Giving form to our feelings is a powerful way to create distance from them so that they do not feel so overwhelming. It is easy to imagine, as Laura does in this interview, that her sadness is like lonely whirlpools in dirty, garbage-filled waters. If this is an expression of how we are stuck, what would the solution or antidote look and feel like? How would our life be different if we were to practice becoming that authentic potential that is trying to be born within us? Wouldn’t that assist in the birth of a healthier, happier way of being and living into our every day experience? These are basic questions that Integral Deep Listening is designed to address. Like Laura, you can test them in your daily life and see if they work for you!
What are three fundamental life issues that you are dealing with now in your life?
1 Enjoying motherhood instead of struggling or being busy with finding it complicated. Struggling being by myself with two children.
2 My own heaviness in how I handle everyday life. I’m not really developing joy. That way since about the age of 24 – now 37
3 My relationship with Randy. My inner view of him. I feel that I disrespect him in my thoughts, his situation.
Which issue brings up the strongest feelings for you?
My sadness. Overwhelmed; feeling very dramatic…
If those feelings had a color (or colors), what would it be?
A very dark red with orange or black shade.
Imagine that color filling the space in front of you so that it has depth, height, width, and aliveness.
Now watch that color swirl, congeal, and condense into a shape. Don’t make it take a shape, just watch it and say the first thing that you see or that comes to your mind: An animal? Object? Plant? What?
Two Whirlpools!
Now remember how as a child you liked to pretend you were a teacher or a doctor? It’s easy and fun for you to imagine that you are the shape that took form from your color and answer some questions I ask, saying the first thing that comes to your mind. If you wait too long to answer, that’s not the character answering – that’s YOU trying to figure out the right thing to say!
Two Whirlpools would you please tell me about yourself and what you are doing?
We are making circles and sucking things and water into our circle.
What do you like most about yourself? What are your strengths?
We are very flexible and strong. We are stronger than others. We are endless. We can pull anything into us if it gets close enough.
What do you dislike most about yourself? Do you have weaknesses? What are they?
There is no one to play with us. They are all sucked in and dead. We have no one to talk to. It’s just the two of us. We do communicate. We’re lonely.
Whirlpools, you are in Laura’s life experience, correct? She/he created you, right? What aspect of Laura do you represent or most closely personify?
Anger. The water around us is very dirty. It has garbage on the surface. We don’t like that. We want to have fresh water.
Whirlpools, if you could be anywhere you wanted to be and take any form you desired, would you change? If so, how?
We would have fresh, bright blue water under the sun. We would be spinning in open water. That feels freer, easier to breathe. I can see ground – it’s not just open water. I can see green and plants. We are not just by ourselves. We feel relieved.
(Continue, answering as the transformed object, if it chose to change.)
Whirlpool, how would you score yourself 0-10, in each of the following six qualities: confidence, compassion, wisdom, acceptance, inner peace, and witnessing? Why?
Confidence: 8
Compassion: 7
Wisdom: 10
Acceptance: 10
Inner Peace: 10
Witnessing: 7
Whirlpools, if you scored tens in all six of these qualities, would you be different? If so, how?
We are even lighter and not so attached to drama that is going on. It feels easier, more joyful, more happiness.
How would Laura’s life be different if she naturally scored like you do in all six of these qualities all the time?
It would be a lot easier! Because whatever is in her everyday life would be a lot easier and probably a lot happier. There would be more confidence.
If you could live Laura’s life for her, how would you live it differently?
I would watch the sun and the shadows and be more delighted by what is happening to her or around her in her life.
If you could live Laura’s waking life for him/her today, would you handle Laura’s three life issues differently? If so, how?
1 Enjoying motherhood instead of struggling or being busy with finding it complicated. Struggling being by myself with two children:
I would use the energy that is there in a more positive way. I would feel it as a strong, light energy instead of a heavy, dark energy. The more complicated topics would be easier to handle. Life is not so complicated, it’s easy.
2 My own heaviness in how I handle everyday life. I’m not really developing joy. That way since about the age of 24 – now 37:
It would be no problem for me. I would just spin around and be happy under the sun enjoying who I am and what I am.
3 My relationship with Randy. My inner view of him. I feel that I disrespect him in my thoughts, his situation.
I would be happy with myself. I would watch him do his thing. I wouldn’t be a part of it or attached it.
What three life issues would you focus on if you were in charge of Laura’s life?
Living freely. Not struggling with everyday life. Being happier and more loose about things. Not care too much about what’s going on. To be happy with myself.
Do you think that’s practical for Laura?
Yes, maybe?
In what life situations would it be most beneficial for Laura to imagine that she is you and act as you would?
When the day starts. It’s usually stressful. She can lighten up and do her work without being scared of not being able to handle the day or the children.
Whirlpools, do you do drama? If not, why not?
There’s no reason to. Maybe we can see drama but we’re not in it.
What is your secret for staying out of drama?
It’s a great strength. It’s really relieving! We just spin and deal with ourselves.
Why do you think that you are in Laura’s life?
We are her energy! To show her that she has the ability to be light. There is an energy within her that is sunny.
How is Laura most likely to ignore what you are saying to her?
Maybe she doesn’t remember to become us.
What would you recommend that she do about that?
Take time to imagine that she is us! To remember that very positive energy is within her. Especially in the morning and before she goes to bed.
Laura, what have you heard yourself say?
That there is within me an energy that is free, light, and strong. It transforms easily. I need to become it in the morning and before I go to bed.
If this experience were a wake-up call from the most central part of yourself, what do you think it would be saying to you?
Remember that this energy is within me and use it!
Laura has years of experience with her dirty whirlpools; one interview is not going to change her habits of mind and feeling! However, it has planted new seeds of possibility. It has awakened her to the reality of potentials that exist within her already – otherwise she would not have been able to access them in the interview. What she can do is be a midwife for this birth process by suspending her disbelief and following the recommendations of her Whirlpools. What does she have to lose by trying? And she may find that a magical transformation awaits!
