I have mentioned the quote "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change" (Dr. Wayne Dyer) in one of my earliest posts and recently my dad also referred to this quote on his blog. I must say, though, that as many times as I have heard it and read it, I've never actually worked with it. So, I decided to try it out as I find I am faced with many situations that I need to respond to differently. The current response keeps me up at night, keeps me angry and very, very stuck.
The best way for me to absorb anything is to write it down. All through my masters degree, I learned my material by writing and re-writing the information. Time-consuming but it worked for me.
A couple mornings ago, I grabbed my notepad and pen from my night table and, barely even sitting up, I tried this new exercise.
THE WAY I SEE IT NOW: ___(insert name here)_____ "owes" me attention and love because I am a deserving person and because they are a blood relation.
HOW THIS AFFECTS ME: Well, (insert name here) does not give me attention and love the way I think they should so now I am inherently "losing" something.
NEW WAY OF SEEING IT: Although we are related because of genetics, we don't owe each other anything. I am a deserving person and I am loved and provided for by the Universe. I pray that the Universe is being just as good to _________. I will count my blessings for the love I receive.
HOW THIS AFFECTS ME: It's freaking liberating! I am not losing out on anything and when it's written down, I see how almost ridiculous it is to think that someone "owes" me anything, especially for the reason of being a "blood relation". It also puts me in a peaceful space of prayer and remembrance of the Creator because I am looking at all I have instead of what I once thought I didn't have. And maybe, just maybe, the good vibes I am sending out through my prayer for ______'s happiness, will positively impact them in some way. Now, that's way more productive than tossing and turning at night, stewing over what someone did or didn't do.
A work in progress, though. My goodness, it did take some energy to come up with this, but it will take way more energy to solidify it and truly make it my belief. It takes a little bit of work, you know, to change the chemistry of your cells!
If you try this out, or have already done this before, please share if you'd like. I think the more things like this that we share, the more likely we are to break down those barriers of feeling embarrassed or guilty or like we are less than perfect if we admit to feeling negative. And that's half the battle!
Thanks for reading...
Showing posts with label Wayne Dyer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wayne Dyer. Show all posts
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
The Sound of Words
My Physics of Sound professor opened a lecture with the age-old question "If a tree fell in the forest and no one was there to hear it, would it still make a sound?" As a class, we came to the conclusion that no, there couldn't be a sound because there was no receiver...the 'waves' would travel through the air but without an ear drum, those 3 tiny bones and the necessary auditory nerve the 'waves' couldn't be transformed to sound. And that, like many things I have learned in my science-based classes, makes me think of art.
If someone wrote a beautiful poem but no one was there to read it, would it still be a work of art? Or, would it lack something? Rebecca Wells, the author of The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere, commented that a significant component of writing is actually what the reader brings to the page. Without an imagination, words on a page would be...words on a page. The reader must take these words, these descriptions of characters, setting and scene, and transform them into a type of reality. I kind of like having that privilege of being an active participant in someone's art.
And I think this can be applied to every art form, from painting to sculpting, to acting to music. Art is a two-way communication.
Aha, you say, what about if you write something and keep it to yourself? That embarassing situation you found yourself in that you only want to reveal to yourself or that wonderful comment someone made to you that made you so giddy, but you only want to keep it to yourself? How about that little cartoon you drew of the rather rude man you wish you'd never laid eyes on? If you kept it to yourself and nobody was there to receive it, would it be art?
Let's get a little Wayne Dyer here and say "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change" and let's change the word yourself to your Self. Then you have to ask, what is your Self? If I ask my Self that question, I cannot escape the deep-seated feeling that my Self is actually part of something that exists outside of myself.
It was only after 20 years of journalling to my Self that I realized that I was actually conversing with someone/something. And so feeling this way makes me believe that everything I create is a work of art, because it is definitely received by someone/something...even before I came to realize it was happening.
If someone wrote a beautiful poem but no one was there to read it, would it still be a work of art? Or, would it lack something? Rebecca Wells, the author of The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere, commented that a significant component of writing is actually what the reader brings to the page. Without an imagination, words on a page would be...words on a page. The reader must take these words, these descriptions of characters, setting and scene, and transform them into a type of reality. I kind of like having that privilege of being an active participant in someone's art.
And I think this can be applied to every art form, from painting to sculpting, to acting to music. Art is a two-way communication.
Aha, you say, what about if you write something and keep it to yourself? That embarassing situation you found yourself in that you only want to reveal to yourself or that wonderful comment someone made to you that made you so giddy, but you only want to keep it to yourself? How about that little cartoon you drew of the rather rude man you wish you'd never laid eyes on? If you kept it to yourself and nobody was there to receive it, would it be art?
Let's get a little Wayne Dyer here and say "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change" and let's change the word yourself to your Self. Then you have to ask, what is your Self? If I ask my Self that question, I cannot escape the deep-seated feeling that my Self is actually part of something that exists outside of myself.
It was only after 20 years of journalling to my Self that I realized that I was actually conversing with someone/something. And so feeling this way makes me believe that everything I create is a work of art, because it is definitely received by someone/something...even before I came to realize it was happening.
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