I bet you can see, even touch, a floor right now and perhaps a ceiling overhead- wherever you’re reading these words, yes?
Most structures have both , but did you know that this (floors & ceilings) is also an idea stock traders talk about?
It’s part of a metrics they use to evaluate where a stock may move. As a company’s stock drops in price, it can “hit a floor.” This might indicate a time to buy. Stocks can also “hit ceilings” which could indicate a time to sell. Obviously, this is a basic definition, but recently I took this way of thinking about floors and ceilings and applied it to the process of our inner work.
What do I mean?
Imagine a client comes to me because there’s a specific issue they want to work on. Let’s say it’s burn out, or a major life transition, or managing anxiety. Using the language above, this is their floor.
From there, we identify goals – how they’re going to get from feeling burned out, anxious, etc. to where they want to be (the ceiling). Typically, we work together for months, until the initial issue that brought them to me feels resolved. They are now at the new ceiling.
At this point, perhaps the time we have spent together comes to an end.
But here’s the question: Can you turn that ceiling into a new floor?
I’m not suggesting we don’t savor our wins and enjoy this newfound sense of freedom that comes with overcoming a problem. In the process of awakening, we do need to integrate what we’ve learned. It’s imperative in being able to live it more fully!
Only at some point, you might feel like you’re ready for the next step of growth – whatever that looks like for you. This is when that ceiling has become a floor, and there is more work to do.
Make sense?
This journey of personal exploration is ultimately an undoing process, a shedding of all the beliefs that limit you and hold you back from being your most lovely, authentic self.
So have a think about your floors and ceilings and see if it gives you some insight and inspiration about where to go next in your personal excavation.
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Image courtesy of Sekwang Chia on Unsplash