Readiness is a state of mind

Readiness is the first step  in our RAMP© framework.

To move toward Awareness (of self and others) , the second step, you need to accept many things for what they are.

You need to stop trying to live in world the way it should be, and focus a little more on how you actually experience it yourself.

This is about recognising and managing our expectations, and finding a new mental – and eventually emotional – filter to use every day. For our interactions with the people and events around us.

Some people are already well-equipped in this zone, and others still have leapfrogged this step very early on. There is no question for example, that extreme sports participants, elite athletes, free climbers and the like are always ‘ready’.

But for many of us, the resistance we feel in our world is often self-generated. Usually by the gap between how we’d like things to be, and how they actually are.

Where are you on this spectrum? To measure your inner readiness, perform this simple test.

1. Make an imaginary decision to take a risk. With an aspect of work, your relationship, your lifestyle, your passions, your pursuits, whatever.
2. Then commit to definitely taking that step, if the coin you’re about to toss comes up heads (or tails, you can choose…).
3. Toss your coin.

Now comes the easy part. Ask yourself how you feel.

Is it nerves or  excitement ? (These two are easily confused, but more of that another day.)

Or is it more a sense of shock, and dawning dread…? Did you instantly want to make it ‘best of three’ ??

Once you understand the cause, or source, of any resistance, you can start to put things into a new perspective, or context.

Readiness is not a stable state. By definition, it encourages you to be alert, to notice things, to pay more attention to what you’re doing, and why. It’s the beginning of Awareness. 

Next time we’ll measure the distance between them.