Regeneration
Basic biology says that cells in your body are constantly being replaced, that technically we are becoming new. Some scientists like to say that you are not the person you were a minute ago. The parallels of this language to our psychological regeneration sound clear: your mind regenerates constantly, too, replacing old thoughts and beliefs with new understanding. You are not the person you were a minute ago.
Just as our bodies constantly replace cells, our minds undergo a similar psychological regeneration, replacing old beliefs with new understandings. I have spent much of my life introspectively exploring this internal world, an orientation that led me from a career in small business development to art school and back again. Through my field studies with artists and my work with business startups, I have observed that the drive to create and be recognized is a fundamental survival mechanism. There is a path from the unconscious mind to the conscious mind that makes this happen.
In the twelve phases phenomenon, the determination generated in the fourth phase is a survival mechanism. After you manage a disruption, you look for a space for yourself, separate from others in the situation. In an unconscious survival mode, you set out to create a place for yourself, to squeeze into it until it becomes a “home base” from which you can do things the way you do them. How you differ from every other person is in a mere 0.1% of human DNA. The twelve phases phenomenon is entirely contained in the deep self-governing processes that make up that 0.1% DNA difference.
What this means
Just as your organs operate by their systems, maintaining and fixing changes to their operations, your 0.1% is maintained and fixed without your direct involvement. You are becoming more like yourself as you grow and age. Having a sense of control in life, where what happens is what you intend, is interrupted by unexpected events. These disruptions initiate a reorganization in you in a way that moves you back to that sense of control.
Your life changes and you are changed in the process.
You have plans and goals for your life, but in reality, what works consistently is how Nature preserves and protects you, at your core. Life is energy that reaches a peak with your strength, and shifts toward higher values as your strength diminishes. This is what the twelve phases accomplish.
How you can reduce stress
Stress happens; there’s no avoiding how life is. You cannot avoid dealing with what you see and experience around you in your life. Focusing on daily events distracts you from the silver lining hidden in difficulty.
Through it all, from birth to death, your experiences gradually teach you the difference between what you think your life is and what it actually is. In youth, this seems irrelevant but when loss is big and real, the greater value of life - love for the people who love you - rises higher in our estimation. This is what the twelve phases accomplish, deep within you.
Over the first quarter of this century, I have practiced living with the advantage of knowing how the twelve phases nurture my 0.1% - gradually, as I live. I’ve learned how to accept how the downs work for me. My internal compass leads me straight, through it all.
The twelve phases phenomenon is a fact of human nature, and Nature supports life. Nature knows you, knows your 0.1% and works with you, from the inside out. When you see it supporting you as a unique person, you will be encouraged.