Event + Response = Initiation To Unimaginal Outcomes

Author, Jack Canfield, shares one of my favorite sayings, Event + Response = Outcome in his book, Success Principles. Oh the many adventures integrating the principle that although we may not be in control of life’s events, we can control our response and therefore the realized outcome. As a Generator energetic type, this principle holds a resonant charge for over 50% of Purpose Peeps on the planet — we are sparked in response to something (that is a wandering/wondering for another day).

What if there is a new invitation emerging? With the huge menu of change we face daily — individually and collectively — what if Event + Response is leading to spillage — journeys to new, unimaginable outcomes?

Author, philosopher and fellow wanderer, Bayo Akomolafe, invites us to consider that the event + response = spillage, otherworld, cracks to explore new ways of being, new stories, and messy curiosities. After particpating in We Will Dance With Mountains Into The Cracks programs and the indescribable experience of Three Black Men last weekend, I wander/wonder out loud if recent really challenging events are initiations into new cracks of curiosity.

In 2020, fellow Purpose Peep, Jovian Zayne, initiated me into the wonder of being with the possibility that this is a time of reckoning. Because this initiation was associated with the notion of time, I accepted the initiation as time-specific, meaning there is a finite beginning and end. Throughout three years of being with this time of reckoning, I have come to realize the time of reckoning is TBD! Woosah, what a big lesson!

Reckoning does not wish to be tamed or put in a nice, neat box and tied with a bow of completion. And, the more I am with reckoning, it reveals its layers. Reckoning has become more of a practice, a strengthening of sorts to be with the time of disruptive initiations to consider new voices and multiple, complex centered perspectives. I hear Resmaa Menekem’s initiation into contextualization as a practice of our time, giving context to the decontextualized and unexplored within and with each other.

Another initiation and ongoing strengthening practice is accepting life as a purpose partner and coach. This practice allows a deepening trust that the new considerations, conditioning-recognition and deconditioning as pathways to authenticity are for me as if I have a custom curricula aligned with helping me to discern who I choose to be and what is mine to do (as offered by Meg Wheatley in the first and second editions of her book, Who Do We Choose To Be?: Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity).

Now, it seems what is up for reimagining (as nothing is a sacred cow in reckoning as a practice) is the composting of my revered Event + Response = Outcome to Event + Response = Initiation. Event + Response = Initiation is the invitation from life and the For You Tribe Of Resources to expand the frame of reference, comfort zone, and the conditioned expert-systems in our mainframe, carefully curated for our safety, protection and survival. And, there is no initiation manual or neon sign that signals initiation, instead often it is a faint whisper of a nudge or subtle something that tugs at the senses.

In recent lecture/explorations of Orland Bishop, he invites us to consider that major life events, especially challenging ones, are actually initiations. These events could be initiations or rites of passage into higher-conscious understandings that are pathways for evolving consciousness that becomes available in how we respond to the stimuli. Orland adds to Meg’s juicy questions mentioned above, “how do we need to be to be with what is happening?” Within the response is spaciousness to connect with the quality of what is being cultivated through us at this moment.

What if now is the time to for safety, protection and survival to widen as if it were birthing our next, and making room for our wilding, spilling over into new considerations that burst open new, unimagined, unchecked, newly seen fields of possibility, liminal spaces that we are being initiated into through unimaginable life events?

Dena Wiggins, MBA is the founder of Success By Planning, LLC and co-lead of Soul To Soul Spaces. Dena pours her life force energy into ways of being for the purpose clarity, expression, and contributions of all (whom she intentionally calls Purpose Peeps). She believes the compassion of possibility is achieved through realized purpose, heartivism, and the acknowledgement and ending of harms to ourselves, each other and our planet. Learn more about her books, programs, coaching, and newly-released app, Unlock Your Keys featuring Purpose Reps, enablers and capacity builders for sustainable change at www.denawiggins.com.

The Wonderings/Wanderings Series are snippets to invite the curious soul forward in times that are calling her out to play.