A Mind of Your Own. Betty Shine

It is not easy, when all around are seizing every opportunity to foul up your life – but it can be done. Try the following exercise.

       Visualisation: You are at a party where the guests are luxuriously dressed. You walk through the room, head high and feeling like a million dollars even though you are wearing a cheap outfit. People stare and gossip, making snide remarks as you pass. But as you look closer you realise they are unhappy and you feel sorry for them. There are a few who congratulate you on your outfit and immediately make you feel welcome. They have class. You turn around and smile kindly at the gossips. You have class too. But you also have the knowledge that you achieved everything you have with your own talent and integrity. That makes you special, and you feel good. Class is of your own making.

       Affirmation: I am a class act – and hard to follow.

28

       Colour

       The naked earth is warm with Spring, And with green grass and bursting trees Leans to the sun’s kiss glorying, And quivers in the sunny breeze;

       And life is colour and warmth and light And a striving evermore for these; And he is dead, who will not fight; And who dies fighting has increase.

       The fighting man shall from the sun Take warmth, and life from the glowing earth.

      JULIAN GRENFELL

      1888–1915

      MY HEALING ROOM was always filled with colour – cosmic colour. My patients saw the miracle for themselves as the room changed from sunflower yellow to pink, orange, blue, purple, and brilliant white. Very often these blended into a dense, vibrating rainbow of energy. And when it finally disappeared we knew that life without colour was no life at all.

      I spent many years teaching my patients to use colour healing on themselves (which is well documented in my book Mind Magic). Even if you just add a bit more colour to your outfit by adding a bright scarf or tie, you will be giving yourself a more joyous and healthy existence.

      When you go out, look around you and wonder at the changing colours of the seasons. Do you really notice them, or do you walk around blind to the beauty that surrounds you? And add colour to your home so that when you enter it you feel the atmosphere, warm and welcoming, wrapping itself around you.

       Visualisation: You are standing in a room which has been decorated in dark colours. Nothing glows with life except the faint shafts of sunlight through the window. The half-drawn curtains are unmanageable and heavy and you are unable to let in more light. You feel claustrophobic and want to leave, but the door locked itself behind you when you entered the room. For a few moments you feel imprisoned and overwhelmed by this miserable colourless room, and you long to see the green grass and the daffodils that you had noticed on entering the property. With that single thought you are suddenly bathed in a daffodil yellow glow and you realise, for the first time, that if you colour your thoughts you will also colour your life.

       Affirmation: The colours of my life must glow with an iridescent beauty.

29

       Comedy

       This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.

      HORACE WALPOLE, FOURTH EARL OF ORFORD

      1717–1797

      IN THE DIM LIGHTS OF THEATRES, I have been able to observe the mind energies of the audience. When laughter fills the auditorium, the mind expands, giving the impression of balls of light dancing around. Having discovered and studied mind energy for so many years, I know that the energy blockages which cause stress throughout the body are being released, and the body is going into self-healing mode. One has only to look at that same audience when they leave the theatre to see that all around are smiling faces, lightness of step and an aura of well-being.

      If you have the ability to make people laugh, use it. It is the finest healing of all. In the home it is a talent that can prevent arguments reaching a dangerous level. At the office it can work for you if you silently perceive the funny side of difficult situations.

      Those of you who are not natural comedians should try the following exercise.

       Visualisation: Try to bring out the clown in yourself. Think of all the ridiculous situations that you could find yourself in and act them out in your mind. Then laugh at yourself.

       If you are a serious person, put yourself into a position mentally that resembles farce. Somewhere inside there is a comedian aching to get out.

       Affirmation: Laugh every day and keep misery at bay.

30

       Communication

       To do good and to communicate forget not.

      THE BIBLE, HEBREWS

      THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE is society’s life-support system. Without it, we are lost.

      Modern technology enables us to link with people around the world, and to access information in a few moments. Unfortunately, it can easily become a substitute for communication on a one-to-one basis. There is no substitute for the real thing.

      The voice itself is magic, and can change the meaning of a single word by the way it is expressed. This, with the added vibration of the spoken word, can make one laugh or cry. There is no substitute when it involves the emotions – sympathetic words of comfort, words of wisdom and expressions of love. This is, and always will be, the finest way to communicate. However, technology is ideal for those who are by nature reserved, and is better than no communication at all.

      If you do have problems in this area, speaking direct to people, see if the following exercise helps.

       Visualisation: You are sitting at your desk deep in thought when the sound of the fax machine attracts your attention. Looking at the paper gliding through the machine, it becomes apparent that someone is very angry indeed. Reading through the printed page, you realise that a friend has misinterpreted a previous message. Unhappy about the situation, you send a new fax. Disturbed, you try to return to your work but you are unable to concentrate. The fax spills out a reply. It says, ‘This matter was too important to be sent by fax. Still angry.’

       Your working day in ruins, you pick up the phone and speak to your friend direct. When the conversation comes to an end, he says, ‘I’m sorry to have misunderstood you. But your choice of words in the fax was inappropriate.’ In fact, you had not changed the words at all. What had changed was the inflection and tone of your voice accompanying the words.

       Although there has to be a place in the modern world for machines, especially in business, do not make a habit of replacing them totally in favour of that very special piece of communication equipment – the voice.

       Affirmation: The art of communication is a gift. I must use it.

31

       Complaining

       Complain if you must but only if it’s just.

      BETTY SHINE