What do you do with an idea?

I realized what you do with an idea...
You change the world.”
​Kobi Yamada - What do you do with an idea?
​

What do we humans do, really? We think. We create our own reality with ideas which shape our life and in death our legacy. We find our ideas in the questions we ask and the language we use as we seek to be seen and to belong. “We may think we can control our grief, our terror, or our shame by remaining silent, but naming offers the possibility of a different kind of control. When Adam was put in charge of the animal kingdom in the Book of Genesis, his first act was to give a name to every living creature.” Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk. 

We create our own reality. 

Ideas come from where we put our attention to what we know and what we tell ourselves about what we think- or the idea we have- about what we know. How truthful we are with our ideas either helps us to be kind to ourself and grow or catches us and holds us stuck. “We do not see things as they are we see them as we are.” Talmud

We create our own reality. 

Ideas have inherent polarity...good ideas/bad thoughts, generous ideas/resentments, public/private. When we become stuck, our emotions can bully us: “fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.” Pema Chodron.

We create our own reality. ​

I know that if you think life’s a vending machine
where you put in virtue and take out happiness
then you’re going to be disappointed.”
Character Maggie Sibley, Six Feet Under

When we put our emotions into our ideas they become our beliefs. Our beliefs can lead us to judgement. If we seek to create our own reality in a meaningful way it helps to understand that “words create worlds.”  Abraham Joshua Heschel. 

We create our own reality. ​

“The truest story is always the widest one. It’s the one that folds in the highs alongside the lows, the losses alongside the gains. It looks forward and back. It runs in a jagged line rather than straight. It tells us we must go on, even when going on seems impossible.” Cheryl Strayed.

We create our own reality. ​

“The capacity to create and understand the meaning of ideas is considered to be an essential and defining feature of human beings”, explains Martha Beck, one of the pioneers of the profession of Life Coaching. She developed a program of inquiry known as The Work- as below- to move us through our beliefs (and pain!) as we seek our personal truth (and a meaningful life!)

Is it true?
How can you absolutely know it's true?
How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
Does that thought bring peace or stress into your life?
What images do you see, past and future, and what physical sensations arise as you think that thought and witness those images?
What emotions arise when you believe that thought?
Do any obsessions or addictions begin to appear when you believe that thought?
How do you treat the person in this situation when you believe the thought?
How do you treat other people and yourself?
Who would you be without that thought?
Turn the thought around.
Now find at least 3 specific, genuine examples of how this 
turnaround is true for you in this situation.
Do another turnaround?

We create our own reality. ​

So too, Brene Brown investigates ideas especially those around vulnerability and shame. She focuses her lens ‘does this serve me or trigger me?’, champions our humanity,  and encourages we ‘welcome flies to the picnic’.

We create our own reality. ​

We’re all going to die,
all of us,
what a circus!
That alone should make us love one another
but it doesn’t.
We are terrorized and flattened
by trivialities,
we are eaten up by nothing.”
Charles Bukowski

We create our own reality. ​​

“To become learned, each day add something. To become enlightened, each day drop something.” Lao Tzu.​

We create our own reality. ​​

Forgiveness is as important as gratitude.

We create our own reality. ​​​
​

“It’s impossible,” said Pride.
“It’s risky,” said Experience.
“It’s pointless,” said Reason.
“Give it a try.” whispered the Heart.