I keep this quote on my desk, always visible to me. Today it inspires me and provides this sweet relief, a reminder that I have power. I have choice. I can choose how to respond to a situation and can craft a life I want to live.
And yet, there are days when I look at this quote and feel an enormous burden. The weight of responsibility for my life, for making it live up to my hopes and dreams. This is the leftover, habitual thinking that resides deep inside me and that is woken within my body when I feel sadness or fear.
Like all habits, these thoughts are associated with emotions and with bodily sensations. The beautiful thing is that those associations can be changed. We have the power to unlock that door and to change our habitual ways of thinking, our ways of coping, by bringing our awareness and attention to the automatic thoughts and responses that occur in our bodies.
I rely heavily on meditation and yoga to delve into the nature of my thoughts, body sensations, emotions, and the associations imprinted within me. Little by little I bring to light what I’ve kept in the shadows and I can shift it. I can be the cure. You can too. I believe in our power.
