My Beliefs about New York

I find myself with a free afternoon in downtown New York and I am struck with a wave of concerns regarding a few members of the group. Where most are making awe-inspiring progress, there are some outliers that have captured my thoughts today.

One shows up, but isn’t fully engaged in the work. As a result, there is minimal progress and a cloud of personal disappointment that joins us in the room whenever she arrives. I want to help. Hold her hand. Shake her to wake up, but I know we all hold the key to our own progress. Another is struggling with a shadow. It has followed her for years. It has become her companion and nemesis. Though it wears the mask of a jester, it will sometime unveil itself when she’s all alone – keeping her from offering her true beauty and gifts to this world. It keeps her goodness looking small in her own eyes. Yet another is sidetracked by her ability to open up to different ways of thinking and being. The question – what stops them -- all of us, at different times – from listening to our hearts and changing our path?

It strikes me that New York, in some ways, is the perfect environment for today’s contemplation. No, really. My husband and I have talked about spending more time in New York to see if it’s a place we might want to hang out once we get closer to retirement. We love Seattle, but New York has been calling my husband’s name ever since he decided to take a free ride for graduate school and pass up attending NYU; his only regret in life, he says.

As I think about the group, my thoughts wonder to visions of living in New York. I keep asking myself if I can be authentic, contemplative and who I am in New York, or whether I would lose myself in all the chaos, excitement and noise. You have to admit, there are mountains of distractions in New York.

Then it hits me, it’s my beliefs about New York that are getting in my way – not New York. This seems so ironic because I just wrapped up reading The Biology of Belief by Dr. Bruce Lipton. Lipton is bringing new thought to science and helping the layman to understand why the placebo effect works to heal at the cellular level. In short, you walk away from the book understanding how our beliefs shape the way we respond and what we achieve when it comes to progress - but not just in healing, in life! Our unconscious mind creates the beautiful automatic pilot that replaces our stomach lining every 72 hours, allows us to drive home without much thought, and whispers in our ear who we are and the life we deserve. So, if I believe I will lose myself in New York, I will create experiences, outcomes and results to support this belief. Ah…what else do I believe?

I realize I need to help the group to surface what they believe and understand how this is impacted their choices and progress in our work – in life. I need to invite them to remove the mask of the nemesis who holds our unworthy beliefs and unveil that whole, perfect and full expression of goodness who wants to express itself in life, and through our work.

Until now, I have been frustrated with how to help…more. But alas, I feel so silly. Of course I know how to help. It starts by helping me first, by questioning what I hold as true. Then, working with those who are interested in unearthing what they believe and changing it at the cellular level. Easy enough….