Mental Image Pictures©2004 by Joan McCabe

Mental Image Pictures©2004 by Joan McCabe

Some people believe that when we pop out of out mother we are a blank slate, or a blob of clay to be molded. Not true, we come into this physical experience already filled with information and awareness. Some of this comes from previous lifetimes, but some of it comes from experiences within the womb.

How we encapsulate this information and awareness is in "pictures". We are constantly absorbing pictures from others as well as creating our own. We are veritable galleries of pictures, which influences our perception of the world. We view reality through these pictures, which has the affect of looking at life through a photographic slide. These 'slides' can also be laden with emotion, which colors our feeling experience and can make it difficult to change or move forward.

An obvious example of this is Post Traumatic Stress syndrome. A person has been through a traumatic event in their life, and for years afterwards it continues to plague them whenever something triggers these slides to pop up. Suddenly they're not viewing the reality in front of them, but seeing things from the mental image pictures taken at the time the event occurred. This happens in a less extreme way on an every day level - in new relationships, for example. After the initial honeymoon period has worn off, people start viewing each other through slides of past relationships. The person in front of them no longer looks like the wonderful person they've just fallen in love with, but exactly like their ex-partner! The same thing happens when someone changes jobs or schools or moves to a new area. They feel like they're stuck in the same reality they just left, which isn't true, they just haven't let go of the pictures from their past.

It is possible to de-energize these pictures, so that you can see the world around you the way it really is (or at least from a clearer perspective)! One simple way is to 'reframe' your thoughts. Listen to how you express yourself. Perhaps there's a way to put a more positive spin on it. For example, say you've just changed jobs and you're feeling like the new one is exactly like the old one. Perhaps at the old one you couldn't express a differing opinion or voice a concern. You could 'reframe' your impression of your new workplace as being open and accepting to new ideas. People tend to respond to the pictures you project at them, so if you've viewing them as open and accepting, likely as not they'll behave that way with you. The same applies to relationships. If you have a slide that the women in your life are critical and judgmental (just like your mother was), you'll experience them as critical and judgmental - even if they're not really that way to begin with. Choosing a more positive way of looking at the world may seem simple but can change your life in very powerful ways. It can pull you out of depression (which is a pattern of viewing the world so negatively that it can affect your body chemistry).

It can be helpful to take some quiet time on a regular basis to de-energize pictures. One way to do this is to imagine that you have an energy connection from the lower part of your body (first chakra) to the center of the earth. It can be like one of those trash chutes that older apartment buildings had, going down to the incinerator in the basement. Imagine dropping pictures you want to release down the grounding connection, where they go down to the center of the earth and their energy can be recycled into something new. You can do this even if you're not certain what the pictures are. For instance, perhaps there's something that stops you from experiencing success in your life. You don't have to analyze what it is or where it came from; you can just imagine releasing it down your grounding. If you feel like there's a lot of pictures in your way, you can imagine paper grocery bags full of them, and drop them down your grounding 'trash chute'. Doing this once a day can dramatically change your reality in a very short time!

Things to think about:
Do you have an area of your life that you've been 'spinning your wheels'? Perhaps there are some 'stuck pictures' keeping you from moving forward. Try the grounding game focusing specifically on that area. Every day take a few minutes to sit quietly and imagine a bag full of whatever pictures that may be holding you back on this issue. Imagine the grounding connection, and imagine dropping that bag down it to the center of the earth. Take a deep breath after you've done it, feeling your lungs with oxygen and your space with new, clear energy.