From Here to There; A Mind-Blowing Journey

I know for a fact, that if you questioned either of my brothers or myself about our child hood- each of our experiences would be painted with it’s own unique style of abstract. We all lived in the same house, with the same parents, ate the same food and watched the same television shows, but Each of our experiences were felt differently.

Let me take this mind-blowing statement even further-hang on to your seats! My perspective of my childhood/adolescence today is different from how it was in my twenties, thirties and forties. The moment I became a parent- I saw everything differently…and therein lies the essence of the message I hope to convey; our experiences are all directly related to our way of processing our feelings. In essence, we can all at times, be prisoners of our own thoughts.

Of course the details of our lives can be documented but our understanding and ability to process those details? Well they might vary upon our mood, which side our brain favours and more. Wow… take a minute to hang with that!

It’s all in your head! “Well Fluff that!” you might say and you’d be right to say it because by no means am I down-playing any authentic, traumatic events that were experienced. What I am saying is that over time we can choose how much power we are going to give these life changing events. Let me be clear- ignoring or minimizing is NOT what I am suggesting. But time, wisdom and processing (understanding in a wider spectrum) can change our lives.

This weekend I’ve was reading an amazing book called ‘The Choice’ written by ninety year old author Dr. Edith Eva Eger. First of all WOW- that she wrote this book at ninety!! To me I hear a wonderful message; there is no age limit to creativity. Limitations seem to be beliefs that exist…in our head!

Eva survived the Holocaust and tried to bury her experience for years. Finally in her fifties she came to realize that by repressing her memories she had remained in a different sort of prison- one where she was cut off from her feelings. And so, this processing and acknowledging of our trauma is essential to grow and bloom.

So much of what we experience in our FOOs (Family Of Origin) will shape our initial perspective and story, but the moment we realize that WE are all the authors of our story we can begin to change it. We can believe what we choose to believe- we can be suspended in victimhood or we can choose to write a story where we are the super heroes of our lives.

Does this excite you? it surely does me!

The first re-write begins here. Somehow we wrote a story in our minds as children and the story we continued to live did not match the story we wrote! So where do you stand? Does this alternate universe suck? Or are you able to see the incredible ways that this alternate universe forced you to grow. Sure it sucks when things don’t go the way we want them to, but often you might observe that life moved you in a direction that your spirit was ready to move in. And perhaps the biggest fallacy is that life is supposed to be easy. It’s NOT. Easy will never bring us to a place of appreciation, gratitude or GROWTH.

Let me give you an example, Last couple of weeks I was itchy. Don’t laugh! I’m perfectly serious. I’m not sure if I was having some sort of allergic reaction or if it was anxiety -triggered, all I know is that I was going out of my mind. I lathered lotions on my body in case it was dry skin. I inhaled antihistamines and kept the back-scratcher handy at all times. I was miserable! I made several changes to my soap, hair product, laundry detergent, deep breathing- et al-finally I stopped itching! Well! Suddenly I was just so grateful to be itch-free!!

These difficulties we encounter really sweeten life to the simplest level.

Soft sheets, a good friend, a warm hug, a ray of sunshine, a hint of spring...man life is good- itch free!!!

So that’s the story I write today. Is my life a bowl of cherries? No. But it is still super sweet. Do I wake up afraid in the middle of the night sometimes? YES I do! Do people bug me sometimes? The guy who tailgates me, the salesperson on the phone…ugh yes they bug me…until I rewrite the story- it takes me awhile sometimes; the tailgater-to always be in such a hurry, there’s something deeper going on and man what a tough job it would be selling crap over the phone. Doesn’t mean I’m going to listen, but by understanding, I reduce my own stress.

Here’s where we really can get creative with our storytelling. You know all those subliminal messages, including our story of not-enoughness? Well this might be the toughest one to tackle. No amount of fame or money is ever going to change that story-sorry. It’s an autobiography only we can change in our own head. And Maybe once we realize that that’s exactly where this belief exists…in your head…maybe then we can change it.

We have this super-power called the choice. YOU, ME, WE…we can change this story- we can! We are enough- right here…right now…enough!

Not-enoughness is a state of mind. Never beautiful enough, never rich enough, never popular enough, never loved enough- have you ever noticed that the wealthiest people in the world continue striving for more?

Being grateful for all that you have is how we begin the rewrite. As we think about the roof over our head, the music we can listen to, the friend who called us the other day, our cat sitting lovingly on our laps…suddenly we feel it gently sweep over us like a warm, gentle breeze…life is good. We are enough. We are enough.

I don’t know if it’s an age thing…but the older I get the more I enjoy the simplest of things. And I know the story is in my hands.

It’s mind-blowing, really- isn’t it?

yours enoughly,

Sharron