As far back as I can remember, I have been searching for my sense of self, a sense of value and purpose. For whatever reason, I experienced a lot of confusion around this topic when I was growing up. I can remember being told I was this or that, but often it lead to more confusion because it had very little to do with the real me.
I admired other children who had confidence and clarity about who they were and what they wanted. I can also remember trying to imitate and be like the people I admired, though it didn’t work. This was because I was just recreating the exterior image with no understanding that the external image I admired was really the result or by-product of their sense of self, intent, and beliefs.
This all changed when I was studying trapeze in Europe in the seventies. My instructor spoke only Italian and I spoke none. This situation required me to learn in a completely different way then I had ever had before—from the inside out. In the process, I gained a deeper sense of my value, purpose and myself.
The class consisted of around twelve students. Each student would take a turn swinging up onto the single trapeze in the classroom, and then were guided through a series of movements by the instructor. In retrospect, I can now see that not understanding Italian required me to draw from my other senses and learn very much like an infant.
To accomplish this I instinctively slowed down my breathing, listened to the sounds his voice was making, even though I had no sense of what the words meant, and simultaneously focused my attention on what the student a head of me on the trapeze was doing. This produced an inner stillness, and a deep sense of trust in myself.
When it was my turn I swung myself up onto the trapeze, and allowed the sounds his voice to maneuver me through the series of movements as if I was in a dream. I now realize that it was the energy of his words that was propelling me—not his words. (This is also true with very young children.) The instructor was a very kind man and I could feel him wanting me to be successful. This awareness helped me move past my fear, my self-doubt, and my limiting beliefs into accomplishing things I never thought possible before.
Learning the trick was not the prize. The prize was learning to connect more deeply with myself, experiencing a deep sense of knowing in my body and learning that I can accomplish almost anything if I approach learning from the inside out. My life was never the same.
When my children were growing up I had many opportunities to teach art both in and outside the classroom. What I discovered was the same thing I had discovered many years before in Europe: when a child is allowed to explore and discover life through their senses from in inside out, they don’t just learn to walk and talk, read and write, draw or paint, they learn how they learn, who they are and what they like and don’t like. This knowledge is pivotal for lifelong success.
If you missed the opportunity to explore learning and yourself in that manner when you were young, you can do it now with the I Create What I Believe! (ICWIB) program, which is endorsed by Dr. Bruce Lipton and based on his research.
So how do you know if you have missed a critical step in your learning? If your life doesn’t look or feel like it is going down the right path, or you find yourself repeating the same problems over and over again, then you probably missed a critical step.
Don’t fret! Many children and adults have made pivotal changes in their life using the ICWIB program. Some of the changes I have seen are: stress reduction, increased focus and concentration, a deeper sense of self, and awareness of their own unique learning style. I have also seen this program help individuals change their relationship with money, make life changes in the work place and their interpersonal relationships and improve their health. The reason the ICWIB program can assist such a wide variety of problems is that it focuses not on the problem, but on the underlying cause and the solution.
With this in mind, I invite you to explore some of the ICWIB art activities and videos for FREE!
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