The Cosmic Downloads

A couple of years ago I took some advice from my clients and went out a limb. For years during my sessions with clients, I got "cosmic downloads" (or so I dubbed them). I would suddenly find myself in possession of knowledge that I had not had moments before, and this information presented itself somewhat insistently. Finally, some clients convinced me that people wanted this knowledge and I should let it fly. So far, they've been right about that 99.9% of the time.

I have to say that there are times that I struggle with this, but I've gotten better at trusting my instincts and knowing what is information to share or not. Then it usually becomes a matter of proper timing and framing of the information that is the source of my quandary. These "downloads" come in a kind of mental short-hand. This short hand generally comes in one of two categories: Metaphor and Catch-phrase.

When information shows up as metaphors, it is some sort of image or abstraction that encompasses a larger concept. I am always aware that this image is one that I've created as a way of conveying a large idea to myself, so I have to analyze what it means to me and then translate. This sounds like a long and distracting process, but it happens pretty naturally and readily. Not every metaphor is universal and so if I'm going to share the metaphor, I'd better have either a couple of back-up images that round it out, a more universal metaphor, or an explanation of the existing one.

In the case of the "catch-phrase" downloads, if I just blurted them out in the way that they arrive, they would come across as, at best, flip. At worst, they would come out as blunt or even harsh. The concepts behind them are much more nuanced than they initially seem (as they are, as stated, a kind of short-hand), so I must flesh them out into what they really mean, not what they sound or feel like.

This all is laying ground for the next topic, which I'll save that for tomorrow since it's introducing a whole new concept.

Obligatory Election Day Posting

Did you vote today? Here in Minnesota we are usually the state with the highest voter turn-out; generally close to 80%. We may have close to 90% today.

Minnesotans celebrate their ability to vote in a way that tickles me. When we had caucuses in the cold this year, the line in my district (at least for the DFL caucus) went down the hall, out the building, through the parking lot and around the corner. People would come and stop and ask, "Is this the line for the caucus?" When we'd say yes they'd say, "Cooool," and trip merrily to the end of the line.

That's another weird/cool thing about Minnesota. We don't have a Democratic Party, we have the Democratic/Farm/Labor Party. Lotta Socialists settled here. We may have elected a professional wrestler to the governor's office, but we never voted for Reagan.

Go Vote.