Stepping into the Bigger You

Stepping into the Bigger You


The wood snake symbolizes renewal, transformation, and growth. These qualities appear in stark contrast to what we see happening in the world around us: continual wars, poverty, violence, rising costs, jobs being replaced by AI, floods, fires and other environmental or natural catastrophes, ever increasing health issues. In the face of these crises, our decision makers seem incapable of taking real action for change.

But we can!

In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can . .
.

Feelings of helplessness and isolation are based on the misconception that we are alone, isolated and powerless. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In December 1996, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist doing research at Harvard Medical School experienced a massive hemorrhage in her left hemisphere.  From her unique perspective in neuroanatomy, Jill was able to document the shutting down of her left-brain functions, i.e., the ability to walk, talk, read, write or recall any part of her life. The right hemisphere is all about the present moment. It processes the information coming through our senses as a gestalt: a unified, interconnected experience in which only the present moment exists. As her left hemisphere shut down, she experienced herself merging with all that is. She felt huge, boundless and thought: There is no way I will be able to squeeze the enormousness of myself back into the tiny little body. …I felt enormous and expansive . . .and my spirit soared free.

She concludes her talk with a challenge: I am the life force power of these 50 trillion beautiful molecular geniuses that make up my form, at one with all that is. I can choose to step into my left hemisphere where I become a single individual, a solid separate from the flow, separate from you. We have the power to choose right here, right now how we want to be in the world. Which do you choose?
Jill Bolte Taylor, my stroke of insight Ted Talk, March 13, 2008.

We need both hemispheres: the left to get to that appointment on time and to remember to pay our bills. The right to remind us to allow our dreams, imagine, create, and express the uniqueness that we are. But most of us spend the majority of our lives in the left brain, forgetting the bigness of who we really are. We get caught up in the business of life and may find years later that most of it was spent doing the necessary, forgetting to express our unique gifts. And we may find that our lives get smaller and smaller, the more we let fear direct our decisions.

Here are some tools and tricks to switch you to the power centre of your right brain:

  • Make a date with yourself several times a week to engage in some creative activity: drawing, painting, music, dance, pottery, etc. Turn off your phone for an hour or two and commit to your practice. Allow yourself to be in the moment without judgement. The process of creating is more important than the results.
  • My previous blog, Choose Love Over Fear offers simple techniques to allow you to step into the bigger you.
  • Join a Lynne McTaggart Power of Eight peace intention group. It is free and can be done from any location. Watch the video: the Power of Intention in which Lynne’s work with individuals with serious health issues, a war zone, and even city violence has been documented.
  • Meditate or practice breath work, 10-15 minutes per day. Here are a couple of links to get started: