| If You Can See It (Or Not) You’re Already Making Up a Story |
| I was listening to a manifestation visualization tape yesterday and I had so much resistance to it. Each time the voice suggested an image, I felt myself physically recoil. I couldn’t see the image. Or I saw it for a moment, and it immediately disappeared. Of course, my inner perfectionistic voice got on my case for not doing it correctly. Despite that, I hung in there through the whole visualization tape and I’m glad that I did. I learned something very powerful that I wouldn’t have learned in any other way. Visualizations are stories. Even though another person is prompting you along the way, each visualization is a story, and you are the co-author. What finally struck me, is that I didn’t find the story or the author believable. Consequently, I didn’t invest in it. Unfortunately, as the co-author, I failed to create a story that moved me in any positive way toward my goals. Fiction relies upon the suspension of disbelief so that the reader can enjoy the narrative. In this particular case, I was so stuck in my own limited mental models, I couldn’t suspend my disbelief in other possibilities for the sake of creating a new narrative or story. I didn’t trust myself to come up with another story that would gratify my current yearning. While that was painful to experience, it was also a great gift. Rather than creating a visualization right now, I’m going to have an extended conversation with my inner critics who refused to see the possibility of a new story. Each of these critics has a story to tell me. I haven’t been willing to listen to them before now. I don’t have to act on any of their stories, but I at least need to listen to them to determine what I want to do with the kernel of truth they represent in my life. The good news is that I have now created a positive story about my resistance to doing this visualization. Sometimes the act of Re-Storying my story takes a while. Yesterday, I didn’t have to wait long to see things from a vastly different perspective. The coach leading the visualization did say I should be open to an outcome that I could never imagine, and in this way, it was a total success! What visualizations have deeply moved you? What visualizations have totally turned you off? Why? Grateful for all the stories we each have to tell, Judith |