Side Effect of Moving from Green to Yellow

[soos_mite_ah]

After I started taking self development work more seriously, I found myself getting more and more invested in my own studies, not in a *I need to produce as much as I can* way but more of a *I want to analyze the world and marvel at how interconnected it is* kind of way. 

I have heard that moving from orange to green, people often see a drop in initial productivity because they move from focusing on achievement to focusing on relationships. I was wondering if when you move from green to yellow, if it is possible to be less interested in building relationships and instead shift your focus towards analyzing models, not for the sake of achievement but for the sake of understanding.

I definitely still care about connecting to people but I have noticed that in the last year or so that I'm much more driven by models and understanding the world as opposed to socializing. I have become a bit more like a hermit, yet I don't feel disconnected or lonely. 

Is this just me or is this part of moving from green to yellow? 

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, soos_mite_ah said:

less interested in building relationships and instead shift your focus towards analyzing models, not for the sake of achievement but for the sake of understanding.

Yes, of course! That's classic Yellow.

Understanding > relationships

When you're more excited by a new model than you are about sex, you're Yellow

[soos_mite_ah]

@Leo Gura Ok thank you. Because lately I've been feeling like I'm going full nerd mode in the best way possible where I want to analyze everything.

I currently derive a lot of my happiness and fulfillment through researching along with self-development work and just being alone with my thoughts in meditation. I'm pretty sure I look like a hermit and really weird to outsiders, mainly orange and some green people, but idc mainly because of how happy I currently am. I'm just doing what's right for me at this time according to what resonates. 

[Leo Gura]

@soos_mite_ah Do you, girl.

[tuckerwphotography]

@soos_mite_ah You perfectly described my center of gravity shift from Green to Yellow, which started in March. It was just before I knew about SD, and at first I was wondering, "What the hell is going on?! Everything I was interested in before seems far less important, and all I want to do is read books and research topics I've never had any interest in before." Luckily this transition took place just before COVID hit, so the timing was perfect for "cocooning" myself at home  

[soos_mite_ah]

@tuckerwphotography I also had that moment where I didn't feel like myself. I was so confused. It was like a lot of my green interests,  mainly when it came to things like politics and social justice, faded away. I still have some type of interest to where I am informed and I read up on things, but I'm not passionately advocating for my views like I user to. 

I felt confused with this shift (I would say it started happening from like March 2019). Like I was losing interest of the things that I used to be passionate about, but it didnt come with depression. 

I just kind of brushed it off and went with it but the whole thing feels even more real, especially during COVID. Part of me is kind of glad that I can retreat and delve into my interests more without being judged for being an awkward hermit lmao

[tuckerwphotography]

@soos_mite_ah Same same. Cool to hear your story and see so much overlap with my own. Enjoy your hermitting

[Aquarius]

On 8/11/2020 at 8:18 AM, soos_mite_ah said:

 I'm pretty sure I look like a hermit and really weird to outsiders, mainly orange and some green people, but idc mainly because of how happy I currently am. I'm just doing what's right for me at this time according to what resonates. 

Once I had a discussion with someone I assume is a stage Orange guy, and I noticed they don't really tend to care about analyzing the world or having deeper conversations other than things that they do or what they have or want to have. Stage Green is a rarer, but they seem to have a lot of blind-spots too. 

It's good to see more and more people moving up to Yellow. I'm happy for you! ^^

[ToriVictoria]

This is similar to me.  I am not apathetic and I am involved in my reality and world... yet I have learned how to not fear, not have anxiety or judgement or hate.  I actually do still have a personality and enjoy looking cute and being funny and hanging out sometimes with people... but... I am soooo different and it is almost a game to not let people in too much. I am shy, or rather introverted about my opinions. spiritual views, and such... and I would LOVE TO SHARE with everyone, but I know they couldn't handle it.

It is soooooo amazing to meet likeminded people and then I can totally open up.  I feel like in the past when I tried to help someone by offering spiritual advice, they would not really want to here "my wisdom".  People don't want to know the truth... and too, when you really are trying to help someone maybe it is because we are trying to fix them and judging them.... oo0ops, then we have to look at ourselves as to our motivation to help others...

so, it can be a weird place to be... this 2nd tier.  I like this forum so much, where we can share our experiences 

[tuckerwphotography]

@ToriVictoriaYay! Welcome  

I've found it helpful to try and meet people where they're at and offer "wisdom" (if solicited) that can puncture their stage's worldview, rather than speaking to them "from" the 2nd tier, which can and almost always does go over their heads. Don Beck goes into some detail on this in Spiral Dynamics Integral audiobook (which is different from the paperback book apparently). It's all still new to me...like learning a new way of approaching life, which is why I find it so fascinating and FUN! 

[soos_mite_ah]

5 hours ago, Aquarius said:

Once I had a discussion with someone I assume is a stage Orange guy, and I noticed they don't really tend to care about analyzing the world or having deeper conversations other than things that they do or what they have or want to have. Stage Green is a rarer, but they seem to have a lot of blind-spots too. 

It's good to see more and more people moving up to Yellow. I'm happy for you! ^^

That reminds me of this one experience I had in the business school that I'm attending in college (which is pretty heavily orange). Basically I kept trying to make friends and tap into people's interests so that I could have deeper conversations and analyze the world. That didn't work but I didn't take things too personally. I just figured that I would eventually find people. 

Then our professor had us take this personality quiz (it was the OCEAN test that scored you on openness, contentiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism). She read out the class averages and I remember the class average for openness was a 15 (not very open) while my score was a 95. Openness mainly had to do with how open you are to analyzing the world, to new experiences, art, philosophy, science etc. And at that moment it made sense why i didn't connect to people in my class as well. I was trying to appeal to openness when most people didn't operate from it. 

I'm sure there are some really open orange people out there but I think in general openness expands as you go up the spiral. A lot of my green friends that took the class previously scored higher. I think there is also a thing where progressives/liberals tend to score higher than conservatives do as well. 

[soos_mite_ah]

4 hours ago, ToriVictoria said:

This is similar to me.  I am not apathetic and I am involved in my reality and world... yet I have learned how to not fear, not have anxiety or judgement or hate.  I actually do still have a personality and enjoy looking cute and being funny and hanging out sometimes with people... but... I am soooo different and it is almost a game to not let people in too much. I am shy, or rather introverted about my opinions. spiritual views, and such... and I would LOVE TO SHARE with everyone, but I know they couldn't handle it.

I'm in a similar place as well. I can still enjoy regular people things such as hanging out with people, being funny, looking cute etc. but it just doesn't resonate like it used to. I still have interest and am involved in my reality but I feel like I look through it in a different lens. 

People already look at me like weird af when I discuss the need for more socialism in the government in my solidly orange environment. I'm pretty sure I'd look absolutely insane if I share my spiritual views or start talking about spiral dynamics 

4 hours ago, ToriVictoria said:

It is soooooo amazing to meet likeminded people and then I can totally open up.  I feel like in the past when I tried to help someone by offering spiritual advice, they would not really want to here "my wisdom".  People don't want to know the truth... and too, when you really are trying to help someone maybe it is because we are trying to fix them and judging them.... oo0ops, then we have to look at ourselves as to our motivation to help others...

so, it can be a weird place to be... this 2nd tier.  I like this forum so much, where we can share our experiences 

Yeah at this point I think it's healthier for people to be on their own path instead of just giving them all the answers. For me personally, it has been better for my personal mental health as well as my relationships with others since giving advice and telling people what to do doesn't always equal to empathizing and connecting with others.  Plus it's like half of the time the advice goes over people's heads and sometimes they end up overwhelmed with and existential crisis because I said too much too soon for their place in their journey. 

But yeah, I'm glad that this forum exists so we can find like minded people who is going to be more receptive of our train of thoughts and way of looking at the world.

[soos_mite_ah]

I also wonder where I can find more stage yellow people irl. I love having this forum as an outlet, but deep down inside I'm more of an offline person when it comes to cultivating relationships. 

So far my go to for finding people to talk to is popping up in my professors office hours to nerd out about whatever is being discussed in class and getting additional materials for my own research just because I'm interested. I find that a lot of my professors, specifically the ones who are more focused towards social sciences like anthropology, sociology, political science, etc. tend to be more yellow leaning and are aware of how events and solutions play out on a systemic level. 

[Nahm]

“The nerds shall inherit the earth”.   - Jesus, probably.

 

[Loving Radiance]

@soos_mite_ah  I'd add that for offline connection it's good to search at meetup for groups with the topics sociology, ecology... whatever you feel like

[Espaim]

Yes you're definitely moving to Yellow.

I'll be waiting for your deep insights here on the forum. Don't forget us!!