Article Contributed by Lisa Bloom
If the worst possible thing in your life actually happened, would you survive?
How much time do you spend thinking about this?
The truth is that there is a deep practice and commitment to the incitement of fear around the ‘worst possible thing.’ Governments, businesses and churches are trading fear; even brands trade in fear.
I believe it’s simply the wrong kind of story.
This week I also watched Tony Robbins say, “we are defined by the stories we tell ourselves, every one of us has a story or a set of stories…the question is, is your story empowering you to maximize what god has given you, or is your story causing you to fall short.”
When we tell stories that keep us in fear, it’s the wrong kind of story. We have so many better stories.
When I was about 5 years old my sister told me that strawberries, my absolute favorite fruit at that time, grow on the ground and are full of worms. She was kidding, I was horrified. I didn’t touch a strawberry again for years. Finally as a teenager, I started to eat the delightful fruit again, but could never put a whole strawberry in my mouth; I always had to bite it in half first, take a look inside, before popping the rest in. To this day, I hesitate before I put a whole strawberry in my mouth.
Sounds ridiculous, right? It is. But here’s another. I grew up knowing; yes that’s right, not just hearing but actually knowing, that I could do and be whatever I chose.
That meant that when I decided to start my own business, it never occurred to me that I would not succeed. Not seriously. I knew that if I really wanted to do this, I could and I would.
Now that’s an empowering story.
And it’s not about success, it’s about knowing that I’d be okay even in failure; that the doing and the being were the most important thing, the outcome would take care of itself.
Last week, at the end of the stunning days I spent with Byron Katie at the ‘Forgiveness Intensive’, she played the song “That I would be good’ by Alanis Morissette. Not only was it incredibly beautiful and moving, it also struck a chord deep inside me.
She sings,
‘That I would be good even if I did nothing,
That I would be good even if I got and stayed sick
That I would be good even if I gained 10 pounds’
This is not some kind of wishful thinking or blind faith. This is the right kind of story. It is complete acceptance of what is, a state of
grace. A place of peace and love.
She sings,
‘That I would be fine even if I went bankrupt…
That I would be grand even if I was not all
knowing’
Let’s tell that story.
The story of empowerment, peace and love.
What’s yours?
