What is the Difference Between Requirements, Expectations and Entitlements?

2009-06-19T10:42:00.006-06:00

In a recent class of the March-June, 2009 Mind-Body Certification Course, the subject of Requirements, Expectations and Entitlements was brought up. The conversation concerned human safety issues. In other words, is it a "Requirement" that one is safe from injury from another person, circumstance or situation?

An example of this is that you are walking down the street and suddenly someone for no apparent reason punches you in the nose! Is it a "safety requirement" that they not punch you in the nose? Is there such a thing as a good "requirement", a necessary "requirement"?

Well, lets look at what a Requirement, Expectation and Entitlement are.

A Requirement is a must, a condition, obligation, requisite, prerequisite, "got to", "have to" with no other alternative but fulfillment of it.

An Expectation is a hope, anticipation, possibility, prospect, belief without any feeling of being driven to obtain it.

An Entitlement is a right, prerogative, privilege, claim, power that is naturally inalienable, ingrained and without question. In other words entitlements come from your Source.

A Requirement is what is created by the Identity System through the Depressor/Fixer Cycle creating storylines and as a consequence, creating the damaged self, the false picture of who you really are. Someone who has to be "fixed" and fails at it all the time.

An Expectation is what you experience when you rest your Identity System and are in a Natural Function State--a state of Mind-Body Bridging or connection. You anticipate, hope and believe your expectation will manifest. But if it does not, then you are only disappointed, not devastated by its failure to be fulfilled. Of course, if your Expectation is that something fails and it does, then you are not disappointed. Your anticipation of failure was fulfilled.

An Entitlement is a human and/or humane right. As human beings one of our entitlements is to life, to live, to exist and be. That right has been taken and continues to be taken by individuals through negligence or intent, life circumstances of accidents, natural disasters, wars, etc. Our right to live is constantly being treaded upon by our own species, other species and our own planet. One could ask right now--why does that occur? The answer is--LIFE IS and this environment is where we live.

So lets look at it this way. Human entitlements are not always respected by others of our own species or Mother Nature. When your entitlement to live, to be, to exist is surrounded by your Identity System Requirements, which by their nature cannot be controlled, then you are endangering yourself. Your response and/or behavor to the infringement of that entitlement may get you into more trouble rather than get you out of it.

If your entitlements are surrounded by your Natural Function Expectations--it's a weird thing that occurs. You naturally know what to do when that entitlement is infringed upon or violated because you are connected to your Source of wisdom, goodness and healing.

Mind-Body Bridging does not mean that you become a doormat and subject yourself to the insults, injuries, abuse of others, life situations and circumstances. It means you access your Source which guides you through the infringements and violations of your entitlements. You find yourself being proactive, protective of yourself, assertive, etc. You come from a place of peace handling the infringement of your entitlement and thrive.

However the reality of our existence even with our entitlements is that we all know that when placed in harm's way either by accident, circumstance, situation or choice, there will be and are consequences--LIFE IS. And sometimes we do everything right and still suffer the dire consequence of injury (physical, spiritual, mental) or death.

So, when it comes down to it, there is no "good" or "necessary" Requirement. There are resting the Identity System/Natural Function Expectations and Entitlements are a given. They are the rights and the condition of being human. It's how we choose to live with those Entitlements--through our Identity System with Requirements making our lives ones of high stress drama or through our Natural Functioning, Expectations and our Source which makes our lives ones of peace and crisis proof.

I am sure you know by now which I am choosing and have chosen to use in my life.

Does anyone have a comment about the above expressed idea? Please submit your comments.

Carol Ann
CMBB Coordinator

Welcome to the Bridging for Life Blog

2009-06-02T15:27:00.007-06:00

As the Welcome on this page states, this blog is dedicated to information about and the practice of Mind-Body Bridging. So as an introduction to Mind-Body Bridging I thought I would give a little synopsis of Mind-Body Bridging.

I practice Mind-Body Bridging. In fact, the principles and techniques of Mind-Body Bridging are integrated into my daily life and it's now my "nature" to use its principles and techniques automatically. Most of the time of my daily life is in the Natural Function mode, I am at peace with life as it is and no longer ride the typhoon waves of crisis.

If you have arrived at this blog via the website, http://www.bridgingforlifeinteractive.com/, you will have had a glimpse into the world of Mind-Body Bridging. There is so much more to come!! I could be on a soap box all day telling everyone about the life changing experience of Mind-Body Bridging, but I chose this blog--it's easier on the feet and voice.

Life on this planet as we human beings know it is one of extremes and everything in between. Most of us bounce like ping pong balls between extremes and on the waves of Crises, be they personal, community, national or world wide e.g. the recent and still ongoing worldwide economic crisis. Stress abounds and is present practically in every way of making a living in the world right now. And of course, that stress certainly flows over into our relationships, intimate and otherwise. If I were not practicing MBB (Mind-Body Bridging), I can't imagine how stressed out I'd be now, maybe almost to the point of being unbearable.

In learning and practicing MBB I have learned that Life IS whether I perceive it as good or bad, Life happens, it does not stop. What did "stop" for me were the Requirements I had in how I and the world should be.

How did I do this? I learned about my Identity System--a natural system we all have that gives us all individuality, separates us from others as individuals, families, communities, nations, cultures, etc. In fact, this is its only true function is to give one a sense of individual identity. This is really great because without it, I would have no self-interest, no direction and no drive.

The Identity System is necessary and in itself is not a problem. The problem is when it becomes dominant and the separateness it engenders throws us out of balance. This balance is the natural interplay all humans experience between our Source (union) and the Identity System (separateness). Source you ask? Yes, as I understand it, it is that connective web or matrix that connects everything to everything. The Oneness, God, the Universe, the Force--whatever you may call it. It is that which is greater than we are, but we are also in it and a part of it.

Your Identity System becomes a Dictator when it has overstepped its helpfulness in your development becoming rigid and exclusive leaving you only its story as all that you are, all that you can be and you cannot put it to rest. In this overactive state, it creates fear, restricts awareness, numbs you out and disrupts the harmony between the mind-body connection. In this state, it gives you a false picture of yourself as being damaged and limited impairing you in how you experience yourself and even your activities reducing you to being only as good as your last thought. If that last thought was "I'm no good"--well-----are you???

The answer is, NO. It is only a thought that has been captured by the Identity System. This is where it really gets good!! The Identity System has these little helpers called the Depressor and Fixer that take that thought and whirl it around making it into a Requirement with a Storyline that makes you dance like a cat on a hot tin roof and its all a false picture of who you are!! Now doesn't THAT make you feel good?

Now all my negative self-talk/thoughts that made me feel I was damaged, broken, in constant need of being "fixed" no longer take place. All those stories I would tell myself about how the world, myself, people, etc., should be no longer happen. Why? Because I learned how to rest my Identity System--it is not my Dictator--it is my tool, my friend, an advantage that helps me enhance my life and live in a natural function state of peace without crisis no matter what LIFE may do.

Did I get rid of the Identity System? No. Does this mean I no longer have negative thoughts? No. Does this mean the Identity System is no longer triggered? No, but now I am aware and can recognize and defuse a Requirement of how I and the world should be when it comes up.

I am finding I have Requirements about many, many things in my life concerning everything from intimate relationships to shopping in a grocery store to how people "should" drive their cars--lots of things. But now I am aware of Requirements and in a state of peace, not thrown into a state of crisis when they happen. They are no longer like landmines I step on and blow up, but rocks of support to cross a stream.

Mind-Body Bridging can be learned and utilized by anyone. It is so simple yet so effective. The outstanding thing you will learn about it is --results happen immediately. You are aware immediately. MBB is experiential, you have to experience it to know what it can do.

In the last few months my life has not been one of smooth sailing. I experienced the death of my Mother taking care of her 24/7 as she laid dying of cancer. My son is now in Afghanistan leaving behind his wife and a precious baby girl. My daughter was betrayed in love and suffered heartbreak and life changing disappointment. Life IS. I am experiencing loss, grief, sorrow & loneliness. I can state with gratitude that I am experiencing these life circumstances in a state of peace and awareness because of the integrated daily practice of MBB.

So welcome to the world of Mind-Body Bridging.

May you Bridge and have peace.

Carol Ann, CMBB Coordinator