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1.3: When the Map becomes a Trap: Loosing grip of Reality

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1.3: When the Map becomes a Trap: Loosing grip of Reality

We have seen that the left hemisphere creates a simplified map of reality, while the right perceives the complex, living landscape. It is precisely here, in the tension between the map and the landscape, that the key lies to understanding many problems that clients bring to coaches and therapists.

The Problem of the Left Hemisphere: The Loss of Reality

The left hemisphere's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness: It is designed to perceive the world as it already knows it. It draws on established categories, beliefs, and patterns to function with minimal energy expenditure. The problem with this is that it tends to believe the map it has developed is the landscape.

When this way of perceiving the world takes over, we lose contact with reality, with other people, and with the implicit, intangible aspects of life. The result is a world that, while appearing powerful and controllable, ultimately feels empty and meaningless.

When Clients Are Trapped in the Map

A great many of the problems for which people seek help arise precisely from this dilemma. They are stuck because the wisdom and solutions that lie in the right hemisphere have been lost. They try to solve their problems through even more analysis and deliberation – that is, with the very left-hemisphere tools that so restrict their view of the world. They remain trapped in their old map and can find no way out.

But this doesn't just apply to clients. We as therapists and coaches also run the risk of getting stuck in our own methodological maps. If we cling too tightly to a specific procedure, we miss the living, individual person sitting in front of us, and the therapeutic relationship that is so necessary for healing is lost.

The Central Challenge: Involving the Right Hemisphere

Real change, new ways of interacting, and profound 'aha' moments can only come from the right hemisphere, as it is the only one that can lead us beyond the known. We must therefore consciously include the wisdom, perspectives, and impulses of the right hemisphere in our work.

But this leads us to the central challenge that paves the way for our further investigation: The right hemisphere does not have its own language in the conventional sense. People who suffer a stroke in the left hemisphere often lose their language, even though the right is still intact.

So how can we incorporate something into our sessions that eludes language? How can we specifically address the right hemisphere to enable those deep changes our clients so urgently need?

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Glossary