What If

Fifty years ago when I was writing children’s novels I would sometimes get stuck in the plot. My friend, Annie, also a children’s author, would come to visit, and we’d help each other get un-stuck in our stories by playing a game we called, What If? With a pot of tea on the table between us, we would share how we were stuck, and then we would reel out ideas of how we might proceed. Some of our ideas were outrageous! It didn’t matter as long as it stirred up something creative for our plots. This April I want to play What If? asking questions that may deepen the stories we are living. It’s a way to stir the heart-plot.

Phrases Posted on Facebook, April 2019

There is usually one of three challenging themes to a good story: man/woman against man/woman, man/woman against nature or man/woman against himself/herself. In stirring the heart-plot we are naturally in the third theme. WARNING: our egos that like to be loved, safe and in control are not going to like these what ifs very much! Imagine that you are reading a novel about yourself, and the main character (you) is feeling either overwhelmed, dissatisfied, confused, contracted, hurt, or bored etc. What if the doorbell rang and an official looking letter with a wax seal was delivered? When the seal is broken what is found is a single sentence in beautiful calligraphy on thick, expensive paper. Here is what it says: Dear One, at this moment you are precisely where you are meant to be. Now what? How does the novel of this life develop from here?

When we are discouraged and down on ourselves it’s like getting stuck in the plot of our story. What could get us going again? What about a little what if therapy ? Take this one to heart. The unconscious does not distinguish between something happening in the agreed upon world or in an imagined truth. Therefore, if we can fully imagine something to be true it is accepted at a very deep level in our being, and that will change our lives. If one of these little what ifs is truly taken to heart something new will definitely happen. Here is one: what if you could trust that your self-acceptance is not only salve for you but also somehow salve for someone you don’t know.

What if we could take the leap and accept that the universe wanted us and imagined us? It is endorsement of an infinite kind, truly a carte blanche!

We would be shocked, I think, if we realized how much we use our wonderful powers of imagination to imagine fearful, worrisome and dark things about ourselves or others. It takes persistence and courage to imagine something profoundly transforming and good that we are willing to practice and live. What if every nasty, negative thought you have could be used like a rung on a ladder for you to step on and lift yourself to a better place?

Here’s a paradoxical what if that most of us have experienced: What if the cure for pain is often more pain?

What if every disowned part of you was invited to the table? What a love feast that could turn out to be!

What if you and I knew that any time we are not reactive, a flower blooms somewhere in the world?

What if you could count on having a real sanctuary in the quiet of your heart?

What if you could accept that the fabric of your life is already gorgeous brocade?

What if what we think is wrong with us has a right to be in us, and we haven’t found the meaning of it yet. Perhaps every ache in us is really a longing for inclusion and wholeness.

Here’s a made up story I hope you will enjoy. Paul arrives at the pearly gates. He’s been calculating all his life, adding up his goofs and detriments as well as his so-called good works and victories. Thinking perhaps he is not in the red after all, he knocks on the gate.

There’s St. Peter behind the gate. Can I come in? asks Paul. I’ve calculated that maybe I’m just about in the black and maybe you’ll have me. St. Peter shakes his head and grins. This is an LL zone. Calculation doesn’t work here. Paul takes a few steps back. What works then? It’s been hard keeping all these accounts.

Well, says St. Peter, what if you just let love take you where you want to go. It’s called liberal living (LL for short). That always works, especially if you start with yourself.

No matter how you feel you could greet the morning with a high five?
What if you knew that every person, including you, is a small needed supernova in the infinite cosmos?

Many spiritually advanced persons tell us that our souls are more beautiful than we could ever imagine. What if we could believe them? How well known it is that we can’t go where we can’t imagine.