November 11, 2007

Things happen. What happens is "what is." All of our thoughts about "what is" are simply that: thoughts. We do not have to believe our thoughts. The less we believe our thoughts, particularly the disempowering, judgmental, unhappy ones, the happier we become.

This morning the "what is" was, for me, that for the third day in a row I awoke with my neck and upper back in total spasm. One choice I could have made as I groaned and struggled to get out of bed was to suffer, to think "poor me," and to wonder why this happened to "poor me." I tend not to make that choice, ever. I prefer to think happy thoughts, look on the bright side, find the positive or the potentially positive, in whatever is. So, this morning, I decided that the spasms were a "healing crisis," one in which my body was unwinding and releasing all the trauma that my upper body had endured 35 years ago, this very month, in a car accident. That right away got me excited: What a blessing to finally heal that!

When the pain and spasms started, I decided to give myself a day or two of rest to let my body heal itself. This morning the two days I had allotted were up, so I went to my yoga class. When I arrived, I told my teacher that I might not do well in the postures today because of the spasms and pain, and that I was there to do what I could, in the hope and with the intent that the yoga would help.

In yoga (as in life), there often is resistance to completely letting go - to allowing your body to bend backwards or forward or extend fully. So in yoga, much of the practice is about letting go of the resistance to letting go. Every time a limiting thought entered my head during yoga class, I chose to acknowledge it but not believe it. I chose instead to simply relax and allow my body to open as much as it was able in each moment. By the end of the 90 minute class, only a slight amount of stiffness remained in my neck and upper back.

This is not about ignoring or denying "what is." It is about acknowledging "what is" and then choosing your thoughts about "what is." It is about letting go of the old disempowering and limiting thoughts and deciding for yourself what "what is" means and, if you find yourself still clinging to them, letting go of your resistance to letting go. Finally, if your wish is to be happy, you will make choices and decisions about "what is" that empower, expand and inspire you. It is about holding the knowing that in every challenge there is a gift waiting to be revealed. And if some cynical person says: "You are dreaming," thank them. As the song, Happy Talk (from the musical, South Pacific), goes:

If you don't talk happy,
And you never have a dream
Then how you gonna have a dream come true?
So you gotta talk happy,
And you gotta have a dream,
Or you'll never have a dream come true.

So, if you want to be happy, think happy thoughts, talk happy to yourself and to others, and have a dream (which is a happy thought). May all your dreams come true.

COPYRIGHT: @ Bonnie Starr Mandell-Rice 2007. This article may be forwarded provided that the complete article is included and this copyright information is included.) This article will be archived at www.transformativecoaching.net *