Hello there Major (Tom??),

It’s a new month already, and here we are in May: with our new theme of Let It Go. Yes, we went there. And we are secretly hoping you are now singing that annoying, annoying song. If you aren’t, guess what? You will be soon, because our ‘book’ of the month is Frozen the movie. Our oil is Cilantro: the Oil of Releasing Control, so that will create the anchor for our explorations. It’s going to be fun, we promise. Sam also promises to stop Al from singing the Frozen song. Ever. (She can’t guarantee that there won’t be any singing of Space Oddity though.)

All month we will be looking at a whole bunch of cool stuff about what we can and can’t control and why we even try, but before we get too far in, we want to asses where you are right now. What is your ground control looking like? A big part of being able to see why we have a desire to control those around us and even the world, begins with looking at what filters we are gazing outward through. 

Remember our values and our beliefs are things we chose-things we made up- and as such, we have both the opportunity and ability to tidy them up if they aren’t serving us fully, or to change them completely if we have outgrown them, or we find they aren’t moving us in the direction of our dreams. 

We know you might be recoiling a tiny bit at this- because of course you are usually comfortable with the beliefs that you hold, and you are probably attached to them. In fact for most of us, we might not even be aware of them, as seem like they are who we are.

Pro tip: You are not your beliefs, or even your values. You chose them (either consciously or subconsciously) and you can choose differently at any time. If you really want to. But more on that later.

As we begin this month and start to think about what we have control over and what we don’t, we want to get back to your ground zero, and see where you are. 

This week, we want you to take some time to think over the eight life areas (they are listed in your Member Area) and look closely: Where are you right now? (This is not the time for judgement, just a simple check in.)

Once you have determined that, we want you to have a look at where you SAY you want to be. Now this IS the time for judgement, or at least for making distinctions. As you look at all of the things that you’ve heard yourself say, or set a goal about, ask: Do I really want this? Whittle those dreams-ideas-goals down, until you have just one or two in each of your life areas. 

Next, ask yourself: Do the beliefs I currently hold support this? If they do: yay. If they don’t, you will want to go back a bit further and check in with your values. Do your current values support this? Chances are, if you are not on the way to the dream life you say you want, you will have something out of alignment in values or beliefs. 

Over this next month we will go into more detail on this, but for now, let’s start with the cognition of what it really looks like on the ground for you. Then we can figure out what you can control.

Happy exploring. 

Major Sam and Major Al, over and out.