Getting Out of My Own
These days I associate the word "practice" with spiritual practices, but
whatever we do repeatedly we are practicing. If we pray a lot, we are doing a
devotional spiritual practice. But when we get angry or frustrated over
and over again, we are also practicing. Lots of us practice negative thinking,
and over time we get better and better at it. I'm not convinced that
negative thinking creates the bad things that happen in our lives as some New
Agers claim, but I do know that practicing negative thinking leads to more
negative thinking.
The "New Morning" show on "
Get Out of
Your Own Way" reminded me that it's possible to shift gears when we find
ourselves practicing something that is not contributing to our health and
well-being.
Angela Miller, who overcame an addiction to alcohol, and
Stephanie Howard, who recovered from an eating disorder,
certainly proved that. So did the novice climbing teams at the
Nelson Rock Preserve. As one of them says, "It's amazing what
you can do if you take it one step at a time."
But how do you know when
to shift gears? What if you are so stuck in a practice, like resentment or fear
or failure thinking, that you don't even know you are in your own way? What if you are so stuck in a practice, like resentment or fear or failure thinking, that you don't even know you are in your own way? This is when I find that tools which help you get in touch with your inner wisdom are very helpful. I was fascinated by the process that
Gretta Sabinson went through putting little figures in a tray of sand. Picking out the figures from Jungian therapist Rosalind Winter's collection, then placing them in relation to each other along with other objects, helped her uncover her feelings about some changes she was facing. She literally shifted her attitude as she moved the figures.
I'd love to try sandplay therapy the next time I’m facing a transition. But for now I have some very simple tools I use to encourage myself to look at what is happening in my life and what I am practicing. I believe in synchronicity and that Spirit sends me messages in my daily life, so I find that something as simple as a card drawn out of a deck can feel like it is just what I need to look at in the moment. Every week I pull two cards. One is a "Pandora" card from a deck (unfortunately now out-of-print) of about 50 cards, each with one word and a cute little devil illustration. These are challenges, such as scarcity, selfishness, anger, miserliness, or laziness. The other card is an "Angel" card from a deck of cards, each with a word and a cute little angel illustration. These are supportive qualities such as courage, spontaneity, trust, simplicity, and delight.
What's amazing to me is that I can always see how the pair I draw for the week go together. The week I got the challenge of self-importance, I got the angel of flexibility. The week I was faced with paranoia, I got the angel card for honesty. This little practice reminds me that simply by looking anew at issues that come up in my life, I can shift gears. And it also reminds me that support is always available both within and outside of me.