Who Is the Giant In Your Enchanted Forest? -

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Who ME? Important?

My first reaction was, “I don’t have anything to add to this conversation. You already have covered everything so beautifully.” Immediately, I realized that this attitude of discrediting myself and my experiences as either not important or somehow less meaningful doesn’t do ANYBODY any good.

And you know what? After writing and proof-reading my response to Susan K. Minarik’s excellent new blog ‘Positive Living Now’, I won’t be as quick to discount my personal encounters as a most valuable contribution to other people’s lives.

And neither should YOU!

For example, you and I could be witnessing the exact same event – let’s say a car accident. I see it as a horrible tragedy. You see all the people coming together to offer help and assistance and you marvel at the incredible talent, kindness and generosity of everyone present. Same event; totally different perspectives, yet each one is valid and valuable to others wanting to know more about the account.

If you have ever battled non-stop negative thoughts throughout the day (and who doesn’t) I encourage you to read Susan’s awesome article, ‘Making Ants Dance: The Practice of Overcoming Negative Thoughts’. This particular article inspired me to reply, which in turn inspired this article which I am now sharing with you.

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I Am Bigger Than Any Problem

Ambrosia, my little 6-year-old and I like to go for nature walks in the woods early in the morning just before she catches the bus for school. Even though we live in a big city (Toronto), we are fortunate to live next to some parks and wooded areas. Of course, there are lots of little creatures in the woods, including and myriad of bugs, spiders and ants.

The first day we did our nature walk, my little one was concerned – OK, she freaked out – over all the creepy, crawly things. I bent down to her level and asked her to pick the one critter that scared her the most. She picked a spider which was busily spinning a beautiful silk thread, shining in the early morning light that was filtering through the leaves and branches. I then asked her, “Who is BIGGER… you or the spider?”

We used our memories and imaginations to talk about all the ‘Giant’ stories we had read… how everyone was more afraid of the Giant. I told her, “YOU are the giant in this enchanted forest. And all these creatures here are in YOUR kingdom.”

Well, that put a whole new spin (pardon the spider pun) on the entire situation.

Now Ambrosia regularly picks up caterpillars and other various critters, much to the disgust and fright of her tiny classmates at the bus stop. She laughs and says, “Hey, I’M the giant here… they are in MY kingdom.” Magically, some of her friends will come and start petting the fuzzy little caterpillar or look on in wonderment at my little one’s latest ‘subject’.

Do You Have a Plan of Escape?

This analogy, being the Giant MASTER works fine for getting rid of individual negative thoughts. But as we know, sometimes – actually more often than not – negative thoughts come in endless waves much like swarming ants at a picnic. In that case, it is best to:

MOVE! MOVE AWAY! GO SOMEPLACE ELSE… FAST!

That absolutely works for me. Ambrosia and I create all kinds of imaginary scenarios during our morning walk. One of our favorites is being in the woods just at dusk. We have a special tree that has a knot-hole. We found a stick that perfectly fits into that knot-hole… it’s our KEY that turns all the loose branches and twigs lying on the ground into BONES that come to LIFE when the sun goes down.

Mind you, we make up all these stories first thing in the morning. Because she goes to bed so early on school nights, Ambrosia and I have yet to actually go into the forest in the evening just as the sun is going down. So we don’t know – for sure – if those bones really do come to life! Even still, one of the MOST IMPORTANT PARTS of our story is that we have already planned our ESCAPE ROUTE… just in case, you know!

Our chosen place of safety is the sidewalk just outside of the woods. When we make it to there (and we ALWAYS do), the ‘Bone Man’ can’t touch us!

In real life, it’s important to have a safe place where you can go to get away from it all, even if only temporarily. Like ants at a picnic, negative thoughts and other problems can sometimes swarm us, literally taking over our lives. The ONLY logical option at this point is to move, either to a different location and certainly onto a different activity where our mind is distracted.

So whether the ANTS are swarming your picnic… or the BONES have come to life and are chasing you… it is wise to plan your escape route NOW while you are still in control of the situation. And if, someday, you find yourself being swarmed or chased… RUN!

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Again, this brilliant analogy came to me out of nowhere, inspired by someone I regard as a ‘teacher’. The fact is, we can ‘teach’ each other through our seemingly common, every-day and ‘insignificant’ experiences… but only if we are willing to open up and share!

Your experiences and the perspectives you gain ARE important. Somebody, somewhere is waiting to hear your story. It may be the very thing that helps them get back up and keep going!

And that, my friend makes YOU important. You gotta Love That Feeling!