Pathways to Liberation Matrix of Assessment
rufuspollock
A matrix of 28 skills and development "levels" in those skills. Created by Jacob Gotwals, Jack Lehman, Jim Manske and Jori Manske between 2008 and 2011 it comes from the NVC world but is broadly applicable. From the website https://pathwaystoliberation.com/the-matrix/:
The Pathways to Liberation: Matrix of Self-Assessment (“the Matrix”) was developed to support self-assessment of the skills and consciousness of Nonviolent Communication (NVC). The Matrix is a collaborative project created by Jacob Gotwals, Jack Lehman, Jim Manske and Jori Manske. In 2008 we started writing about skills for transforming life and relationships, in the service of creating a world of personal and systemic wellbeing and collaboration. We worked together for 3 years to create a list of skills and a measure of their development from unknown to integrated.
Materials
You can find the matrix in multiple languages on: https://pathwaystoliberation.com/the-matrix/
- English spreadsheet version (latest): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KPIvCD_XIGThKEsqZ-qKQwY0Op5pSe_r7uqksetW5FQ/edit#gid=10
- Online self-assessment with backing database: https://pathwaystoliberation.com/the-matrix-instructions/
- Pathways-to-Liberation-Self-Assessment-Matrix.pdf
Comments
- Very solid set of characteristics
- Big bonus is that it is openly licensed under Creative Commons attribution license.
(h/t to Karl Steyaert for flagging this to me).
Full list of qualities and their short descriptions
- Presence: Being attentive to what is happening right now. Not lost in thinking, emotional reactions, etc.
- Observing: Noticing (and possibly describing) our sensory and mental experiences, and distinguishing these experiences from the interpretations we ascribe to them.
- Feelings Awareness: Ability to identify and experience our physical sensations and emotions.
- Self-acceptance: Accepting oneself with unconditional caring.
- Taking ownership of one's feelings: Living from the knowledge that I alone cause my emotions - my emotions are not caused by others.
- Needs consciousness: Awareness of (and the willingness to honor) needs, the essential universal elemental qualities of life (like sustenance, love and meaning).
- Reconnecting to self and recovering from reactivity: Reactivity is internal resistance to what is. Recovery is letting go of that resistance. Re-connecting to self is being with one's own experience with presence and compassion.
- Request consciousness & making requests: Willingness to ask for what one wants, with openness to any response; not attached to any particular outcome.
- Mourning: Transforming the suffering of loss; letting go of resistance to what is, and being willing to allow our experience to unfold.
- Empathy: Being present with another's experience, with unconditional acceptance of the person.
- Dissolving enemy images: Transcending one's perceptions that another deserves to be punished or harmed.
- Discernment: Clarity, insight, and wisdom in making life-serving distinctions and choices; recognizing one has choice.
- Living interdependently: Living from the knowledge that every individual is related to every other individual - every part of a system affects every other part.
- Honest self-expression: Owning one's experience and having the willingness to express authentically without blame or criticism.
- Facilitating connection: Facilitating empathy and honesty in dialogue with an intent to create connection.
- Patience: Remaining spaciously present when one feels stress. An ability to be with one's own reactions, without acting out of them.
- Responding to others' reactivity: Responding rather than reacting to others who are caught up in intense separating emotions.
- Openness to feedback: Receiving other's perspective about our actions with equanimity and centeredness.
- Beneficial regret: Acknowledging and learning from one's missed opportunity to meet needs, without guilt, shame, or self-punishment.
- Flexibility in relating: Openness and versatility in interacting with others.
- Transforming conflict: Using conflict with others as a means to connect and create a mutual outcome.
- Gratitude: Finding the value in, appreciating, and enjoying what is.
- Open-hearted flow of giving and receiving: Transforming scarcity thinking into thriving creatively; joyfully contributing and receiving.
- Cultivating vitality: Tuning in to oneself to support balanced self-care; cultivating the energy to serve life.
- Sharing power: Transforming domination; valuing everyone's needs with mutuality and respect; transcending submission and rebellion.
- Transcending roles: Aware that we are not the roles we play; having choice about what roles we adopt and how we respond to the roles others adopt.
- Awareness of response-ability: Freely choosing one's responses to what shows up in life, owning one's part in what happens. Not owning others' parts, and acknowledging that one's actions do influence others.
- Supporting holistic systems: Consciously participating in the creation and evolution of holistic systems that foster general well-being.
