What do you think? Does the Truth Really Matter?
Award winning author of Eat, Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, doesn’t think so:
“What seems to matter in the end is not so much (the truth about) what happens to us, but how we perceive what happens to us. That perception, ultimately, becomes the world that we will inhabit.”
– Oprah Magazine, June 2016
She is so right!
Your perception becomes the world in which you inhabit, and it determines whether you turn lemons into lemonade or become a monster or a hero.
“You can’t always control what happens to you. You may be robbed or you may be blessed (or some combination of the two most likely) but that is not really the point. The point is: if you feel like you’re constantly being robbed, then you live in a world that’s all about constantly being robbed.”
One of my clients, award winning actor and playwright Bob Brader, could have turned out a monster like his dad. He endured one of the most abusive childhoods I have ever heard about with frequent merciless beatings from his Dad.
The only gift Bob’s father ever gave him was a pack of cigarettes. The only time he felt remotely close or connected to his dad was when they smoked together.
Yet, Bob turned lemons into lemonade, and used cigarettes as a saving grace. They provided a portal to a feeling of calm and grounding when his world got overwhelming.
He thought he needed them for this reason. He thought he couldn’t live without them, until he realized, it wasn’t the cigarettes it was his own inner resourcefulness that got him through.
It was in a Soul Cycle Class that he discovered the power to do this was actually at his disposal and not the magical powers of his beloved cigarettes.
While sweating and peddling hard, his instructor yelled out: “Forget about everything outside this room. No one can hurt you while you’re riding your bike.”
And with that, he was no longer in the room; he was a little boy, “riding my bike as hard and as fast as I can. Riding through the pain of having an abusive father, tearing through the streets, working though the anger and depression, many times having to pedal standing because of the bruises on my body. This is my release, this is my escape, and the instructor is right; no one can hurt me while I am riding my bike. This is my freedom; while I am on this bike I can work out all of those pent-up emotions and truly feel alive. I am not just riding to get away from him; I am riding to overcome him.
When my mind finally brings me back to class, I realize I’m crying. Thankfully, nobody notices because I sweat like crazy during these classes. However, I am not sad; these are tears of joy. When I used to look back on that little boy, I would feel sorry for him, but today I realize how resourceful he was, how he could have turned that anger and bitterness on other people or on himself, but instead, he chose to ride it off on his bike, the bike that he loves, the bike that made him feel free. I look back at him and I am proud of him. And I also start to feel proud of myself for, at least right now, being able to leave the cigarettes behind.”
When he got how resourceful, courageous and strong he was, he was freed from thinking that the power to overcome his feelings and his circumstances was outside of himself.
You are not your history, circumstances or feelings. You have the ability to grow beyond these.
When you have upsetting situations come your way, you can release any negative feelings with extreme cardiovascular exercise and the exercises I teach, so you can release your fight or flight reactions and figure out what you want to do next to get what you want.
Beyond your upset is your inner strength and a new more positive perspective.
You get to determine your new truth every day. You get to determine whether you are a winner or a loser, freed or trapped by your circumstances.
All you have to do is:
- Recognize you are upset
- Release those feelings with cardio or the energy exercises I teach
- Figure out what you want and take action toward it.
As Elizabeth and Bob illustrate, the choice is yours.
Choose freedom!
This Chakra Capacity Expanding Exercise is an amazing way to release upset and get in touch with your power without getting sweaty.
Bob will be performing his inspiring play, Smoker at The Lara Touch Studio for a special intimate performance on Friday, May 20th at 9:00 PM and Saturday, May 21st at 2:00 PM.
This is a special opportunity to see Bob’s award-winning show in a stripped down, intimate, and personal way. No Stage, no theatrical lighting, no Sound. Just straight forward storytelling and very limited seating.
Much love and inspiration,
Lara
Chakra Capacity Expanding Exercise
