Limiting Patterns
Objects found in the forest can be gateways to peace and freedom. Sally shifts a life-long pattern of spending money on “things” she feels will make her happy. She’s engaged in a vision quest exercise of gathering items to create an artistic design. The exercise directs people to return feathers, stones, leaves and twigs to the place they found them. Sally describes the encounter leading to her breakthrough: “I stumble upon a fascinating-looking piece of wood. In fact, the natural sculpture is so breathtakingly beautiful that I begin imagining where the wood art will look best in my home. I crave that piece of wood. My emotions have taken over.
“To heck with the exercise! I find myself plotting how I’m going to justify to the group that I’m keeping this extraordinary wood sculpture rather than return the object to the forest. After a half-hour of self-induced anguish, I clearly see how my emotional pattern has formed an addiction. Throughout my life I find art, clothes, furniture, knickknacks—any item that I just ‘have to have.’ After acquiring the object, the thrill eventually fades, leaving me to crave another ‘fix.’
“Sitting quietly in the woods, a question bubbles up from my inner guidance, ‘Will this enchanting piece of wood give me true happiness?’ I’m flooded with memories of my unsatiable hunger for ‘things’ to fill up my life and make me happy.
“And then I have a revelation. These objects will never make me happy! What I really crave is the experience of happiness itself—not the objects that I think bring me the happiness!
“Realizing where my happiness truly comes from, I hit upon a