Page 96 - Wake Up and do Your Thing

WAKE UP AND DO YOUR THING
and uncle as well as help them out around the farm when things got hectic.
Susan was at her wits end: insecure, depressed and anxious. We began by telling her it"s okay to not feel okay. That it really helps to allow yourself to feel whatever emotions are coming up. !Everywhere I turn, I"m marooned,” she said. !I don"t know whether to go forward, backward. left right. I don"t know which way to turn.”
When asked to come up with seven words to describe herself she snapped, !I"m an aggressive, angry bitch for starters, or so I"m told.” She eventually added: methodical, loyal, challenging and impatient.
An hour later we"d accurately reframed the words she gave me to describe herself. When we dug deep down %aggressive"$ became %stimulating,"$ %angry"$ became %quick- witted,"$ %bitch"$ turned into %having high standards"$ and %impatient"$changed to %ambitious."$The rest stayed the same.
In a flash Susan realized how over the years the people around her had poisoned her self-talk, turned her strengths into weaknesses and had her believing all these negative things about herself. No wonder a stimulating, quick-witted woman with high standards, living in the circumstances she did, was told over and over she was an aggressive, angry bitch. Sooner or later we start to believe what people say. But Susan"s lights went on that day as we peeled back the layers and revealed her Edge.
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