The deep, shattering crash of china, glass and pottery grinding into powder brought me instantly upright and shaking out of a deep dreaming sleep. It’s 2:39 AM and every part of me is shaking.

The deep, shattering crash of china, glass and pottery grinding into powder brought me instantly upright and shaking out of a deep dreaming sleep.  It’s 2:39 AM and every part of me is shaking.  First thought is that the heavy cabinets in my kitchen have broken free of their supports, crashing to the floor. 

Still shaking, I peek out my bedroom doorway, to find nothing out of place.  Checking the other rooms, all appears as it should be. Back to bed, eyes closed, the brain won’t stop.  

Ahh it must be inside a cabinet!  Up again, I cautiously open each cabinet reassured that all is well.  Back to bed,   eyes closed again.  Ahhhha, it must be inside the refrigerator!  Up again, nope all is well there too.  Maybe it was a neighbour, but the sound was so close?    Back to bed, and then it hits me!  The antique cabinet….the one that holds my family’s memories, mothers’ and grandmothers’ china, our holiday platters used for every celebration in the past 30 years.  Sighing sadly, I once more throw back the covers. Now in the living room, I unlatch the carved, double wooden doors to this little treasure box, listening as the unmistakable tinkle and crunch of broken glass shifting confirms my fears.  It’s now 3 AM, clean up on aisle one will wait until morning.  The doors remain closed for now. 

My memories, good and bad are stacked like heirloom dishes on shelves in my mind. If the shelf doesn’t have enough support at critical weight bearing  points it will eventually come crashing down.   When we hold onto resentments, angers, frustrations we put great pressure on those supporting structures.  This is when emotional baggage needs to be released to free up those emotional supports and let us move forward.   Easy to say let go of emotional baggage but HOW do we do that?   What else supports being able to release heavy baggage?   Last post, we talked about the 4 categories of personal Values!  Let’s explore a little further.

The must have values in our lives, the ones we don’t even know exist, give us the strength to release the memories that no longer serve us.   BUT what are must have values and how do they perform this magic?

•  A “must have” Value is a comfort zone in your life that tells you when a behaviour, a request from another person or a situation makes you so uncomfortable that you must do what you must do to get back into your comfort zone.  Integrity, Freedom, Choice…these are all personal must have values.  When you obsess, can’t sleep, feel guilty….these are signs of a must have value not being lived.

   

• Values act as supports along the underside of a situation.  Visualize a shelf or staircase that holds up a great weight.  Now look under the shelf to see extra uprights that support it a critical weight bearing points.  

Exercise:  

1. Think of your ‘must have’ values, name them and write them into your journal.
2. Now close your eyes and visualize your life as a staircase. 
3. Under each important life step put a single upright support that has the name of the value that supported you at that time.  Use your journal to draw a picture of  this staircase.   
4. Finally, draw one more staircase with a chart or picture of a challenge you are facing today.  Draw in one step for each phase of the challenge and under each step put a single supporting Value. 
5. Remember as you are strategizing your action plan for this challenge  to think about how you can best use this value to keep you on tract in your decision making. 

Try this exercise and let me know how it works for you.   I can be reached at portalcoach@live.ca.   I want to hear about YOUR wins and challenges.

Sue Rumack,   life essence coach

I AM…Change from Within   http://www.iamchangewithin.com  http://www.portal2positivity.com

Advertisement