Three-Sided Circle

There are three steps to the process of making a change in ourselves. The first, and probably the most difficult, is realizing that we actually need to change. The second step is doing something different to bring about that change and the third is remembering that we need to keep doing the first two.

One of my favorite Alexander quotes is: "The things that don't exist are the most difficult to get rid of." Until he lost his voice, Alexander had no idea that he was interefering with the freedom and flexibilty of his entire psycho-physical mechanism. The severity of the problem and the way it kept him from doing what he loved to do was what motiviated Alexander to figure out how to do something different in order to solve the problem.

But even after he discovered that different thing; the "means whereby" he could change his habitual use, Alexander had to "stick to principle" and continue inhibiting and directing on the conscious level in order to prevent himself from collapsing back into his old unconsciously directed habits.

By monitoring{Noticing} whether or not we are continuing to do the something different step, we are, in effect, returning to the first step; because if we find that at the "Noticing moment" we are continuing to "do something different" i.e., employing our new use, then we are doing fine. If, on the other hand, we discover that we have stopped doing that "something different" and returned to our old habitual use, that discovery in itself brings us back to the first step: we see we need to make a change and can do so if we choose. In this way the three steps have come full circle.