I spent a few years training to become a hypnotherapist. One of the biggest learnings is how powerful words are. The principle of I am is our personal act of proclaiming to the universe who we are. It becomes incredibly important to state our convictions in the power of who we are, in the magnificence of who we are. Yet our 'I am' statements are often followed by 'old' or 'poor' or 'unhappy' and lots of other things that are moments in our experience, not permanent situations.
In the end, nothing is happening to us! Right here, right now, we have everything we need and all the tools to accomplish anything we choose. We are vibrant and are here to do what is ours to do.
Yet we have the habit of building ingrained ruts into our thinking. The moment we start down a mental path we automatically slip into old wagon ruts and away we go.
Milton Erickson, a great psychiatrist, worked with clients in a totally different way to get them out of the wagon ruts. Sometimes he would reach out to shake a client's hand and then pull his hand back at the last second. Suddenly the person in front of him stepped out of the rut and was fully conscious looking down at his hand.
So this fits into the entire framework of so many faith traditions and so many enlightened spiritual leaders. "Wake up!" Dr. Jean Huston, founder of a mystery school, conducted an exercise of drinking a cup of tea. She slowed down the process into tiny, tiny steps - we would drink a cup of tea. It would start with each of us just watching our hand reach for a cup of tea. All done consciously. Because it is so easy to slip into the wagon rut and suddenly it is two days later and we're not sure how we got here.
Rev. Ken Daigle from Unity of San Francisco notes the term post-traumatic growth. When trauma of any kind (loss of loved one, ending of a job, etc.) occur, there is expanded growth - we are conscious.
Growth is the experience of change and being conscious is what promotes growth. So in the end this week do something new, something uncomfortable, something expansive. It will bring about growth and suddenly there won't be a wagon rut in sight. You will be clearing a new path and it will be your path!
The Power of Words. As I make my coffee this morning I will be aware of each small step. As I stretched in bed this morning before getting up I said, Thank you, God for another glorious day in Paradise. And thanks for the love and tenderness you share with family and friends, as well as with me. It's so easy to get caught up in the "what we have to do today" list! And at times so difficult for me to take time to reflect and meditate. You help with your precious words and so I thank you, dear David. We are so blessed, aren't we. How good life really is!