Declipse Technique™
The Declipse Technique in Mindfulness Coaching from Coach Meg
The path to self-change is often long and arduous, but it doesn’t have to be. I am going to share a shortcut, a mindfulness technique that can help speed the transition from growth edge to higher wisdom. This habit goes by several names. You could call it the self-change habit, or a habit of self-leadership. For reasons that will become clear in a moment, I also call it the “declipse” habit. It offers a chance to hack your mind, to crack its code. By calling on the power of intuition, we can transcend the problem at hand.
Here’s how this works: Your growth edges can also be thought of as blind spots. They block other perspectives. In a sense, they eclipse the wisdom that we need to get past them. For a true transformation to occur, the mindset that is causing a blind spot requires its opposite. When we access the opposite, we can move beyond the original mindset.
Newton’s Third Law also provides an apt metaphor: Every force has an equal but opposite force. The part of you creating a blind spot is missing access to its opposite. Self-change, then, is about moving from eclipse to declipse. It’s a process of balancing the two forces.
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Step One: Befriend the Thought – Let’s say that you feel controlled by your desire for smooth sailing, an easier life. The first step is to notice that part of yourself. Create a little distance, a little meta-awareness. Name the issue you’re dealing with. Tell yourself, “Wow! I really need to detach from my need for sunny weather.” Befriend this characteristic, and accept it. Even if it’s causing you problems, it is still a part of you – probably an overworked part of you!
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Step Two: Ask the Thought to Move Away – Gently ask this part of you to step aside. Choose a metaphor that works for you. You could send your need for praise on vacation – it could probably use a trip to the beach! If you’re feeling less extravagant, perhaps you could just treat it to a cup of coffee. Find an imaginative way to send the need somewhere else. The declipse can’t happen as long as your desire for praise is eclipsing the wisdom.
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Step Three: Enter the Mind’s Inner Sky – Quiet your mind and enter a still place. Like an orchestra conductor, bring all the noise down to silence. Just exist in this blank quietude. You’ve got nothing to do and nowhere to go. I call this space the inner sky.
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Step Four: Intuition Reveals Wisdom – After a few moments, your intuition will fill this void with higher wisdom. “Choppy seas make a skilled sailor,” it may say. “I welcome the rough days.” The forces inside you will return to their proper balance – the yin and yang. You will be able to recognize that while sunny days are lovely, you grow when the days are choppy. This is the declipse.
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Outgrowing growth edges can become an important habit, a vital habit of a transformational leader.