M4 : Lesson 4.3B Part “C” of ABC Options #2-5
Transcript
Continuing with lesson 4.3, part c of ABC. This is part 2 where we go over the other options for part c visualization. Option 2, word embodiment, option 3, aligned action, option 4, fantasy, and option 5, nature orienting. Option number 2 for step 2 of ABC Part C. We perform step 1 of Part see the true self proclamation in all 5 options.
Step 2, for this option, is to pick a word and create a visual of living the experience of that word. You’ll feel its meaning and frequency as if you are truly embodying the expression of that word. Some examples of words to choose from would be grateful, appreciative, self respecting, Compassionate, benevolent, courageous, certain, grace filled, powerful, sensual, playful, joy filled, tranquil, loving, adventurous, or capable. For example, imagine a scenario where you felt the experience of being certain Certainty carries the feelings associated with steadiness, assurance, self trust, a gut feeling of yes, This is right for me. What situation can you imagine that you could feel the word certain in?
I’d like to share an example. I’m gonna choose one of my favorite words which is embodied. And if I were to do part c, In option 2, it might be like this. Again, I would stand up, so I’m gonna stand up again. Here we go.
I am wild, free, and creative, and I feel embodied. The feeling of the word embodied would feel like I could feel my spine straight and strong. My feet on the floor. I’m feeling every toe touching the floor right now. I feel my heels on the ground.
I feel life for us running us through me almost like a warmth that runs from head to toe. The feeling of body if embodied is I’m right here, right in this moment, I’m very present. I feel my hands And I feel like I am steady. It’s the feeling of steadiness. So I’m just taking a moment to feel embodied.
I feel the breath in my belly. I feel my glutes contracted holding me up. Feel my neck tall and certain and strong. I feel strong. Embodying that feels strong for me, but it also feels like a flow to strength and it’s relaxed.
And I would just take a few moments to just say the word to myself. I am embodied. I am embodied. And again, I’m just feeling the feeling of that word as if I am that word, as if I’m generating that word. As who I am.
And I’m just teaching my brain that experience of this word the felt sense of the word, the frequency. And if the word had a color, what would you choose? So for me, embodiment is it’s kind of like red, orange, and yellow. I’ll mix it into 1. It’s like my lower chakra center.
Just those colors just moving through my body. Like, my soul is just anchored in this human form. I am here in this human form, so I’m just gonna imagine this reddish orange, yellow swirl running through my head. Down my face, and my neck, and my belly, and my legs, and into the earth. And just focusing on the word, embodied, embodied, embodied.
And as I do that, I can. I feel my legs so strongly right here. I feel that word. And then I just thank myself for doing the practice. Next, let’s talk about the 3rd option which is called aligned action creative visualization.
This is about visualizing how you wanna show up in your day and maybe just for the next 15 minutes to an hour. It’s about seeing your aligned true self making the best of your situation. How do you speak? How do you walk? What are you choosing to do that looks like living, creating, or being responsible for what’s being asked to view today.
And so you’ll visualize this, and after you visualize this for a few minutes, you’ll take an action. You’ll go do it. You’ll be it. You’ll show your brain that you can think and act greater than you feel. So another way to do this for me that I’m doing now might be something I’m procrastinating on, like my finances or my spreadsheet, and I visualize how good it feels to have that done, and then I go do it.
There’s a lot of ways that you can use this tool of aligned action. One of the ways I also use it is aligned action in making things right with somebody. So I might visualize apologizing to my partner and having compassion and openheartedness and how good it feels to do what I know is right. And after I’m done with that visualization, I go to him and I apologize or whatever it is I needed to do, but I use brain retraining to show myself how it’s worth humbling myself to make things right. So you can use aligned action in a lot of ways.
I’ll just share with you how I used to use this a lot when I was very ill and I had 2 little kids to take care of and I didn’t have a lot of capacity. I would especially as I started brain retraining, I would use this as a way to help me get up in the day and greet them and get them breakfast. So It might look like this. So I’m going to stand again because I like to do these standing. So I’m standing up.
Alright. Again, step 1, true self proclamation. I am wild, free, and creative. And I am visualizing how I wanna show up today for my kids. I see myself going into the kitchen and choosing to make them a delicious, healthy smoothie for breakfast.
And I see myself getting out the ingredients from the fridge and putting them in the blender. And as I’m getting it ready, I hear the sounds of my kids in their room, and I am feeling excited to greet them and excited to be able to provide my presence and something nutritious for them in the morning. So I make the smoothie and I see them running into the kitchen and I hand them their smoothies and I smile. And I say, hello, and I love you. And I’m excited to have a day with you.
And I see us sitting down and they’re drinking their smoothie, and I’m giving them my attention and my love, letting them know they matter, and feeling good about myself for showing up right now. And I asked them what they wanna do today, and I make sure that I am smiling and maybe even giving a soft touch to let them know I’m here. And I see how good it feels to show up, to get up, to get out of bed, to go get their breakfast. And to greet them with my loving presence in a way that I crave just a child that maybe I didn’t get. I’m giving that to them, and I feel aligned.
I feel like this is who I am and this is what matters. And from there, I would just get up and I’d go do that thing. And I’d show up. And it always felt better than resisting that I had to get up and make breakfast. By just rehearsing for a few minutes.
I found my why. I found why it mattered to do that, and I would have more of an undivided energy, and I have my life force flow through me so that I could show up. Option number 4, fantasy, creative visualization. When your real life might be too hard to face and too hard to even visualize or too hard to come up with a memory and you’re too resistant to thinking about the future, try using fantasy. You can fantasize imagining something or someone that lives qualities that you admire.
It could be an animal, like an eagle, and you could feel the freedom of an eagle or a lion that has courage or a tree that has steadiness. And imagine being what you see. It also could be someone or something other than you like a person on a kite board or an admired influencer, the river, the earth, the tree, whatever, feels inspiring for you and practice embodying the full experience of being something else. And get very creative here. Okay.
So I’m gonna go through my example of fantasy visualization. And again, you have a guided example of all of these at the end of a lesson to guide you through them. So same thing, true self proclamation. I am wild, free, and creative. And I am visualizing being in a forest, a beautiful forest of big Redwood Trees.
And I’m feeling the feeling of being a tree. In fact, I’m not just any tree. I am the biggest tree in this forest. I am the tallest tree I’ve been growing for hundreds of years. I am an old, wise, steady tree.
And I feel the wisdom of time running through me. I’ve seen a lot of weather I’ve weathered many storms, and I feel the wind blowing my leaves. I feel the soft feeling of swaying side to side. I’m feeling the sunlight hitting my leaves. I guess they’d be pine needles because it’s the red one.
I’m feeling the energy of the sun and the movement of the wind, and it just caresses me. And I’m steady and strong. And I feel my roots coming out of my feet and spreading through the entire forest floor around me. In fact, I’m realizing that these roots are connected to all of the trees around me. And I’m not alone in this forest.
I might be standing alone in this spot, but my roots are interconnected to all of the trees around me, and I can almost sense them. I know them. They’re my family. And the roots also are connected to all of these little plants through the forest. I see that I’m actually part of everything around me, all the mushrooms and grasses, All the plants, they all also have part of their life force coming from my roots.
And I feel the experience of being a mother tree and feeling connected to everything and everyone. And yet having my own experience of swaying in the wind, my own experience of the sun on my needles, and the spelling of interconnectedness that’s standing in my own power is a feeling that I want to embody. So I might just spend a few minutes just imagining that feeling of connection and embodiment. And again, thanking myself for loving myself enough to be creative and to give my brain a new frequency to give my body a new chemical experience despite how I feel using my creative capacity took lift my emotional state to think greater than I feel. And that’s it.
So that’s the fantasy 1. Option number 5, nature orienting, non visualizing option. This is about mindfully noticing and appreciating the beauty around you while you’re sitting outside, looking at a window, or even walking outside for part c with your conscious focus on plants and birds and clouds or feeling the ground beneath you which is very regulating and is very effective. Well, it’s not the same thing as creative visualization, it has a rewiring effect and that you’re showing your brain that at this moment you’re supported by nature. And it’s calming to the limbic system.
I did this many times when visualization seemed impossible for me at the moment. The key is to focus on what’s around you and appreciate it rather than just distracting or not doing part c at all. Other non visual options include things like just being inside and noticing the beauty around you in your current environment, much like we’ll learn in module 5 on semantics in the orienting section. Also, you can do things like drawing or playing music and you’re simply trying to dance or move or sing along. You can also try laughter yoga.
And you can Google that or ask about what that is on the form if you don’t know what laughter yoga is. You can do different things for part c to just calm your nervous system and the point here is to elevate your mood. So you don’t just have to do creative visualization to elevate your mood. Although that is the gold standard that leads to neuroplastic change is doing the visualization process. It’s been the most researched.
So you might need to brainstorm some ideas that work for you for a mood elevation refocusing activity. Some people who don’t do brain retraining at all, they don’t do it because they can’t visualize, and that is not the point of this. So don’t dismiss this whole practice if visualization is tricky for you. On the other hand, I just wanna say this. Saying that I can’t visualize might not totally be true.
Let me ask you this. Can you visualize what your car looks like? Or can you visualize your child’s space or your mother’s face or can you visualize a Christmas tree? If you can, then the truth is you can visualize. Can you visualize negative scenarios in your head of what might happen?
Often, we have very complex fear based imagery, but not positive imagery. So a more truthful statement for most people is I am still learning how to do creative visualization that is positive with details. It doesn’t come easy to me though. That might be more true. So keep this in mind as you consider which type of brain rewiring practice to do.
17:36So in the next video, we will be going through a full guided example. I will go through a full example from start to finish on my own as well. And also, there are several examples from other Primal Trust members attached in the next video for other ideas.