Spiral dynamics, depression and anxiety

This was a really cool workshop that we run. It was about spiral dynamics. Our life journey. How we start very primal, tribal, vulnerable and need family,

and how we go through a patch of rebellion in our teenage years, some big rebellion some less,

how we move to the area where we believe that some rules and regulations will help us, and for some they carry on to become the person who is successful and then wants to help others to become successful. Often that person will be involved in charities, so giving their time to help others for no return, and helping share their success strategies. They have made it and are happy to share skills.

The last part of the spiral is the person who's life work is to help and empower others for no gain to themselves. Examples of this are Gandhi and Mother Theresa.

Some people get stuck at a certain part of the spiral, maybe they are the rule breaker, maybe they follow all the rules down to a T and often life will through them a curve ball which is really an invitation to move along.

We also talked about how we can fill up our baggage on life and carry it around with us, and what baggage can you let go off, baggage can be like being in a boat hoping to power forward while dragging the anchor. Sometimes we don't realise our baggage until it is challenged. Sometimes keeping the cycle going seems safer than having to change, because change is unknown and might present as being scary.

Spiral dynamics is incredible, we can go through the evolution in our own life and then something can throw us back to tribal and family. I have used this many times in my coaching, when people have faced trauma, doing trauma coaching after big earthquakes, working with people in horrific accidents, working with people who have faced abuse in many forms, depression and anxiety. These big events often throw us back to the beginning, primal and survival.

Unresolved trauma is exhausting as you are going up and down the spiral of life.

Sometimes realising where we are on the spiral can help us understand more about ourselves, and if we are unfortunate to be thrown back through the spiral, we always need to remember that we have got through it once before, so we have the skills and the knowledge and that what is happening to us now, we know that we have moved ahead before.

For some this pandemic will be throwing people backwards through the spiral, the need to connect at basic levels, primal levels, to family and significant people around us, the need to make sure we have basics of food and shelter for our family, and as we become more confident in our status or stance, we move slowly back up the spiral.

The pictures below were from our workshop, highlighting some of the parts of the spiral.