Filling the Void

One of the first things I learned when trying to overcome negative feelings was that they don’t go away just by telling them to. When the negative feelings overwhelmed me, I knew I didn’t want them and that they were unnecessary pain. I’d tell myself that I shouldn’t be feeling like that and try to make the feelings go away, but it didn’t work. I couldn’t create a vacant empty space or void. Instead I began to realize that the only way to get rid of bad feelings is to replace them with good feelings. That’s when I began to use Truth Tools.

Over time another thing I have learned is that the most powerful of all feelings is love. When I use the Truth Tools to root out negative feelings, the best positive replace the negative feelings is love. For example, if I have negative feelings toward another person it is usually because I am telling a negative story. So I use the Truth Tool Revision or Rewriting and create a new story about the person. I can always tell a story like, “She didn’t realize what she said,” or “She must be having a bad day,” and that can help. It replaces the negative feelings with kindness. But a replacement story that includes love such as, “She is hurting and needs my love,” or “She is my sister and I can love her even when she says or does things I don’t like,” is much more powerful.

The world around us teaches us this same principle. There is no space in which there is absolutely nothing. Even what appears to our eyes to be nothing is full of air. Likewise, trying to create an emotional void only leaves us numb. Instead we can use the Truth Tools to push away negative feelings and then to keep them from coming back, we need to fill in the “space” they vacated with positive feelings.

Preventing Emotional Flu

During the first meeting of a committee I once served on it became obvious that one woman in the group thought she was more qualified to be chairman than the man who was chairman. She wasn’t rude or obnoxious, but in subtle ways let it be known that she knew much more than the rest of us including the chairman and that she really should be directing the committee. During subsequent meetings she usually spoke up quite a bit and tried to take the discussion in ways the chairman was not intending to go. But one day when we met she remained unusually silent. She sat next to me quietly listening to everyone else, and I thought maybe she'd changed her mind and had gained a new respect for the chairman. But even as I thought that I became aware of a strange vexation within me and couldn’t figure out why I was suddenly feeling such negative feelings. Nothing had happened for me to feel negative about! I was even thinking this positive thought about the woman.

I tried to shake the feeling, but couldn't. Finally the meeting ended and as I left the room I heard the woman speaking to the chairman. It was obvious that during the meeting she’d bottled up some negative, critical feelings which could no longer be contained. At that point I suddenly realized that the vexing feelings I’d felt during the meeting were coming from her. I’d picked up on the negative energy she was sending out even though no words had been spoken and I had no other sensory clues as to what was going on.

It was a great lesson for me. Emotions are as contagious as swine flu! We do give off negative or positive energy that influences those around us. When we are aware of this, we can consciously direct our positive influence to help and benefit others. But most importantly we can recognize when we have picked up a negative “virus” and use the Truth Tools to get rid of it before it makes us sick or spreads to others.

Have a Truth filled day!

The Parable of the Quicksand

One day while walking in the forest watching for birds, Clarence came upon a man stuck up to his waist in quick sand. Surprised that the man who was sinking deeper each minute wasn’t calling for help, Clarence asked if he wanted help. “Another one of you bird watchers,” the man said. “You think you have all the answers.”

Startled Clarence said, “But I have a good, sturdy rope. I could tie it to a tree and give you the end so you could pull yourself out.”

“You just don’t see reality do you?” the sinking man said. “You think that all there is to life is walking along your way enjoying nature, observing birds. But reality is mud and quick sand and those are the things we need to deal with in life. You think just because I hold on to some rope I can be out of this mess?”

“Well, yes. I once fell in quicksand, but I got out by using a rope.”

“How little you know of life. Are you not educated? Have you been brainwashed so that you don’t see reality? I know your type. A Simpleton with Pollyanna solutions to life’s deepest problems.”

Clarence could see that the man was getting deeper and deeper into the muck and he feared for the man’s life. “But you are sinking fast. Please let me help you out!”
The man laughed. “You think a rope is going to save mankind from all the sinkholes in the world. Take off your rose colored glasses, man! See reality for a change! This is reality!” and he pointed to the mud that engulfed him.

“But I’m standing on dry ground. That mud is not my reality.”

“So naïve!” the man said. But by now his chin was touching the mud.

“Please,” Clarence called one last time. “Let me help you. There is so much more to the forest than quicksand. Let me give you the rope and then show you the trees and animals and flowers.”

But it was too late. With a proud, all knowing smirk on his face the man slowly disappeared into the mud.

The moral of this story? Negative attitudes sink the soul but they also blind the eyes.

Picture found at: http://www.movements.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/34776777quicksand-1.jpg