Six Inner Obstacles

Guiding Question: What invisible, inner obstacles are limiting my capacity for effective freedom?

Bring to mind a moment in your life when you had an incredible opportunity in front of you, but you failed to see it clearly and act on it. 

What prevented you from realizing and actualizing the potential? 

For me, I can recall a specific moment, not long ago, when I was half-asleep, wrapped up in my own thoughts, fears, and insecurities. I was focused on myself and blind to the world around me. 

I had the freedom to choose, but I didn’t have the capacity to see the potential right in front of me. 

It’s hard not to look back on such moments with a sense of regret, but I try to remind myself this is a process. In every missed opportunity, there is valuable insight waiting to be discovered and applied moving forward. That’s the aim here. 

Of course, if I’m being honest with myself, these moments are quite common. To some degree, they are happening every day. It could easily happen right now, even as I write about it. Perhaps also for you as you read about it.  

A framework I’ve been playing with to explore this question is one I first learned from my mentor Carol Sanford (slightly modified), which originally comes from J.G. Bennett’s work on Systematics. Carol referred to it as the Six Inner Obstacles, or the Six Energy Drains. 

Here, I’m going to briefly reflect on how each of the six inner obstacles relates to our capacity for effective freedom. I invite you to slow down and try to see a bit more of the potential you’ve been missing in your own life.

How and where do these obstacles show up for you? How do they prevent you from realizing and actualizing the potential right in front of you? 

Inner Obstacle 1: Identification

We construct internal narratives about who we are based on how others treat us and how we perceive others think about us. These narratives create landscapes of possibility for us that we cannot see beyond.

Inner Obstacle 2: Myopia

We are often short-sighted or inward-focused, failing to see clearly the systemic context of our lives and work. Our thinking becomes highly fragmented and disconnected from where we are and the potential that exists there. 

Inner Obstacle 3: Waste

We get stuck in mechanical, automatic ways of being, mindlessly going through the motions and following patterns that no longer fit what our changing environment needs from us. This further drains our energy, leading to frustration and wasted resources. 

Inner Obstacle 4: Fear

From one perspective, fear is rooted in a sense that we are not enough as our true selves. This often leads to a state of paralysis and to hiding behind the “masks” of false personalities we wear to blend in and get along. 

Inner Obstacle 5: Attachment

Attachment is the tendency to mistake our ideas and assumptions about reality for reality itself. We can’t see beyond our own unconscious beliefs and worldviews, which prevents us from contributing higher-order value. 

Inner Obstacle 6: Fabrication

Finally, we tend to project our imaginations onto the world, distorting our view of real potential. We become attached to certain ideals, from a place of “knowing,” which prevents us from gaining a true understanding of our unique places and systems. 

Reflect: Which of these inner obstacles are most prevalent for you right now? What would bringing greater awareness of this into your daily life enable for you? What is required of you to do so?