A blog by Dr. Harry Henshaw
Posts tagged Transformation
What are you committed to in life, structure or chaos?
Sep 1st
This is a simple question to asks anyone whether they are in recovery or practicing transformation. What are you committed to in life? Are you committed to structure or are you committed to chaos? Your answer to this question is important. Regardless of what you say, the truth of your commitment will show up in your behavior.
If you are committed to chaos you will find life very difficult. You will also find doing recovery difficult, if not impossible. To be committed to chaos means that you will not do what you say you would do, you will be late for appointments, if you show up at all, will not complete on much of the work that you need to do to change or transform your life. Living life from the perspective of chaos will also allow you to take no absolutely no responsibility for your life, giving you the ability to blame others.
To be structured is to put order into your life. To be structured means that I will set up goals and take on accomplishing them through doing what I need to do. I will show up for my appointments and do what I say I will do. I will create a plan for my week, for my month, and then will go about making what I want happen. Structure lets me predict what will happen to me, as I am the one actively creating life, not being the effect of life. Creating the habit of structure will allow you to transform your life.
The Work of Generating Positive Language and Words.
Aug 18th
The work of transformation is about creating a new life, about creating a new self. This self, as we know, exists in language. Who we are is our thought, our beliefs and what we say, our Word. To transform, to alter our existence has to be done on the level of our Word, what we say and put out into the world, as that is what will come back to us, what will show up as our experience.
This work that I refer to is exactly that, work. At first the work will be merely an idea that we are contemplating, not necessarily doing. Then we will take on doing it, saying positive words, putting them out into the world. Shortly after we generate positive words we will probably go back to what we did in the past. The tendency in the beginning of the transformation is to keep what we have in existence, to not give it up immediately. It is only through constant staying with this work of generating positive language, of continuing to generate positive words, even when we go back to being negative, that the work actually starts to happen, that actually starts to show up in our life.
Comments about the Power of Intention.
Aug 17th
I am currently reading a book by Wayne Dyer, The Power of Intention. This is a very powerful book. Its application to all human beings interested in transforming their lives is very direct, including those in recovery. All of our problems are the result of us being “disconnected” from our source, from intention or God.
While I believe that positive affirmation can help to transform a person’s life, to help them feel better, ultimately this transformation has to led to reestablishing that union that Dr Dyer talks about. Without the connection we live our life from ego, and with this comes the problems and struggles of life. It appears that meditation is part of this process for reconnecting.
The two modalities are important, positive affirmations and meditation. Ester and Jerry Hicks wrote about the power of affirmations and meditation for transforming a person’s life and way of being. When these two modalities are put together the therapeutic result can be very powerful.
The Connection at work and with being of service.
Aug 12th
My work is about being of service to others. I believe that what Dan Millman said in the Peaceful Warrior about the highest purpose is for us to be of service to others. It is a giving and the creation of transformation for others, through the program of recovery. It is not that I can change anyone but rather that I can have a conversation about transformation, about them transforming their life.
The message, so to speak, comes from many levels. It comes from the thoughts I have about something I have read or have been working in my studies. At times I am not sure where the message comes from. Tonight was one of those moments. When I speak in group, for example, there have been times where I believe it was not be speaking, rather something or someone else. Such a moment happened again tonight.
I believe that what generated the conversation about transformation came from that connection that we practice restoring. Dyer wrote of this in his book, The Power of Intention. The connection is to our intention, to that which connects us all to each other, creating unity.
Reflections upon my Transformation.
Aug 8th
To transform my life is not about just changing it, the outside or external parts of my life. It is about transforming my thoughts, my thinking, and more importantly, who I think I am. This fundamental core belief about my identity, who I am in the world, is very difficult to alter, as it has been around along time and has been supported in a variety of ways. For the most part, and for many, it is hidden from view, hidden from the individual who life it rules.
This transformation to which I refer is difficult as my core belief, my self limiting belief, attempts to stay in control. It does not want to change, as it is my identity, who I think I am. We must have an identity, even if it is negative one. The transformation that will take place is slow and will require consistent and constant effort. The intervention that I am using is the use of positive affirmations. Saying and writing the positive affirmations everyday will eventually transform a person’s life and ultimately who he or she thinks they are in the world and in life.
The Primary Filter that Colors our Perceptions and Relationships,
Aug 8th
Some believe that they have the ability to see reality for what it is. Some believe that they see others for who they are. Some believe that they know and that they are right in their perceptions and ideas about how the world is, about others and even about ourselves. They believe that they are open minded and willing to learn from the world and others, that they can experience the world objectively.
However, we sometimes lose sight of the important filters that we use to experience life. These filters affect the information that we believe we gain from the world. We see the world through several filters. Some of the filters that we constantly use are our sensory organs that we have, that we use every day. There are our eyes (visual), ears (sound) and skin (kinesthetic) that are biological filters through which we experience the world and others.
The primary filter that we have, little known or ever recognized, is the belief that we have about ourselves. This belief to which I refer is that which in many ways defines us. It is a belief about who we think we are. It is our self limiting belief. This fundamental core belief colors or influences everything in our life, our perceptions and beliefs about the world we live in and those who we know and interact with. It is the source from which we project onto the world. To transform our life requires that we become aware of our self limiting belief, otherwise there will be no true transformation, merely change.
New Project being created for Transformation and Recovery.
Jul 28th
One of the projects that I have long thought about doing is to read and compare, possibly with the intention of writing something at some point, the Big Book and maybe even Basic Text, with authors such as Louise Hay, Wayne Dyer, E. Tolle, Don Miguel Ruiz, Donald Walsh, and Dan Millman. The intention would not be to rewrite recovery but merely to explore and discover other resources that could assist a person in his or her recovery and ultimately his or her transformation. The Big Book is a very powerful writing and the authors mentioned above have a profound message for the transformation of the world and life itself.
The intention of a study group like what I am creating, as it nows move closer to realization, would also be to report or comment on what is discovered and to do so in this blog. I am now in the process of creating the study group, so to speak, and then after the process begins, to write about it here. I would also invite others to join in, to write and make comments on the blogs which they believe are relevant to the purpose of the project.
Part of my commitment and intention out of this project will be to not only share that which is discovered, the knowledge and insights, but to convert that understanding into something practical, something that can be used by others, to be of service to all of mankind.
Daily Homework – Four additional Principles for Transforming your life.
Jul 26th
Daily Homework can make the difference in ones transformation and recovery. Here are four additional Principles for transformation your life.
1. Acknowledge yourself and others daily. Acknowledge the miracles in your life. Practice affirming that every moment of your life is a miracle.
2. Practice patience! Remember that you are doing the best you can. At the moment that we do we do the best we can. When you know ore, you will do things differently. Do this in regards to others too. Always do your very best.
3. Share with others what you are getting out of your transformation and recovery.
4. Stay hungry for your transformation and recovery.
Creating Life from the Possibility of Acceptance.
Jul 25th
One of the most powerful of principles is that of acceptance. Acceptance creates possibility in your life. For me acceptance is the key to recovery and transformation. It is that from which we experience of sense of serenity and peace, and with it our power as human beings. Without acceptance we are at the mercy of life happening.
Below is one of the most powerful passages that exists. The passage on acceptance comes from the Big Book, page 449 in the third edition and 417 in the fourth edition.
“And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation – some fact of my life - unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God’s world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober, unless I accept life completely on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes.”