August 19, 2007

The Inspiration of Choice (Banff School)

Two Canadians spot a battered body in a ditch. "My goodness," says one. "We must help the person who did this."
I'm posting live from the 53rd Advocis Banff School, which started earlier this evening with a speaker describing how she persevered through tremendous hardship. She started life as a heroin-addicted baby in a prison hospital in the 1940s. At age 5, her parents used her to smuggle drugs into Canada from Detroit. At 7, her mother deserted her even though her mother knew that the stepfather abused her.

There were many other shocking events that can't be communicated properly here. Luckily, life improved at age 12, thanks to new step-parents.

The point of the story was not the disturbing events that happened. The message was about choice --- improving one's life rather than blaming others for what happened.
In The Phoenix Seminar, Brian Tracy describes a technique to undo the effect of negative thoughts and events, regardless of cause: affirmations. An affirmation repeated with emotion goes to our subconscious which is nonjudgmental and believes what we tell it. A simple, multi-purpose affirmation is "I like myself".
Shortly before dying, her mother asked to meet her. Later her step-father did too. She had the strength to forgive them both for what they did. Forgiveness freed her.

The presentation gave details of a life that no child deserves. Horrible to imagine. Difficult to forget.

1 comment:

  1. The child was quite battered indeed, and the two canadians showed tremendous courage to do stuff with the body.