An Introduction to the Clearness Process
Ways of accessing inner wisdom and finding inner clarity have been around for a long time. For instance, the word "clearness" has been used by the Quaker community since the 1660's to describe a group process that can help reveal the inner light of spiritual guidance. In a traditional Quaker "clearness committee," people develop clarity around personal issues or questions and gain insights that reflect their true self.
This is not just a historical practice, but is used today in the Quaker community and elsewhere. Educator and author Parker J. Palmer has found ways to use clearness committees for professional and personal development, helping people "reconnect who you are with what you do." His organization, the Center for Courage and Renewal, offers this work to individuals and to professional groups in their Circle of Trust® retreats.
There are also many individual practices that people have used to access inner wisdom and guidance. Monastic and mystical traditions, certain types of meditation, activities of spiritual formation, and practices in humanistic and transpersonal psychology make it possible for individuals to connect with their inner wisdom and develop discernment about the insight and guidance they receive.
Our work at LifePath has been inspired and informed by many of these group and individual traditions and practices. Our goal has been to find ways to help people get beyond the confusion of what they think, believe and feel about questions that concern them and discover the deepest truth they know. We call it a “clearness process” out of respect for the practices that have already evolved around it.
What makes a clearness process possible?
In finding clarity about something that's important to you, a clearness process guides you to look for an inner wisdom beyond what you’re thinking and feeling. This makes it very different than most experiences of psychotherapy, counseling, life coaching, advice-giving, or problem-solving. When we facilitate clearness with you, we are very aware of the unique aspects of our interaction and relationship that help or hinder the process.
During a clearness process
The characteristics of the clearness process that we’ve talked about so far – safety, acceptance, respect, confidentiality, and welcoming – are all part of creating the conditions for your true self to come forward. Once those conditions are present, here's what you'll be doing to become aware of your inner wisdom and the deepest truth you know.
Prior to the clearness process, you'll work on engaging with your question or issue in a deeper way through journaling and perhaps other activities. We'll also ask you to find and bring objects or pictures to the clearness session that remind you of aspects of your question or issue. We also will light a candle during the session to represent the presence of your inner light or true self.
As we begin, you'll have several minutes to describe your issue or question. We'll then ask brief, open and honest questions, guided by our own inner wisdom, about what we've heard and perhaps about you. Questions are open when they offer an opportunity for more than a “yes” or “no” answer, and honest when we have no idea how you'll answer them! Being mindful of the guideline not to fix, save, advise or set straight, we avoid questions that have an agenda or a “right” answer. Such questions feel pressuring and judgmental, and send your “shy soul” scurrying back into the forest.
After the period for questions is over, we'll reflect back to you what you said in your own words. This adds to the richness of your experience, and allows you to hear your thoughts presented to you in a different voice. At the end, there is an opportunity for affirming and being grateful for what has happened. You may find that gratitude for the clearness process allows you to more deeply accept the inner wisdom that has come forward. For everyone involved, acceptance, gratitude and affirmation helps us integrate the experience more deeply.
The clearness process is far from over once the session has ended. The insights you've gained may continue to be integrated for weeks or months afterwards. If you make significant decisions as a result of the clearness process, those decisions may profoundly change your life.
This is not just a historical practice, but is used today in the Quaker community and elsewhere. Educator and author Parker J. Palmer has found ways to use clearness committees for professional and personal development, helping people "reconnect who you are with what you do." His organization, the Center for Courage and Renewal, offers this work to individuals and to professional groups in their Circle of Trust® retreats.
There are also many individual practices that people have used to access inner wisdom and guidance. Monastic and mystical traditions, certain types of meditation, activities of spiritual formation, and practices in humanistic and transpersonal psychology make it possible for individuals to connect with their inner wisdom and develop discernment about the insight and guidance they receive.
Our work at LifePath has been inspired and informed by many of these group and individual traditions and practices. Our goal has been to find ways to help people get beyond the confusion of what they think, believe and feel about questions that concern them and discover the deepest truth they know. We call it a “clearness process” out of respect for the practices that have already evolved around it.
What makes a clearness process possible?
In finding clarity about something that's important to you, a clearness process guides you to look for an inner wisdom beyond what you’re thinking and feeling. This makes it very different than most experiences of psychotherapy, counseling, life coaching, advice-giving, or problem-solving. When we facilitate clearness with you, we are very aware of the unique aspects of our interaction and relationship that help or hinder the process.
- Before clearness can occur, you need to feel and be safe. When you engage in a clearness process, you need to feel assured that your sense of self and your thoughts, feelings and beliefs will not be subject to judgment, criticism, or the usual social pressures to agree, conform, and get along. To help your inner wisdom reveal itself, we accept and respect all aspects of who you are.
- Parker Palmer suggests that we can facilitate trust and safety by making sure that there is "no fixing, no saving, no advising, and no setting each other straight." Again, this distinguishes the clearness process from conventional counseling. In fact, this guideline directly challenges our usual way of interacting with others. It is a profoundly powerful way that we can create trust and safety for you and allow the clearness process to take place.
- Another essential aspect of safety is confidentiality. From our personal experience, we know that you will feel safer knowing that what you say will never be discussed with others. But we take it even further. Another guideline from Parker Palmer that we adhere to at LifePath is that a clearness facilitator will not only never bring up what was said in a clearness process with another person, but we will not bring it up to other facilitators (if there's more than one), and we won't even bring it up with you. Of course, you are free to speak as you wish about your clearness process, but no one who witnessed it will ever bring it up with you. This “double confidentiality” is a powerful and beautiful way to protect your inner process.
- Once the clearness process is safe, we welcome all aspects of who you are as a person and as your true self. The clearness process is both hospitable and invitational, and offers an opening to the outer person and the inner self. We warmly welcome whatever you may bring forward. We encourage you to come to the clearness process with courage and curiosity, and discover what your inner wisdom offers.
During a clearness process
The characteristics of the clearness process that we’ve talked about so far – safety, acceptance, respect, confidentiality, and welcoming – are all part of creating the conditions for your true self to come forward. Once those conditions are present, here's what you'll be doing to become aware of your inner wisdom and the deepest truth you know.
Prior to the clearness process, you'll work on engaging with your question or issue in a deeper way through journaling and perhaps other activities. We'll also ask you to find and bring objects or pictures to the clearness session that remind you of aspects of your question or issue. We also will light a candle during the session to represent the presence of your inner light or true self.
As we begin, you'll have several minutes to describe your issue or question. We'll then ask brief, open and honest questions, guided by our own inner wisdom, about what we've heard and perhaps about you. Questions are open when they offer an opportunity for more than a “yes” or “no” answer, and honest when we have no idea how you'll answer them! Being mindful of the guideline not to fix, save, advise or set straight, we avoid questions that have an agenda or a “right” answer. Such questions feel pressuring and judgmental, and send your “shy soul” scurrying back into the forest.
After the period for questions is over, we'll reflect back to you what you said in your own words. This adds to the richness of your experience, and allows you to hear your thoughts presented to you in a different voice. At the end, there is an opportunity for affirming and being grateful for what has happened. You may find that gratitude for the clearness process allows you to more deeply accept the inner wisdom that has come forward. For everyone involved, acceptance, gratitude and affirmation helps us integrate the experience more deeply.
The clearness process is far from over once the session has ended. The insights you've gained may continue to be integrated for weeks or months afterwards. If you make significant decisions as a result of the clearness process, those decisions may profoundly change your life.