and get some helpful comments from other INFPs. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1066580883382024/
Thanks Anthony! You make a good point. It reminds me of the HAT model from podcast 63. If all you do is gather resources to heal and never bother achieving or transcending you won’t grow very much – in fact you will probably get pretty stuck.
Hey guys! This podcast and the last few have been amazing, I’ve been taking notes like crazy! So I just found out I’m an enneagram type 4 and honestly the descriptions scare me. I am in my early 20s just starting the self-discovery process and all the descriptions I get are about moodiness and idealism. I thought my mood swings and intense daydreaming were just stages of being a teenager- now I feel like my brain is just hard wired for it. Just reading about type 4 seems so dark- how can I accept this? I feel like my authentic self is sitting and thinking about feelings (infp)….but I’m almost becoming my own parent and thinking how is this healthy?! I guess my question in a nutshell is what is the line between unhealthy behavior and authenticity (especially when your personality can get fairly dark).
Awesome! I feel like this is exactly what I need at this point in my life, and am eager as hell to get into this process.
And although I really haven’t settled into my purpose, I resonate strongly with the idea that the process involves both discovery and decision. Based on my experiences, I even feel that if a decision is never made, one could potentially just keep digging and discovering themselves, spending their whole life accumulating more of that inner gold without ever taking action to share it with the world.