Below is like a synopsis of the exercise we did - along with my own personal answers to the questions we had to ask ourselves. You might consider the following questions and think about your own life. Have you found your purpose and are you living it? If not, why not? And are you willing to do what it takes to make the changes to improve your life?
1. Up to this point in my life, what is the thing that I am most proud of? Surviving breast cancer and getting sober. Why? Because these are the two hardest things I have ever done.
2. If I could be granted one wish when I leave Miraval, what would it be? To achieve living in present moment time.
3. If I could climb to the top of a mountain and scream any one thing at the top of my lungs to all of the people who exist in my world, what would I scream? I am good enough.
4. If you could trade places with me and stand up here and give this lecture, what would you speak about? Surviving breast cancer and the positive ways in which it can change your life. Hmm, either that or getting sober - or maybe both.
Then we paused for a visualization exercise. Close your eyes and imagine you are on your death bed. Imagine what that would feel like and try to really feel the emotions. Think about the people you would invite one by one to visit you. Think about what you would say to each person. What you would want them to know and remember and what you would want them to say about you after you are gone. Powerful stuff - for me anyway. Because I lived this. No, I wasn't on my death bed when I had breast cancer, but I did go through a very similar process to this visualization exercise - just naturally as a consequence of facing my own mortality. Anyway, we did this exercise and it just sparked something inside of me. I am not living my best life post breast cancer. I am not living the life I wanted to live. I am not the person I wanted to evolve to be. There is deep sorrow inside of me associated with this failing on my part.
Moving on. Okay, I am going to cut a few things out because the lecture was long and I know I am not explaining myself nearly adequately enough.
The next series of questions she asked us, I really couldn't answer in the few seconds we were given. What inspires you? What makes you happy? What is the feeling of happiness and what produces it? If you were asked to write a gratitude letter, who would you write it to and what would you thank them for? What is the biggest obstacle keeping me from my own personal greatness? Duh, myself. She said the answer to this question, no matter what you wrote down, almost always boils down to fear. Oh right fear. Where have I heard that before? AA, my inventory - my 4th step. Everything comes back to fear.
So to change your life, or, well, even move in the direction of changing your life, to evolve so to speak, she said you need the following: to embrace discomfort in your life in the areas in which you are most vulnerable; that it is essential to live with blind optimism - it is the key to thriving; that you must live with purpose; that you must be internally driven because external rewards only go so far; you must learn to regulate your emotions to achieve better life problem solving skills because all too often our emotions get in the way; you should think of life ritualistically - are there rituals you could add to your life with positive consequences and are there rituals you could remove that have negative effects; and lastly, and most importantly, you need confidence to generate results/change. What is confidence - it is getting to the point where you do not fear outcomes. FEAR PEOPLE. All signs point back to fear apparently.
Anyway, just something to think about. Are you who you want to be? Are you living your best life? I booked a private "walk and talk" with her because I wanted to explore a few things deeper that came out of that visualization. That's tomorrow. For now I am off to the exorcism - will report back on that.
Moving on. Okay, I am going to cut a few things out because the lecture was long and I know I am not explaining myself nearly adequately enough.
The next series of questions she asked us, I really couldn't answer in the few seconds we were given. What inspires you? What makes you happy? What is the feeling of happiness and what produces it? If you were asked to write a gratitude letter, who would you write it to and what would you thank them for? What is the biggest obstacle keeping me from my own personal greatness? Duh, myself. She said the answer to this question, no matter what you wrote down, almost always boils down to fear. Oh right fear. Where have I heard that before? AA, my inventory - my 4th step. Everything comes back to fear.
So to change your life, or, well, even move in the direction of changing your life, to evolve so to speak, she said you need the following: to embrace discomfort in your life in the areas in which you are most vulnerable; that it is essential to live with blind optimism - it is the key to thriving; that you must live with purpose; that you must be internally driven because external rewards only go so far; you must learn to regulate your emotions to achieve better life problem solving skills because all too often our emotions get in the way; you should think of life ritualistically - are there rituals you could add to your life with positive consequences and are there rituals you could remove that have negative effects; and lastly, and most importantly, you need confidence to generate results/change. What is confidence - it is getting to the point where you do not fear outcomes. FEAR PEOPLE. All signs point back to fear apparently.
Anyway, just something to think about. Are you who you want to be? Are you living your best life? I booked a private "walk and talk" with her because I wanted to explore a few things deeper that came out of that visualization. That's tomorrow. For now I am off to the exorcism - will report back on that.
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