Sitting with the Big Dog
The Sunday Signal - 15 March 2026
We live much of our lives on Autoplay - acting out an old script we didn’t consciously choose rather than responding appropriately to the real, current situation before us.
We can do otherwise, but it takes questioning and updating that script. Deep personal change requires entering the “Space” Viktor Frankl identified - that sliver of freedom between stimulus and response - with Curiosity.
So Curiosity is the key to freedom, but maintaining it to occupy and abide in the space requires two supporting tools: Courage and Patience
The Courage of Co-Habitation
The thing is, as precious as “Frankl’s Space” is, we seldom dare to visit it. Why? Part of us knows we won’t be alone there.
Cerberus - the mythical three-headed guard dog - is already in that space. It embodies the uncomfortable feelings that enforce the Autoplay, the sensations that long ago carved the script into our flesh. We’ve spent our lives trying to avoid them.
When we enter that magical but dark space with the torch of Curiosity, the uncomfortable feelings don’t vacate. Cerberus’s radiating sensation of existential threat - the racing heart, the clenching gut - doesn’t leave just because we put down our meditation cushion. We must share that space with it.
So Courage isn’t a Hollywood hero that chases Cerberus away. It is the quiet willingness to abide with the guard-dog’s seeming threat again and again. Each time we stay with it without capitulating or vacating, our freedom grows. We show ourselves that the threat doesn’t destroy us. The three-headed monster under the bed isn’t so bad after all.
Patience for the Void
We are addicted to filling blanks.
When we erase an outdated script, a terrifying liminal space opens up. It feels like a vacuum. It’s easy to panic, rushing in with a new identity, a new purpose, or a new rule.
But this is usually a subtle re-assertion of the Autoplay. Different? Yes. Free? No. It still serves the same ”protective” function it always has, just with refreshed aesthetics. “Let’s draft a new manifesto and get the hell out of this space!”
The path to freedom passes through uncertainty and calls for the patience to live with openness. Let the “erased” script stay blank for a while. Allow uncertainty to be the teacher, letting a new, lighter, more flexible script emerge organically rather than forcing a cosmetic rerendering.
We mind the liminal time because that is where our true creativity blossoms in the sunlight of freedom.
Our Next Gathering
Navigation Lab: Abiding in the Gap
Date: Thursday, 19 March at 6pm UK time (Link below)
In our next Navigation Lab, we will practice the art of Courageous and Patient Curiosity. We will look directly at the “Cerberus” sensations that enforce our limiting beliefs and habitual self-sabotage. We’ll also practice the patience required to let a new reality emerge without rushing to name it.
If you can’t attend but would like me to address a specific question on this theme, describe it for me by replying to this email. I’ll address it without attribution, and you can review it in the session recording afterwards.
We are cultivating the capacity to give our intentional change space and time to emerge.
See you at the frontier,
p.s. If you need individual help:
1. Life Navigation: A structured, 12-week intensive to update your internal maps, navigate a career or life transition, and remove the friction from your daily life. Learn More.
2. Spiritual Mentorship: Deep, private inquiry for seekers ready to step out of the illusion of control, drop the heavy burden of the separate self and live with newfound peace and ease. Learn More.
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