The Alchemy of 10X

Reveal the Gold Within

There is a legend that the young people of Indonesia were required to help build roads as part of their community service after completing school. And the saying was:
“As I build the road. The road builds me.”
An interpretation of this philosophy is that building the roads was a catalyst for these young people to reveal the adult qualities within them.

An important take-away is that we learn and grow when we pursue challenges.

And to ‘Reveal the Gold Within’ we want to build something meaningful, and then to embrace the challenges that come with building something meaningful, powerful and fulfilling.

And it takes a type of self-love to

  • To choose yourself in a way that you prioritize your unique path and take action, and then
  • To embrace the challenges in a way that you learn and grow.
  • To become the person that ’Reveals the Gold Within’.

Taking on a challenge, or going up another level, will unmask our sabotaging emotions. Through this process we become acutely aware of what is holding us back. The symptoms of, for example, feeling unworthy or being stuck or suffering imposter syndrome will appear because we are building something meaningful.

Knowing that we are experiencing symptoms because we are building something meaningful is a game changer. We no longer focus on symptoms. Instead, we use honest self-reflection to train our focus on building the skills to FORGIVE THE SABOTAGING EMOTIONS and embrace the challenges. In this way:

  • We show up differently.
  • We heal out inner shadows.
  • We build new skills.
  • We become that person … that person capable of the next level.


An important benefit of healing our sabotaging emotions is the resultant increases in feeling safe at our new higher level goals.

And we change our inner state whilst Revealing the Gold Within us.

These ideas come from the stories of Alchemy and popularised by Carl Jung.

Carl Jung an early pioneer of psychology.

Alchemy is an ancient art that sought to understand the nature of chemicals and metals. The art included practical experiments with chemicals and materials, as well as more spiritual practices. Amongst their goals was the pursuit to turn lead into gold, creating the Philosophers stone, finding the elixir of youth. And it is believed these practices became the groundwork for the modern chemical and pharmaceutical industry.

There are two interesting findings from the journey of these alchemists that Carl Jung popularised:

The first insight about Alchemy popularised by Carl Jung:

Carl Jung suggested that, rather than try to turn lead into gold, the approach should be to reveal the golden qualities that were already within the lead. And this insight could be applied to human nature, and to become the best version of ourselves we should seek to reveal the gold-like qualities that are already within us.

And the second insight:
They discovered that as they pursued action and focussed thought on their experiments, like turning lead into gold, they themselves, their nature and character, also turned from lead to gold. And it is believed they had a theory that if they did not turn their nature from lead to gold then the experiment would also fail. The two, the person and the goal, are inextricably linked.

We are motivated by the rewards of success, as well as by the desire to do something meaningful, powerful and fulfilling. These motivations encourage us to:

  • Do the work and master the skills to achieve the goal, and
  • Build the emotional skill to change our inner state, our nature and character, and become that person, and
  • Deepen relationships with self and others.

Here are examples of becoming increasingly congruent with being the person worthy of that goal.
• Graduating from feelings of stuck TO be willing and flexible to see options.
• Graduating from the impact of rejection and serious setbacks TO knowing that family, colleagues and community provide a supportive environment.
• Graduating from the initial sense of isolation where you alone see the potential TO a sense of meaning as success becomes a reality.
• From the emotional charge that goes with high stress TO finding release and finding increasing comfort in your new world.

CONCLUSION

We began with a legend that the young people of Indonesia who learnt:
“As I build the road. The road builds me”.
Building the road becomes the process to becoming that person.

Encouraging us to experience our circumstances as a journey to:

  • To have a willingness to acknowledge the
    • Situation and circumstances
    • Frustrations and anxieties and stresses of your circumstances
  • To embrace these challenges with honest self-reflection
  • To take the action to learn and grow in the process.

In the context of extreme emotional stress created by a very challenging task, we notice these emotions can be the vehicle to unmask the emotional blocks that sabotage your best efforts. And in this way encourages a healing of our inner shadows to change our inner state whilst Revealing the Gold Within.

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.” – Albert Camus