The Planters Principle

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As a holistic practitioner, whether in a capacity as a healer, counselor or even a conscious business person, you will very quickly encounter the Planters Principle. Planters is a snack food company widely known for making processed nut products. You may have seen Mr. Peanut – the dancing yellow peanut-man wearing a black top hat and monocle – on their packages.
 
Because you have been asked to bring light to people who are afraid, confused and experiencing difficulties, you will experience the Planters Principle which states that most human beings are quite “nuts,” i.e. “crazy” – living in a perpetual, self-contained reality bubble that can create fear, limitations and illusions, and that this often results in blocking empathy with others and/or severely diminishing clarity of thought, action and effectiveness in life. The Planters Principle can make many human interactions challenging and confusing.
 
If you carefully plant the idea of the Planters Principle in your mind, and then kindly remind yourself of it in any situation with another person where there is discomfort and/or conflict – it will help you. It is also particularly helpful when you are looking to understand yourself and your own moods and mental wanderings.
 
As a holistic practitioner serving the public here are eight of the personality types that you may come across demonstrating the Planters Principle. Please note – what follows is meant to be lighthearted and not judgmental. Whatever and however a person expresses themselves and lives their life is neutral. These descriptors are for your benefit. Hopefully when you encounter one of these types you will automatically remember the Planters Principle and have an easier time:
 
What’s Health? These are people who are perpetually ill, sick or on a constant vigil of looking out for anything or anyone that will collapse their physical health at the drop of a hat. Typically hypochondriacs, obsessed with endlessly scanning their bodies for seeming weakness, or their environments for potential health hazards, they tend to take numerous vitamins and exotic remedies. Bottom line: No matter what you do for them, what healing you offer, they will still generally cling to illness.
 
Highly Fortified: If you have ever forgotten your keys and gotten locked out of your own car or house then you know exactly what it’s like to deal with people who ask for help, but block it more expertly than a rabid goalie on a championship hockey team. You cannot overcome their defenses; you posses no magic key to gain entry. These people are usually in crisis and seem to be desperately asking for help, but unconsciously blocking aid due to heavy emotions, mental resistance and/or fear of change. When faced with making real changes in their habits they prefer a temporary band-aid remedy because, in truth, they are not quite ready for deep inner healing. Bottom Line: you or ten well-intentioned people like you will not be able to get over the fortifications they have erected.
 
Drag Down: These people are also known as “The Tackler”. It is as if you have entered a psychic Bermuda Triangle the moment you step into their physical space. Weird things happen such as computer mishaps, missed calls and confusion. There is an overall atmosphere of bizarre anarchy where things simply do not or can not flow easily. Drag Downs may see that they are in fact creating this or they may take the opposite route and ignore the chaos they create. While they may be sweet, they can also be paranoid or overly critical. Bottom Line: All attempts to raise the energy level, find solutions, or move forward will be thwarted and generally backfire.
 
Just Visiting: Some people have an otherworldly quality as if they are from another dimension or planet and cannot adapt well to life on Earth. They often believe in conspiracies, complain about the harshness of daily life, or are desperately trying to get off the planet or to some other magical utopia somewhere else - that is supposedly better - as quickly as possible. A song lyric for them might be “Don’t have that circuit – don’t have that chip, if you try to make sense in my presence, you are liable to slip!” Earth is not their natural environment. They are dreamy, spacey and have a hard time keeping commitments. It’s hard for them to make decisions. Sometimes it is hard for them to do anything! Bottom line: Logic and common sense do not communicate very well to these people who are disorientated to begin with. Remember, they are just visiting.
 
No Shoes: When a person, a group, or a society believes that they are separate from the planet, other people, or the life force, they often communicate a message “I don’t wear any shoes so I cannot relate to walking in your shoes!” They act from an ignorance of the interconnectedness of all life. This is the source of pollution, dishonesty and the many unthinkable and unkind actions we see humans perform in the world every single day. “No Shoes” have no problem lying, misleading, cheating and then smiling to cover up their misdeeds - or giving insincere apologies when caught. They never ask themselves, “Would I like this if it happened it me – if I got treated this way?” They do not take responsibility for their actions because they live in a separative universe. They will blame you and anyone else who challenges them to take responsibility for their own actions, words and misdeeds. Bottom Line: No matter how loving, considerate, fair, open and understanding you are, No Shoes are incapable of acting in loving integrity or responding back with equal understanding.
 
I KNOW! I KNOWS claim to have all the answers and know everything, but they lack the humility to surrender to the unknown. Because they are self-deceptive - even when they are asking for help - they rarely listen and would rather act as if they themselves know better. They are very interested in how others see them and often tout that they hold all sorts of esoteric knowledge and secrets. They want – no need – to be heard. Bottom Line: No matter how insightful or helpful you are, you will generally feel like a weak imbecile around these people who miraculously know all the secrets of the universe – even if their own lives are a mess.
 
Chain Reaction: Some people are in a constant state of reactivity. Their entire being is a wound waiting to be poked. They may have been wounded at an early age, are highly excitable, or only know how to relate through drama. Everything is an offense, challenge or issue. They project onto you their fears, doubts and anxieties without even really having a conversation. Bottom Line: if you breathe, hiccup, offer a different point-of-view or smile you may inadvertently activate an emotional chain reaction. Take cover!
 
Regular Flavor: This is also known as “Just Plain Crazy”. There is no exact descriptor here – it may be anything from illogical, overemotional behavior to massive insecurity. Many people nowadays are running ragged, living unhealthy lives with little rest, proper diet or down-time. They are half-crazed to begin with and thus this becomes the regular flavor of most people. Bottom Line: You will have a better chance of sprouting wings and flying off like a unicorn than making sense of humanities overall insanity. Crazy, it often seems, is the new normal.
 
What can you as a practitioner do with people like this? It can get exhausting if you ignore the Planters Principle and try to deal with people in a rational way! Save yourself some energy; don’t try to understand them! You are free to let all of these confusing behaviors and distortions pass through you like light moving through a piece of clear glass. The key is awareness; sensing when a person is demonstrating the Planters Principle and choosing to consciously respond rather than react.
 
To be immune to the Planters Principle in others have compassion and know that they are doing their best that they can do at the moment. Do not expect sanity; whatever behavior they are demonstrating is their own way of creating security in an uncertain world. Do not take on their energy of confusion. It is not yours. It is theirs.
 
You can offer help, if you choose. If they do not want help - move on. Love them as creators of their own experience. See them as so powerful that they can create illusions that are not there. Let go of the need for them to understand you or treat you with honor, because the reality is that they do not truly understand themselves. As you let them be and stay centered within yourself then you are, in fact, helping them by healing the hologram we all exist in together.
 

© Egan Sanders, 2007

 
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