"What if?"

Sometimes, you just have mornings (or middles of the night) when it is simply impossible to come up with a list of positive affirmations.  Something is weighing on you, or making you anxious or sad, and you just can’t couch it in upbeat language or find a positive “spin” on it.  I absolutely believe Abraham- Hicks and other authors who say that it is crucial to find a way to feel at least somewhat better immediately, and that spinning one’s wheels in negativity is not an option because it can lead to a downward spiral.

There are two things I try to do in these circumstances.

The first is, to write a series of questions starting with “What if…?”  What if I had the power to change my situation? (Which of course I do, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like it.)  What if a solution is already in place?  What if there’s an answer waiting to come to me today or tomorrow, if I just listen?  What if such-and-such will happen in perfect timing?  What if I can choose to be happy, no matter how it turns out?...etc. Sometimes it helps to pretend “what if” the solution I am looking for has already happened, just to try to bring my heart to a place of comfort and calm. The tricky thing with positive affirmations is that if I am energetically too far from the statement I am making (“I love the feeling of abundance” when I am poor, or “I love having plenty of time to do what I love” when I am being run ragged), then it just causes too much inner turmoil and the affirmation is not effective.  Somehow, “what if” questions seem to more gently move me out of a stuck place. 

Another thing I do when I’m in this situation is to try to envision where I am at as one side of a chasm, and the thing I want is at the other side of the chasm.  Now, that would normally not seem to be an encouraging picture, except in my “game,” my rule is that there is a bridge across the chasm, and that bridge is love.  Moment by moment, over the next few minutes, hours or even days, I try to find things in my life that I love, or things in my anticipated scenario that I love.  I write them down, immediately, if possible.  I’ve never made a picture or collage, but that would be effective too.  Love is the only bridge forward out of fear or negativity, and as I scurry along the edge of the chasm, just knowing that there is a bridge takes the panic away.  And, as usual with my lists, even if the things I “love” are only fireflies, or the fact that it’s a sunny day, that’s OK!  Love in any form is the route forward across the bridge, out of the “eddy” into the stream, or whatever metaphor you are living right now!

I’ve even been trying these techniques when I contemplate some of the really frightening, intractable world situations in front of us, like the refugee crisis, or the islands of plastic in the ocean.  “What if the people of the world come together from this event and learn to be kinder to one another?”  “What if we learn to love and take care of the earth now?”  “Where is the love in this picture?”  The goal isn't to become another Pollyanna, and this isn't a replacement for action in many situations, but by putting it out there in what the Quakers call a “query,” a question requiring some contemplation but not necessitating an immediate answer, my heart may stay open in love rather than close up reactively or in fear.  "What if?" may open the door to solutions, both personal and global.  We all need that in the middle of the night.