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[This article was kindly shared with us by Maithri Goonetilleke. a medical doctor from Melbourne, Australia. Maithri is also co-founder/director of Possible Dreams International, Inc - a non profit organisation designed to bring tangible hope into the lives of those facing the challenges of extreme poverty, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS and endemic disease. Currently the main focus of their work are the gracious people of Swaziland. Find out more ...]
An Exercise in Renewal
I wonder if you'd try a little exercise in renewal with me....You'll need pen and paper and a box of matches.
To begin on a blank piece of paper, write the following:
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Your name
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Place and Date of Birth
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Nationality
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Ethnicity
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Religious/spiritual belief/world view
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Sexual preference
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Occupation
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Political persuasion
Now write a subheading called 'Labels' and under it list some of the labels which have been used to describe you over the course of your life. You may consider them positive or negative. For example: Intelligent, Clumsy, Graceful, Hilarious, Boring, Eloquent, Dumb, Shy, Gregarious,etc.
Finally on the same piece of paper (you can use the back if you’d like) write a list of things which you think you 'can' do and a list of things which you have believed you ‘can’t’ do. You may prefer to write a list of things you’re 'good' at, and things which you're 'not good at'.
Now go somewhere safe with your piece of paper.
Take a match.
Burn it.
Who are you?
Our identity exists entirely within our thoughts. Like an artist uses a brush to add paint to a canvass, we continue to gild our own concept of who we are as individuals with our thoughts.
The problem arises in that our thoughts are inherently limited. Whats more the perception we create of ourselves in our own minds can hold us prisoner, disabling us from reaching our fullest potential.
In days gone by when an elephant trainer wanted to keep an elephant captive, they would take the little ones and tie them with a little silver chain to the trunk of tree. When the young elephant tried to escape, the chain would go taut, and their foot would bleed. The more they struggled the more pain they experienced. Very soon they would learn not to resist anymore.
The amazing thing is, that that selfsame chain which held the baby elephant, continues to hold the strong and powerful adult elephant. Even though he could now easily overcome his chains and be free, he has come to believe that the ties that bind him are stronger than himself. It is this concept he holds of his own self, which keeps him captive.
So it is with us.
There is an infinity of possibilities available to us in each moment. The greening spirit of life calls us to befriend and inhabit our potentiality. To allow ourselves to unfold into the fullness of our being like the petals of a flower. Yet many of us are standing in our own way.
The miracle is that in every moment we have another opportunity to start afresh.
To burn our attachments to what we think we are, and dream ourselves anew.
Perhaps like the elephant, it is time for all of us to realise that we are infinitely more than what we think we are.
As James Allen once wrote "As you think, so shall you be."
Warmest love,
Maithri.
[This article was kindly shared with us by Maithri Goonetilleke. a medical doctor from Melbourne, Australia. Maithri is also co-founder/director of Possible Dreams International, Inc - a non profit organisation designed to bring tangible hope into the lives of those facing the challenges of extreme poverty, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS and endemic disease. Currently the main focus of their work are the gracious people of Swaziland. Find out more ...]
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