Lately, I’ve been discussing several concepts within the Positive Intelligence™ framework. We’ve talked about overcoming self-sabotage, developing the Mental Fitness you need to achieve more control over your life, and building up your Sage and Self-Command muscles to overcome the notorious Saboteur Interceptor muscle. In my last post, I introduced you to the 10 Saboteurs in depth.
In today’s post, we’ll examine the 5 Sage Powers that can help you disarm your Saboteur Interceptor muscle, overcome self-sabotage, and build the life of peace and purpose you’ve dreamed of.
These 5 Sage Powers work in us and through us in unique ways, depending on how each of us is wired.
Learning to recognize, cultivate, and utilize these 5 Sage Powers in your own life will help you develop defenses against your Saboteur(s). So let’s get started!
The 5 Sage Powers
Empathize
When you practice empathy, you feel deeply, offer appreciation, foster compassion, and show forgiveness. Empathy has two targets: yourself and others. It’s not enough to be empathetic toward those around you. Both external and internal Empathy are important because when you have deeper empathy for yourself, that enables you to have greater empathy for others.
If having true Empathy for yourself seems like an impossible task, you’re not alone. For most of us, it’s one of the hardest things to do. And the ever-present interference of the Judge is usually to blame. Thankfully, Empathy is the antidote to the Judge; cultivate it well.
Explore
Do you remember what it was like to truly Explore as a child? With enormous curiosity and purity, finding utter joy and fascination with each new discovery? The Sage way of exploring harkens back to that purity of exploration, like a child wandering through the woods, overturning rocks and logs to discover the tiny worlds teeming with life underneath each one. When you’re in the Sage’s Explore mode, you’re full of curiosity, wonder, and fascination, open to the newness around you. This generates pure energy and emotion. A strong Sage can engage this mindset of exploration, even in the midst of a major crisis, to meet new challenges and unfamiliar circumstances with curiosity and positivity.
If you’ve heard me discuss Insatiable Curiosity in my other writing, this is exactly what I’m talking about.
Innovate
While the Explore power is energized by discovery and learning about what is, the Innovate power thrives in considering what isn’t — or, perhaps, what could be. The Sage’s Innovate power is always on the lookout for possibility, defying expectations, breaking out of boxes, upending conventions, and blowing past the assumptions and habits that hold you back and keep you feeling small. Innovate’s operating question is always, “What’s an entirely new way to do this?” When the old way of doing something isn’t working and you feel like you’re at a dead-end, call upon the Sage’s Innovate mode. It gets things done.
Navigate
The Sage’s power to Navigate equips you with a consistent internal compass and enables you to choose between various paths and alternatives as they are presented to you in life. What gives your life a sense of meaning and purpose? These values are the coordinates on this compass. When faced with an important life choice — whether to walk through Door A or Door B or whether to take this job or that — turn to your Navigate power. Call upon your deeply-held values. Over the course of your life, if you continue to turn to your inner compass, your cumulative choices will add up to a life of richness that you can only imagine. One of fulfillment and gratitude that comes from living in alignment with your values, principles, and greatest ideals.
Activate
You could say that the Sage, overall, is inclined to accept everything as a gift or an opportunity. Some worry that this may lead to passivity, laziness, or a lack of ambition. But the reality is quite the opposite. The Sage’s Activate power motivates you to pure action, engagement, and attention. In Activate mode, you’ll find that it’s easy to focus all your mental and emotional energies on action. Nothing can distract you, not even the Saboteurs. When you have a clear understanding of what you need to do, tap into the Sage’s Activate mode to give you the push you need to act.
Do you recognize the ways these Sage powers can help you disarm your Saboteurs? By developing your Sage muscle, you can tap into the antidotes to the Saboteurs: Judge, Victim, Hyper-Vigilant, Pleaser, Hyper-Achiever, Hyper-Rational, Stickler, Controller, Avoider, and Restless. If you feel like any of these Saboteurs have more power over your day-to-day life than they should, it’s time to strengthen your Sage muscle.
I’m fortunate to be a trained Positive Intelligence workshop facilitator. And I’m thrilled by the opportunity to bring this important work to life in the lives of others. If you would like to explore Positive Intelligence further, let me know; I’d love to connect.
Positive Intelligence™ is trademarked by Shirzad Chamine
Photo by Luis Argaiz on Unsplash
