Читать книгу The Journey for Kids: Liberating your Child’s Shining Potential - Brandon Bays, Kevin Billett Brandon Bays - Страница 7

All of us come into this world as this same vast potential, yet so often life can seem to conspire to cover that natural radiance, obscure our genius, shut down our joy, block out the love. Still we sense that just beneath the surface there lies true greatness – if only we could get access to it. The Journey gives us the tools – simple step-by-step processes – for finally liberating that shining potential, so it can be fully expressed, wholesomely and joyously, in our lives.

In South Africa, at the school where I gave the assembly programme for 800 beaming school kids, I spoke of this very phenomenon in a general metaphor that I felt both kids and adults could relate to. I said that we all come into this world as a big bright shining diamond, completely whole, radiant and pure. We come in as a vast presence of love and joy, as a huge open potential that is capable of creating anything. And then, through the traumas of life, this diamond can seem to get covered over with layer upon layer of limiting patterns – the time we failed our exam at school; the time our brother or sister made fun of us in front of our playmates; the time we got shy and said all the wrong things to our first crush and they were off-hand with us. As we got older it could be the time we were interviewed for our first job and were so awkward and silly that we blew it, and later still it could be the time when we were at work and made a bad mistake then tried to pretend it didn’t happen or, even worse, let someone else take the blame … Layer upon layer upon layer our shining radiance gets covered over, until sometimes, as adults, we forget that there ever was a brilliant diamond inside. Instead, we identify with all the mess, the layers that cover it.

I told the kids that this was, in fact, exactly what had happened to me. As an adult, I completely forgot that there was a beautiful diamond inside. Instead, I identified with all the layers that covered it … until one day I got very sick. And part of the great blessing of my healing journey was that it carried me deep inside, where I uncovered a shining radiance that I realized had been there all along. I fell so in love with this light that I didn’t want anything to cover it anymore and so I began a process of clearing out all the layers that had previously hidden it. In that process, not only did my body heal, but I felt as though the real me had finally been set free. I’d finally taken the lampshade off my light.

I then asked, ‘How many of you are already aware of this light shining deep within you?’ Eight hundred hands shot up all at once – some kids practically stood up, their hands went up so fast. Then I asked, ‘Would you like to go on a magical Journey right into the core of this light – right into your very own diamond?’

‘YES, MA’AM!’ resounded 800 bell-like voices in a huge cacophony of sound so loud it felt like it shook the rafters. It was so loud that everyone burst into laughter. I then asked, ‘So are you ready to start?’

‘YES, MA’AM!’ followed by more laughter so loud that one kid actually fell off his seat, which of course produced even more laughter.

After it all died down, conspiratorially I said, ‘Well, I need your help, though. In order to go on this inner adventure, you will really need to pay full attention and go for it – otherwise the headmistress may get mad at me!’ I winked in her direction. ‘Do you all promise to pay extra close attention and go for it, so I won’t get in trouble?’

‘YES, MA’AM!’ came the enthusiastic reply, as some of the kids glanced in the headmistress’s direction, just to see if she approved.

Once we’d all settled down we began with the first ever simultaneous live Journey process with 800 joyous and enthusiastic souls aged five to eleven. And what a magical time we had. The little ones sometimes had a bit of trouble keeping their eyes closed, and kept peeking to see if everyone else was doing it right, but on the whole, I could tell it was all going very well. Even though their eyes were closed, their faces were so animated, they clearly were following the directions with gusto. Some of the kids were gesticulating with their hands, as if they were holding real balloons, while others were mouthing their conversations at the ‘campfire’. Children are so natural and open. They’re already aware of their own inner light, and processing with them is always a joy. By the end, they were all smiling, and everyone seemed to complete successfully.

Ten minutes after we’d begun, everyone opened their eyes and they were just beaming! They looked so beautiful and shiny that spontaneously I said, ‘Why don’t you look straight into the eyes of the person next to you and say, “You are such a beautiful person. I love the light I see in your eyes!”’ Many of them giggled when they spoke the words, but they all did so.

By now the room was full of laughter, but as I watched I realized that for many of these kids this was the very first time anyone had actually uttered those words to them, and many were quietly and secretly moved as they deeply drank in the words.

When the assembly was over, a rush of 800 kids wanting hugs and autographs came flooding. I was swamped from all sides! A huge hugging fest went on for about an hour and a quarter, with all our Journey staff joining in, signing autographs and receiving hugs. Sometimes the individual queues were over 200 children long, all politely waiting their turn. Each one wanted a special message whispered into their ear and then they’d run to the corners of the room to share what had been said with all their classmates. It was a pure celebration of joy.

Eventually the headmistress, who had been more than patient, insisted that everyone go back to their respective classrooms. For a moment it seemed as if we were resting in a soft lull, but then, quietly and secretly, one by one, the teachers came sneaking out of their classrooms, offering their gratitude and giving huge warm hugs. Then the headmistress put her foot down once and for all, and teachers and students alike returned to their classrooms.

Finally I was allowed to meet privately with the class of children who had been using Journeywork regularly over the past year. I was already aware that their teacher, Jayshree Mannie, and two other teachers had done a year of case studies, dividing the kids into three groups: one group received no Journeywork; one group only occasional Journeywork and one group received Journeywork every Friday afternoon. At the end of the year they tallied the results – and the statistics were extraordinary! The students who got no Journeywork averaged a 67 per cent pass rate. Those who received only occasional Journeywork averaged a 76 per cent pass rate. Those who did Journeywork every week averaged a whopping 91 to 93 per cent!

I was curious to find out what had taken place with the children personally, not just academically, so I sat with them and asked what they had discovered inside themselves. One child said that she’d found love inside and that she was nicer to her brothers and sisters, another said he’d found courage and understanding and that his grades had improved. Another said she could actually see the ‘love-light’, as she called it, in other kids. When she said this I asked them all, ‘Now that you’ve uncovered this love, this light inside, will you promise to help the other kids take the lampshades off their lights? Will you help them discover their courage, their understanding, their fun, their wisdom?’ Everyone promised wholeheartedly to become a torch to help light the other kids’ lamps.

I had already received several beautiful letters from the parents of this class about how their children were much more open, loving and socially well-adjusted, and kinder to their siblings; and they were thrilled with the academic results. I also received dozens of letters from the kids, but it was somehow more meaningful to hear it from the kids first hand and to see it shining in their eyes.

Here are a couple of parents’ letters I received, which I thought you might find inspiring:

My son was underachieving at school and was not performing well in his karate class. I had attended a Journey workshop and saw the merits of The Journey and tried this on Winston myself. However, I think that being his mother did not help too much, so I took him to Jayshree for a Journey session which lasted 35 minutes.

Two days later he was fine. He excelled at his karate championship and won a medal! Better still, I received a concerned call from the school and I frantically rushed there. The teachers said that they were baffled by Winston’s results … They had marked and remarked and remarked his scripts because his marks had improved by 65 per cent, and he was now topping the class! Before he was at the bottom end! They could not understand this and neither would I explain! I felt that it was a private issue and preferred not to say any more!

Winston is Head Boy now and we are all proud. I am doing Journeywork privately and can honestly swear by its success!

We had been beset with tragedies in our family, losing six members to cancer. Our daughter Tanya was suffering as we had just lost another favourite aunt. She was doing badly at school, was not sleeping well, had nightmares and was not eating properly. My sister told me about the Journey as she had brought her kids along. I saw the difference in her kids and decided to give it a shot.

One session later and Tanya was changed! Her chronic earache was gone! She was eating and putting on weight nicely and was sleeping well. Her grades were coming along nicely too. She did discuss that her fear of death was so strong that she had decided that it was not safe to enjoy life as we all would die soon anyway. And all this was because of the tragedies. She internalized this fear and literally stopped living!

Thanks to The Journey, she is a normal happy kid again!

Jayshree Mannie is continuing to take Journeywork to children all over South Africa, only now she is reaching into ghettos, working with social programmes like Life Line, molestation groups and abuse centres, and she’s teaching other schoolteachers, so that they can reach out to children to help them all liberate their shining potential.

We are all kids. Our bodies and our beings so want us to heal. When we take but one step towards Grace, it takes a thousand steps towards us.