Is your head buried in the sand?

I'm following an emerging theme of my blogs and am continuing to look at common phrases we use. I'm exploring their meaning, the impact saying and even thinking them has on our actions, and how we can make changes to get the success we want in life.

Last week I covered the saying 'no pain no gain', earlier this week 'burning bridges'. Today its 'burying our head in the sand.'

On face value the phrase is about seeing and doing nothing and ignoring what ever is going on. In the hope, I assume, that when our head is out of the sand the situation will somehow have changed. However as my video blog last week reminded us if we keep doing the same thing we'll keep getting the same response. (NB: Due to a laughter filled start you may want to turn the sound down a little first.)

So I wondered what the landscaping your success process would have to say on the matter. It uses nature as metaphors for success and when 'burying our head in the sand' I'd suggest we're using nature as a metaphor for the opposite!

Whilst its a phrase often used by others to describe someone else I'm going to assume its also a phrase we use about ourselves. Which allows us to explore the landscape we're describing. After all using that term means the landscape (head in sand) represents how we're thinking about the situation. Which in turn impacts how we react to it and the opportunities for action we can either see or not see.

"Head in sand" to me suggests a desert. Which means when I pull my head out of the sand all I'm going to do is see more and more sand. Nothing but sand that stretches on to the horizon and  uncomfortable heat! I can see why it's a situation we can't see the opportunities for action that exist within it.
 

Now its time to play around with the internal picture we have and see what happens:

• Head could be in a sand pit surrounded by children laughing and playing creative games - so how about joining in with them for a while and noticing what solutions appear.
• Head could be in sand adjacent to an oasis and all you need to do is walk to it and take a cool long drink of water and sit in the shade for a while.
• Or like me in the picture you could be on the local beach and just need to walk away - NOW!

I know this might all sound weird but its no weirder than what we're doing when we describe ourselves as "burying our head in the sand". It's not a reality but is impacting how we're thinking and therefore behaving. The exploration here is simply providing the brain with a few more options to consider. One of which might open the connection within your brain to the solution to the current situation. After all we do know what to do we're just allowing fear to feed the resistance to not knowing.

Other options include: 

• Taking the sunglasses, hat and all the protection from the sun off and realising they've been distorting the situation and you're already in a flourishing rainforest (or landscape that makes sense to you).
• Getting out the iPhone and calling international rescue and being flown to another landscape.
• Taking your head out of the sand and realising you're surrounded by other explorers and you have all the necessary equipment and experts to get out of there.
• Waking from a dream realising you've already got all the resources you need in the current situation and that was simply a nightmare and it's time to start living a different dream in reality.

Next time you think you might be burying your head in the sand remember - its all plain sailing from here.

Alison Smith

Landscaping your success and inspiring change inside and out