The 8 C’s of Self

The classic fingerprints of Self-energy: Calm, Curiosity, Clarity, Compassion, Confidence, Courage, Creativity, Connectedness.

Description

Coined by Richard Schwartz. The 8 C’s describe how Self feels when it is leading. Read them as dashboard lights rather than targets: if several are on, Self is probably around. If none are, something else is driving, and no amount of trying to be Calm will change that.

The alliteration is doing some work it should not — the list is memorable partly because all eight words happen to start with C, and we would not bet much on the number being exactly eight. Curiosity is the one we would keep if we could only have one. It is the hardest to fake and the most reliable indicator, because a part that has an agenda can produce compassion, confidence and clarity on demand, but it cannot really be curious about something it has already decided about.

What The 8 C’s of Self is NOT:

Not a personality quiz, and not a scoreboard — you are not failing at Self if you notice only two of them. Also not a permanent state: they come and go within the same conversation.

Examples:

Meeting a conflict with curiosity rather than with a position.
Admitting fault calmly, without either grovelling or defending.
Setting a new boundary that is clear and also kind, which is harder than either alone.

see also:

Self; Self-energy; Blending & Unblending; Critical mass of self energy; Self-Leadership