The episode begins with a small exercise which will get more complex.
Step 1: You and I are in a relationship right now. Whether I know you or not, today you are aware of me to some degree. The relationship as it stands today is the Incumbent Reference Point (incumbent because it is a moment in time, not the best, last, or strongest, just the current; reference point simply because we will come back to it again). Think backward to the most recent time that you confirmed, affirmed, or established that relationship with me. We call this the Penultimate Node because it is presently the most recent, but it will forever take on new shapes; and it is a node because it marks a point in time when something about the status quo changed, with respect to the Lineage at hand (our relationship). Once this node is established, think of the then-most recent time that you worked you way to that one, and so on until, finally you have reached the earliest point in your life when you did something that would eventually result in you listening to this show today. You can’t go back any further. Be aware, I likely drop out of the picture quite early in your backward process. Furthermore, we are only interested in the choices and reactions that you made. Not me on the other side of the relationship, your parents, etc. Just you. When you can go back no further in seeking these moments of decision, you have found your Germinal Stimulus.
We spoke last season of the fact that all change is brought on only after an adjustment phase, no matter how brief, which itself required a catalyst. You’ll recall that every second you are being exposed to literally hundreds of stimuli through your senses, whether the literal wallpaper color, the music on the radio, or an object in front of you. At every moment, your five senses are monitoring countless stimuli vying for your attention. Fortunately, most are a blip, discarded or ignored as Unremarkable. But many cause you to pause and realize that you need to take action of some kind, lest that stimulus weigh you down until it is recognized in some way. These Remarkable Stimuli range from simple to incredibly complex and they require action to set your mind at ease, at least as regards their respective lineages. That make be a full-on discovery and action process (indicating the Remarkable Stimulus has converted to a Catalyst) or by the perfectly acceptable result of intentionally discarding it as no longer remarkable. It’s not that it became unremarkable, it just is no longer a priority.
And so, the Germ is, in effect, the first time this lineage of yours discovered a remarkable stimulus.
Step 2: Now, on your own, I encourage you to think about a recent achievement of yours, regardless of its size. Complete this backward-focused exercise, making your way through the nodes that got you to eventually complete the achievement. There are some large, important, nodes, and many that are less significant. You may also discover that you never even started on an intentional path toward your achievement. It may have resulted organically on some path that changed its intention throughout. You may also find that the germ for this path has nothing at all to do with the achievement that ultimately came to be.
We’ve learned here that your life unfolds in ways that you may be expecting and that even if you veer off in some other direction there is a strong chance that you will still make conclusions, accomplish tasks, and achieve goals, even if they seem wildly different than when you first set out.
When we are honest and self-reflective, we often have a moment of saying “How did I get here?” as if time has passed us by and all we know is that our original plan never matured. That it didn’t may very likely be the case. I’m certain that you are not a professional baseball player-ballerina-astronaut, and you likely don’t regret that you failed in that career path, despite the ardency with which you longed for it at the age of 4.
If you go easy on yourself for that digression, why would you allow those feelings to set in over the blazing of a different trail than the one your thought for yourself in high school, college, or even last week?