02 October 2009

Chapter 2 - Truth

The image of a psychological windowpane was so vivid. "Because living behind a pane of glass, numbing and empty though it is, also feels safe."

That quote by Martha Beck on page 27, reminds me of a film. We attended the Berkeley Film Festival last weekend and there was a film (The Girl in the Window by Kellen Moore) about this girl who never went outside and just watched the other kids play from her window. Well to cut to the chase, a little boy admirer of hers brought her a big, beautiful butterfly, in a cage, and she got the message. She could see that the beautiful butterfly needed freedom and room to fly, and so did she. It was a sweet story.

(self pep talk) Yes, behind the window 'feels' safe. But, life is to be lived. You know, like "a ship in harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for." You are in the thick of moving out of comfort zones and complacent tendencies. Be gentle but it is time to wake up and engage in life.

The chapter 2 questions immediately reminded me of 'The Work' by Byron Katie, which in fact was referenced. I find the part where you flip around your story to something more true, usually to feel more honest & positive. One turn-around in the questions I had, was this:

I was feeling very tense and flipped my painful story from the stress of change - buying a house, and moving to a new area and all that entails is both new and scary. Sure it's natural to have some stress & anxiety but if I replace the scary with excitement my story goes from negative fear to more positive and confident. Oh, the stories we tell ourselves...

So I will continue to remind my self that the truth really is more positive and exciting than the fear-based stories I cling to. Simply a bad habit that gots to go!

I did 'nothing' a few times despite my stress and insomnia this week. No major insights but I did relax a bit and detach from the myriad of thoughts zooming by. I am still aware of tensing my eyes and lord knows I don't need to bring on unnecessary wrinkles with all the squinting! However, I discovered a little gem of an idea on Connie's blog to use during 'nothing time'. She shared a yoga pose (Legs-Up-the-Wall) that is simple to do and very beneficial. It just resonated w/me as a great way to do 'nothing time'. I will attempt that daily. (even more so since it's good for you immune system and I'm on the brink of a cold.)

On a side note, I started reading Mitch Albom's new book "Have a little faith". Love it.

4 comments:

Ginny said...

The story of the girl behind the glass window created a powerful visual for me. Life is to be lived and I want to have as many positive and fun experiences as I can.
I love the legs-up-the wall pose and it would be a wonderful way to do "nothing" each day. Thank you for a great post.

Lexington said...

The story of the girl behind the window also really resonated with me. Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful story and your experiences with truth.

Lisa said...

Bravo! I love how you re-wrote you story! And I mostly loved the bit of self-pep talk you shared... it's simply beautiful.

Glad said...

Thank you for sharing the story about the girl, the window pane and the caged butterfly.

It fit perfectly.