Читать книгу Change Your Story, Change Your Life: Rewrite the Past and Live an Empowered Now! - Beatrice Elliott - Страница 7

Preface

Pondering over a warm cup of coffee on a brisk fall morning a few years back, I wondered what I would have been like if my parents had gone through their divorce differently. You know, without the badmouthing and blaming. Divorce has a way of absorbing the two adults in the emotional crisis, often disallowing a space for the children’s feelings. I wondered how I might have experienced my subsequent relationships with friends, lovers and husbands. Perhaps I would have done better in sharing my feelings in those relationships if my parents had asked me from time to time, “What are you feeling about this divorce? What are your needs? Is there something you want to say to us?”

The idea came to me to rewrite that dismal time and have it play out differently. I wanted to rewrite a particular crisis as a storybook and bring with me an adult point of view and new choices that I didn’t have access to as a 15-year-old girl.

Being a parent myself and an educator, I loved reading stories to children that had imaginary “do-gooder” characters, real crusaders for the child. I decided to rewrite my history and include two imaginary friends: Jasper the Joybird and Zephyr the Wind. This dynamic duo would time travel back with me to direct and inspire the younger me.

I put pen to paper to rewrite a specific incident with my father. I recalled how I physically looked, described details of the house I was living in and how I was feeling about my life. I wrote down the questions I asked myself because they seemed to bring me back to the emotional colors of that particular time. As I conjured up all the sensory detail, I found myself not just thinking about the incident from a remote perspective, but actually living through it again. Only this time, I had my “Power Posse” of Jasper and Zephyr to guide me in rewriting my story. Jasper served as my confidante, encouraging me to let loose all my feelings. He was the problem solver, informing me of more empowering choices. I cast Zephyr as the illuminator. He helped me understand my part in the bigger picture, inspired me to release old emotions and move towards understanding and forgiveness.

I also wanted to address in my rewritten story the mind/body connection to aid in healing. I had suffered from Epstein-Barr Virus in the 1980’s and breast cancer in the 1990’s. I definitely sensed that my mental and emotional state was adversely affecting my physical health. I read Louise Hay’s books, which clearly explained the emotional causes linked to physical disease or “dis-ease.” I decided to include this aspect in my story by giving Jasper a rainbow-colored tail, which represented the colors of the seven charkas, or energy systems, of the body. Our emotions are often locked in one or many of the chakras. In my story, Jasper presents my child self with a tail feather that represents the appropriate color of the affected chakra: a green feather to heal my heart.

Having cast all the characters and asked myself the difficult questions, I began writing my personal parable, Bea Wished. I tried not to think and just let myself write. I gave myself permission to feel pent up emotions I had never fully explored before. Spurred on by Jasper, I let them go and made empowering choices. Zephyr gently suggested I view the antagonist with more compassionate eyes, so I could release the stress of false perception. My story flowed out of me all the way to a different and more empowering ending.

I felt clear. It was a catharsis with a difference. This process revealed new insights. It felt fun doing this rewriting with my personal “Power Posse” at my side for support and direction. The two imaginary characters were the true voice of my heart, a voice that had been muted by the chatter of my mind’s limited perception and disabling beliefs.

The re-storying gave me distance from the painful childhood event; instead I immersed myself in the positive thoughts and actions of the heroic characters. I felt re-stored. I experienced even more healing as I shared my story with loved ones. They said listening to my story helped them to understand me better. A few months after rewriting my story, I experienced shifts in my perceptions and changes in my personal relationships. I communicated more clearly with my partner at the time and felt more comfortable in my own skin. Later, I rewrote my story again as part of my process of healing breast cancer. I have since healed my body and am disease free.

Seeing a change in me, friends and clients asked me to guide them through the same process. They, too, experienced a sense of release and closure. Later, they reported positive effects in their lives as well. These stories had a purpose: to heal the heart and reveal the truth that we are all whole, perfect and complete.

Chapter one discusses psychological, metaphysical and spiritual theories behind storytelling as a healing modality. In chapter two, I explain how I discovered Jasper and Zephyr and allow the characters to introduce themselves to the reader. In chapter three, I share with you my story, Bea Wished. In subsequent chapters, I share some of my clients’ stories. Each chapter begins with a brief background of the person’s life and concludes with the shifts that have occurred since the story was rewritten. The workbook section, Now It’s Your Turn, is a userfriendly guide for rewriting your own story, using my characters or your own. Even if you’ve never written anything before, you can rewrite your story and right your life. May you enjoy the process of opening your life to all its inner riches.

Bea Elliott Studio City, California, 2007