Hey friends,
Last week, I shared a new way I’m working with clients—tracking where shadow habits leak power across key areas of life and building the core aptitudes to restore it.
But here’s something I didn’t say: That work exists inside an even larger system—one that’s backed by developmental theory and brain science.
I’ve spent the past 20+ years integrating everything I’ve learned from clinical work, contemplative traditions, systems theory, and neuroscience to build a comprehensive map of how people change and grow.
And I’ve come to believe this: Your personal power depends on your perspective!
When you’re reactive, shut down, or stuck in old habits, it’s not just your mood—it’s your brain’s orientation. Most people don’t realize that our experience of the world is filtered through two distinct brain processing styles that neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist calls left and right hemisphere perspectives.
- Left is linear, problem-focused, and controlling. It's where the critical voice in your head lives
- Right is holistic, relational, attuned, and reflective. An additional blessing of the right hemisphere is that it's mute. Ah, peace!
We need both. But when we’re trapped in stress, we default to the narrower, left-sided view. And that’s when our power leaks start to amplify and reverberate.
The deeper work I do helps clients recognize and then shift their perspectives, not just mentally, but developmentally. Using a framework adapted from human development theory, I help individuals identify their current position "vertically" on the map, horizontally across the Power Centers, and specifically which Aptitude is weak (See the X's). Doing this helps a person understand their pattern and what needs to evolve to grow beyond it.
This isn’t just coaching. It’s real integration work. And when you layer it on top of the power/aptitude framework I shared in last week's newsletter, it becomes a system for deep and sustained change.
If that kind of deep self-examination calls to you, I’m here. Coaching, retreats, or simply a conversation. We can start wherever you're ready.
Let’s grow up together! Our relations and the world need us at our best.
Warmly,
Mark
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