Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship. The mate was a mighty sailin’ man, the Skipper brave and sure. Five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour. A three hour tour.

The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost. The Minnow would be lost. The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle, with Gilligan, the Skipper too, the Millionaire and his wife, the movie star, the Professor and Mary Ann, here on Gilligan’s Isle.
Theme song to Gilligan’s Island

Survivors are interesting subjects and their stories come in handy during times like these. Why does one person survive while all of their compatriots don’t when confronted with the same crisis? Ben Sherwood the author of the Survivor’s Club states that three different types of people emerge when confronted by a crisis:

• 10 % take decisive action organized around a vision and a plan.
• 80 % are bewildered and go into a freeze or wishful thinking mode.
• 10 % react in a fear based flight or fight mindset and make bad choices that lead to…

Interesting to note that the great majority of people, 90%, when confronted with a crisis, revert back to very primitive and basic instincts of the fight, flight or freeze options, thus sealing their fate.

There is a reason for this in that the more primitive part of the brain, which was formed back when Saber Toothed Tigers were a threat to our survival (think like a cave man/woman here ), will over ride the more recently developed part of the brain that is capable of long tern vision making and planning.

That is why the majority of people will end up operating from the old fight, flight or freeze modes. That is unfortunate for that other 90%, because in a contemporary setting where the only Saber Toothed tigers are in the Natural History Museum, these kind of fear based responses are not only no longer effective or necessary, but actually attract the outcome that you desire least. Thus setting you up for making bad choices that lead to… well… not to surviving and thriving that’s for sure.

Only when you are able to transcend the immediacy of the crisis that exists in the moment and instead become anchored in the self awareness necessary for taping into the resourceful higher aspects of yourself for creating a vision, are you in a position to entertain developing strategies that are effective for you to not just survive, but to thrive in the face of a crisis.

Sometimes you just need to invest in the vision that you desire for the future and team up with someone that can believe in your full potential and sees it and believes in you before you do. Then, for awhile, you can move forward just knowing that they believe in you, until the point in time when you are safely on the other shore and can begin to believe in yourself.

Go ahead and use that belief that I have in you as a bridge to creating your new future self.

If all of the tell tale signs are in place and pointing toward change in your life, open yourself up to trust in your self, the universe and a process that is designed to create a passion-inspired vision for your future self.

What is it in your present situation is holding you down? What is keeping you from realizing your dreams? What has got you stuck in the status quo that is starting to feel like an old suit that has gotten way too tight? Let me know and see what your situation has in common with what others have to say on what is holding them back.