Prime Life = Prime Results

THINKING PATTERNS

In 1993 around 4000 people from 100 different countries gathered in Washington for a specific scientific research. They wanted to study, whether collective thinking could have a positive effect on a city’s criminal activity – and cause it to decline. Through this test it was scientifically proven, during the period the positive thinking was taking place, crime rates declined 25%. Before the study the city’s police forces thought the whole thing was ridiculous but when they noticed the rapid results they agreed to take part in the test.

 The crucial fights are always fought inside of you, in the invisible battleground. This is where your feelings and thought patterns are. A human being makes observations all the time. Through observation we form an opinion or an evaluation and on this basis we act on it at a practical level. Our way of observing things is deeply rooted and found in our inner world.

What we are is said to communicate much stronger than what we say. The outer world can be exactly the same for two individuals but still they interpret completely differently through their own way of observing. Their thought patterns and worldviews are different and therefore their procedures are different also.

  When social or other grand currents are formed and changed, it is a matter of change in collective thinking patterns. The word paradigm, borrowed from Greek, means thought pattern. When a paradigm changes, the way of relating to something changes. This change of relating, in turn, results in a change in action. For example the results of coaching can best be measured first on the level of a change in how we relate to certain matters.

 With our inner eyes we see events in two separate dimensions:

 • How it should be (an opinion based on values)

• How it is (facts)

 With the help of these dimensions we interpret all observations from reality around us. Very few of us are practically aware of the existence of these dimensions – or maps. All this is the basis of our thought patterns. We see the world through ourselves, not neutrally or objectively at all. We are conditioned to see the world in our own way and changing these lenses doesn’t happen in an instant.

   Being and doing can’t be separated because they affect each other. Doing stems from being, where the needs, values, feelings and thought patterns of a human being lie. Our inner seeing becomes our paradigm, our thought pattern. If we become more conscious of our paradigms, we can take responsibility to change them. A new paradigm can’t be created without giving up the old and this is the core of change. We can have fine plans and goals but if we don’t have enough desire to give up old thinking patterns, the fine goals will be in vain.

 The pain of giving up is one of the greatest obstacles to growth. Our experiences are very important in the formation of our thought patterns. In a way, we are constantly telling ourselves a story of what the world looks like. In order for our worldview and our paradigm to stay together, we need this story. When we receive information, we compare it first to our experiences and following this our feelings respond giving the final interpretation. In practice we always choose the procedure bringing us the most satisfaction and through which we can best reject the threat of resentment.