Creating New WAYS…

A tornado hit my little Bartlesville and my beautiful trail where I run was hit. It was closed for weeks!

I have run on the section of the Pathfinder starting at the high school trailhead, for years! I know the path like the back of my hand. I am comfortable on my little 3-mile path. Out and back, my therapy. It is my sanctuary and a familiar friend.

I have had to go over to Lee Lake and map out a new out-and-back 3-mile run. 

I was running it the other day and was grumbling about how I don’t like it and want MY path back!!!

I started asking the Spirit, “Will you speak to me here like you do on my path??”

I started thinking about how I don’t know this path well, my body hasn’t learned it yet… and then it hit me… this is a fantastic opportunity for growth and some new neurological pathways!

I recently was chatting with a therapist friend and they were explaining how EMDR therapy works and how it helps the brain create new pathways.

They said “Imagine a trail that leads to a lake. Every time you go down this trail to the lake you have to go by a pit of snakes. EMDR therapy activates both sides of the brain to work together to solve the problem that is plaguing the client and then utilizes both sides of the brain to create a new trail, a new way to get you to the lake without going by the pit of snakes every time!”

This explanation was so fascinating to me.

As I ran on my “new” trail I thought here you go… let’s use this new trail to create some new healthy pathways.

I decided what better way to look at some problems that have been plaguing me than to use the new path that is unfamiliar to me as a catalyst to push me to look at things Differently!

And you know what, it worked!

I started asking the Spirit to show me a different way, a different approach, a different perspective, a different reaction to a problem that I had been wrestling with for years. 

I asked for a New Way to look at this problem and the new running path propelled me to See, and feel, and BE differently.

There is hope my dears, our brains are a magnificent gift. The brain’s ability to imagine, create, and regenerate itself, is JUST as powerful as its ability to fight, protect, and keep us safe. Both are powerful forces… we need both pieces. 

When we live on just one side, the scared amygdala side we will become more and more unhealthy. More rigid, hard, cold, tense, fearful… it takes intention to NOT allow ourselves to stay in the same place, running the same path in our brain over and over. 

It might mean you need therapy, it might mean a process group, it might mean dance, yoga, or releasing emotion, it might mean a new running trail. 

It is our job to get ourselves in a position to create a new reality and existence for ourselves. No one else can do it for you! You must become so sick of your current state of living that you must do something differently. 

There is hope my dears, for change, for difference, for cognitive dissonance that can lead to more happiness, ease, and lightness in your life.

It’s time to forge a new path

My dear, I am with you on the journey. Let us figure out a new way to the lake and abandon that old snake pit! It has taken enough life from us. It’s time for a new “way”… 

Positive Pychology: “Any type of bilateral stimulation can be helpful in the processing of traumatic or stressful memories. Self-administered EMDR can include walking, jogging, drum circles, tapping (bilaterally), and even horseback riding. Jul 15, 2020