STABILITY LENS

General Perception of the Situation

Your focus will be on ensuring you and others act and respond in a fair and equitable manner based on what you believe to be the right approach. It will be important to you to know the outcome we are trying to achieve as a community in order for you to have certainty and to be know what is expected of you and others in order to do what is right. You will be wanting to see decisions made by those in authority that are fair, balanced and just which will give you certainty and trust that they know what they’re doing.

If your underlying beliefs associated with this lens are limiting in nature it may cause you to be overly critical and judgemental of those in authority and other people generally. You will tend to believe decisions being made and actions displayed by people are not fair, especially if you feel you are missing out or unable to get what you need. You may find yourself feeling angry, sad, jealous and bitter if you spend too much time judging others for behaving in what you perceive to be selfish or wrong ways. Being too preoccupied in what others are doing or not doing may cause you to overlook ways in which your needs can be met by those willing to support and help you.

If your underlying beliefs associated with this lens are supporting in nature it will typically result in you trusting that everything will be ok. You believe people in authority are doing their best to make decisions in the best interests of as many people as possible to ensure it is fair and just for everyone. You will be willing to make some sacrifices now, because it is the right thing to do, so that we can all benefit later. You will tend to be quite considered and measured when making decisions around time and money careful not to overspend or over-utilise either resource to ensure you have enough in reserve for when you may need it.

Supporting beliefs

The rules and guidelines recommended have been decided on for good reason and out of respect for myself and others I will adhere to them

If we make sacrifices now we will be better off in the weeks and months to come

We are all responsible for doing our part equally

I am prepared to work with others and so we can rely on each other for support

I am willing to put the needs of others ahead of my own because I know someone else will do the same for me when I need it

Limiting beliefs

People who don’t follow the rules and recommendations set by those in authority are selfish and inconsiderate

I feel guilty that I am fortunate to be in a position where this crisis situation will have minimal impact on our livelihood

I always have to struggle whilst others get it easy

I know better, my approach is right and yours is wrong

No matter what I do it’s never enough when compared to what others have and what others are doing

Key Questions to Ask Yourself

When comparing yourself others at the moment what are you learning about yourself?
How do your strong judgements and opinions help you or hurt you to stay calm and centred right now?
In what ways, is your view of what is right and wrong being challenged in recent events?
How do you feel when you see others breaking the rules?
What judgements are you making about people that are acting in a way you consider unfair or wrong?
How can you help others adapt and adjust to a new sense of order?
Where might it serve you to question the people in authority rather than trusting they know what they’re doing?
What expectations do you have of others with respect to how they are behaving and responding to the pandemic?
Where do you feel out of control? And what are you neglecting to do to create the order you crave?
In what ways can you be less judgemental and more supportive to those that are not like you and believe in different things to you?
How might you be judging yourself too harshly at the moment?
What structure and order can you put in place to feel more balanced and certain right now?

Motivational Driver Impact

Your view of the situation and choices you make will be influenced by your dominant motivational driver in the following way:

You may be looking for external validation from other people for decisions, choices and actions you’re making to know you are a good person. You will be overly concerned of assumptions people may make about who you are as a result of the actions you take.

You will be overly concerned with being seen to be doing the actions aligned with what is expected of you for fear of being judged unfairly by others. It will be important to you that you and others do the right thing for the sake of everyone impacted.

You will be more concerned with understanding and validating that the course of action decided upon will be fair, just and in the best interests of everyone. You will need to buy into the outcome in order to trust the recommended process.

Action Level Impact

Your ability to adapt to changes and the pace at which you will respond will be impacted by your action level result in the following way:

High
You will be swift to adapt your actions and behaviours to be in line with those specified and recommended by those in positions of authority believing the quicker we all fall into place, the quicker we can reach our outcome.

Medium
Where you agree with changes and recommendations made by those in authority you will take action to adapt your behaviours. However, where you are not 100% convinced you will hesitate before acting choosing to see what those around you do first so you can follow suit.

Low
You may hesitate to adjust your behaviours and choices as you spend time weighing up whether you agree with recommendations stated. You may hesitate whilst you wait and see how others who you know, like and trust respond to the changes as they come through.

Recommended Action

Take some time to explore the expectations you have placed on yourself and subsequently those you have of others. Once you are clear on the expectations think about the associated judgements and assumptions you make about yourself and other people when these expectations are met or not met.

Explore how these assumptions and judgements are helping you or hindering you. Are you they helping you stay focused on what you are doing and what is in your control to do or are they causing you to be angry and argumentative with other people?

Play with if/then scenarios:

If I was to be more like this and less like this then how might I understand others better?
If I was do more of this and less of this how might I be less judgemental of myself?
If I was to have more of this and less of this how might I have more trust in myself?
If I was to see more of this and less of this how might I have more trust in others?
If I was to believe more of this and less of this how might I be able to adjust and adapt my approach to this pandemic?

By exploring these if/then scenarios you can start to uncover new ways of being and behaving that can lead to higher levels of trust in self and others and enable you to move smoothly through this challenging time, being less concerned with what should be and more accepting of what is.