10_Weeks_of

Choose a realistic goal you care about. You don't have to obsess over your goal. That's part of the beauty of Coyote's Curious Medicine Adventure. We suggest you take a slightly playful approach. A curious approach. A really great goal for this process is one you can make at least small progress on each day. Also, it will be easier for you if you have a way of measuring your progress.

If you are participating in the field study, you'll be focusing on this goal for 70 days. You don’t have to complete the goal.

Choose a hindrance. This is an issue that you observe challenges you in achieving your goals. It is that simple. I ask for only one. I realize there will be several and that it is in our human nature for them to change. Be on the lookout for your first stated hindrance to go "underground" while others appear. This is all normal.

Review the materials and choose an animal ally with positive traits that can help you overcome your hindrance(s) and achieve your goal. If you find my list of 13 animals insufficient, I encourage you to choose a different animal, or some other positive role-model.

If you are participating in the study, you write these items along with some other information in a pre-study questionnaire and send it to me. I have a brief conversation to review your choices, just to get a sense that they would work well together. I also review the themes of the study: playfulness, curiosity, experimenting, exploring and having fun. Then your start.

Start out in the morning re-affirming you goal. Not a big deal. No heavy breathing or intense visualization. Just look at your goal and feel mildly enthused about it.

They look for “clues” that could lead you to their goal. A clue is any kind of hint from within or without that gives you inspiration or information about how to achieve your goal. Clues can come from animal allies! Yes, you might ask their animal ally to give you a clue or some inspiration. Or a clue could come from a friend who is acting as an ally. Or, clues can come from unexpected sources – a highway billboard, something year hear on the radio, a cloud pattern in the sky.

Then, of course, perhaps the most important step, take action towards your goal. This is unique to your and your specific goal.

Q:How do I look for clues?
A: Discover how to make it work for you. This isn't just a clever evasion. You will naturally form your method as you do it. If all else fails, set a fixed time during the day and ask yourself, "Is there any clue available to help me towards my goal?" You can reach out to an ally: "Mountain Lion (invoke the appropriate ally), what would boldly take me closer to my goal?" Then listen for a response. Notice I say "response" instead of "answer." "Response" indicates it might just be a direction or a next step.

Relax with this. This isn't a competiion with anyone, least of all yourself.

Maybe your first step is to discover if there is such a thing as "clues" for you. Fine. No shame in this. Check it out. It isn't an adventure until you start exploring. It isn't curious until you poke around into something different. It isn't Coyote until you are playful enough to play with the allies.

Hey, guess what? Some days you don't need any clues. The next step is in blazing sunlight and so you just DO IT! Great.

Q: How big of an action is a "goal action"?
A: It is up to you. During challenging times, it can help to break the goal down into "baby steps." No, this doesn't make you a baby! It makes you a saavy navigator of your life. Exploring the intersection of allies and a curiously playful attitude can bring in factors previously "unknown." A very small action done differently from your previous approaches might make a huge difference towards your goal. OK, enough explaining!

Assessing Results at the End of the Day

At the end of the day, evaluate your experiences on a simple one-page form. If you are just doing this from the WEB, use a single standard sheet of paper. If you have purchased the book or you are in the academic study, you will have a special form that guides you.

Then note they allies you contacted or who inspired you. When you've bought the book or are in the academic study, I provide a template for stickers with the images of the animal allies on them. These print on standard ¾ inch round labels. So, with the stickers, you can just place the Mountain Lion sticker on the page where they were inspirited to have more courage.

On my daily pages, I like to draw arrows to show how I moved out of a hindrance with the help of an ally to make productive progress on a goal.

Finally, write down the number of clues you found, the number of goal actions and a numeric score in the range of 0 to 5 for the level of hindrance you experienced and the level of joy you experienced. The scales are available in the book.

Set yourself a major checkpoint. I suggest two months. That gives you time to progress on your goal and also get the hang of how the allies work. Several folks have obtained very positive results in less time. Remember, this is highly individual. Some folks come to this ripe for personal change and experienced in self assessment. Others are learning their way into it.

If you are in the study, you contineu for 70 days, then fill out a post-study questionnaire.

	home	Art © 2005 Josh Cochran www.joshcochran.net
	Coyote's Curious Medicine Adventure 10-Week Exercise in Personal Growth -- FUN ! NEW ! Results from the Study are in ! What is it? Is it for me? Getting Started How Do You Do The Medicine Adventure? Who are These Animal Allies? Results FAQ Definition of Terms	Art © 2005 Josh Cochran www.joshcochran.net

	What is it? The 10-week exercise in personal growth and FUN is called "Coyote's Curious Medicine Adventure" It is intended to support John Cawley in fulfilling part of the requirements of his candidacy for Doctor of Spiritual Science through Peace Theological Seminary www.pts.org. As a spiritual scientist, John wonders what make his life successful, fulfilling, rewarding and effective. As he has discovered clues and recipes, he wants to find out whether they are practical and repeatable for others. This is where you come in. You are potentially a study participant who can practice my protocol for 10-weeks and report back on the results. Then John will compile and interpret the results and present them with other findings in the form of a written treatise. Why 10 weeks? See FAQ.
	Is it for me? Do you have from 5 to 15 minutes per day you can commit to playfully experimenting with some (slightly) different approaches to your life? If so, read on. Think you'll be able to establish a goal (or intention) you'd like to work on during the 10 weeks (but which you DO NOT have to complete)? OK, even better. Think you'll be able to identify a hindrance (explanation) that gets in the way of your greater success? Fine. Do you imagine you could figure out some qualities that would help you balance out or transcend or overcome your hindrance? If so, you're ready to go to Getting Started. How to know if this IS NOT for you. You are starting something very big that is very new and you know it will push you into very high stress levels. Probably not the right timing for participating in this program.
	Getting Started Contact John at info@coyoteattitudes.com to obtain the materials for this pilot program. Available for a limited time only!
	How do you do Coyote's Curious Medicine Adventure? Getting Ready Choose a realistic goal you care about. You don't have to obsess over your goal. That's part of the beauty of Coyote's Curious Medicine Adventure. We suggest you take a slightly playful approach. A curious approach. A really great goal for this process is one you can make at least small progress on each day. Also, it will be easier for you if you have a way of measuring your progress. If you are participating in the field study, you'll be focusing on this goal for 70 days. You don’t have to complete the goal. Choose a hindrance. This is an issue that you observe challenges you in achieving your goals. It is that simple. I ask for only one. I realize there will be several and that it is in our human nature for them to change. Be on the lookout for your first stated hindrance to go "underground" while others appear. This is all normal. Review the materials and choose an animal ally with positive traits that can help you overcome your hindrance(s) and achieve your goal. If you find my list of 13 animals insufficient, I encourage you to choose a different animal, or some other positive role-model. If you are participating in the study, you write these items along with some other information in a pre-study questionnaire and send it to me. I have a brief conversation to review your choices, just to get a sense that they would work well together. I also review the themes of the study: playfulness, curiosity, experimenting, exploring and having fun. Then your start. Gathering Clues, Taking Action During the Day Start out in the morning re-affirming you goal. Not a big deal. No heavy breathing or intense visualization. Just look at your goal and feel mildly enthused about it. They look for “clues” that could lead you to their goal. A clue is any kind of hint from within or without that gives you inspiration or information about how to achieve your goal. Clues can come from animal allies! Yes, you might ask their animal ally to give you a clue or some inspiration. Or a clue could come from a friend who is acting as an ally. Or, clues can come from unexpected sources – a highway billboard, something year hear on the radio, a cloud pattern in the sky. Then, of course, perhaps the most important step, take action towards your goal. This is unique to your and your specific goal. I'll answer some frequent questions right here? Q:How do I look for clues? A: Discover how to make it work for you. This isn't just a clever evasion. You will naturally form your method as you do it. If all else fails, set a fixed time during the day and ask yourself, "Is there any clue available to help me towards my goal?" You can reach out to an ally: "Mountain Lion (invoke the appropriate ally), what would boldly take me closer to my goal?" Then listen for a response. Notice I say "response" instead of "answer." "Response" indicates it might just be a direction or a next step. Relax with this. This isn't a competiion with anyone, least of all yourself. Maybe your first step is to discover if there is such a thing as "clues" for you. Fine. No shame in this. Check it out. It isn't an adventure until you start exploring. It isn't curious until you poke around into something different. It isn't Coyote until you are playful enough to play with the allies. Hey, guess what? Some days you don't need any clues. The next step is in blazing sunlight and so you just DO IT! Great. Q: How big of an action is a "goal action"? A: It is up to you. During challenging times, it can help to break the goal down into "baby steps." No, this doesn't make you a baby! It makes you a saavy navigator of your life. Exploring the intersection of allies and a curiously playful attitude can bring in factors previously "unknown." A very small action done differently from your previous approaches might make a huge difference towards your goal. OK, enough explaining! Assessing Results at the End of the Day At the end of the day, evaluate your experiences on a simple one-page form. If you are just doing this from the WEB, use a single standard sheet of paper. If you have purchased the book or you are in the academic study, you will have a special form that guides you. Mention any hindrances you experienced. Then note they allies you contacted or who inspired you. When you've bought the book or are in the academic study, I provide a template for stickers with the images of the animal allies on them. These print on standard ¾ inch round labels. So, with the stickers, you can just place the Mountain Lion sticker on the page where they were inspirited to have more courage. List the actions you took toward your goal. Noted any clues you found during the day. Note any unexpected events, serendipities, or times you did things differently. On my daily pages, I like to draw arrows to show how I moved out of a hindrance with the help of an ally to make productive progress on a goal. Finally, write down the number of clues you found, the number of goal actions and a numeric score in the range of 0 to 5 for the level of hindrance you experienced and the level of joy you experienced. The scales are available in the book. Final Wrap-Up Set yourself a major checkpoint. I suggest two months. That gives you time to progress on your goal and also get the hang of how the allies work. Several folks have obtained very positive results in less time. Remember, this is highly individual. Some folks come to this ripe for personal change and experienced in self assessment. Others are learning their way into it. If you are in the study, you contineu for 70 days, then fill out a post-study questionnaire.
	Who are these animal allies? Here are the essence qualities of the allies. Buy the book to obtain the original art image for each animal and other orienting information. Your Animal Allies Coyote Divine wisdom/foolery Rabbit Reproductive power, renewal Frog Water song, water aware Hawk Higher picture Rattlesnake Transformation via shedding Hummingbird Knowing where to find nectar Bear Trust of the unconscious Owl Silent wisdom, uncanny sight Mountain Lion Decisiveness in personal power Deer Gentleness, innocence Crow Street smart & magical Opossum Surrender, play dead to come alive Mockingbird Discover your sacred voice Here is a PDF for Squirrel, an ally adopted by a study participant. It is formatted as a 6" X 4" card. When you open the document, get the page aligned via menu choices: View, Rotate View, Clockwise. I used two different clip art images. Animal images in Coyote's Curious Medicine Adventure book are provided by Mark Andresen, illustrator. www.markandresenillustration.com
	Results They liked it! It worked! Fifteen curious and intrepid folks ranging in age from 17 to 79 completed Coyote’s Curious Medicine Adventure. They observed their hindrance(s), and looked for clues, using their animal (or other) allies for inspiration, in making progress towards their goals. The results were encouraging, especially for the participants! Their goals? . . . ranged from the practical to the abstract. One person had an extremely practical approach. She wanted to complete a list of over a dozen tasks, ranging from small tidying things to large projects requiring her to “sell” her ideas to others. Another person had a very abstract goal, “Clearer vision of what I want to attract more of.” There were many other goals in between. Results? The person with the to-do list made a lot of completions. The person wanting a clearer vision of what she wanted more of learned to love herself and even like herself more. Nearly all participants reported greater self awareness. Several reported they discovered they could have more fun in their lives. One person had a goal of finding a job more aligned with her values. She apologized to stop the study a few days early because . . . she got the job! Most participants reported rewarding yet unexpected side benefits. They learned how to be more patient with themselves. One person, a veteran of spiritual studies for decades, reported that she had come to appreciate herself, even like herself more through the study. Star Allies? Hawk and Mountain Lion were quite popular. The participants, taken as a whole used all of the allies. Some literally used all of the allies and frequently. Other participants stayed with a few favorites. Still other participants took my invitation and “recruited” their own personal allies: River Otter, Dolphin, Horse, Tiger, Rooster, Butterfly, Bower Bird, Badger, Blue Jay, Squirrel and others. Opossum wasn't the most favorite, but he certainly is helpful when you're in a tough spot! What Do They Say it is Good For? They report that Coyote's Curious Medicine Adventure is great for achieving goals in a more enjoyable way, and it is outstanding for learning more about how you can work with yourself to overcome hindrances.
	FAQ
	*What about confidentiality?* Your openness and honesty in your self-exploration will give both of us the greatest value. I hold your material in confidence. I treat it as private. I do not reveal your identity to anyone, either in the published manuscript of my study paper or in any oral communications. Your identity in your pre- and post-study questionnaires is indicated by a number that I have filled in. In the finished work, your identity will be represented by a number. My research will benefit a great deal from my ability to read your journal pages. However, if there are some pages that are too personal, please omit them when you send me your materials. If you have additional concerns about privacy and confidentiality, contact me.
	*Why 10 weeks?* Completing the study involves participation for 10 weeks. Yes, this may be a big commitment for some folks. Psychologists and researchers have found that humans experience many cyclical rhythms in their lives. There are particular patterns that presents challenges in the 2^nd month after you institute a new behavioral pattern. So, by running the study for 10 weeks, we outlast this particular pattern. Cool, huh?
	*Is this totemism?* Nope. Read Coyote’s humorous rebuttal to this in the introduction. We enlist the animal traits as a fun way to access our own positive qualities. Qualities you read about in the animal allies already exist inside you. Contact your ally, and you're really contacting yourself (but don't tell them I said so.) We do this in a spirit of curiosity, playfulness and adventure to try on new perceptions and behaviors – all with an intent of navigating more effectively towards our goals.
	*Is this serious work?* This process is carefully designed (can you hear Coyote laughing at me?) to be loads of fun, yet still provide considerable benefit to you! When you are doing it as part of my academic study, you also generate valuable data for me.
	*How do I “rate” myself on the questions with scales?* Do your best. Use the guidelines included in the question. Don’t second guess yourself. Just be natural and provide the best response you can. If you want, you can make personal notes as to what the different numbers mean specifically to you. Feel free to also make additional notes to yourself on any of the forms.
	*Is the goal important? Why do I need it?* Yes, very important. Having and pursuing a goal is a key component of this field study. Pursuing a goal grounds the study principals into everyday practicality. This is where the paws meet the dirt. In the study, you have the potential to learn how to make goal-seeking strategies more fun, more relaxed, and more natural.
	*Is this spiritual? Do I need to believe in God?* Yes and no. The study doesn’t impose any spiritual beliefs or ask you to change your relationship to a higher power. The “Coyote teaching” is intended to be a playful way of inviting you to consider other points of view. On the other hand, the study is about helping you fulfill your goals, which may be personal, deep and sacred to you. And, the study is about helping your improve your inner communication with YOU, yourself. This may be very spiritual, or highly functional, or FUN, or all of the above.
	*How long will it take to do this each day?* Good question. At first you are learning the procedures and it takes a little more time. After that, the morning question may take about 1 minute. The evening sequence of journal questions and rating questions may take from 5 minutes to about 10 minutes. Some days you will have a lot to report on and you’ll want to write more. On other days a couple of words may be all you have. Feel free to spend more time as you are moved to. Despite Coyote’s slacker, wise-guy stance, his world is also a “you get out of it what you put into it” world. Please make entries every day, even if it is just a few words. Your consistent entries will make it easier and easier to do this day by day. It is very important to fill in the rating questions. Once a week or so, I’d like you to do more extensive activities. If you’re clever like Coyote, you’ll find a way to combine this with activities you are already doing.
	*What’s the best way to remember to do this every day?* Be smart. Put your journal materials where you will see them every morning and every night before you go to bed. If you’re traveling, take the pages you need and follow the same advice. Set up a system to have a partner, roommate, etc. remind you.
	*How much should I write?* It depends mostly on you. It is possible to do this exercise very successfully without writing a lot of words. Map reckoning is your required journal and takes a slightly different approach. It doesn't rely only on words, but also adds images and other visual and spatial indicators to help you become more involved in your own exploration. In other words, using Map reckoning, you can communicate more with fewer words because you are also using other cues. Journal writing serves two purposes. 1) Your journals help me evaluate this field study – a required part of my doctorate. Thanks for your help! 2) The study also may give you valuable insights about yourself. Please be open and honest. That will produce the greatest value. “Dry spells” are natural. And, on some nights, material may come flooding out. Do your best. There is an optional journal form you can use if you want to make more expanded verbal responses. .
	*What if my journal writing reveals something upsetting to me?* Important question, I’m glad you asked. Please review the disclaimer in the introduction. If your upset is severe, I suggest that you seek appropriate professional help. For concerns that are not severe, I recommend the following approaches: 1. Use the techniques in this study. Be creative. Start by assuming that you are bigger that this disturbance. Explore it and play with it and see where that takes you. 2. You can use a process of self-forgiveness. See appendix on this topic 3. Reach out to your support system: partner, minister, friend, animal (or other) ally, etc.

	Definition of Terms

Getting Ready

Assessing Results at the End of the Day