The Method: Path 2 Integration
It’s time to really put the Connect the Dots Method into action! You ready?
NOTE: If you’ve haven’t read The Method: Path 2 post, head over there and read through that first! That post gives you an overview of using the CTD Method with the Survival Archetype Self-Assessment (SASA) whereas this post will go deeper into the step-by-step process.
Review
Path 2 of the CTD Method is for anyone who wants to use the 8 Survival Archetypes as their guidance system to find clarity, retrain survival patterns, and thrive. Because the 8 Survival Archetypes are based upon proven behavioral and psychological themes in human nature, this is a primarily scientific path to revealing and retraining your patterns with less of a spiritual focus.
As you review the CTD Method below, I highly advise to take your time but trust how you learn information. You may want to read it all first and then go through each step this week one day at a time in depth. You may want to simply read the first couple of steps today and let it sink in before moving on. There’s no right or wrong! But whatever you do, reach out to Chrissy in the chat thread with any questions or thoughts… the only “wrong” thing you can do is avoid, isolate, or procrastinate going all in on your growth through this method 🧬
The CTD Method
Step 1: Identity the life area you want to change or find clarity in. Once you do, take a moment to get present to the challenge or situation you want to change.
Choose a central life area to prioritize:
Love & Relationships
Career
Life Purpose
Money
Health & Wellbeing
Next, get in touch with what you desire: an emotion, experience, or embodied state?
Examples:
I desire to feel deeper safety in all of my relationships.
I desire to have an aligned career path that lights me up.
I desire to feel energized and healthy at baseline every day.
I desire to have the freedom to travel the world on my terms.
I desire to sustain financial abundance without sacrificing my wellbeing.
Given what you desire, what behaviors, patterns, or issues are getting in the way? Think about what challenges or situations you’re facing related to this that you want to improve or adjust in some way. Write it down to hone in on the right gene key shadow word later!
Step 2: Determine which survival response you’re defaulting to in the area of life and specific situation you’re in to identify your current Survival Archetype.
Take the Survival Archetype Self-Assessment (SASA) and find your Survival Archetype Result.
Step 3: Determine which gene key to work with to create the change you’re looking for.
Consult the Archetype Atlas to determine which gene keys are associated to the survival response of your Survival Archetype from Step 2.
Using your intuition, look through the chart under your Survival Archetype and choose the gene key by finding the “shadow” word (and repressive or reactive nature) that most accurately reflects what you’re experiencing or feeling within you.
NOTE: If there is more than one word that describes what you’re experiencing, take inventory of how each of those shadow words relate to what you’re going through. Whichever seems to have more of an emotional or energetic charge to it, choose that gene key to work with moving forward.
Step 4: Explore your survival pattern
The “shadow” of your gene key is a survival pattern in your genes from ancestral trauma, your past life experience, and/or general human evolution. This pattern exists to protect you; however, as you evolve beyond the need for that protection, the pattern begins to limit you and therefore, has served its purpose and needs to be retrained subconsciously to help you thrive.
The time you spend in this method with your survival pattern (shadow) is only to help you connect the dots around its role in your life journey, not deepen any limiting beliefs:
Reflect —
1. Contemplate how this pattern is showing up in your life either via journaling, conversation with trusted support systems, or however you process info best; notice the role its been playing in causing pain or discomfort.
2. Get honest with yourself, dig deeper, look at the situation with a fresh perspective, and notice what past experiences have strengthened or reinforced this pattern to keep you safe or loved; ask yourself why this pattern exists.
Re-evaluate —
Notice how this pattern shifts you into the Yellow Zone or Red Zone of your nervous system (aka - survival mode).
Reframe —
Commit to seeing that this pattern isn’t who you are, but rather what you learned to protect yourself; detach and let go of the meaning you’ve assigned to this pattern and allow it to transform in the next step of the method. Always come back to seeing the pattern as protective.
NOTE: In this method, you’re advised to spend ~10-20% of the time reflecting and focusing on this shadow and ~80-90% of the time reflecting and focusing on the gift/siddhi in Steps 5 & 6 below. We tend to do the exact opposite naturally, and the over-analyzation and hyper-fixation on our shadows and limitations reinforces their presence and the subconscious perception that the shadow defines us, which isn’t true. When contemplating your shadow, simply give it space and attention to reveal its role in your life and connection to your past and present experiences.
Step 5: Retrain your brain
The “gift” of your gene key is the remedy or antidote to retrain your brain out of patterns of fear for survival and into the states of being that enable thriving. Lacy Phillips, an expert on science-backed manifestation, always says a sentence that rings true for this inner work and that is: “the opposite is the medicine.”
The gift is the opposite state of the shadow. Retraining your brain to default to this gift state as opposed to your shadow state will open up your approach to life to be trust-based instead of fear-based. You cannot get past the limitations of this survival pattern without retraining your mind and body to feel safe to experience the uncertainty, unknown, risk, or vulnerability related to your dreams/goals/desires that its trying to protect you from.
Retrain your brain to associate safety in your mind and body with embodying the gift and to release the fear fueling the shadow:
Retrain —
1. What does dysregulation in your nervous system look like with your survival pattern (shadow)? This helps you know what kind of self-regulation strategy to use in the next part of the retraining process.
Example for the 42nd Gene Key (shadow of “expectation”): In my romantic relationship, I have perfectionist tendencies where I expect my partner to speak and act certain ways so we fit in with other couples. I also become super critical of myself and my partner because I expect things to be and feel good all of the time, which I know is unrealistic. These expectations make me feel on-edge, restless, overwhelmed, and tense (in Yellow Zone of nervous system).
2. Retrain the shadow/gift pattern subconsciously using two strategies.
Proactive strategy = heal the root cause of this pattern by revisiting core memories and re-experiencing them safely
Example for the 42nd Gene Key (shadow of expectation & gift of detachment): In a meditative state, I will revisit a core memory where my mom placed extreme expectations on me to act a certain way at social functions. Through my eyes now, I’ll see and have compassion for my mom’s insecurities that made her feel like she couldn’t just be herself and live up to an unrealistic expectation herself. I’ll show my younger self that her expectations were a projection of her own fears and they’re not mine. I’ll encourage the younger version of me to understand she is safe to be herself because that’s the only true way to make authentic, lasting relationships that matter anyway. This will allow me to let go of the source of that survival pattern narrative.
NOTE: The CTD Toolkit will have guided meditations, visualizations, somatic exercises, and more to retrain your brain. For now, simply focus on grasping the method and how it works!
Reactive strategy = choose a self-regulation strategy to use in the moment based upon the zone of your nervous system you’re in (revisit this post to remember the ladder effect of your nervous system)
Yellow Zone = requires a calming strategy in order to shift to the Green Zone (safely decreases heart rate)
Red Zone = requires a stimulating strategy in order to shift thru the Yellow Zone to the Green Zone (safely increases heart rate)
Example for the 42nd Gene Key (shadow of expectation & gift of detachment): Whenever I am in the Yellow Zone due to the pattern of expectation, I will use the calming strategy of box breathing combined with soothing music to shift to the Green Zone. Once I’m in the Green Zone, I will reinforce the gift pattern by taking aligned action steps as advised below.
NOTE: The CTD Toolkit will have suggested self-regulation strategies to integrate into your daily life to make this easier to apply. For now, simply focus on grasping the method and how it works!
3. Reinforce the gift pattern thru taking action:
Proactive strategy = make the choice to embody the gift pattern little by little as opportunities present themselves to do so
Example for the 42nd Gene Key (gift of detachment): My partner and I will sit together every Sunday and discuss what social activities we want to do in the upcoming week that are authentic to us rather than what others expect of us.
Reactive strategy = continue to apply the self-regulation strategy to your daily life as you’re retraining the patterns within you
Example for the 42nd Gene Key (gift of detachment): I’ll start a practice to pattern interrupt my perfectionist standards and expectations in the moment as they arise by saying “detach or disappoint!” This will remind me of the dilemma of gene key 42, which asserts that expectations only lead to disappointment because life is uncertain and we must flow with what is, not what we want things to be.
Step 6: Reinforce your thrive pattern
As you self-regulate and retrain your brain to experience a new normal, you’ll naturally start to experience the siddhi state as a byproduct. In The Gene Keys system, the siddhis sometimes feel more abstract and aspirational. In this process, it’s important to recognize that the gift and siddhi of a gene key are BOTH thrive patterns to embody, so as you start to familiarize your body with experiencing the gift and tap into the siddhi, both states are evidence that you’re nurturing a Green Zone state of safety in your nervous system.
To reinforce the Green Zone and gift/siddhi states in your mind-body connection, you can intentionally engage in activities or practices in your routine that reinforce those states. This can look like one thing or many things that you do each day or week.
Example for the 42nd Gene Key (gift of detachment & siddhi of celebration): As I work to feel safe embodying greater detachment toward how things “need to be” in my relationships, I will journal each night about how my relationship surprised and delighted me. I will celebrate the new things I get to discover when I don’t allow my mind to interfere with our present moment connection.
Recap
Whew! 😅 …it’s quite the process, I know. What’s reassuring is knowing upfront that while it takes time to grasp the process at first, it’ll start to work so well and enhance your life so much that it’ll integrate much more quickly than it may seem. The CTD Method is just that — a method. You’ve likely engaged in some or all of the practices within the method before, but it’s the unique combination of these particular systems, concepts, tools, and structure that make it as powerful as it is.
From here, we’re going to reinforce and enhance the application of this method with the supplemental supportive resources in the CTD Toolkit and CTD Podcast! It’s rolling out incrementally so that there’s minimal overwhelm with all the information.
So for now, you’re invited to familiarize yourself with this method above and start understanding how it works before expecting it to begin working right away. What questions do you have? What does or doesn’t make sense? Is any part of the method familiar to you?
Hop over to the CTD community chat thread and fill us in on what’s coming up for you!