• Upcoming Events
• A Practical Tip
• Dilemma Of The Month
• Reflection
• Testimonial

Paradox Soiree: We will be meeting on Friday, March 20th, and continuing to meet every 3rd Friday of each month through June in Seattle. To attend you must have participated in a No More This Or That Workshop, or receive a personal invitation by an on-going member. The purpose of the Soiree is to deepen your ability to think in opposites and to perceive from a paradoxical perspective. The intent is to create community and support for the development of Leadership Beyond Polarization, and to more closely align your mind with the Psychology of the Mystics. $35. For further information, please contact Ragini at 425 462 4369 or ragini@facticity.com .

Embracing Your Paradoxical Identity Using The Enneagram: One-day introduction to the Facticity model of the Enneagram of Paradoxical Identity. You will learn how to use the Enneagram to better identify, embrace, and integrate your dual identity as Divine and Human in daily life.
Pre-requisite is a basic knowledge of the Enneagram model, including the 9 personality types and their wings. We will focus on the Objective Perspectives (Holy Ideas) as they correlate to each Subjective Perspective (personality type), and how these Objective Perspectives offer a roadmap to recognizing and embracing your paradoxical identity as both Spiritual Consciousness and Human Consciousness. September 12. Seattle. $125. Early Bird Discount by August 12 - $100. For more details and registration, click here.

The Psychology Of The Mystics: In this two-day workshop you will learn the 7 basic assumptions about our reality that lay at the root of a mystic’s psychology. This is a road map to the “differences that make the difference” between ordinary psychology and mystical or enlightened psychology. You will also receive a specific technique to help spiritual consciousness better inform human consciousness in specific circumstances or situations. Exploring these mystical perspectives stimulates the opening of your mystical eyes, offering perceptions of the world from a fundamentally opposite point of view. Facticity and Paradox Management are rooted in these mystical assumptions. The purpose of these models is to accelerate the linkage of our spiritual consciousness to our human consciousness by shifting our ordinary psychology to match the structure of the Psychology of the Mystics. A fascinating and powerful support for your desire to live a more spiritually informed daily life. Excellent personal growth tool for individuals, therapists, counselors, and coaches. October 10-11. Seattle. $225. Early Bird Discount by September 10 - $200. For more details & registration, click here.



During these languid winter months you may find yourself restless, a bit bored with landscapes either barren or heaped with snow, or anxious for the newness of spring to burst forth and take center stage. If so, this is a perfect time to enjoy a simple form of entertainment that will lift the boredom, calm the restlessness, and soothe the anxiety. The wonders of the universe are so available when we have the eyes to see. So, take a breath, place your attention on your hand, and slowly, very slowly, lift it up into the air. Contemplate not only how this movement is occurring, but that it is occurring at all! Just be present to the experience of this simple yet amazing expression of life unfolding right before your eyes. How many times has your hand lifted into the air without your presence to the wonder of this action? It is an awesome fact that a simple thought, a small intention, even when outside your awareness, can cause an action to emerge into your world. Then contemplate for just a moment the possibility that it is not you who is actually moving your hand but rather life itself moving through you? I invite you to explore a new awareness of these amazing moments of Presence flowing through your body and literally moving you via divine thought and intention so cleverly disguised as your own.  

    
You may not have considered conviction as a problem nor doubt as a solution. Yet these two experiences are intriguing partners. Together they rule the land of beliefs, with conviction the essential ingredient. We all have beliefs that allow us to expand and grow, and beliefs that limit us and keep us stuck. The trick is being able to tell the difference. However, when we become convinced our beliefs are actually the truth, whether supportive or limiting, we greatly increase our suffering.

Once we are convinced of the truthfulness of our belief, new information is no longer welcome. However, if a belief has no solidity to it at all, we feel wishy-washy. Do you believe you should follow your own desire, or the notions, expectations of another? Do you believe you should convince others to adopt your values, or allow them their own sense of morality, even if different from yours? Do you believe you should shift your standards in order to get along with someone whose principles are different, or should you speak up? If you lower your standards in order to get along with another, have you compromised your integrity? Is anything worth that?

The answer to these kinds of questions evokes an interplay between conviction and doubt. Both play a powerful role in this particular kind of decision-making process so prevalent in our daily lives. It is here where the interdependent polar pair of conviction and doubt flex their muscles, and demonstrate their power in capturing your energy.

I would go so far as to say conviction can be one of the most helpful phenomena and likewise, one of the most dangerous. And that doubt, without some balancing factor, can ruin a life, or make it much more workable. Should you stand true to what you believe or should you put it aside in the name of cooperation or peace? These kinds of issues stir up emotions, cloud judgments, and generate untold amounts of human suffering. 

    
To manage this dilemma, first remember that conviction and doubt are partners married to each other for life. One simply cannot exist without the other because each is defined by the absence of the other. Conviction is defined by the absence of doubt, and doubt is defined by the absence of conviction. Together they maintain the balancing so essential to creating and sustaining respectful, workable societies, families, and partnerships. .Doubt lets you know when it’s time to let in new information and question. Conviction lets you know when it’s time to turn away from questioning and learn the feel of standing in what you have come to believe is right for you.
 
Now, with the remembrance of this partnership, you can take a breath, and feel yourself opening to whichever message is called for in your particular situation. If it is doubt that is called for, imagine yourself open to questioning what you believed was beyond question. If it is conviction that is called for, imagine yourself open to certainty about what you believed was obviously not certain.

When you can feel this flow moving through your body and mind, you are free to respond to your particular situation in the most appropriate way. You will no longer react from the blind decisiveness of conviction or the wobbly indecisiveness of doubt, but rather from a deeper wisdom that honors the dualities of life on this plane. Awareness of this rhythm of continual movement between conviction and doubt, back and forth, again and again, allows you to relax when your beliefs are challenged and when they are not yet well formed. Give it a try and find out for yourself. May you discover the usefulness of this mystical guidance in your daily life. 

 
To visit this month’s new Reflection highlighting Huang Po, please click here.


“Ragini’s paradox management is as rich and deep as any framework I know. She has developed a simple and elegant process to help people move from an either/or position to a both/and position. . . She is able to convey theory and practice with simple grace. I recommend her unconditionally and such a recommendation is very rare from me.”
Dr. Andrew Hahn, Founder of Guided Self Healing, Boston, MA.

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All material (C) 2009 Ragini Elizabeth Michaels, www.facticity.com or ragini@facticity.com