I certainly didn’t know what I didn’t know
Even if I did know I didn’t know what to do
I knew I was stuck
Without options
At a dead-end – or headed for it at least
That’s the problem with not knowing
I got caught up in a never-ending cycle of stuckness
An absence of options
Every direction I looked simply reinforced the lack of choice I believed I had
I was stuck in a reality I neither wanted nor knew how to walk away from
A belief in the lack of options is hard to shift
More information can often be used to reinforce the correctness of that belief
Circling around and around falling further and further into a hole, rut, or up that creek
Stuck may not be the word you give to your predicament
And yet there’s that absence of knowing what to do keeping you where you no longer wish to be
How then can you discover potential solutions
Find the answers you crave
Explore the options and opportunities
Uncover what’s hidden from view, and
With new eyes see the situation from different and alternate perspectives
The answer for me was the unconventional
Not just because I feel at home there
Because it is our conventional eyes that are seeing the lack of options
Unconventional looking gives permission to act ‘as if’ there’s other ways to view the situation
To believe there’s a solution, or even multiple solutions, out there
Comfort zones may need expanding
New tools embraced too
Your logical mind will certainly require quietening and comforted with the promise that you will return after this adventure
Creative thinking will become a new friend
Resulting in an expanded awareness of self, a connection with your inner wisdom, and a commitment to return
Will you join me
Let me help you to see situations from a different perspective
To shift to knowing that you do know what to do
To get back on track
Confidently taking steps along that previously unknown path
Copyright Alison Smith
Other poems I have written and use in my work to help teams and individuals to get back on track by seeing the situations, where they currently aren't making the progress they'd like, from a different perspective include:
My poems are also the basis for series 3 of my Landscaping your life with Alison Smith podcast - using poems, short stories and nature to provide insight about situations you're grappling with (see links below to the words of the poem and other links mentioned in the podcast).
If you’d like to find out more about coaching, training and keynotes using my LANDSCAPE toolkit, full of gorgeously unconventional yet effective tools (including poems) to help expand options - whether personally or organisationally - do get in touch +44 (0)7770 538159 alison@alisonsmith.co
To get some regular and unconventional thinking why not sign up for my newsletter.
Also see all online stockists to buy my book 'Can't see the wood for the trees - landscaping your life to get back on track'. Each chapter provides a variety of tools to help uncover alternate perspectives about the current situation. Whether that's when you can't see the wood for the trees, are stuck in a rut, are going round in circles, are up a creek without a paddle, and so on. It's a great manual to have to hand and dip into at times of confusion when you don't know what to do. One reader described it as "first aid kit for the brain".
Here's an image of the poem you can print more easily
