Reflecting on good things that happened today....

Breakfast was divine. A garden omelette with broccoli, onions, mushrooms, zucchini, beans, peas, and cheddar cheese. Two cups of coffee that left me vibrating slightly, but in a good way.

I spent the next fews, several, many hours writing papers. I went to one of my town’s public libraries for the first time, and realized that I never go to public libraries. Not really since I was a child. Age of the Kindle, I suppose.

Tonight I conducted an Immunity to Change map with a friend, identifying her personal improvement goal, identifying her competing behaviors, uncovering her hidden commitments. Things got real. She was totally open to going deep and rooting out her personal fears and anxieties. So much intriguing discussion.

Today was a long day of classes (10 and a 1/2 hours), and I’m glad to be done, home, and in bed.

I spoke to Robert Kegan for the first time - his mind is a masterpiece. What a multifaceted, refreshing, insightful, and warm human being. Speaking to him was nerve-wracking and amazing.

I strongly urge anyone to read his book (one of several) Immunity to Change. It’s a framework that might just transform the way you think about yourself and how you achieve your goals. It’s enlightening and affirming.

My last class of the day was rather uneventful, so my imagination wandered into fantasy land...reading by the Seine with a baguette and glass of wine, accordion music in the distance, sunshine and blossoming dogwoods...

Why it takes more than desire and motivation to change -- 

An Evening with Robert Kegan and Immunity to Change (by BCODN)

A recent study showed that when doctors tell heart patients they will die if they don't change their habits, only one in seven will be able to follow through successfully. Desire and motivation aren't enough: even when it's literally a matter of life or death, the ability to change remains maddeningly elusive. Given that the status quo is so potent, how can we change ourselves and our organizations? In Immunity to Change, authors Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey show how our individual beliefs--along with the collective mind-sets in our organizations--combine to create a natural but powerful immunity to change. By revealing how this mechanism holds us back, Kegan and Lahey give us the keys to unlock our potential and finally move forward. And by pinpointing and uprooting our own immunities to change, we can bring our organizations forward with us. This persuasive and practical book, filled with hands-on diagnostics and compelling case studies, delivers the tools you need to overcome the forces of inertia and transform your life and your work. ----

Kegan and Lahey define immunity to change as a "hidden commitment", with an underlying root cause, that competes and conflicts with a stated commitment to change.

It these hidden commitments that cause people to not change and to fail to realise their best intentions.

Put simply, it is these hidden commitments that cause us to not keep New Year resolutions, to fail with diets, to not stop smoking etc.

So in summary, we can simply say that:

We all develop our own inner map of reality

We interpret the world through this inner map

We have different levels of capacity to be conscious or aware of our own inner map and especially how we create our experience of life through it (most of us, most of the time, are completely unaware of this)

In accordance with this inner map we have our own inner commitments to our own personal priorities

These inner hidden commitments have a high priority and will over-ride any counter intentions that conflict with them

The high priority is assigned because the hidden commitment is inextricably linked to an inner hidden perception of our own physical, psychological, social or emotional safety

This hidden commitment is (nearly always) outside of our conscious awareness

This is the root cause of all personal resistance to change.

from strategies for managing change

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