Some of the most innovative business thinkers advocate
personal coherence as being the only way to navigate the
choppy waters of global enterprise. It does indeed make
common sense to seek to achieve personal harmony in order to
deal with the external world. However much we might want to
do this, we need to know how to achieve this state. The format
proposed in this chapter addresses that question.
One of the principles I have emphasized throughout this
book is that we can only influence by our example. It is within
ourselves that we need to look for a way forward and by
changing ourselves we influence those systems of which we are
a part. This is so easy to say and yet I know of no one who fully
achieves this in practice, and I know of many who would
subscribe to the principle of what I am saying and still continue
doing what they are doing in exactly the same way as before. It
takes discipline and skill to resolve the conflict within
ourselves. Maybe this chapter will give you the push you need
to take a next step in creating and finding an inner peace.
More often than not it is the symptoms of inner conflict that
grab our attention and energy. Rightly so, as the symptoms are
one of the ways our body has of telling us that something is
amiss and we need to stop and take stock of how we are. Our
body has a wisdom beyond the capacity of our conscious mind
and we need to learn how to listen to what it is seeking to tell
us. If we don’t listen, the chances are that the physical
symptoms will increase in volume and intensity until we do.
Which of the following have you experienced?
❏ Moments when you know that you are acting in a way that is
not being true to what you say is important in life.
❏ Times when what you are doing is at odds with what you are
saying.
❏ Decisions when a part of you wants to act and move forward and
a part of you—say, a concern or a fear—is holding you back.
❏ A feeling of going round in circles when what you want to do
is move ahead in a straight line toward your goals.
RESOLVING CONFLICT: PARTS INTEGRATION 327