Introduction

The Positive Paradigm Handbook is the modern day descendant of the ancient Chinese Book of Change. The purpose for using them remains the same: to increase personal self-awareness that leads to making wiser decisions and getting better results.

The introductory section of The Common Sense Book of Change queries the text, asking what this particular version has to offer its readers. The answer is AWARENESS:

Seek increased AWARENESS of the patterns which underlie all natural events. Tune yourself to the creative source of natural change. Then harmony becomes a way of life. Secrets of the arts and sciences will be revealed. Human relationships will become smooth. Mistakes of miscalculation will be prevented. Avoid unnatural leaders.

The Positive Paradigm Handbook pushes this question to the next level, asking “How can the Handbook be used to increase AWARENESS and restore personal wholeness?”

Approach

The wheels-within-wheels structure of the Positive Paradigm Wheel is an optimal tool of self-analysis, especially when used to increase self-awareness.

Whatever the question or decision being investigated, put it in perspective by placing its elements within the prioritized structure of the Wheel. Approach decision-making with the multi-level, Motive-Purpose-Intent standard of mindful self-awareness. (See Figure V.01.)

As an example, apply this standard to the immediate question at hand: “How can using The Positive Paradigm Handbook increase personal wholeness?”

Ask:

1. WHY am I using the Handbook? That’s the Motive.

2. WHAT is my reason for doing so? To what end am I using it? What do I expect to accomplish? That’s the Purpose.

3. HOW am I going to achieve this purpose? What actions can and will I take? That’s the Intent.

For best results, before continuing further, make a quick scan of the “What and Why” grid. It shows the possible combinations of right and wrong actions plus right and wrong reasons. Check to verify that intended actions and their reasons are both in the right place.

One can do the right thing for the right reason. In the case of using the Handbook, it would be taking the action of increasing self-awareness for the sake of both personal and the larger good.

However, it’s also possible to do the right thing for the wrong reason(s). In the case of using the Handbook, it would be increasing self-awareness for self-advancement only, regardless of the effect on others.

Intentionally forfeiting personal growth opportunities for the sake of allowing others to prosper is an example of doing the wrong thing for the right reason.

Intentionally forfeiting personal growth opportunities for the sake financial gain at others’ expense is an example of doing the wrong thing for the wrong reason.

Books on change have quasi-magical fail-safes that prevent them from being used for the wrong reasons. Approaching them with evil motives has a way of generating nonsense results that alienate insincere seekers. They walk away, thinking the books are useless.

So if you’re approaching the Handbook for the wrong reasons, stop here. Proceed no further until you’re confident that your answers fit into the right-right corner of the grid.

Once you’re approaching the Handbook for the right reasons, then proceed to the next step. Answer the three self-awareness questions, prioritizing them according to their location within the Positive Paradigm Wheel.

First, “WHY am I using the Handbook?” That’s the Motive, which rests at the innermost center of the Wheel. For example, one “right” answer is to restore your innate, original state of wholeness. Fulfillment, bliss, joy, and creative genius are all by-products of remembering who you truly are.

Second, “HOW am I going to achieve this purpose?” That’s the Intent which is associated with energy, emotions and drive located in the middle layer of the Wheel. In a word, ACTION.

Here, the “right” action is to complete each of the Handbook exercises, with everything that entails. Answer the challenging questions which precede every step as honestly and completely as possible. Then enter that information into the grids, and from there construct your personal Life Wheel.

Third, “WHAT is my reason for using the Handbook? What do I expect to accomplish?” That’s the Purpose. It fits in the outermost level of the Wheel. It is the material, manifested level associated with tangible, practical results. Here “right” answers would include to increased personal health and happiness, improved quality of relationships, and improved outcomes in the conduct of daily life.

Getting optimal results from using the Handbook depends not only on the right approach, however. It also depends on approaching the decision-making process that leads to positive change with the right attitudes:

Attitude

The preliminaries used in approaching the Book of Change are also recommended for working with the Handbook. It helps to have a quiet place to think, free of noise and distractions. Then, before starting, pause to slow down, settle the emotions and clear the mind. Be sure the breath is slow, deep and even.

In the yogic tradition, breath awareness is used to enter a focused, contemplative state of mind. In fact, many health benefits are derived simply from practicing this preliminary approach to decision-making. Modern science now confirms what the ancients knew. Brainwave science correlates increasingly slower rates of breathing with entering into increasingly deeper levels of awareness. (See Figure V.02.)

Approaching the Handbook in the right frame of mind jump starts the creative thinking process. Slow, deep and even breathing has the effect of harmonizing both hemispheres of the brain. It shifts awareness from the restless, active rate of beta waves to the alpha waves associated with relaxation and revere.

Slowing down still further to enter the theta state is associated not only with deep learning, but also unlearning. Letting go of painful emotions and negative thinking is best accomplished here.

Approach the as-yet untested Positive Paradigm of Change with an open mind. Give it the benefit of the doubt. To received maximum benefits, approach the unknown and unfamiliar with Coleridge’s “willing suspension of disbelief.” When in doubt, refer back to the seven basic axioms listed in Part Two.

Be prepared to be amazed. There will plenty of surprises, both pleasant and unpleasant, along the way. Both are part of the territory. If you see only an up-side to any situation or belief, look for the inevitable down-side, and vice versa. Remember the axiom, “Whatever has a front, has a back.”

An attitude of humility also helps. Accept that there’s much to be learned. Be open and receptive to the unfamiliar and challenging. Moving into new territory is where the benefits are to be had. After all, the purpose here is to expand awareness. Let the conscious mind focus on the job of restoring into full awareness what was formerly hidden.

The attitude of a detective is highly appropriate. Be keen to trace the undesirable situations you want to change to the real culprits: false ideas and negative attitudes. Remember, “You can’t leave a place you’ve never been.”

Rooting out the cause of the problem is required if you want to create long lasting, positive change. Tampering with surface symptoms isn’t enough. If the underlying problem isn’t identified and corrected, the disease will continue to generate new, quite possibly worse symptoms.

Keep the ultimate reward in mind: Freedom from ignorance and mental suffering. Also, since change happens smallest to largest, it is the necessary precursor of enduring social/political freedom.

Make It Your Own

Part Five offers the opportunity to turn the Positive Paradigm of Change that has been presented thus far from an abstract idea into an immediate, personal experience. If you engage actively in the process of personal change, you’ll understand the ideas better, retain them longer, and reach your goals sooner.

For starters, the easiest way to engage is to use the blank templates for each step found in the Appendix at the back of the Handbook. Since you probably will want to use them over and over, make plenty of photocopies of each, so you won’t run out.

HOWEVER, if you really want to fully engage in the change process, get creative. Since the Handbook format is limited to a relatively small 6″ x 9″ page size and to black and white only, you can do better if you make the effort to “do it yourself.” Use the models provided as a spring board and take off from there.

Journal your answers to each set of challenging questions before filling out the Grid & Wheel pairs. Writing by hand is the holistic approach. There’s something about cursive writing that triggers the imaginative creative process. It certainly has something to do with the hand-eye-brain coordination involved. However, “thinking out loud” at the computer keyboard is a close second. The idea is to get the creative juices flowing.

If you’re artsy and have craft supplies, work with a large drawing tablet. Use a compass and protractor to make right-brained circles, and a ruler to draw left-brained grids. Use colored pencils and pens (iridescent ones are great). Be imaginative in the use of colors to illustrate your thoughts and feelings. Have fun.

If you’re computer savvy and have access to draw, photo shop or even mind map software, you can personalize your grids and create your own pie charts. The more color, the better.

How To Proceed

Each of the seven maps takes three steps to complete.

First, with a clear, quiet and focused mind, answer the initial set of questions as carefully and completely as possible. Feel free to make them your own. If necessary, modify them or add others. Be sure they address all of your interests and concerns.

Second, using those answers, fill in the first Sector Division Grid. Select the relevant categories. Write specific actions in the next column and the attitudes and emotions associated with these actions in the last column. Assign a percent of time and attention focused in each sector. Here is an example:

Third, design your personalized Life Wheel. Depending on where most awareness is focused, decide how thin or thick to make each of the levels. Is attention evenly distributed, or focused primarily on the surface, the middle, or the center of the Wheel? The Wheel template shows the levels as relatively even in size. But a personalized Wheel can look like any of the illustrations, or even something quite different.

Forth, divide the personalized Life Wheel into pie-shaped sectors. Size each of them according to the allocated percent of time and attention. Label each sector according to the grid. Inside each sector, within each level, write in summary and reminder comments.

According to the Positive Paradigm, life emanates from and depends on the center. So show much awareness is focused on conscience. Designate your relationship (or the lack of) to the eternal source. For example, illustrations that follow Part Four show possible Wheel designs. In one, the center is left empty to indicate no interest. Others show an “X” to designate strong disbelief, a “?” to indicate uncertainty, or a happy face to show joy. Still another fills the center with a Jesus icon to represent the experience of a personal connection with Christ.

The following example shows how the grid is translated into a personal Wheel that is sized according to focus, and sectored to represent areas of attention. The question mark placed in the center represents inexperience but openness to learning.

PERSONALIZE THE WHEELS

MAP ONE: How My Life Looks Right Now

As the first step in increasing self-awareness, think about yourself in detail. Use a notebook or a computer to complete the following questions. This information assesses the state-of-the-art. It takes a snap-shot picture of what your world looks like NOW.

Build Your Personal Profile

Here’s a list of basic profile questions. Ignore those that don’t apply. Include others as necessary. Be scrupulously honest. This personal assessment is between you and your conscience. There’s no one to impress, no one to fool. The life you save with your honest answers may be your own.

Then use a Sector Division Grid to fill in the active sectors of your life, and estimate the percent of your time and attention is usually focused on each.

Personal Descriptors: Gender, age, geographical location housing and/or living arrangement.

Relationships: List details regarding parents, siblings, spouse(s), children, extended family, personal friends, social connections, business relationships, etc.

Education

Are you involved in school now?

If yes, as a student, teacher, administrator, policy maker, or . . ?

Experience: positive, negative, or mixed?

Highest level. Skills acquired. Life-long learner?

How much time and attention is invested in media?

Main information and entertainment venues:

Movies, TV, news, radio, internet, blogs, social media?

How important are books? How much time is spent reading?

Interests: adventure, biography, engineering, history, how-to, inspirational, fiction (mysteries, romance), politics, porn, science, science fiction, scriptures, self-help, sociology, survival, other.

Health: Describe your eating, sleeping, exercise habits and sexual preferences. Height and weight. Energy Level (high, low, it depends), Moods (positive, negative – how important in daily life); Disabilities (chronic pain or disease, hearing or vision loss, etc.), other. How does each affect your lifestyle?

Do you see physicians or therapists regularly? Are you interested in complimentary medicine approaches to healing? Are you a self-healer? What’s your level of trust in the medical profession?

Personality: General attitude towards life – positive or negative? Where focused – inward, outward, or balanced? A go-getter or go with the flow person, easy-going and laid-back or quick tempered? Optimist, pessimist, skeptic? Flexible and accommodating, or prefer an ordered, routine schedule? Selfish or generous, rash or even-tempered?

Are you an extrovert, introvert, or combination? A leader, follower, loner, or depends? How adventurous? How important is travel and novelty? How much a creature of habit? How much privacy and quiet time do you need?

Religious affiliation: If yes, in traditional church, temple, mosque, etc? How important an influence and part of daily experience? Regular attendance? Occasional only? Spiritual but not affiliated? Believer, agnostic, atheist, etc. How important is this sector? Do you have spiritual aspirations for enlightenment, wisdom, and/or self-awareness?

Professional: Are you currently employed? If not, why? If so, where, for how long and in what capacity?Are you ambitious? How important is career? Interested in taking promotions and taking on more responsibility? How meaningful do you find your work. Is it fulfilling or not? How stressful is it?

Finances: Are you independently wealthy, self-supporting or dependent? What is your Income level? Are you satisfied or is money a problem? How much time is spent dealing with money issues, budgeting, planning, etc.

Time Use: Are you organized. or disorganized? How many demands are there on personal/professional time? How well is time used?

Social Life: Do you like meeting new people? How wide or small is your circle of acquaintances? How much time is spent with others – in business, family or informal social situations?

Political affiliation: What is your level of knowledge about law, government and the legal profession. What is your level of trust, interest and involvement, and/or participation? Are you an office holder? Are you a protester? Has your upbringing influenced your views? If yes, how much, and in what ways?

Legal Issues: List bankruptcy, divorce(s), civil suits. arrests, and/or jail time.

Follow Up to Personal Assessment

Look at the picture of the Personal Life Wheel to decide what conclusions can be drawn from answering these questions:

Over all, what does my world look like now?

Where in the Wheel are my time and attention invested?

Into how many major sections is my life Wheel divided?

Are the sections well-balanced and mutually supportive?

What is the unifying goal, belief, or center point around which my life is organized?

What are my core values?

Do I have a central purpose? If so, what is it?

How deeply rooted are my convictions?

Do my core values radiate from the inside out?

Do they connect the outside world with my inner life?

Do I live true to my beliefs?

Do I put them into practice only sometimes, at only some levels and in some areas of my life?

Is my lifestyle consistent with my purpose?

Am I consistent in theory and practice?

Some percent, in some areas . . . or?

Are all the levels of my personal Wheel activated?

Are they linked, integrated and mutually sustaining.

How well do I take care of myself? On which levels, in what ways? If not, why not?

How well do take care of others’ needs — family, friends, coworkers, employees, clients and customers? If yes, who? On what levels, in what ways? If not, why not?

Are the levels of my personal organization Wheel prioritized correctly by the Positive Paradigm standard? Or are they inverted, placing material values at the center, and ego over the general good?

MAP TWO: The Way My Life Should Look

The second map is a planning exercise. It sums up aspirations and intentions as the first step in planning for positive change. It begins with looking objectively at the Assessment Wheel and asking some hard but important questions.

Answers to these questions are used to intentionally reallocate the sectors of their personal Wheel and, as necessary, rethink the amount of attention devoted to the levels of light, energy and mass. Answers are used to rethink the Sector Division Grid and then redraw the personal Life Wheel to show how life should look.

The overarching questions to ask about the first, assessment Life Wheel are, “What’s Right with this Picture? What’s Wrong with this picture that needs changing?”

Ask:

1. Is my current lifestyle fulfilling? Am I happy? Are my primal needs to give and receive love being met?

2. Are the levels of my personal Wheel prioritized correctly, putting first things first? Or are they inverted, placing material values at the center, and ego over the general good?

3. What is my purpose in life? Is my lifestyle consistent with that purpose? Do my choices support my personal beliefs and values or undermine them? What are the consequences? Are there better choices? What am I going to do about it, when?

4. Are there sectors of my personal Wheel that shouldn’t be there? Have they become irrelevant, contradictory, self-defeating or counter-productive? Should they be eliminated? Should they be replaced?

5. What levels and sectors should be there, but aren’t? To what extent are some underdeveloped?

6. How urgent are the actions which are necessary to bring the personal and/or organizational Wheels that affect my well-being into balance? What are the consequences of avoiding these questions and continuing to procrastinate?

7. Are there sectors of my personal and/or most influential organizations’ Wheels that shouldn’t be there? Have they become irrelevant, contradictory, self-defeating or counter-productive? Should they be eliminated? Should they be replaced?

8. What levels and sectors should be there, but aren’t? To what extent are some underdeveloped? “

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Map Two is the picture of what a more happy, fulfilling life would look like to you.

MAP THREE: How To Get from Here to There

Questions for building the third map assess the follow-through actions required to reach your goals for personal happiness and fulfillment. Use it to reorganize your life and make realistic, practical decisions about what it will take to achieve intended results.

Ask:

What practical actions must I take to get from here to there?

What changes are necessary in my personal organization?

What am I willing to do to achieve positive personal change? When? How?

Who can help?

What key resources – people, information, computers and other tools, financing, etc. — do I need to get from here to there?

Are these resources are available?

If yes who and where are they?

If not, how will I obtain them?

How long will it take me to get from here to there?

What are the realistic, incremental steps that will make the possible into actual fact?

What separate parts of my action plan must come together? In what order? How will I coordinate them?

What is most realistic way to use my time and material resources to get from here to there?

What sectors of my Life Wheel can be fine tuned so I can direct what’s available more effectively towards meeting my goals?

Use the answers to these questions to fill out a Practical Sector Division Grid and create your Practical Life Wheel.

MAP FOUR: How the Past Influences the Future

Use the questions that precede Map Four to do a thorough personal housecleaning. The purpose is to de-clutter the outermost level, simplify the middle level and add clarity to the innermost level of your Life Wheel.

A necessary aspect of increasing self-awareness is clearing out the mental-emotional swamp. This makes it possible to change the negative attitudes and overcome the negative emotions they generate, including fears, resentments and anger. The process isn’t necessarily fun, but the rewards and benefits are immense.

This “look back” part of the healing process will open up closed or hidden parts of the mind, making the unconscious conscious. The new information gathered by answering the hard but necessary questions can be summed up in the “look back” grid and plugged into an ever improving personal Life Wheel.

In addition, if it helps to put your life in perspective and think about the past and future more objectively, fill out the Personal history grid. It shows significant actions and attitudes in five year increments. If you’re younger than 25 or older than 60 years, then create a new one with sectors that meets your interests and needs. From that, draw your Personal History Wheel.

Ask questions about the past:

1. What lessons can I learn from my past? Is there unfinished business I should take care of that might otherwise return when it’s least convenient? What unpaid debts do I owe that should be paid so I can go forward with a clear conscience.

2. Are there things about my past that I now regret? Are there things I shouldn’t have done or ones I should have? What would I do differently NOW? Why?

3. Am I holding on to personal grudges or harboring negative emotions that might interfere with positive intentions. What are they? What can and will I do about them now? What would be the consequences of holding on?

4. Are there lifestyle habits brought with me from the past that are counter-productive now? What eating, sleeping, hygiene and other personal habits might interfere with achieving my future goals? What can I do about them now?

5. Are there unexamined issues are nagging at the back of my mind, preventing me from being fully present in the NOW? What are they? Could they undermine my chances of future success and happiness? How can I resolve them?

6. When is looking back counter-productive? Is it time to close the book on some chapters, consider them done and walk clean away?

Ask general questions:

What are my worst fears?

What are blind spots or inconsistencies do I need to address?

Are there weakness or others obstacles that block future change? If yes, what are they?

How did they get there? How long have they been there?

Where are they located within the Wheel?

In what sectors. On what levels?

What is the best way to deal with them?

Are actions required to overcome them? If yes, what ones?

What attitudes and emotions, personality traits, health and work

habits undermine my good intentions?

Am I willing to face up to them, heal them, and move on?

What motivates me to change?

What are the consequences of change versus avoiding change?

MAP FIVE: The Personal Leadership Wheel

With the results of the first four maps in hand, you’re ready to move on to the fifth level, extending personal change planning to analysis and improvement of interpersonal relationships, policy analysis and the quality of organizational administration.

When constructing the personal Leadership Wheel, keep in mind the twin basics of the Positive Paradigm. First, qualitative change starts from the inside. Second, it begins with the smallest unit and radiates outwards.

This is true for individuals. It applies equally to organizations. With this standard in mind, change agents can use the following questions to analyze and then actualize their personal leadership potentials. They can also proceed to identify and train potential leaders and choose whom to follow and support amongst current leaders.

Ask:

How important are leaders? Why? What are their responsibilities to me, those I care for, and the world? How well do the ones I’m aware of meet these responsibilities? What are the consequences? What can or should I do about it, when?

How much can or should I do as an individual to improve the quality of leadership? Are there positive groups I can join and actively support that would magnify my concerns, especially ones that might improve the chances of human survival.

How would I describe my parents as role models? If applicable, how do I describe myself as a parent? Would my children agree? Does it matter? Why or why not?

At every stage of my life, what key people influenced my beliefs and decisions? To what extent were they real people in my daily life, political or religious leaders or individuals from the history, the movies or other second-hand sources?

Was their affect positive and healing, negative and fragmenting, or some combination. What did I learn from them? What did I do about what I learned?

Would I choose to be like them, the opposite, or something else all together?

How has my opinion of leaders changed over time? Were there water shed events that changed my opinions? What were they? What changed?

How do I define a good leader? What qualities make a good leader? How would I describe a bad leader? Do I have any of these qualities?

How many of the leaders in my family, school, community, and/or religious institution, are good leaders? Do I support them? How? If not, why not? How many aren’t?

What percent of the government leaders I’m aware of are good ones? Are they friends, meaning ones I trust to look out for my best interests? Or are they enemies, whose actions are detrimental, even opposed to my well-being? What are the consequences, for me and those I care for? What am I going to do about it, and when?

Do I want to be a leader? Why or why not? Do I have a choice?

Do I consider myself to be a leader? In all situations, some, or none? If so, could I be a better leader? In what ways? What am I going to do about it, and when?

Do other people regard me as a leader? How do they show it? Do I like it?

Do I treat myself, immediate family, co-workers, employers, and strangers with equal respect? If not, why not? What are the consequences?

How can I map my goals for becoming a better leader in Positive Paradigm context?

Further questions:

Do my choices and/or my leaders’ requirements support my personal beliefs and values, or undermine them? What are the consequences? Are their better choices? What am I going to do about this, and when?

Is my lifestyle consistent with my personal and/or organization’s purpose?

Are the levels of my organizations’ Wheel prioritized correctly? Or are they inverted, placing material values at the center, and ego over the general good?

Is my lifestyle consistent with my personal and/or organization’s purpose?

Do the groups with which I’m affiliated — family, social circles, religious institutions, businesses, clubs, corporations, local, state and national governments — each have a unifying purpose? Do they have more than one goal, for example an official, formally stated goal versus unwritten, informal rules and goals. If so, what are they? Or is the center hollow and void?

Which groups acknowledge the center and the inner authority of conscience? Which are dedicated to institutional and human authority? Which organization serve its individual members? Which use them to institutional ends? With what consequences to my personal well-being?

On which levels (if any) do each of these groups serve me. On all or only some levels — spiritual, mental-psychological and/or social-material? Do any of them improve (or threaten) my chances of ultimate survival? If so, in what way(s)?

In each case, is the organization’s stated or unstated/unofficial goal properly placed at the center of its Wheel? Is it actually put into practice? Or merely given lip-service, used as distracting window dressing to disguise unacceptable hidden agendas? What does a Wheel diagram of each organization look like? Does it resemble the Positive Paradigm or . . . something else? Whatever the case, what are the consequences to me and those I hold dear?

In each case, is the organization’s stated or unstated/unofficial goal properly placed at the center of its Wheel? Is it actually put into practice? Or merely given lip-service, used as distracting window dressing to disguise unacceptable hidden agendas? What does a Wheel diagram of each organization look like? Does it resemble the Positive Paradigm or . . . something else? Whatever the case, what are the consequences to me and those I hold dear?

How consistent is the behavior of current leaders in any or all of these organizations with their written policies and/or spoken words? Are their words polarizing and extreme, or moderate, healing and harmonizing? Do they tell me whatever I want to hear, the better to manipulate me. Or do they give me the facts? Are the results of their conduct unifying or fragmenting? (“By their works ye shall know them.”)

Are the levels of my personal and/or organization’s Wheel prioritized correctly, putting first things first? Or are they inverted, placing material values at the center, and ego over the general good? Is my lifestyle consistent with my personal and/or organization’s purpose? Do my choices and/or my leaders’ requirements support my personal beliefs and values, or undermine them? What are the consequences? Are their better choices? What am I going to do about this, and when?

How congruent are my personal and/or organization’s defining values with both the immediate situation and with projected future directions? To the extent that goals are out of synch with present circumstances, what steps are necessary to bring them into alignment? What are the consequences of failing to take these steps?

MAP SIX: Questions About Stress and Healing

The following questions will help self-healers and their care providers identify sources of personal stress and heal stress-related illnesses. This questions can be used to diagnose not only the symptoms but also eradicate the roots of disease-causing stress.

Use this information to decide how best to correct lifestyle imbalances. This model can be extended to identify symptoms of organizational stress, getting to the root causes of stress-related disease, and defining appropriate and effective interventions. (This is the focus of Map Seven.)

Ask:

Who raised you? How much tension did you experience where you lived growing up? If you had siblings, how well did you get along? Why or why not? How much childhood illness did you experience? Was it related to tension at home, or at school?

Do you suffer from stress-related disease? Are you are caregiver to anyone in your family? Over what time span? What is your attitude towards illness? How has poor health affected your finances, lifestyle, opportunities and general well-being?

Do you have issues with authority? Are you over-compliant or unreasonably defiant? Why? When did it start? What have been the consequences? What are you willing to do about it now?

Do you have issues like panic, anger, shyness or depression? Can you pin-point when they started, and why? How have they affected your lifestyle, relationships, and employment?

Are your family and friends aware of your issues? Have you talked to mental professionals about them? If so, has it helped? If not, why not?

Do you engage in physical activity to alleviate stress symptoms? If not, why not? If so, how often and what kind(s)? Do they relieve or add to physical and/or mental problems?

Is there stress related to money? How long has it been the case? How has it affected your health, lifestyle, relationships, and general well-being?

Is employment a stress factor? In what ways? For how long? What are your options for change?

Do you have personal friends? How many? How close? How long-lasting? Are they a positive or negative influence? How much does the presence or absence of friendship influence mental and physical health? In what ways? Would changes in this area be beneficial?

Do you have pets? If so, how attached are you to them? How does their presence or absence affect your lifestyle and general well-being?

Do you consult medical professionals? What kind, why, how often, and how satisfied are you with the result? Would you consider other options, including taking more self-responsibility for your health? What positive forms would this include?

Do you ignore relationship issues? Do you bury your feelings, or hide them from others? How much emotional control and discipline do you show in tense situations? Are you calm when others panic?

Do you keep a journal, engaged in contemplation or meditation? Do you read scriptures or pray? If yes, how often? How helpful is it? How self-aware am you? Is your life well-balanced? Are the sectors and levels of your personal Wheel of Change mutually supportive and congruent? Are they linked, or do you regard them as separate parts of your life.

Where are the sources and symptoms of stress located? What are the consequences to mental and physical health? What are your options for making yourself whole? What am you going to do about it, when?

MAP SEVEN: Healing Social Ills

Map Seven applies the seven axioms and basic principles of the Positive Paradigm to the general ills of society. When focused like a laser on the origins of gender, race and age discrimination, sexual abuse, and crimes against humanity, the Wheel of Change illuminates the field. It can serve as the basis for identifying valid and effective positive action solutions.

To complete this work would take volumes. What can be accomplished here is for the agent of personal change to select the questions related to personal experience with the purpose of increasing self-awareness that will lead to self-healing, improved inter-personal relationships, and more effective behavior on the job.

The following questions can be answered with equal effectiveness by both the perpetrators of mental and physical violence and their victims. The questions that apply to specific instances can also be used by those who work with perpetrators and victims to bring them to a higher level of self-awareness as a prelude to positive change.

Organizational leaders in every field of endeavor — government, military, business, healthcare, to mention a few — will find many useful ways to Positive Paradigm concepts. In particular, mental health and human resources professionals can adapt the Wheel of Change to map the dynamics of clients, professional associations and business organizations — the better to initiate positive change.

Domestic Violence

Was domestic violence experienced your home as a child? Who was violent, who was treated violently? Why? What forms did it take? How often did it occur? Was drug or alcohol abuse involved? What did you do about it then? What would you do about it now?

Is the domestic violence going on where you live now? Who is violent, who is being hurt? Why? What forms does it take? How often does it occur. Is drug or alcohol abuse involved? Why is it allowed to continue? Is it appropriate or necessary? Has law enforcement been contacted? Are legal or other protections in place? What are the possible consequences?

Sexual Abuse

Was sexual abuse experienced in your home as a child? Who was abused, and by whom? How often? Was anyone who could have helped aware of this? If no one knew, why not? If no one helped, why not? What did you do about it then? What would you do about it now?

Is there sexual abuse going on at home now? Who is abused, and by whom. How often? Is drug or alcohol abuse involved? Why is it allowed to continue? Is this appropriate or necessary? Has law enforcement been contacted? Are legal or other protections in place? What are the possible consequences?

Bullying

Did you experience bullying at school (or on the street) when you were growing up. Were you on the giving or receiving end? How intense was it? How often? What did you do about it? If yes, what? If nothing, why not? Did anyone intervene? With what consequences?

What did you learn from this experience? What would you do about it now?

Elder Abuse

Are any seniors you or your friends know being abused by adult children or others in the community? Why, in what ways and how often? What’s being dong about it, by whom? If nothing, why not? What are the consequences?

Are you as a senior being abused by adult children or others in the community? Why, in what ways, and how often? Are others in a position to intervene aware that this is going on? Have you looked into legal or other protections? Why or why not? With what consequences? What are you going to do about it NOW?

Religious Prejudice

Were you on the giving and/or receiving end of religious prejudice as a child? Where were these attitudes learned? Why were they allowed? Did anyone intervene? What did you learn from this experience? What were the consequences?

Are you on the giving and/or receiving end of religious prejudice now? What are the consequences, to whom, on what levels? What are you going to do about it NOW?

Racial Discrimination

Were you on either the giving and/or receiving end of racial discrimination as a child? What forms did it take? Where were these attitudes learned? Why were they allowed? Did you do anything about it? Did anyone intervene? What did you learn from this experience? What are the ongoing consequences?

Are you on either the giving and/or receiving end of racial discrimination now? What forms does it take? What do you do about it? Why or why not? What are the consequences, to whom, on what levels? What are you doing to do about it NOW?

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

What traumatic events from the past are disturbing your mind now? What were these events? How long ago were they? What after-effects are being experienced now? How are these memories affecting the quality of daily life, personal relationships and employment now?

Are there residual physical issues which require medical attention? If so, what and when will you get it? If not, are there beliefs or negative attitudes which prevent you from forgiving and letting go of the past? What are they? Are they worth holding on to? What positive beliefs might have a healing effect now? Is consulting a mental health professional an option? If so, what are you going to do about it, when? If not, why not?

What are the consequences to you and your loved ones of your continuing to dwell on past trauma? What are the benefits to you and others of making your life Wheel whole? Are you willing to take self-responsibility to heal yourself?

CONCLUSION

Applications of the Positive Paradigm of Change are virtually endless. The Handbook itself remains a work in progress. Your constructive feedback via the Contact Page is greatly appreciated.

As appropriate, your feedback will be quoted in responsive blogs and used improve and update the Handbook.