| Go to my blog |
| Learn about Email Coaching |
What's the Truth?Impending war has been on my mind lately. Other wars and other skirmishes didn’t affect me like this one has and I’ve been wondering, “What’s different?” Maybe it’s just that I’ve lived through a lot of wars, beginning with WWII and I’m afraid this time my luck has run out. This time my life may change. Maybe I have survivor’s guilt. Maybe my life should have changed in those previous conflicts, but it didn’t. Well, that was in the past, and I can’t change it. The only thing I can really deal with is the present. Why does this fear of war keep cropping up? Over the past few weeks, I did some journaling or other introspection to better understand and handle my fear and have since been able to return to equilibrium. I still find I eventually slip back into worry mode. This isn’t like me. Finally, this morning, I used a technique taught by my friend Bill Lamond. He calls it the Truth Process. It’s built on the premise that the truth will set you free. The truth is all about you. Since you can’t actually know the truth about someone else, it must be all about you. The truth is better than you think. That’s because if it were worse than you think, it wouldn’t set you free. The truth is just something that you never thought of before but when you think of it now, it will set you free. It’s like a riddle, a mind twister where you hold these three questions in your mind and search for what lights you up—that’s the truth. When you think of what is true, you light up. If you aren’t familiar with this idea of “lighting up” just think about something you really love. It could be a pet, a child, a song, a favorite place. Once you’ve identified something you love, notice how you feel when you think about it. Your body probably feels more spacious, and you feel lighter (or less dense). If you could see your face, you’d see that your face lights up and your eyes shine. Finding the Truth: What’s all about you, is better than you think, and just something you’ve never thought of before? When I used this process about my fear, I asked myself, “How is this fear all about me?” I could point to any number of external reasons for fear but I am the one feeling it. So this fear is about me. What I am fearing is that somehow the war will impact my life in a negative way. Since that isn’t better than I think, there must be something else. What is something connected to this fear that will allow me feel better than I feel now. What would make me feel better? The economy improves. No one I know is hurt in this war. The war is short. No. None of those ideas make me light up. I’m stumped. Then my synapses put two ideas together. When I recently saw The Pianist, a movie about the holocaust, I wondered how the people endured such horror. That was it. I knew that I wouldn’t crumble. If this war comes to my front door I will reach down into my personal resources and discover more than enough strength. As a result, I’ll be far richer in life than I am right now because I will know and use deeper and stronger personal resources. That sets me free. May you also find freedom in the days to come. (c) 2003, Jacqueline Hale |