Form And Function

This article will be short and sweet. Making distinctions, such as "hot/cold" is as important in self-help work, as it is when choosing what coat to wear today. In making any distinction, we have to define our separate terms, and then see where our beliefs overlapped them, until we got to the point where we confused the two. With regard to form, or "the external appearance of a clearly defined area" or that which it looks like, and function, or "the action proper to a person, or thing" or that which it does, not what it appears to do, these are two definitions we get often get confused, and in doing so, take our own power of choice and diminish its effectiveness in having us be more successful.

In this visual society, what something does then, has been confused with what it appears to do. For instance, when dating, we often choose based on what someone appears to be like, through their clothes, a first impression, or their perceived status in society. Then, we are disappointed in them, the second what they appeared to do, doesn't line up with what they do. Actions do speak louder than words! We pick political candidates, partners, financial advisors, coaches, trainers, teachers, and movie stars, and make all manner of other choices in this same, confused way, and then wonder why our lives are not functioning as we thought they would! It's like picking a bright orange colored water and putting it into our gas tank, thinking that "Well, that's sure good looking gas, let's go." And then, being disappointed when the car won't start!

This innaccurate choice making reveals itself when deciding in so many more critical areas of expertise, when we make choices in this same "confused between form and function" way. In the arena of healing, in order to get well, we would be better served to look for healers first, then doctors second, that is, if a degree is what we need to see up on an office wall. Because all healers are not necessarily doctors, and all doctors are not necessarily healers, and to confuse form and function in that way often costs people their very lives. The invitation is to seek a healer, and then worry about the credentials later, after you are healed. A healer would be someone who has a clear track record of healing what you have managed to summon into your body. And it's okay to ask. Ask them about how they have done, it's your body after all!

Another area where we confuse form over function in, is in numbers. Not everyone who is able to summon vast numbers of people to their way of thinking is always the best choice as a mentor. I have found the most incredible people living satisfied lives of joy and making a difference, just working at a grocery store. They got it. And then, they gave it away. And I have worked with powerful seeming people who created huge organizations devoted to an ideal that they themselves were not living out, and in confusing form over function, I was more than disappointed in them. Shame on . . .me! Had I listened then to my own coaching back then, I would have not had to plow through yet another misaligned situation, where my energy was going off in directions other than what I assumed it would go off in; that of success!

And it's not like we're suddenly not going to continue to confuse form over function, when we look into the pretty eyes of that movie star the next time, but to be conscious of what we do always serves us. And in being served, now we know! What is it they say? Knowledge is power. Your power.