By Dr. Sandy Islands for Conch Color
At some point each morning most of us look at our reflections in the mirror. We scrutinize our physical features with a mental running commentary depending on how we feel about ourselves. We’re too old, too young, too dark or too light skinned, too fat, too thin, too wrinkled, not muscular enough, etc. Let’s look deeper beyond the surface, like in the movie, “The Matrix.” We walk through what appeared to be a wall and a door opens into our minds where we can explore three levels. The basement is our sub-conscious mind - the ground floor is our conscious mind - and the top floor is our higher consciousness.
We walk down a flight of stairs to the basement and enter a huge computer room with massive storage capacity. Every thought, word and action we’ve committed in this life is saved so that at any time during our day, someone might push a button which opens a file and causes an emotional reaction. If we let past programming control our responses to life we’ll stay stuck in old patterns of behavior and true reflection is out of our reach. When someone “hurts our feelings” do we react with revenge or do we reflect on where this feeling is coming from. We have choices and we don’t have to be victims. We can let go, forgive all the players in our past and move forward.
We walk back up to the ground floor – our conscious minds -10% of our brain potential. Without knowing it, many of us spend our entire thinking energy on this floor. It’s a narrow corridor where rapid-fire thinking that fuels negative feelings as we analyze and re-play scenes over and over. Reaction on this floor often equates to blaming the world for our problems, criticizing, judging and imagining worst-case scenarios in the future. If we live on this floor, at the end of our day, we hear ourselves say, “I’m so burnt out. My mind is fried. My head is spinning. I had a crazy day.” This is when we reach for anything outside of ourselves to escape.
But there’s hope - a bright light shines from a stairwell going up to the top floor. It’s inviting and we’re drawn to go up, but it’s new and different, so it’s hard to leave the familiar for the unknown. We take a leap of faith and walk up one step at a time. We reach the top and are bathed in a loving and healing energy and we feel our stress melting away. Our minds are clear and open like a cool breeze or a rainbow after a storm. Somehow the answers to all of our questions are available effortlessly and easily. We feel a sense of inner peace like we’ve never felt before. On this floor, no matter what happens in the world, we reflect on what our part was. When we’re disappointed, we look at our own expectations rather than blaming anyone else. When we’re upset, we ask ourselves what button just got pushed.
Rather than a playback loop of what someone else did, we reflect on what our contribution was to any chaos or crisis that transpired. We’re freed from being victims or martyrs of any kind, because we’re awake and aware to the truth that no one can make us feel any particular way unless we let them. Let’s practice the art of reflection ─ let’s reflect on our part and set ourselves free. Please write to Dr. Sandy Islands at sandyislands@hawaii.rr.com.