Charlotte and the Power of Guided Visualization
(If you prefer an audio version, scroll down to the bottom of the page.)
Guided visualizations are sneaky, powerful things which is part of why I like them so much. It’s like coming in through the side door to a whole new view. I love to use them when I coach to give people space to loosen stuck places, to see themselves in a new way, to glimpse the life they want to create. I find them to be a deep portal to our inner wisdom that can bypass some of the mental chatter that clutters up our knowing.
I’ll tell you a story about my recent experience with a guided visualization in which I met Charlotte, who is teaching me about money.
As part of a Business Incubator, I’ve recently been working on healing my relationship with money and boy howdy is it complex! I have lots of money messages that I am untangling so that they can be transformed: money is a necessary evil; money is a zero-sum game; money leads to greed and wealth hoarding; the less said about money, the better; hold onto what money you have because you could lose it at any time; you earn money through hard work; money is used to oppress, divide and wound. Clearly a lot of mental chatter and stuck places. If I am ever going to be part of a transformative practice with money in my business and in society, I see that I have to first transform and heal my own relationship with money.
I was recently coached through a visualization in which money came to me as an image. That’s when Charlotte appeared. Money came to me as a spider, and she told me her name was Charlotte, like Wilbur’s, friend so that I wouldn’t be afraid.
She came to share some truth about money with me. She has an ever-regenerating supply of silk with which she weaves her web, her delicate legs deftly and gracefully making connections. Money flows and it is constantly regenerated, she tells me, and money is here to build connection.
She kindly challenges me about how I receive, and I realize that I often receive as if I am on one end of an illicit transaction, furtive and apologetic. She nods wisely, kindly, and asks what would happen if I were to welcome money instead, so I am practicing welcoming money as it comes.
The image of Charlotte was so powerful that I ordered a beaded spider that sits on my desk and helps me connect to the new beliefs about money that I am cultivating. Since she in bendable she finds her way to various locations – currently she is climbing up the side of a large quartz crystal on my desk. This particular incarnation of her is teaching me that money (spiders) can be beautiful and playful rather than scary. On sunny days, she casts rainbows around my office in the morning.
So how about you? Do you have practices for calming mental chatter to see things in a new way? Do you have areas of your life that could benefit from a guided visualization? Please reach out if you would like to explore the ways that coaching and guided visualization might help you access your own inner wisdom and loosen your own stuck places. An exploratory conversation is always free.