Women in Transition

WEEK 30
INQUIRY: Self Limiting Beliefs – Honoring Our Own Best Efforts.

Self-imposed limitations are magnificently effective! In exploring self-limiting beliefs, and moving beyond them, it is essential to view yourself and your old patterns from a broader perspective. Seeing with new awareness, we can more deeply understand their etiology and their original intent.

Almost always, our efforts to care for ourselves reflect our then-best abilities to successfully navigate the rapids of the rivers of our lives. Choose a particular limiting belief, or cluster of beliefs, and transport yourself back to the genesis of those beliefs. Let’s take a look at how we came to adopt them and why they seemed like a good idea at the time.

• Where were you in your life when you adopted the behavior or belief?
• What was your original goal, intent, or purpose? How did you hope for it to promote your well-being or resolve your dilemma?
• Are you now able to recognize the pattern at its onset, or do you usually see it after the cycle has completed?
• When or how did you realize this pattern had become a hindrance?
• What are the payoffs and the penalties for staying in this loop, and how has it shaped your life so far?

This evening, as we prepare to release these old patterns, let us honor the efforts of our earlier selves. Sorting through the detritus of what you now recognize as impeding your forward movement, excavate the hidden insights and buried gems that lie amongst the rubble. Retrieve these treasures, as they are gifts from your earlier self, and let the rest go.

MEDITATION: When We were Young.

As you settle yourself this evening, imagine bringing your childhood stuffed animal with you, a favorite toy or object that reminds you of yourself at an early age … and prepare to travel back to a time of innocence, a time when each morning promised the greatest adventures and you were in love with life. Close your eyes and see the girl you once were, see how adorable and trusting you were. If this was not the situation in your childhood, envision the girl you would have liked to have been, the life you would have liked her to live. Listen to your own breath passing effortlessly in and out of your lungs, grounding you as you slip back through the illusion of time.

The atmosphere surrounding you is becoming progressively less and less dense … and you experience a very pleasant sense of weightlessness as you slowly merge into the picture in your mind. You find yourself floating right in front of her, the girl that was you so long ago. And leaning down, and you gaze directly into her clear, unguarded eyes. Observe her features, the color and texture of her hair, her sweet child-smell; see the joy that beams from her laughing eyes when she smiles at you, charming you in that way children do, as you feel yourself being slowly drawn into her.

Within her, you find yourself enveloped in a softly radiant space, wrapped by a sense of simple grace. The purity of her intentions whispers over you like gossamer, gentle as a feather. You find yourself wondering, how long has it has been since you basked in such an uncomplicated state of well-being? Allow yourself to relax into this safe space. Feel a tingle of excitement in the depths of your heart as a fluttering of faith begins to take flight, like a nestling. (Pause.)

As you continue to intertwine yourself with this child who is still an aspect of you, images begin to flow through your mind, bringing a deep comprehension of her heart, the purity of her world, her unquestioned trust in the overriding power of good. And you literally feel the brilliance of the light she carries. Unequivocally you know that every effort she makes, her every breath is founded in the purity of love.

And as this understanding grows, it begins to integrate itself within you, bringing with it the evolution of your own self-understanding as an adult, a profound recognition that at your core, you too are faultless and good. You know that her choices and your choices have always emanated from the intention to do good.

Take some time to allow this transformational realization to deepen, re-aligning the many selves you carry within … relax into it fully. … (Pause.)

As your adult self begins to slip back through the veils of time, allow yourself to retain the lightness you have experienced with your child self. Feel yourself re-enter your human form, slowly settling into your physical body … bringing your awareness back to your room. Gently begin to move your toes and your fingers … gently allow your etheric eyes to make contact with your sisters sitting in the sacred women’s circle around you. Slowly open your eyes - welcome back!

CLOSING QUOTES: Release the Familiar (Alan Cohen)

“It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change, there is power. “

“And after you have made your commitment to say no to what no longer serves you, you will probably be invited to demonstrate that you really mean it.”