Cindy went into a raging panic when she got the news. Her pride-and-joy son, a freshman at Northwestern University on the banks of Lake Michigan in Evanston, Illinois, called with the bad news.
In his most repentant voice, he informed her that that he was suspended from school.
Why? He got caught drinking on campus. After railing at him about how he was ruining his life (and, coincidentally, hers), her imagination went into high gear.
One frightening picture after another began to play on the screen of her mind. Her emotions joined in. Hence, the panic! She told herself that he would never finish school.
She pictures him on the streets. She envisioned all the ways his life would go downhill. Her and Mark’s (Ryans’ faither) dreams for him would go out the window. She envisioned a future that she definitely did not want and did not love. Her peace of mind went out the window along with her dreams for Ryan.
We’ve all done that. Fear strikes and our imaginations do a wonderful job of creating worst case scenarios rather than best cast scenarios. Over this past year the pandemic fed our capacity to fear.
News stories daily described the dire circumstances in hospitals in vivid detail. Exciting plans went by the wayside. Our routines were upended. Feelings of isolation escalated through the months.
In the midst of moments like this, imagining a future we love generates new life and breathes hope into our spirit, soul and body. In a recent edition of the magazine, Real Simple, a story of Italian children inspired the world. In pandemic-torn Italy, children shined light. They painted rainbows, symbols of hope and promise of good to come, and hung them in their windows. Beautiful, uplifting paintings, often including the massage “andra tutto bene”-- “everything will be OK.”
Unless we are the Delphi Oracle, we can’t predict our own future. But, we can seed it today with pictures of a tomorrow we would love. It’s a universal, scientifically validated truth that love heals and creating pictures that we love heals our present moment and leads us to doing what creates a future that we love.
Self-help guru, Wayne Dyer, wrote a best=selling book about this very thing, “You’ll See It When You Believe It.”
Try this:
Catch yourself creating pictures of what you don’t want and turn it around. Envision what you do want.
Each day take time to visualize places, people, activities that you love.
Bring your full presence to the moment. Keep your head where your body is.
Editor’s Note: Sharon Connors is the reverend at Unity Spiritual Church, 10101 W. Coggins, Sun City.
