See the Stars!
Kirwan Rockefeller, Ph.D., WIA/TAA Academic Advisor at the University of California, Irvine Extension, is the author of “Visualize Confidence: How to Use Guided Imagery to Overcome Self-Doubt,” and is the co-editor of “Psychology, Spirituality and Healthcare,” Volume 2 of the 3-volume series, “Whole Person Healthcare.” This is the sixth installment in Dr. Rockefeller’s series of blogs on utilizing the imagination for personal transformation.
When you look at your life, how do you view it? Do you automatically envision yourself as the biggest loser, an American idol, or a real housewife? Maybe you think about yourself as a late bloomer, the good guy or the cheerleader. No matter how you think about your internal identify, one fact remains. You are more than the sum of all the parts and elements that make you the “you” that you are.
Building upon our last blog, “whatever you focus on becomes magnified,” begin to focus on what’s right with you. The world will certainly have no trouble, in cahoots with your Inner Critic, to conspire and repeatedly tell you what’s wrong, missing, obsolete or how you’re “not enough.” Since you’ve now learned to use imagery to quiet and transform your Inner Critic, now make an active choice to focus on the glass as half full.
Return to the images on your Vision Board frequently and heed the advice of your Inner Advisor — that small still voice inside, that sense of yourself that does know the answers, does know what excites you about the future, and does give you little hints of what the next step should be. Then, take those small steps that feel deeply right in your heart-of-hearts in the directions of your dreams. One small step at a time.
Reverend Frederick Langbridge, English poet and writer, wrote that “Two men look out the same prison bars: one sees mud and the other sees stars.” When you look at your life, are you focusing on the mud or do you see the stars?
Look up, and focus on the stars.
Next week: Letting your imagination soar.